Need Guidance

[SharmiliP682]

Hi,


I have taken two mocks so far: CAT1 and CAT2.

CAT1

550 (Q-39 V-28)

I took the test late night. I took only the quants and verbal section. I was finding it difficult on the time management front in the quants section, hence had to do guesswork for a couple of questions. I am more enthusiastic in attending verbal rather than the quant section and I put it in my full effort into this section. For some reasons, I had this feeling that I am doing good in Verbal, but the scores proved me completely wrong . I was majorly lacking in the CR section. SC and RC was pretty good. And in quants it was data sufficiency the main problem. My main materials for preparation was Magoosh,Manhattan and OG'16.

CAT2

560 (Q-39 V-29)

I took the test late in the evening. I took only the quants and verbal section. Almost the test went same as my CAT1. I don't see a big difference.

In a disappointed state now. I am losing hope actually. Anxiety and depression is setting in

My idea is to somehow improve my verbal score to a minimum of 45. I am aiming for a minimum of 690 in the GMAT. I am not trying to score high in quants but planning it to keep it consistent so that I can get a decent score. This is because I am more comfortable with Verbal than quants.

I am looking for a leap of 100 to 150 from what I am scoring in my CAT exams. Please let me know how to proceed further with my preparations so that it will help to achieve the score I am expecting. Any psychological guidance will also help. I am writing my GMAT in another 10 days.

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry that you're having a tough time with the test.

It is very unusual to improve by 100+ points in 10 days. I don't want to discourage you, but you may need to develop a more realistic timeframe in order to reach your goal. Most people would need 2 to 4 months to improve by 100+ points.

The two scores, Q and V, aren't measured on quite the same scale. A 39 on quant is the 39th percentile. A score of 29 on verbal is the 57th percentile. In other words, your verbal score is already better than your quant score.

Note also that a V score of 45 is the 99th percentile; that is, only 1% of test-takers achieve that score (or higher). By contrast, a score of 45 on quant is the 59th percentile. It is not a great plan, then, to aim for a 45 on V while keeping Q where it is. Practically speaking, both scores factor into your overall score, so it is much more reasonable to try to improve both, not just one.

Have you been studying on your own? If you'd like to continue on your own, then follow the steps below. (If you decide to take a class, then you can follow whatever program you choose to do.)

First, read these two articles:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

Think about how what you've been doing does and doesn't match up with that and how you may need to change your approach accordingly.

Then, use the below to analyze your most recent MPrep CATs (this should take you a minimum of 1 hour):
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Based on all of that, figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as any ideas you have for what you think you should do. Then come back here and tell us; we'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Your analysis should include a discussion of your buckets - you'll understand what that means when you read the last article. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)