Gmat Prep Cat - ?s

Question

Hello -

Just did my first GMAT Prep cat.

Quick question. Do these not provide any insight to what level of difficulty or percentile the question is?

Thanks

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi gmatrookie16,

The Official CATs are a bit limited in terms of the data that they provide, but you shouldn't be worried about the relative difficulty of the prompts just let. Many Test Takers become too fixated on the 'implied level' of the questions that they're working on - instead of what really matters: defining WHY they're getting questions wrong and becoming more efficient at approaching the overall Exam. It's also worth noting that just because a 3rd party describes a question as "700 level" does not necessarily make it so.

Before I can offer you any additional advice for your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied so far?
2) What study materials have you used?
3) How did you score on this CAT (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?

Goals:
4) What is your goal score?
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
7) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi gmatrookie16,

The results of your practice exam will not include the question difficulty level. That said, did you just begin your prep? Are you looking for any general advice regarding your study plan?

Also, you may find it helpful to read this article about  How to Score a 700+ on the GMAT .

Feel free to reach out with any further questions. Good luck!

gmatrookie16 · Answer

Hi Rich / Scott -

Thanks for the response.

Studies:
1) How long have you studied so far? i've been studying for a few months now. Really been hitting it hard the past few weeks. It has been a struggle to find effective study time as i work long hours (currently in PE), so studying a few hours after a 10 hr day hasnt been great.
2) What study materials have you used? I have the manhattan guides/Cats + OG guides and practice problems. Gone through all the guides except SC. 
3) How did you score on this CAT (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)? scored and underwhelming 590 (38/33)

Goals:
4) What is your goal score? want to get over 700
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT? early this summer (next month or so)
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School? this fall, some R1 and some R2 if needed
7) What Schools are you planning to apply to? top 10 schools, i dont see too much value in below that as i am already in an area i like (private equity)

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi gmatrookie16,

Many Test Takers who use a 'book heavy' study approach end up getting 'stuck' at a particular score level - and since your studies appear to have been book-heavy so far, it's possible that this has happened to you as well. By extension, to hit your Score Goal, you'll likely end up needing to invest in some new, non-book resources.

Raising a 590 to the point that you can consistently score 700+ will likely require at least another 2-3 months of consistent, guided study - and you'll have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

1) Is this the only practice CAT/mock that you have taken so far? If there were others, then how did you score on those CATs?

"Review" is an exceptionally important part of the GMAT training process; your ability to define WHY you're getting questions wrong is essential to defining the areas that you need to work on (and the specific things that you need to 'fix'). As such, I'd like to know a bit more about your last CAT. While a full Mistake Tracker would provide a lot more information, there are some basic questions that you should be able to answer (and the more EXACT you can be with your answers, the better):

After reviewing each section of this recent CAT, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math/verbal that you just could not remember how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?
5) How many Verbal questions did you 'narrow down to 2 choices' but still get wrong?

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

gmatrookie16 · Answer

Thanks for the feedback.

That was my second CAT. I took one at the start, cold turkey without any prior review or refresher. Saw ~90 point improvement from CAT 1 to 2, after a good amount of studying that i previously mentioned.

To answer your questions below.. i just went through the quant in detail, going through verbal later tonight, so the below is quant only.

1) Because of a silly/little mistake? 
Missed 16 in total. 8 of those were silly mistakes. So really should have gotten 21 correct.

2) Because there was some math/verbal that you just could not remember how to do? 
the other 8 fall in this bucket, just wasnt sure how to approach/concept. However, of these 8 i noticed that i spent 2min+ on these....

3) Because the question was too hard? 
8 (same as above)

4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?
8 (same as above)

5) How many Verbal questions did you 'narrow down to 2 choices' but still get wrong? 
Will get back to you on this once i do a thorough review. However, i think i will have a big issue with SC. RC and CR i can wrap my head around, but SC is tough. Even reading the guides and also reading the solutions in the CAT, i struggle to comprehend and digest any of it.

I have an error tracker for GMAT OG Problems but not for the CATs.

Thanks!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi gmatrookie16,

I've sent you a PM with some additional notes and questions.

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

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