Need help to go from 690 to 710

[messi10]

Hi Stacey,

I took my GMAT today and scored a 690 (Q49, V35). This is my second attempt, first being 630(Q45, V31). I am very happy with the improvement. But like most people, I was targeting 710. I will ask admission consultants whether another attempt is required. But will still like your opinion on a few things.

FYI, these are my 6 practice scores taken every two weeks, with the last test taken 10 days before the actual test:

MGMAT Prep 1: 650 (Q42, V37)
MGMAT Prep 2: 670 (Q44, V37)
MGMAT Prep 3: 680 (Q44, V38)
MGMAT Prep 4: 740 (Q46, V45)
MGMAT Prep 5: 690 (Q45, V38)
MGMAT Prep 6: 680 (Q48, V35)

They were taken under test conditions with AWA and IR. Apart from the 4th test, which was a lucky spike, the test scores are fairly consistent with the actual GMAT. Here is where things went a bit off on the actual exam:

1) Even though I know that one should never try and assess his or her performance during the test, I got demoralized midway through the verbal section because the SCs that I was getting were all short underlines. By question 20, I felt I was really really poor and started focusing on all the wrong thoughts. I was looking at the clock more often, I was losing patience and I just wanted to leave the test room. When I saw the score, I was kicking myself for doing all that and am still very annoyed at myself.

2) Apart from the above, I also got a bit tired towards the end. After question 30, I had to re-read questions and answer choices. Everything seemed harder, even though it may not have been. Perhaps being demoralized halfway through the section had an effect on my stamina so maybe these two things were related? I never struggled with stamina during the practice tests which means that I did not do so well under test conditions. It was an afternoon test and I spent most of the morning nervous and agitated that may have wasted a lot of mental energy. I don't have trouble sleeping the night before so maybe a morning slot would have been a better idea.

Going forward, I think my quant score is as high as it can be. Realistically, I don't think I can go from 49 to 50/51 without putting in a lot of effort. I feel that my time will be better spent on trying to improve verbal.

Looking at verbal from purely a statistical point of view using OG Archer and GMATPrep, I don't think I struggle with CR, RC or SC. But the test told me a different story today. I was struggling with SC. I guess this probably tells me that I am not spending enough time analyzing the whys and hows. So perhaps that's where I should concentrate most of my effort on?

Lastly, is there a way to improve stamina without taking more practice tests? Or is that not possible? I have run out of MGMAT and GMATPrep tests so I don't think taking them again will be a good indicator of score or stamina.

Thanks

Sunil

[StaceyKoprince]

Nice work!

Statistically, there is no difference between 690 and 710. The standard deviation of the test is 30 points - so those two scores are essentially the same (in terms of what they tell admissions committees).

You should talk to some admissions consultants, of course, but just FYI. :)

I got demoralized midway through the verbal section because the SCs that I was getting were all short underlines.

Short underlines can often be quite hard!! The length of the underline doesn't necessarily reflect the difficulty level of the question.

started focusing on all the wrong thoughts. I was looking at the clock more often, I was losing patience and I just wanted to leave the test room.

This is classic mental fatigue. Think about what you can do next time to keep your energy levels up. What did you eat and drink on break? Did you do any light exercises? Did you stretch, etc, in the room itself? Sometimes you need to close your eyes for 20 seconds, roll your neck around, stretch all of your limbs, shift around in your chair, etc.

When do you have the most mental energy - when are you most mentally alert? Try to plan your test (if possible) so that Q and V hit during that timeframe. Given your experience of being too nervous all morning, yes, a morning timeframe might be better (assuming that you aren't more mentally slow / sluggish in the morning, like I am!).

If SC was bothering you the most during the test, then yes, that's where to concentrate in your review (along with mental stamina). You don't need to take a bunch of practice tests - you can practice mental stamina in lots of ways.

Let's say that you're going to sit down for a 2-hour study session. In advance, figure out what you're going to do for the entire 2 hours. In fact, plan extra, just in case you finish early. Then GO for 1 hour without stopping. No checking email, no chatting with a friend, etc. Take a 10-15 minute break, then GO again for another hour, no stopping.

