Is taking CATs a skill?

Question

Hi guys, 

I was wondering, is taking these CATs a skill in its own right? When I take them, I commit very silly errors and sometimes am bad with time managment. If I were to do these problems practicing from the OG with pen and paper, I would never commit those silly errors. So my question is, besides knowing the content, perhaps I need to practice on my test taking abilities? Anyone out there have the same problem as I do? Thanks!

kryzak · Answer

yes, it is a skill in its own right. That's why practice CATs (especially GMATPrep) are SO important. Have you taken any practice CATs? If you have many weeks left, keep on practicing those CATs every week or twice a week... GMATPrep, PowerPrep, and MGMAT CATs are the best in my opinion. Avoid Kaplan and PR like the plague

fawreel902 · Answer

Thanks for the reply. Whats wrong with the PR CATs though?

kryzak · Answer

PR math was VERY easy, so it doesn't help you learn or handle tougher questions. PR Verbal was hard, but not because it was well designed, but because the questions were asked in a very vague way and the answers were very suspect. I never "argued" with the official answers of the OG in all my missed questions, but I disputed more than 3 or 4 answers in the PR Verbal section when i took it (and got the lowest verbal score I've ever received in practice, V33). 

That's why I stopped taking PR tests and focused on MGMAT CATs (and GMatPrep/PowerPrep), because while MGMAT CATs had insanely hard math, the scores were somewhat reflective (add 2-4 pts to your Quant score) and the verbal was mostly well designed and about the right difficulty. 

Hope that helps!

fawreel902 · Answer

Bummer, I just scored a 39 in a PR cat in the quant section. My highest quant score ever, guess it doesnt mean much...........

misterJJ2u · Answer

CAT is definitely a skill. I got used to the paper based tests where you can write all over them and such. Can't do that on the computer. I do, however, put my paws all over the screen to void out certain answers. It helps me visually. 

Don't get discouraged on math. key is to learn your weakness and study up. I suck at DS, so that's what I've been doing for a while. Also suck at number properties, so i went out and bought the MGMAT Numbers Properties book. 

I still suck at them...but I make flash cards for hard questions and write otu the key concepts being tested. That helps a ton.

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Is taking CATs a skill?

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