Hitting a plateau

Question

I have been scoring in the range of 545-585 on Magoosh on all mocks recently. My first mock with official practice test from GMAC was 585.

I have tried going through my mistakes after every mock and working on them. Despite this, the score is staying within the same bracket. For example, I have tried assessing if CR needs more attention over RC in Verbal but that's also not the case since in 1 mock, I am performing great in CR but poorly in the next attempt.

Any suggestions on how to proceed from here will be a life-saver for me. Thanks in advance.

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi sdas80923,

It's good that you've started taking practice tests, but keep in mind that you've taken only one official practice test till now. Since all your other practice tests were unofficial, it's hard to say just how good your CR is, or whether those scores are accurate. The bottom line is that you can use nonofficial material, but be careful about using it for analysis, especially as far as verbal is concerned.

If I were you, I'd keep working on verbal (both CR and RC) for now, and then take another 1-2 official practice tests.

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Seeing whether there may be certain types of CR questions your accuracy fluctuates on (e.g. assumption questions) may be helpful.

bb · Answer

Here is an analytics data insights exercise for you, you clearly have plenty of opportunities to improve, in part because you’re making plenty of mistakes.

While there is no direct relationship between mistakes and score, usually the fewer you have the better, so this isn’t some kind of a mystery where you have to spend a lot of time decoding clues, you have a body and the murder weapon right there in front of you - is there a reason you did not say why you’re not able to score higher? Or you really don’t know? Why are you making so many mistakes?

Before you can get to the positive improvement stage, you have to acknowledge the areas of weakness and so far I do not see much acknowledgment

Gmat750aspirant · Answer

Good insights bb. Acknowledging the mistake and mastering the concept

bhargavhhhhhhhh · Answer

Master the concept wherever you are making the mistakes, practice the question as per the error log

NextstopISB · Answer

Even I'm stuck with 505 score in practice tests, this advice is great

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi sdas80923,

A great way to move forward with your prep and break out of the plateau is with topical practice. Let's use quant as an example.

For example, let’s say you want to practice Number Properties. You can do so by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc.

After each problem set, it's crucial to delve into the questions you answered incorrectly.

For instance, if you stumbled on a remainder question, take a moment to reflect. Was it a careless error? Did you fail to apply the remainder formula correctly? Was there a concept in the question that eluded you? This analysis is key to your learning process.

By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to fix your weaknesses efficiently and, in turn, improve your GMAT quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant, verbal, and DI topics.

Feel free to reach out with any questions.

Good luck!

RetaketheGMAT · Answer

Score plateaus are often more about a lack of consistent test taking skills/approach to quant / DS questions. While you're analysing your errors, look for the kinds of process changes that would consistently address those mistakes. Here are a couple examples:

1. Are you running out of time on word problems -- look at how well you're visualising the data / info in the prompt. Continuously rereading wordy prompt keeps you playing "their game". By converting the info into a table, number line or Venn diagram (examples), you bring the question into your logical framework and create a path the right answer.
2. Notice if you're missing certain types of information (like numbers written as text) and always watch for that type of information and give it extra attention. I'm not a big fan of calling simple errors "silly mistakes". It undervalues the psychometric part of the GMAT where they use "flow traps" to miss information that you'd normally see -- just like a phone scammer gets you to give up personal info.

Keep focused on your process -- it's the path to breaking through score plateaus.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi sdas80923,

585 is not a bad start. That said, I see you still need to improve, and a great way to do so is with topical practice. Let's use quant as an example.

For example, let’s say you want to practice Number Properties. You can do so by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc.

After each problem set, it's crucial to delve into the questions you answered incorrectly.

For instance, if you stumbled on a remainder question, take a moment to reflect. Was it a careless error? Did you fail to apply the remainder formula correctly? Was there a concept in the question that eluded you? This analysis is key to your learning process.

By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to fix your weaknesses efficiently and, in turn, improve your GMAT quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant, verbal, and DI topics.

Feel free to reach out with any questions.

Good luck!

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