Experimental question and strategy in GMAT

Question

Hi Team

I made a comment this month regarding my hypothesis on experimental questions here - so-close-yet-so-far-away-118371.html#p957767 In my last MGMAT, I kinda little freaked out during my Quant. My 1st question was 600-700, and after that ALL 36 questions were 700-800 levels - I think MGMAT must have added a ton of 700-800 questions in the pool, as I was running out of 700-800 in my last to last MGMAT CAT. In the last test, I was sweating and shaking to be on top my timing, trying to keep each question to < 2 mins, and as a result I made a handful of silly mistakes (results in my signature). For few questions, I feel like I need 2.5-3 mins (maybe 3.5-4 mins for 1-2) as I have not practiced a lot and sometimes I need to figure things out from scratch during the test. Now, considering my hypothesis in regard to experimental questions, I think this should NOT happen in the real GMAT. I have noticed that I destroy anything "below" 700-800 level quant in < 1 min consistently. Hence, if I get say 25-30 700-800 level quant questions, and, say 5-10 experimental questions, I should be able to gain 7-10 mins that I can afford to allocate to the TOUGH questions. So during the test, is it a good idea for me to take up to 3-4 mins for questions that I feel I need more time? Experts here please suggest if my strategy would work? Thing is I don't want to guess on a question, unless it is the absolute right thing to do. Could this strategy be extrapolated to verbal? Or do you guys think I should not bother and the only timing I should work on is to complete 8-8-8-8-9 questions/15 mins - as long as I can keep that up, it should be okay? Any advice?

mohater · Answer

Don't bother making a strategy for experimental questions.

There is no way to "know". Going too fast can be problematic as going too slow as you might misread questions and answer something not being asked (a common problem on the GMAT as there are always logical answers that don't actually answer the question).

The whole point of average time on problem is just that, averages. You will spend more time on more difficult questions and less time on easier ones. The goal is to stay within a reasonable range of the average to give you time to finish and do your best.

abhicoolmax · Answer

Thanks mohater for you recommendation.

In my practice tests, I am planning to follow 7-8-9-8-9 question/15 mins in verbal - if I am within this time then no worries, but if I am slower than this, I will skip the next difficult CR question I encounter. And 10 questions/20 mins in quant - if I am 1+ question short, I will switch to educated guessing (<45secs) in the the next tough question.

ebonn101 · Answer

I don't think this is a good idea, for quant or verbal. Ultimately, you just have no way of knowing the composition or concept of the 10 experimental questions you face. GMAC (obviously) doesn't release or publish any data on how they are placed, valued, or quantified prior to being put in an actual GMAT exam, so forming any strategy to use more time and *HOPE* that you will get 10 easy experimentals is not worth pursuing. Think of this scenario: what if you are weak in SC, specifically Idioms, and you get 2-3 Idiom SC Experimental SC questions, 700-level? If you're following your suggested strategy, you're probably in big trouble at that point, but have no way of knowing it because you can't even tell it's an experimental question...

abhicoolmax · Answer

Agreed. I stopped thinking about experimental ques already

I don't want to rely on chances what-so-ever. It is now or never situation for me, so I want to give my best for the 1st and the last time. Having said that do you advocate the following strategy? I have not been able to score well in verbal because of 2 primary reasons: 1) I make few mistakes in 1st 10 - mostly careless due to haste, and 1) I run out of time and make string of mistakes in the end. This is because, I don't quick manage time during the test. So, now I am trying to stay on top of the following timing strategy. Please let me know what you think.

mmapplebeck · Answer

Abhicoolmax, You can find some good timing strategies in this article: https://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/keeping-pace.cfm Best, Matt Mapplebeck Student Services Associate Manhattan GMAT

abhicoolmax · Answer

Thanks Matt, that helped me finalize my timing strategy. Hope I can practice/implement it in my next mock.

akhileshgupta05 · Answer

One tip: Just keep it simple. Don't complicate all this so much. The more you complicate, the more nervous you're going to get.

openbox1 · Answer

My limited experience with the Manhattan CAT tests (did the one free test and only partially through verbal because manhattan server dropped me) is that mgmat math questions typically require a little more "grunt work" to get the answer. This means that even once you figure out how to solve the qtn, u still have to do a significant amount of calculation to come out with the final answer.

I've found that for the actual GMAT, its more about figuring out how to approach the problem. If you know what to do, calculating the answer is usually a quick painless process.

One trick that I used to keep myself on time is this:
Once u are brought to your workstation to take the test, simply sketch out a time line for you to keep to.

I just write two columns:

Qtn Q V 
1 75 75
5 67 68 (only 4 qtns in this interval)
10 57 59
15 47 50
20 37 41
25 27 32
30 17 23
35 7 14
40 5

I give myself 10min/5quant qtn and 9min/5verbal qtn.

Of course, you'll be faster usually on the quant in the beginning so depending on how much time I've saved, I'll allow myself to spend more time on harder qtns. My own personal rule is no more than 4 min for any qtn in Quant, and no more than 1.5min for SC qtns.

