CAT Quant Section - timing - bombed

Question

Hi Guys, I just took my second CAT and, as you can read from above, I have been bombed from the quant section. In my first CAT I got a decent Quant score of 40, on CAT 2 I got 30

I think the main reason was my pacing and my absolutely inefficency in managing time (it is not a problem of knowledge or contents, but just time). For this reason I was thinking to take just the quant section of my previous CATs 1-2 days earlier taking a new whole CAT...what do you think about? I would like also to know whether you had the same problem and what was your solution to it! Thanks in advance

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi pepo,

Before we can talk about how best to improve your Quant performance, I'd like to know more about how you've studied so far:

1) How long have you been studying?
2) What resources have you been using?
3) Do you have to rush to finish the Quant section on time (and do you have to guess on a bunch of questions)?

4) How have you scored on each of your CATs overall(including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
5) What is your goal score?
6) When are you planning to take the GMAT?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

pepo · Answer

Hi Rich,

I will be happy to respond.

1) I have been studying since february 2014
2) Manhattan books, Kaplan, Princenton, OG, Empower Gmat course (still on it, just started stage 3)
3) I had to rush on the last 15 questions (until question 23 the level of difficulty was beteween 600-700, then it fallen dramatically)
4) my CATs were similar to a roller coaster = official exam 490 (Q.30, V 28), CAT 1 590 (Q.39 V33), CAT 2 (Q.30, V.35)...not mentioning the past ones in which I scored also 360!!!
5) my goal score has been falling since I started my preparation...I dream a 680, but I realized that a 600 would be ok for me.
6) I must to take the gmat between December and January

Best!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Pepo,

Having to rush through 15 questions at the end of the Quant section means that you are spending far too much time on the first 22 questions. There are two likely causes for this:

1) You are reading/re-reading/staring too much and not doing the necessary note-taking and work.
2) You are approach prompts the 'long way' instead of using the proper Tactics (which are almost certainly faster).

On your last CAT,
1) How many Quant questions took you longer than 3 minutes to solve?
2) On how many Quant questions did you use a Tactic (such as TEST IT or TEST THE ANSWERS)?

I HIGHLY recommend that you post each of those questions in the Quant Forums, so you that you can see how the Experts and other Users would approach those prompts.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

pepo · Answer

Hi Rich,

1) on my CAT, 7 questions took me more than 3 mins;
2) I used Test it and Test the answers on approx. 18/20 questions.

I will try to post them asap.

Thanks a million!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi pepo,

I highly recommend that you redo ALL of the questions that took you more than 7 minutes to solve (regardless of whether you got them correct or incorrect). While it's possible that some of those questions were tougher questions (which would require more time to solve), it's likely that several of them could have been solved in considerably less time. You should also be on the lookout for the 'patterns' in those questions - by learning to spot them now, you should build up a faster 'response' when you see them again - this should help to save time and get you to the correct answer faster.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

CAT Quant Section - timing - bombed

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