EMPOWERgmatRichC wrote:
Hi theturtle,
You mentioned that this was Kaplan CAT1, but was this YOUR first CAT? If it's your first, then it's understandable how your timing might be a bit off. Assuming you did take this CAT in a test-like fashion, and took the ENTIRE CAT, then this is a strong performance and you could very well improve on it. Even if it's not your first CAT, it's still a great performance.
A full review of the CAT is in order. Beyond the obvious issues (re: WHY did you get questions wrong?), you should also look at the questions that you got correct. How much time did you spend on each? Could you have solved them faster? Could you have used a different approach and saved some time/effort?
I have a couple of additional "big picture" questions:
1) How long have you been studying?
2) What materials have you been using?
3) When are you planning to take your Official GMAT?
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Yes, this was my first full CAT, with IR and Essay. I took this test simulating precisely the real test environment. (I took one
MGMAT CAT without the IR and Essay sections and scored a 680 two weeks ago; I also had very poor time management on that exam.)
I plan to do a full review of the CAT this week after work. It's frustrating, though, to review questions on the latter half of the test that I would have gotten correct had I had more time per question. I know my weaknesses from error logs. For quant questions, my weaknesses include: algebraic translations, combinations/permutations, coordinate grid, complex geometry w/inscriptions. For verbal questions: CR and RC inference questions used to be my weakness, but they no longer stand out. I'm equally good (or, in my opinion, equally inadequate) at all three formats for verbal.
To your "big picture" questions:
1) How long have you been studying? About a month and a half. For the first month, I studied exclusively quant. For the past two weeks, I've studied primarily verbal.
2) What materials have you been using?
MGMAT Books,
GMAT Club Tests, OG13 (plus VR, QR)
3) When are you planning to take your Official GMAT? Whenever I am consistently scoring 740-770. There's no rush, but hopefully it'll be in the next six weeks or so!
I have a hunch that I can score in the 740-770 range because (1) if I can score 710 with horrendous time management, I must score higher if I can answer correctly many of those questions I'm guessing; and (2) I score between 80% and 100% correct in 1.5 minutes/question in my
OG practice.
Maybe you can diagnose the situation, Rich. See, a Q50 tells me I'm doing something right. Still, my time management felt AWFUL. Having 14 minutes left with 14 questions left in both the Quant and Verbal sections just doesn't feel right.
I will also share this because it may be helpful to you in deciphering what's going on.. I'd frame my mental state like this: I am relaxed and focused the first third of each section, zoning out a little in the middle third of each section, and frantically narrowing down answer choices and guessing (sometimes blindly) for the last third of each section.
Looking forward to your diagnosis!
close
24 Jan 2015, 17:53
