MGMAT CAT Quant section: Accurate??

Thanks. Yes, I was blown away by how I struggled to keep up with the timing. Only scored Q35 on them (missed 7!! Questions). After anaylzing my errors, it seems that I got stuck at some computationally heavy questions, wasted time, got bogged down and it carried with me through a test.

I find it hard to let it go (esp. when I know that I can do the question) and move on with strategic guessing, which causes my downfall. I am still learning which battles to cede to win the war. I am guessing this is the real strategy in GMAT. Not to see if you can do it, but to do unconventionally phrased questions in 2 minutes or less. Sometimes those computationally heavy questions leave me wondering whether it is even possible to do it in 2 minutes (especially when they are verbiage heavy and it's easy to miss a condition or a descriptor).

My verbal was a lot better at V45 and with time to boot, which makes me think that this is likely easier.

I will keep practicing with timings and other tests. At this stage, I have done most of the studying I can do (including all the quant books of Manhattan and other miscl. materials). I just need to practice at getting faster.

Practice is the key. Practice as many problems as you can. However, don't just practice the problems. try to extract all that you can from the problems. try using the links below. following what they say will take time, but it'll help you get the most out of every problem.
https://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/analyze-DS-problem.cfm
https://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/analyze-PS-problem.cfm

Strategic guessing plays a very crucial role on the gmat. there was one MGMAT cat in which i didn't pay attention to the timer and just focused on getting the answers to all the questions. in that CAT, i ended up with my worst quant score because of a messed up timing. so if you know that you won't be able to solve a particular problem, just let go of it during the test. the however, make sure you try to solve the problem(without looking at the solution) when you analyse your test. also, maintain an error log. it really helps you in pinpointing your weak areas.

Based on this discussion...If my score in 2 MGMAT scores was Q47 and Q44, what would have I expected if I was doing things from GMATPrep.

My experience with MGMAT CAT (first two so far) is very similar. I actually took both the GMAT PREP's before i started MGMAT . I scored a 45 and 47 on the 2 official CAT's on a way to a 720 and 700. After the first MGMAT CAT (quant) my experience was similar to what the Iraqi armored corps would have experienced when confronted against stormin norman ...I was blown away and with 3 minutes to go i had 11 full questions left. I randomly guessed the last 10 questions. Today (four days after i took the first MGMAT CAT) I took the second CAT and this time i was determined to "Finish every question" and went fast and swinging straight off the bat...I knew i was going "too fast for comfort" and i knew i needed 20-30 seconds per question more then what i was going at. I finished all the questions but couldn't confirm the last answer choice in time. I scored Q40 in my first CAT (with 10 random guesses) and a Q42 today (with 2 guesses and the rest of the questions attempted, and one question that didnt register so was counted as a miss). I am now confused, as i have taken the GMAT PREP 1 twice, and GMAT PREP II once. I do not know whether i have become WEAKER in quant or its just the difficulty of the MGMAT CAT (i am struggling for timing rather than content, as i greatly improve on accuracy if i do it un timed). My verbal scores 39 and 38 do not reflect my level in verbal as i am probably loosing a lot of steam with the brutal quant sections but overall with verbal i am confident that i can score 40+ provided i can go smooth.



You should be looking at 50-51 (max score)...

@ alinomoto ,

I see that you have done very well in your GMAT, after MGMAT did you find your GMAT PREP score improve? Was the low score in MGMAT CAT's (quant) something that you needed to be worried about or was it just tougher then the Actual test? suggestions for practice resources to practice weaker areas (as generated by analysis ) would also be welcomed

Actually, what i needed was to simply practice. By the end, I was scoring 49-50 consistently even in the later MGMAT practice tests as well as the GMAT prep. And I did end up with 49 on my actual GMAT. I found the actual GMAT actually quite tough, but that may have been simply that I was already at a higher level. Just keep practicing and you will make it ok.

Wow..I can't believe it was over a year that I made that post. Seems so distant now. Ross is a fun place for sure.

What did you use as a source for practice? Especially the harder questions? I have exhausted the OG guide (both the quant and the OG13) and have also spent quite a bit of time with the MGMAT Adv. Quant and the Veritas prep Adv. Word Problems book (plus the DS Book). I have certain areas where the analysis is showing me as "weak" those include Geometry, Inequalities, Rate work ... Should i work from the sources i have all cover? or should hit the strategy guides and then take another CAT as opposed to taking a 7-10 break from taking CAT's ( i am taking around 2 CAT's a week) and hit the strategy guides and then practice the questions from the 2 cat's i got wrong before hitting the CAT's again (without any additional practice questions)...The MGMAT CAT's provide a great analysis but for quant i do not know what to "hit" for practice especially at the 700-800 level questions....I am now seriously thinkng buying access to some of the MGMAT sets (all ready tried their brutal word problem set) for additional practice...



Did you find the GMAT PREP level of quant to be a notch lower then the actual test or was it what many claim it to be ..."the best indicator of the actual degree of difficulty and "spread" of questions"?