On the break, get up and move around, eat something, drink something. When working, don't get up (you can't during the real test), but do stretch, take time to close your eyes or roll your head around when necessary, etc. Figure out how to give yourself little energy boosts and get mentally back on track while working.

Also, take a look at this; it might help:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... mat-score/

[messi10]

Thanks Stacey,

That is very helpful to know.

This is classic mental fatigue. Think about what you can do next time to keep your energy levels up. What did you eat and drink on break? Did you do any light exercises? Did you stretch, etc, in the room itself? Sometimes you need to close your eyes for 20 seconds, roll your neck around, stretch all of your limbs, shift around in your chair, etc.

No, I didn't do any exercises. I will try and incorporate this in my routine. I took a Gatorade and a sugar free energy bar, which I used during both the breaks.

When do you have the most mental energy - when are you most mentally alert? Try to plan your test (if possible) so that Q and V hit during that timeframe. Given your experience of being too nervous all morning, yes, a morning timeframe might be better (assuming that you aren't more mentally slow / sluggish in the morning, like I am!).

I am more of a morning person. The test center here offers 9am and 1pm slot only. The only reason I went for a 1pm slot was that I wanted to avoid any chance of being late.

Let's say that you're going to sit down for a 2-hour study session. In advance, figure out what you're going to do for the entire 2 hours. In fact, plan extra, just in case you finish early. Then GO for 1 hour without stopping. No checking email, no chatting with a friend, etc. Take a 10-15 minute break, then GO again for another hour, no stopping.

On the break, get up and move around, eat something, drink something. When working, don't get up (you can't during the real test), but do stretch, take time to close your eyes or roll your head around when necessary, etc. Figure out how to give yourself little energy boosts and get mentally back on track while working.

Thanks for this. I will definitely give this a go.

Statistically, there is no difference between 690 and 710. The standard deviation of the test is 30 points - so those two scores are essentially the same (in terms of what they tell admissions committees).

You should talk to some admissions consultants, of course, but just FYI. :)

I have had mixed responses from consultants. Some have said the same as you have but others are being a bit nitpicky, citing that I belong to the over-represented Indian Engineer applicant pool and hence I should aim for a 720. I was really hoping to avoid a retake but may have to do so now. :(

Regards

Sunil

[StaceyKoprince]

I took a Gatorade and a sugar free energy bar

That stuff is good for physical energy, but you're trying to keep up your mental energy - not quite the same thing. :)

For breakfast and for your first break, have food with complex carbs, protein, and fat. (Your brain works on fat - don't skip it!) Eggs with buttered whole grain toast, a peanut butter sandwich (again, on whole grain), etc.

For the second break, you want glucose in liquid form - ideally coconut water or fresh fruit juice. If you live near a health-food specialty store, you can go in there and ask whether they have any glucose-rich beverages. You do NOT want any high-fructose corn syrup! It's okay to have fructose, but not HFCS.

I am more of a morning person.

Next time, then, it might be better to go for a 9a slot. You know where the test center is now and how to get there, so just get there super early - then you won't have to worry about being late. :)

Re: your final bit... okay. It's tough to be from an overrepresented category. Better safe than sorry!

Okay, for SC, there's a good chance you were struggling most were convoluted questions in which the structure of the answers changed substantially (so that it was harder to tell exactly what was going on). Does that sound familiar?

This article will help (it contains links to 5 or 6 other articles - read them all):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... orrection/

You may be right that you're not really struggling with CR and RC, but I'd like you to check the data to make sure. Use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT(s):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Then come back here and tell us the results of your analysis and what you think you should do based on that analysis. We'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. 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!)

[messi10]

Hi Stacey,

Apologies in advance for the long post.

Thanks for the advice on diet, I did not realize that at all. I will try and mend it.

Here is the analysis of the verbal section of last CAT that I took before the GMAT. It was taken under full conditions with AWA, IR and breaks. I didn't use the pause button at any point in time. It is worth mentioning that this particular practice test is a good indicator of what happened on the actual test as I ran out of stamina on this one too and hence the drop in the verbal score. I think it was bad start to the day but I still decided to go ahead with the test as I didn't want to take any CATs too close to the actual exam.

