ESR REVIEW

Question

Hi i wrote my exam last saturday and scored a 680. Am aiming to score above 700. I have attached my ESR. it would be really helpful if someone can suggest me strategies to achieve so.

My lowest score was in RC. But during my mock tests i never scored such low in RC. I think i had a huge problem in time management during the exam. Can any of the experts review my ESR and guide me through.

Thanks in advance

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi SunthoshiTejaswi,

First off, a 680/Q49 is a fantastic score (it's right around the 85th percentile overall), so it could be enough to get you into your first-choice School. As such, a retest might not be necessary. Depending on the Schools that you plan to apply to, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile. There's a Forum full of them here:

ask-admission-consultants-124/

Since you appear to have had such a rough time with RC when you took the Official GMAT, I'd like to know how you studied and the 'steps' that you go through when dealing with a typical RC prompt:

1) How long have you studied?
2) What materials have you used (and did you use any specific materials for RC)?
3) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
4) Can you describe the work/steps that you do when dealing with an RC prompt?

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

SunthoshiTejaswi · Answer

Hi Rich,

First of all thanks for the reply.

Am working in It industry and have an work experience of 3 and half years. Since most of the IT people have a score above 700 i think its good for me to aim for a higher score.

I have been studying on and off from the past year. This is my second attempt. In my previous attempt i scored a 640 (Q48 V 31)

For practice I used all the official material and the Rc passages available in GMAT club.

My mock tests are as follows

Gmat prep exam 5 650 Q48 V31
Kaplan 700 Q49 V37
Kaplan 710 Q49 V38
Kaplan 670 Q47 v35
Kaplan 710 Q47 V40
Gmat prep exam 6 730 Q49 V40

For RC i would spend 4 mins to understand the passage and author main point and then spend 1 min for the questions. but in the exam i cudnt follow any strategy for RC as i cudnt manage time.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi SunthoshiTejaswi,

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 Official Score makes sense relative to your CAT score results (your current ability is right around 700, +/- a few points).

From your last post, it sounds like you worked through lots of RC prompts, but you didn't have a set series of Tactics/knowledge that you used to approach RC in general. While the length and 'density' of RC passages will vary, everything else is predictable. The logic/design of the prompts, the types of questions that are asked and even the wrong answer choices that appear with each question are all predictable - so you CAN train to deal with them regardless of what the subject of the passage is. As such, if you do choose to retest, then you might find it worthwhile to invest in some specific RC-based resources.

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

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