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This series of emails and PMs focuses on situations that many Test Takers face during their studies. The names of the original posters have been changed to protect their identities.
Q47 With Many Wrong Answers
Hi Rich,
I gave my GMAT prep 1 today. Got a score of 670 (Q47, V35)
I had 14 wrong answers in quant out of 37 but the score is "47(73%)". I don't understand how I could score 47 with so many wrong answers. Can you please clarify?
Kilo
Hi Kilo,
The real GMAT includes questions that are "experimental", meaning that they DO NOT COUNT. It's possible that you got many of those experimental questions wrong and got the questions that "counted" correct – including a number of other factors that are used to calculate your score in the Official Algorithm. Unfortunately, it's not likely that you'll end up in that exact same situation again on Test Day, so to score at a high level, it's important to continue working, define the silly/little mistakes that you’re making and ‘fix’ them.
Questions on Approaching CR Prompts
Dear Rich,
The typical way how I solve a CR question is just to read the question and the stimulus and then answer the question. I usually get 5 to 6 out of 10 questions correct (with equal number of easy medium and difficult questions). Is my method advisable or should I draw a map for every stimulus and classify each piece of information and then find out the missing assumption before attempting to answer the question? How can I solve a CR question in less than 1:45 min?
Lima
Hi Lima,
CR prompts include a variety of question types (assumption, inference, weaken, flaw, etc.), so you need to understand the differences (as well as the similarities) so that you can adjust your approach accordingly. You’re likely to answer more CR questions correctly if you include a certain amount of note-taking. The tough part is that by the time you start the Verbal section of the GMAT, you're going to be tired and you won't want to take notes. You have to decide what you want MORE though: a high GMAT score or to not take notes.
The EMPOWERgmat course uses a tactic called the CR Box, which is a way to organize your information and quickly deduce what the correct answer needs to say.
As an aside, the general pacing rule is 2 minutes per CR question ON AVERAGE; sometimes you'll spend more time than that, sometimes less.
The Thin Line Between 710 and 740
Hi Rich,
I have my Gmat in 3 weeks and it has been a long battle for me. I started with 530 in my first GMAT and currently I am scoring 700-710 on each mock test. Can you please help me and advise me on what should I do for the next 20 days. First - how not to lose the sight of 710 and second - how can I improve further so that I can score 740? Is it all luck and circumstance that can lead to 740 from 710 or is there more to it? I have taken lot of time improving my weak areas. On a given day, I could solve the most difficult questions and sometimes get easy ones wrong too.
Mike
Hi Mike,
As odd as it may seem, there isn't much of a difference (in performance) between a 710 and a 740; for the highest scores though, you have to be great in both the Quant and Verbal sections. It ultimately comes down to silly mistakes, little details and the precision in your work. Take a look at your last few CATs and analyze every question that you got wrong. How many came down to silly mistakes? How many came down to a lack of understanding the math/verbal rules? How many came down to the difficulty level of the question? Some of those errors can be fixed, others can't. Fix the things that you can fix and your score should go up.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