That gives me plenty of time. You don't have to stick 100% to the clock and I do sometimes allow myself to go over, but not by much and once I am, I make a conscious effort to catch back up time by trying to work quicker or guess if I have no idea how to approach a qtn.

Following this rule helped me change from not being able to finish a quant section on time to consistently scoring 49-50 in all practice tests. Not the best I know compared to the guys here who think anything less than 51 is a failure, but I've always been weaker in Quant than Verbal.

Also, some people use 15min intervals but I find that with the larger block of time, there's so much more leeway to get behind for me to feel comfortable.

Oh and one more thing, don't allow MGMAT verbal scores lull you into complacency. From what I've seen from the experience of other test takers, the algo in MGMAT verbal is very "generous." People seem to consistently score lower on the actual test.

abhicoolmax · Answer

Thanks guys for the inputs. I gave Kaplan today - primarily to practice the timing. Didn't work in Quant as I finish the test 20 mins before time with 1 incorrect. I knew I will flunk verbal in general, but surprisingly it was not a disaster; I was able to apply the time rule but I was always running late, skipped a couple in the middle to try to get back on time but i was always chasing the ghost - the time. I felt 2 things about the Verbal section of the test: 1. SCs were ALL convoluted - highest density of commas and modifiers I have ever seen in any test. Each SC was > 1/2 unlined. It was very taxing to get past these SC - I was targeting 1 min but I took up to 2 mins in few and still got them wrong

2. RC passages were very dense - I got 3 long and 1 short (I love short ones

). In general, I do pretty good on short RCs (as I read everything and take lotsa notes), but in long RCs (I skim details and don't have full handle on the passage, otherwise I can't read in < 4 mins) I normally get 1-2 wrong/long RC with good hold on big picture.

Could you guys who have given all these different tests, including GMAT, help me understand what should I expect in the real GMAT? Also, what kind of SCs have you guys see in real GMAT? Is it more difficult than MGMAT/GMATPrep - I mean on the lines of Kaplan - or what? Thanks.

abhicoolmax · Answer

LOL..... Just tried https://gmatclub.com/gmat-score-calculator/ with 720 score in Kaplan, and it predicted 770 with 95% accuracy. This is hilarious, or rather ridiculous! Seriously, I will take that anytime :p. Well, I will give my GMATPrep on Sunday - that should tell me where I stand by then.

mattapraveen · Answer

A quick look at your Q score on the mock tests tell me that you will get no less than a 50 on Q in the real GMAT. So stop fretting so much on Q. Q will be a cake walk for you. Concentrate on the verbal timing more meticulously. You can afford to guess a question or two on Q, get it wrong and even then manage to get a 49/50 in Q. Verbal is quite ruthless. If you happen to guess the last 3 questions and god forbidding, you get them wrong, your V score will drop by at least 3-4 points and may pull a potential high 750 to a low 700+.
I messed up my verbal timing last time. Got a monstrous RC in my last 7 questions and it upset my timing and had to rush through my last 4-5 Verbal questions. 
A split of 40V and 50/51 Q will be the ideal split to get a 750 for you. You will need to get 40 V consistently to crank up a 40 on real GMAT.
Good luck.

catfreak · Answer

Any suggestions on increasing verbal from 30's to 40's range.
I feel it tough to apply the rules that you have learnt in <2 minutes that you have got for every verbal SC and CR questions. So most of the times go with the wit.
Is there any fix pattern of length and number question in RC's that come in actual GMAT ?

abhicoolmax · Answer

mattapraveen,
Thanks for the tips man. I am not sure if I can get q51 in GMAT dude. I make 2-4 careless mistakes each time in MGMAT and GMATPrep. Since GMATPrep is the closest to the reality, and since it has not given me q51 yet (even with only 2-3 incorrects), I think I will end up 49-50 in real test as I highly doubt I can get 100% correct to get q51 (I think that's what GMATPrep expects!). Also, I don't have time to work on quant at this point to remove these careless mistakes. Hope I get lucky :D
Furthermore, I am not able to get the verbal score I want. I have a feeling that I will end my GMAT journey w/o ever seeing V40 (or higher) in my score card. This sucks man - I have ONLY studied verbal for past 3 month, whenever I sat down to study, and I am still no-where close to expect V40. Although I feel confident, something happens during the test and I find myself chasing the time in the verbal section. Life has become a hell for me- so depressing!

catfreak,
I am not sure if I am the right person to guide you, but please see this on how I have worked through my verbal so far tomorrow-if-not-700-is-750-possible-in-4-weeks-116367-20.html#p964320. Hope it helps in some way.
Though I am not sure any more, as I am not able to improve my score enough. One bad day and I will land up < 700. Although I feel very confident at the start of a test, but then my performance starts degrading in the verbal section. I will give more tests in next couple of days to see if I can remove this testing inertia - I think that's what's happening.

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