I started GMAT prep early last week with little prior knowledge of the GMAT whatsoever.
My current goal is min. 720 and I secretly aim for higher marks...
To give me sufficient time to prepare, I will study for 3 months before my 1st real GMAT test (end-April 2021).
According to the advice I have seen here on GMAT Club, I jumped into the 1st CAT test with
Manhattan Prep Interact. Then I realized that my Quant score was lower than I deserve, due to my ignorance of the very basic GMAT 101 (never looked at the tutorials giving an overview of the GMAT exam). After 5 days of self-study focusing on understanding tricks of DS (the "AD/BCE" grid) and basic steps to follow when dealing with SC, I brought myself to the 2nd CAT test on GMAT Official Prep. Here is the comparison table of the two diagnostic CAT results:
For better readability on screenshots, see attachments below Test Date CAT Provider Total Quant Verbal IR
21.01.2021 MGMAT 600 Q39 V34 IR 5.2
26.01.2021 Official Prep 650 Q45 V35 IR 2 (I bailed 10/12 IR questions because I was too tired) Help Please:
1.
Suggestions on Study Plan
2.
Suggestions for a non-native speaker to improve Verbal? And, generally, what scores are realistic? It appears CAT results from both
MGMAT and GMAT Official Prep indicate my Verbal is stable at 34-35. To be certain that these scores don't factor in any 'luck' when I bailed, I reviewed the questions and concluded that approx 95% of the time I was wrong when I guessed. So 34-35 is where I am now.
3.
Does GMAC Official Prep not offer explanations to the CAT test questions? To gain more out of the official tests, how do I know where I got wrong/right and what review topics (e.g. what kinds of math? what kinds of grammar?)??? At the moment, my mind is completely blank... I don't recognize the tested "topics" by looking at the Correct or Incorrect summary on the Official Prep.
4. Anyone uses the
MGMAT Review Tracker? There are videos on
MGMAT Interact (Pre Session) explaining how to fill out the Tracker (attached below FYI). Accordingly, I worked through the 'reviewing' process for hours religiously, only to find that I don't have any particular strength points that don't need prep on...
If you look at the
"Quant" sheet (starting from
Row 130) and the
"Verbal" sheet (starting from
Row 145),
what insights would you offer please? Thanks!!!
PS:
EMPOWERgmatRichC please advise if you would be so kind... Thx
Attachments
File comment: Manhattan Prep - Diagnostic CAT taken on 21.01.2021
Capture.JPG [ 157.86 KiB | Viewed 801 times ]
File comment: GMAT Official Prep - Diagnostic CAT taken on 26.01.2021
Capture.JPG [ 45.17 KiB | Viewed 784 times ]
File comment: MGMAT-provided CAT Review Tracker detailing the analysis category and difficulty level of each question. Attached is the detailed review & notes of my 1st CAT take on MGMAT
CAT Review Tracker - MGMAT Interact 2021.01.21 Pretest.xlsx [462.31 KiB]
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