Some thoughts and strategies for Quantitative
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05 Sep 2006, 23:59
I just did the GMATprep test 1 again. I had a bit of a different experience than on previous attempts and it got me thinking about some different strategies. First, let me explain what happened. I've taken each of the GMATprep tests a number of times and always scored between 48-50, generally missing 9-11 questions or so. I think this is in line with what I have heard from others scoring in this range.
When I took the test yesterday, I missed the very first question (and I knew I messed up as soon as I did it). Of course, with the CAT, I started geting some easier questions, questions that I could do really quickly. This chunck of easier questions left me, I think, with some additional minutes at the end of the section, where I had some extra time to work on some really tough questions. Anyhow, I ended up with a 50Q (high end of my practice range), while missing just 4 in the section instead of the 9-11 I had missed in the past for a similar section. Of course, the reason I only missed 4 was because the many of the questions were easier.
I was just wondering, is this a strategy that could pay off on the real thing? I mean, why struggle with one hard question after another wasting time all the while when you can blow through a bunch of medium difficulty questions saving time for a few really difficult ones at the end? Another way to think about it is, does the test double punish high scorers by giving really difficult questions that they may both miss and waste time on? I dont' know, I don't think I have the balls to actually try this on purpose on the real thing.
There's another thing I was thinking about, on the Q section. Many test-takers have reported that the Q section was harder than their GMATprep practices, but that their score was actually within the range of their practice scores. Could it be that people are finding the real GMAT to be more difficult because of experimental questions? In other words, yes the test is in fact more difficult with tough experimental questions, but they are not scored, so your score will be similar to your practices. What to you guys think?