by Rich Cohen Rich.C@empowergmat.com
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.
Improvement Takes Time
Hi Rich,
I took a CAT a week ago and scored 610 and this week I score 580.
I am not sure what to say about the above scores. I tried to improve on the first CAT by going through the answers and developing a strategic approach to Quant and RC this past week, and put in a lot of hard work. I was expecting the scores to climb near 650 or so. What am I doing wrong?
Arty
Hi Arty,
Those two scores (610 and 580) are close enough to one another that you likely haven't adapted your approach enough to pick up the missing points that you're after. I'd suggest that you do a thorough review of your most recent CAT. Count up the number of "silly mistakes" vs. the number of "hard questions"; the missing points will add up in a hurry.
It takes time to absorb new ideas, especially if you've just learned them. You wouldn't be an expert at playing the guitar after a couple of lessons and a week of practice, so you shouldn't expect that with the GMAT either. Keep your eye on the bigger picture; you're learning new tactics that you need to practice MORE. Again, the CAT review should give you an opportunity to do so.
TESTING THE ANSWERS Applied
Dear Rich,
I can’t seem to figure out the logic behind this question. I picked B but the answer was C. How should I be approaching this?
In a certain deck of cards, each card has a positive integer. In a multiplication game, a person draws a card and multiplies that integer by next larger integer. If the product of the two numbers is between 15 and 200, then the least and greatest integer on the cards could be?
A) 3 & 15
B) 3 & 20
C) 4 & 13
D) 4 &14
E) 5 & 14
Betty
Hi Betty,
Since the answers to this question are numbers, I'm going to TEST THE ANSWERS.
We're told that, after drawing a card, you must multiply the number on the card by the next LARGER integer and end up with a number between 15 and 200. We're asked for the smallest and largest possible numbers on the cards.
Looking at the answer choices, I want to see what happens IF the lowest number is 3…
IF the number was 3, then…
3(4) = 12, which is NOT between 15 and 200. Eliminate A and B.
IF the number was 4, then…
4(5) = 20, which IS between 15 and 200. Eliminate E.
Now, on to the biggest number:
IF the number was 13, then…
13(14) = 182
IF the number was 14, then…
14(15) = 210
So, 14 is TOO BIG.
Final Answer: C
Possible Wrong Answer Penalty
Rich,
I recently took the gmat for a second time and scored 710/Q47/V40. I was not able to complete the quant section (I ran out of time on question 36), so I wanted to know how bad the penalty was for not finishing. How much higher could I have scored?
Carney
Hi Carney,
It's important to answer EVERY question on the GMAT, even if you're just taking a guess. Any question that is left unanswered is marked as incorrect AND is penalized. The "effect" of the penalty is based heavily on the number of unanswered questions. Leaving 1-2 questions unanswered could have incurred a minor penalty (assuming the question(s) actually "counted", and were not experimental questions). A longer string of unanswered questions (4 or 5, for example) would result in a significant penalty. There’s also the question of how well you answered the prior ‘block’ of questions BEFORE question 36. A long ‘string’ of wrong answers, combined with some unanswered questions, could have brought your score down quite a bit. As it stands, we’ll never know the exact ‘damage’, but you’ve ended up with a fantastic overall score, so there’s really no point in wasting your efforts trying to figure it out.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
