Climbing Through the Difficulty Ranks in Critical Reasoning

Hi dayoajayi,

GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. Assuming a similar 'swing' in how your CATs function, your various score results (from the Official GMAT and your CATs) show that you essentially performed the same each time (+/- a few points). Based on this data, your general ability level is likely in the high-500s. Since you've been studying for a year, you've likely developed some 'bad habits' that will take time to fix (and replace with new 'good habits').

A December 10th Test Date gives you about 4 weeks of study time remaining. With a score goal of 700+, you will need to make some significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. Unfortunately, 4 weeks is likely not going to be enough time to raise a 550 to a 700+. That type of improvement will likely take at least another 2-3 months of consistent, guided study with an emphasis on learning and practicing the proper Tactics.

Have you purchased the ESR for this recent attempt at the GMAT? While the ESR doesn't provide much information, it would likely give provide some clues as to what you should be focused on. For example, a Q36 means that you made lots of little mistakes throughout the Quant section and you missed out on lots of 'strategy-based' points. The V31 means that you likely lost significant points on at least 2 of the 3 major Verbal categories (SC, RC and CR). The fact that you've self-identified CR as an area that you need to work on is good; however, there are likely a number of other areas that you also need to work on.

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

Just like any other section, you need to drill down deep to identify your pain areas. There might be a particular type of problem that is troubling you. Try to find out which one and then work towards it. Below is a way in which you can drill down deep n various sections:

SC: The questions test various concepts such as S-V agreement, modifiers, parallelism etc. Find out what troubles you.
CR: There might be certain types of questions that are troubling you. May be Assumption, may be conclusion, inference etc.
You need to find that out and then practice them
RC: This again can be drilled down into different types of questions and also different topics. See what questions and topics trouble you the most and then practice accordingly.
Quants: Again try to break the questions in topics such as Algebra, Number system (very important), Geometry, PnC etc.

As an addition, start preparing an error log and keep a note of all the mistakes you made and the lessons you learnt from the problems. This will ensure you do not make the same mistake again.

Make sure you complete all of the OG and the Verbal review and if required, you can buy the Question pack1 from mba.com