Please note that I will also provide the data for all 6 CATs, where appropriate, so you can compare it with the last CAT. I think that it may shed more light on my general patterns.

Timing
I think the timing was OK. Here is the question number and time elapsed (rounded up to nearest minute):

Q10 - 15:00
Q20 - 34:00
Q30 - 53:00
Q41 - 74:00

Looks like I may have been too fast in the beginning. Out of the first 10 questions, I missed 1 CR and 2 RCs. The number of mistakes were more frequent towards the end (very likely due to exhaustion) as my percentile dropped from 99% on Question 19 to 91% on Question 25 and then to 74% by the end of the test.

Way too Slow Questions
CR - None were above 3 minutes, a couple were around 2:30
RC - None
SC - Four questions were above 2 minutes, including two which were over 4 minutes and over 3 minutes. Out of these four, I got two right and two wrong
I think I had probably realized at some point that I am ahead of the time, and that may have led me to spend extra time on some of these questions. But don’t think it helped too much as I got 50% wrong despite spending more time.

Way too Fast Questions
Six RC questions and 3 CR questions were done in under a minute or just a few seconds over a minute. But only one of these was incorrect. I don’t think their difficulty was particularly high and this wasn’t because I was speeding up either. I think it’s just that I found these questions easy.

Summary of Timing
I have a tendency to spend more time on SC than the 1:15 standard average. Assessment summary of the last CAT and the 6 CATs show the following:

Assessment Summary - Last CAT Exam

CR average time right answers: 1:33 (Average Difficulty Right: 660)
CR average time wrong answers: 1:55 (Average Difficulty Wrong: 690)

RC average time right answers: 1:31 (Average Difficulty Right: 640)
RC average time wrong answers: 2:09 (Average Difficulty Wrong: 730)

SC average time right answers: 1:46 (Average Difficulty Right: 670)
SC average time wrong answers: 2:20 (Average Difficulty Wrong: 650)

Assessment Summary - All 6 CAT Exams

CR average time right answers: 1:40 (Average Difficulty Right: 690)
CR average time wrong answers: 1:59 (Average Difficulty Wrong: 710)

RC average time right answers: 1:27 (Average Difficulty Right: 660)
RC average time wrong answers: 2:11 (Average Difficulty Wrong: 720)

SC average time right answers: 1:42 (Average Difficulty Right: 720)
SC average time wrong answers: 1:54 (Average Difficulty Wrong: 710)

I am not very sure how to read into this. I generally don't struggle with timing so I don't know if I should try and be more economical on SCs to gain time elsewhere?

Analysis of each type

At this point, I have decided to analyse all the 6 CAT exams together. I thought that just analysing the last one may give inaccurate results because exhaustion can affect strengths and weaknesses without prejudice. Please let me know if you feel that this is not the case, and I will analyse CAT 6 by itself

Critical Reasoning Summary:
(The timing in green is for correct answers and red for incorrect ones)

Describe the Role 70% 2:08 2:35
Find the Assumption 76% 1:26 1:54
Evaluate the Argument 60% 1:55 1:30
Strengthen the Argument 85% 1:34 2:32
Weaken the Argument 79% 1:33 1:38
Draw a Conclusion 57% 1:50 1:56
Explain the Discrepancy 50% 1:43 2:09

Classification of CR
Before I classify these, I should mention that I feel most comfortable with CR amongst the three types in verbal. I don’t feel the need to take notes unless the question involves some quant. I generally get the point of the argument and don’t feel the need to identify conclusions or premise - I don’t know whether this is good or bad? I do read the question stem first to identify the question type.

After reading your blog, I realise that there is always room for improvement. How and where that improvement can come from, I will have to go through each to see if I am solving it as economically and efficiently as possible. I have read your blogs on how to approach different question types. But I don't think I am applying everything of what you have said in them. I think that would be a starting point.

The obvious weakness is Draw a conclusion. Even in OG, I am at 78%, which when compared to other CR types is on the lower side. I feel that there is some correlation between this and with Inference type questions in RC. I get those wrong too. I know that these are extremely simple and bland answers and can be very subtle. I feel taking notes on this type may be of help as it will help me arrange the flow of the argument.

