Benchmarks--need your help

Question

Hi all,

I started studying about 5 weeks ago after scoring a disappointing 570 (Q28 V40). With that said, I've been focusing mainly on Quant and SC, as they were my weakest areas by far.

I've been keeping an error log of the OG guide practice questions I've been doing so far. My accuracy is around 77% for Quant (80% PS, 70% DS), which I hope to improve. I have completed about 250 questions total.

I know this is a difficult question to answer, but I was wondering if I'm making decent progress towards my end goal of 700+.

Any help and/or insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jason

Yekrut · Answer

I think the best way to determine if you've made any progress is to take another diagnostic test. I would suggest going over the questions you made mistakes on to try to understand where they are coming from so you can avoid them in the future.

Let us know how the second practice exam goes!

Let us know how the second practice exam goes!

jhwang116 · Answer

I completed my second CAT exam and it didn't go as well as I had hoped. I scored a 600 (Q34, V38) compared to my first 570 (Q28, V40). I'm discouraged because I've been studying intensely for the last 6 weeks and this isn't the improvement I was expecting.

For the past 6 weeks, I've focused about 90% on quant and 10% on SC. I've been following the syllabus on those subjects precisely. Quant did improve, albeit not as much as I had hoped.

My success rate in quant in CAT #2 was as follows:
300 - 500 (5 total): 80%
500 - 600 (13 total): 62%
600 - 700 (17 total): 29%
700 - 800 (2 total): 0%

My success rate in quant in CAT #1 was as follows:
300 - 500 (7 total): 43%
500 - 600 (14 total): 50%
600 - 700 (13 total): 31%
700 - 800 (3 total): 33%

I'm not as disappointed by the drop in verbal, as I've only really focused on SC, which did improve from ~40% in the 600 - 800 range to ~60% in that same range. It seems the improvement in SC was offset by slight decreases in both CR and RC. I was especially exhausted today during the verbal section and found myself more concerned with finishing the test than getting the right answer.

Coming out of the quant section, I felt much more comfortable and confident, which is why I was so surprised about my score. I was able to finish the quant section this time, unlike last time, and I thought I was much better overall on time management. I've looked at my results, however, and it appears that I spent more than 2:30 on 10 questions, but only got one of those correct. So I obviously still need to work on my timing. Additionally, 6 questions were incorrect due to careless errors.

I've put a lot of time and effort into studying and it just doesn't seem like I've improved much. I know it has only been 6 weeks, but only a 30 point overall improvement and a 6 point quant improvement from a state of no preparation seems a bit low.

With all of this said, should I change the way I'm studying or change my hopes of scoring in the 700+ range before June? As always, any help and/or insight is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jason

Yekrut · Answer

Hello Jason,

Good debrief of your second CAT. From what you have posted I would remain quite optimistic.

It is clear that verbal is your strong suit. You are already performing quite well in that section with little studying. I'm sure you can improve your score to the 42 point range with more dedicated studying. You clearly have made improvements to the SC section, which is promising, and the overall drop was most likely due to fatigue. Knowing that you can score in the 40 point range is very encouraging towards achieving your 700 point score.

You've also demonstrated improvement in the Quant section. A 6 point increase is quite encouraging. From the break down you have posted it appears that you are still making some mistakes on the easier questions. Do you know what sub-topics these questions were in? Although you have gone through quite a significant amount of questions, I would suggests finding the topics you've made the most mistakes in and figuring out where these mistakes are coming from. Studying these errors may reveal some knowledge gaps that need to be filled. Instead of going through another hundred questions focus on understanding where your mistake is coming from and the concepts needed to answer that question. Make sure you learn those concepts before moving on and trying additional questions. One technique I use to accomplish this is to answer fewer questions at a time. I'll answer 10 questions in about 20 minutes and then take another 40 minutes to go over the answers. I make sure I understand what the question was asking me and what knowledge was being asked of me. If I didn't know the concept or approach, I try to go study it using other resources (such as Khan Academy). I don't know if this an approach you are already using, but it is something that seems to work for me.

