Help interpreting GMATPrep and Veritas practice tests - May 9, 19 GMAT

Question

Hello,

I will be taking the real GMAT on May 9th and am unsure how best to use my time. Here are my practice test scores:

1. GMAT Prep: April 15: 750, Q49 / V42
2. GMAT Prep: April 19: 750, Q48 / V45
3. GMAT Prep: April 23: 750, Q49 / V42
4. Veritas CAT: April 27: 710, Q49 / V39

I found the official GMAT Prep tests to be significantly easier than the Veritas CAT and when analyzing the official Prep CATs I found that my biggest problem was making a couple silly mistakes.

However, on the Veritas CAT I found both the Quant and Verbal to be substantially more difficult, and although I got a similar score, I answered way more incorrect.

My big question is this: Is the real GMAT much harder question wise than the GMAT Prep tests?

If it's not, (and Veritas is just making theirs overly challenging because they figure "if you can answer hard questions, then it'll be super easy to answer easier questions"), how should I use the remaining 11 days of studying in order to avoid silly mistakes and get all of the easy questions correct?

Thanks for your help!

AjiteshArun · Answer

Wow. Those are some truly amazing scores. As long as you were not familiar with the questions on those tests, I'd say that you are capable of getting a similar (that includes higher) score on the actual GMAT. The scores generated by non-offical tests like the one you mentioned could be "off" for a number of reasons. Even the GMATPrep tests are not perfect. However, they are the most likely to give you an experience that is representative of the real exam (the main thing that those tests can't incorporate is exam pressure), and you should definitely feel good about your scores. Take one more official practice test if you feel that 3 750s in a row could be just "chance".

For what it's worth, I felt that the GMATPreps were very similar to my actual test.

2019gmat2019 · Answer

Thanks for the insight! That's very encouraging and I'm glad to hear your GMAT was very similar to the GMATPrep.

My tentative plan is to take my remaining 3 official GMAT Preps on April 29, May 1st and May 5th. You think if I slow down my studying starting on May 2nd, I'll still be rested and in good shape for my real GMAT on May 9th?

AjiteshArun · Answer

That's something only you can take a call on. I wouldn't normally recommend so many tests so close together though. Maybe 2, with  at least  3 days between your last practice test and your GMAT. Remember that this is your call though, as I don't know enough about you.

If I could ask, why do you want to take three tests?

2019gmat2019 · Answer

I guess I'm just thinking that with more practice tests I'll have more confidence going into the real test. I basically studied for 2.5 months at 4-4.5 hours a day and finally finished all of my learning. So now I don't really know what else to do other than take practice tests, review and then do random problems. Also, I only purchased GMAT Prep test 1 - 4 (have used 1-3), so I figure if I buy all 6 (in order to take tests 4 and 5 and maybe 6) I might as well use up all 6 of them.

My other thought was to take another Veritas practice test but I don't really want to do that since I find their questions overly difficult and I don't want to get discouraged. What's the potential downside of taking 3 more tests? Also, do you have any other tips on how to defend/maintain my 750 practice test scores? I want to stay fresh on everything and don't really want to dive into insanely challenging questions I don't think. Thank you so much for the responses!

AjiteshArun · Answer

You have a good reason there (confidence). Just make sure that you don't end up exhausted, as you need to stay focused on the main event.

The other thing to keep in mind is the possibility that you might want or need to take the exam again, and a couple of official practice tests would come in handy then. This is advice that I give every test taker. That is, it'd be good if our first attempt is also our last, but we can't really ever be sure about something like that. As for maintaining a 750... that's a tough one

. I think one of things that could be useful is to take the GMAT as you would a practice test: focused, but not worried. This can help you avoid the pressure that can "crowd out" your ability to solve questions. So that'd mean not thinking about things like the final score or even the previous question during your test. Also, ensure that you execute your timing strategy correctly. I agree with your point about not working through unrepresentative material. Maybe you could consider working through a few questions from the set of 404 official practice questions or the new OG 2020 (questions like this one ).

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi 2019gmat2019,

Those are some great official practice test scores! Regarding your plan, I agree with @AjiteshArun; you really don’t want to burn yourself out before your GMAT. Thus, maybe 2 more official practice exams would be enough prior to your GMAT on May 9.

In addition to taking practice exams, you also could engage in focused quant and verbal practice to help uncover and fix any remaining quant and verbal weaknesses. For example, let’s say that you want to practice Number Properties. You can do so by answering 25 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. As you do such practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you got a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not properly apply the remainder formula? Was there a concept you did not understand in the question? By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to efficiently fix your weaknesses and in turn improve your GMAT quant skills. You can follow this process for other quant and verbal topics as well.

Once you complete the practice exam today, feel free to report back here, and I’d be happy to provide some further advice.

Good luck!

2019gmat2019 · Answer

Thanks guys!

I just took my forth (and last purchased Official GMAT Prep test) and got another 750 with Q49, V44 and IR of 4.

I'm not super confident that I can break Q50 but I'd be trilled with a Q49 and a V42+. I think I'm going to just reset practice test 2 and that on May 5th (which will give me a full 3 days off before the real GMAT on May 9th).

I'm really struggling with the IR though (got 3 5s and 2 4s). I haven't done any studying of it but it seems like I'm just running out of time and making dumb mistakes or mistakes that would be unreasonable for me not to make (like outrageously specific caveats to true / false questions, etc.).

Do either of you have any tips for improving IR over the next couple days? I plan to tapper down my Q&V review over the next few days and will put a little bit of time into the IR and AWA.

AjiteshArun · Answer

IR is non-adaptive, so it doesn't matter if you "skip" (guess) a tough question. There is also no additional penalty for not finishing the IR section. So don't rush through IR in an effort to finish it, don't commit additional time to a very long or very difficult question, and don't hesitate to spend a little more time on a question if you feel that it is doable. Keep in mind that all of this is only for IR (the quantitative and verbal sections are adaptive

).

2019gmat2019 · Answer

Thanks AjiteshArun!

I actually have a lot of trouble figuring out which questions are difficult on the IR. They honestly all seem to be very easy if I have enough time to work through them. Any tips to help decide which ones are best to guess on? I know that's probably a hard question to answer...

AjiteshArun · Answer

You're right: we can't really say whether a question should be "skipped" before we try solving it. Maybe it has more to do with what we expect, given our past experience with similar questions.

The broader point is that we shouldn't worry  too much  about time on IR, as the score depends only on the number of questions we get correct and not on the difficulty level or anything else. If you still feel a little uncomfortable with the section, maybe you could spend some time going through a few practice questions (from  mba.com  if you need even more questions than are there in the OG). Make sure you time yourself.

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Help interpreting GMATPrep and Veritas practice tests - May 9, 19 GMAT

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