Explain the discrepancy and Evaluate are also low percentages but I am not sure if they are really weaknesses or not. I only saw a total of 9 (5 explain, 4 evaluate) of these two types across the 6 tests. When practicing on with GMAT prep or OG, I find these comfortable to work with. OG Archer shows 92% hit for explain questions and 85% for evaluate. I generally know the methodology behind these questions in that I understand the type of answers that I have to look for.

I am OK with other types. I won’t call them strengths as there might be better ways to do them.

Sentence Correction Summary
(The timing in green is for correct answers and red for incorrect ones)

Subject-Verb Agreement 100% 1:39 NA
Pronouns 100% 1:37 NA
Modifiers 76% 1:36 1:36
Verbs 100% 1:14 NA
Idioms 75% 1:26 1:23
Concision 80% 1:21 2:46
Meaning 82% 2:10 2:19
Parallelism 92% 2:09 2:14
Comparisons 45% 1:37 1:56
Quantity 50% 1:17 1:45
Connecting Punctuation 50% 2:01 2:14

Classification of SC
Weakest areas are comparisons, quantity and connecting punctuation. This is also confirmed by OG Archer stats.

The timing on the SC is a bit of a question. I do, on average, take 1:40 - 1:50 on these questions. I don’t know whether this is good or bad? From the stats above, Meaning and Parallelism seem to take the most time, followed by Comparisons, SV, Pronouns and Modifiers.

On MGMAT tests, I felt almost as confident on SC as I feel on CR. But on the GMAT exam, I felt the least confident on SC. Yes, the article you pointed out may have been the case so this is definitely something to work on. I do struggle with understanding how moving a single word such as "only" and "each" can change the meaning. I feel more comfortable with long modifiers that move around but not short ones. I get very confused as to what they are supposed to modify.

One of the reasons why I think I take more time in SCs is that I do spend a good 20-40 seconds reading the original sentence and trying to find errors in them. This seems to have become a bad habit. I should really look for differences in the answer choices and then made a decision on which one is right/wrong. Unfortunately, since this is a bad habit, it will take a fair bit of practice to eliminate. But I think its worth doing.

Reading Comprehension Summary
(The timing in green is for correct answers and red for incorrect ones)

Inference 45% 1:53 2:19
Specific Detail 57% 1:35 2:03
Main Idea 88% 0:39 2:28
Passage Structure 40% 0:21 1:48

Classification of RC
As the numbers indicate, RC has been the weakest area. It has always stopped me from getting to V40 and over on the MGMAT tests.
I almost always get the inference questions wrong. The 45% is misleading because in CAT 4, I seem to have got some easy passages which resulted in a high RC score and a high verbal score (V45). But if you remove CAT4, the accuracy drops to 35% for inference type questions. The specific detail is also not great.

RC has always been a dilemma for me because going as per GMAT Prep and OG stats, I don’t have that much problem as I do on MGMAT CATs. I mean I still struggle with inference but not as much as I do on MGMAT. According to OG Archer, inference is at 72% and specific detail is at 88%. The new GMAT Prep does not break it down via question type but I haven’t missed too many questions. I do get the odd one wrong on each passage but that’s not nearly as low as what MGMAT stats show.

I didn’t go into too much depth as I thought OG and GMAT prep would be better indicators but now may be a good time to analyse the whys. I think the only way to get to the bottom of this is to sit and review all the MGMAT CAT RC passages one by one. Do you think it’s worth doing this? As in spend time on MGMAT questions?

Quant

Contrary to what I said before, I have also decided to spend some time on quant. One easy analysis has been the high number of Data Sufficiency questions that I miss. I think working on those will help a little. Also, I don't think just studying verbal all the time will be a good idea. Keeping Quant fresh is also important so I think working on the mistakes, particularly DS can't hurt too much. Even if it helps me maintain the same score, I will be happy.

Sorry for the long post Stacey, and thank you so very much for the time you take with each and every one of us on the forums and beyond.

Regards

Sunil

[StaceyKoprince]

But don’t think it helped too much as I got 50% wrong despite spending more time.