Overall I wouldn't be discouraged, in fact I would be quite happy. You still have plenty of time to study and you are showing signs of improvement. Figure out your weakest topics and study the errors you made and you should continue to show improvement.

Best of luck!

jhwang116 · Answer

Thanks for the encouraging response. Based on my error log, there are a few areas that I need to work on, especially number properties and rates & work. Overall, it seems I also need to work on accuracy in calculations in general. Is there any way to work on that or will that come with repetition/practice?

By the way, I would ideally like to take the GMAT in the first week of May, as I would ideally like to take it early enough that I can take it a second time before it changes in June. Is a 700+ realistic by May given my progress so far?

Thanks,
Jason

mohater · Answer

You have a 40 in verbal. That's well over 80 percentile. Any nominal improvement in verbal will do next to nothing to boost your score.

I don't think you're using the error log correctly. At this point in our lives, we have "fixed" ways of approaching math problems, and if we have an incorrect approach, we will often be guided to an incorrect answer. Reading the explanation, folks often have an "ah-ha" moment, but have no idea how to apply this "ah-ha" moment. This is where the error log is most useful.

You need to analyze the results to figure out the problem in your approach. Do you skip arithmetic steps, assuming you do things correctly? Do you answer something the question is not asking (some questions are designed to be "misread" and have correct answers based on the incorrect interpretation)? Do you apply incorrect algebra, geo, trig, etc rules on problems?

Working out the root causes is the key to success. Figuring out those root causes is the difficulty people face.

jhwang116 · Answer

Mohater,

Thanks for your response. I'm a little confused by your first statement. I've looked at the curve that combines verbal and quant scores into your total score and it looks like one point improvements in either verbal and quant will both result in a 10 point increase overall most of the time--there are some ranges where it results in no change.

I do understand, however, that I need to work on quant more than verbal, which is why I have only spent about 10% of my time on it. The time I have spent has been only on SC, which was very weak.

In terms of my error log, the reason that I noted broad areas of improvement like number properties and rates & work is because I have difficulty with those concepts in general. I understand where you're coming from about finding why I am systematically under-performing. At least 2-4 questions were incorrect due to small arithmetic errors due to skipping steps for the sake of saving time. Additionally, especially for data sufficiency, I tend to only think of the surface implications of the clues given OR I get into the detail of each clue but have difficulty seeing the "big picture" (I performed all the necessary calculations and had the right numbers, but I couldn't see the connection).

Is this what you meant? How would I go about addressing these areas of weakness?

Thanks again,
Jason

mohater · Answer

Scoring is weighted. You're already in the top tier on verbal. Making a few point improvement in math will help you more than a few point improvement in verbal. Also, going from a 40 to a 50 in verbal is quite difficult. Going from a 28 to a 38 in math should not be nearly as difficult. Also, the 28 to 38 in math will get you more points on your overall score when compared to a 40 to 50 in verbal. Don't skip steps for the sake of time if you keep making mistakes. If you have difficulty in general with the concepts, then the GMAT materials are not best for you. You should use materials that focus on fundamentals, instead of materials that assume you have a decent grasp of fundamentals (as most GMAT material assumes). The Khan Academy can do wonders for you in this regards. Tons of short videos taking you step by step through all the concepts in math, from basic to advanced: https://www.khanacademy.org/

jhwang116 · Answer

Thanks for the link, I'll definitely look into it for concepts that I have difficulty with. I also didn't make it clear--I've been working through the MGMAT books as well, so I've been referring to those as well.

I'm not entirely sure if you read my second post, but I've since increased my quant score from 28 to 34. It wasn't the jump I was hoping for, but I'll take it. With that said, is a jump from 34 to 45 in 6 or 7 weeks realistic?

Thanks again for all of your help. I sincerely appreciate it.

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