In general, the more time we spend, the more likely we are to answer the Q incorrectly. Something's problematic, or we wouldn't need to spend so much time! So that just makes it more likely that we're wasting our time. Remember that for future.

That one too-fast Q that you got wrong - did you think you were getting it right? Or did you know that it was too hard and you just gave up?

If you thought you were getting it right but made a mistake, then that IS a problem. You knew how to get that point, but you gave it up because you were rushing! And the real problem is that you never know when you're going to make a careless mistake. On this test, it happened on 1 out of 9. On another test, it might be 3 out of 9, 5 out of 9, or more!

Don't rush so much on the ones that you DO know how to answer that you increase your chances of making a mistake. Particularly when you're blowing time on other questions that you're going to get wrong anyway. :)

You don't have to spend full time. But be systematic when you think something is easy. Check your work. Check the passage for proof (if applicable).

SC timing: you lost, on average, 1m on every wrong SC! Every one! Even if that was only a few questions, that's still time that went into a black hole. On average, you spend about 35 seconds extra on SC when you can't answer the question. You need to cut yourself off faster. :)

Part of this might be process - do you tend to read each answer choice horizontally? There are vertical comparison techniques that can help you to save time.

Start with the basic process here:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... n-problem/

Some sentences are more convoluted, though, and you may need to adjust the "normal" process:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... orrection/

You may be finishing the section on time, but you're awfully fast on RC and a bit fast on CR. Learning to save some time on SC (at least on the ones that are too hard and should be cut off faster) would allow you to spend more time being systematic on RC and CR. That'll help you get more right / make fewer mistakes.

It may be the case that you'll always be a little faster on those two and that will allow you to be a little slower on SC. Within reason, that's okay.

CR
Here's Infer:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... e-Problem/

and Evaluate:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... e-problem/

I just wrote a CR Discrepancy article that's scheduled to be published on Monday of next week - check our blog.

I generally get the point of the argument and don’t feel the need to identify conclusions or premise - I don’t know whether this is good or bad?

It's fine as long as this doesn't then lead to mistakes / wrong answers. :) And you may find, as you noted, that you need to be more systematic on certain Q types (such as inference) but not all.

The key is figuring out WHY you make the mistakes that you make. On verbal, that also involves figuring out why you picked the wrong answer (what was your justification) and why you eliminated the right answer (again, what was your justification). That will help you to see how you're falling into traps, and that'll make you less likely to fall next time.

For SC, you probably need to work on streamlining your process for long underlines / convoluted sentences. See here:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... orrection/

Read the article about the "regular" process first, then the other ones about how to adapt for more convoluted sentences. (All articles are linked in that article above.)

For short modifiers, think of it this way: you can't just assume what it means / is attached to. You have to be literal with the placement.

1. Only she plays tennis.
2. She only plays tennis.
3. She plays only tennis.

1. She's the only one in the world (or some defined group) who plays tennis!
2. She does nothing else but play tennis.
3. When she plays something, she plays tennis. But she can also do other things besides play tennis.

For RC, you seem to be fine with big picture stuff, but the details are getting you. Part of that has to do with how you're reading and taking notes:

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... p-passage/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -passages/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -passages/

Part of it has to do with process on the question themselves:
infer:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... estion.cfm

set of 3 on same passage:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... -passages/
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... m-passage/
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... m-passage/

Also, try watching the videos up in Archer for RC. I've only done two passages so far (the last two in OG13), but I tried to address this stuff in the videos. :)

Oh, and I'm just getting to your piece that says you don't struggle as much with official RC. Okay - so maybe you don't need to spend as much time there. There are always some stylistic differences based on author for something like that, and you may just have a better read on the authors who write for them. But that's good since they'll continue to be the ones to write the official Qs. :)

I would still spend some time on MGMAT, but spend equal time or more on official sources (for verbal). If there is a language / stylistic issue that makes a difference for you, then you want to make sure you're getting a lot of work with official sources.

Completely agree that you should spend time on quant - both because there's always room for improvement and because it'll keep you from burning out on verbal.

And you're very welcome. I like what I do and I'm glad to be able to help. :)

Okay, that's a lot. Get started on all of that and let me know how it goes.