Manhattan Cat 1 - 670 : Please guide to cross 700

Question

Hi GC

3 months back, I took the GMAT prep 1 & 2 and scored 610 (Q48 V26) Both times.

Today, I took the manhattan CAT 1 and finally crossed 650 mark : My score was 670 (Q45 V36) IR 2

I have been studying for GMAT atleast 4 hrs/day from various sources.

As far as quant is concerned, it is always my strength and Q45 seems to be disappointing.

In verbal, I have got 3 already solved questions (slight BIAS) and last 4 questions were wrong (no time) in quant as well as verbal.

Please advise what to do? I have 35 days to the actual GMAT.

Regards
Balaji

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Balajikarthick1990,

Before I can offer the specific advice that you're looking for, I'd like to know a bit more about your studies and these CAT scores:

1) You mentioned that you took those two CATs 3 months ago, but have you been studying consistently for these last 3 months?
2) What materials have you been using during your studies?
3) What is your goal score?

When you took these CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? 
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once?

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

Balajikarthick1990 · Answer

Hi ...please find my comments below:

1) You mentioned that you took those two CATs 3 months ago, but have you been studying consistently for these last 3 months? - Yes Min of 2-3 hrs per day
2) What materials have you been using during your studies? - Og 12, og 16, VR 16, QR 16, Gmat club (atleast 5 hrs i spend)
3) What is your goal score? - 7xx

When you took these CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)? - Yes
2) Did you take them at home? - Yes..But Was extremely strict (took 8 minutes break)..had a gatorade,snicker---I tried to replicate the exam feel
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT? - Yes morning
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? - No.definitely not.
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? - No

Thanks for asking these insightful questions. Your advice and encouragement would be highly regarded.

chetan2u · Answer

Hi Balaji,

I would say a Manhattan mock 670 is pretty good and CHEER UP, you are on the way to 700+, if you can maintain the same momentum..
Having said that, another 20-30 above 700 is always good.
for that-
1) first understand the weaknesses in both Q and V and devote time to overcome that. Since you yourself are privy to your strengths and weaknesses, you are the best judge whether you have understood your weaknesses.
2) Take 3-4 mocks at regular interval in proper Exam conditions.
3) You can get back to me if you want to be helped out on any specific topic..

All the best

Balajikarthick1990 · Answer

Thank you sir ...GC has been a great inspiration to me and that too seeing a top 10 badge below my name motivates me to push harder.
Sure , I will keep you posted on this.

Thanks sir.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Balajikarthick1990,,

Since your scores have improved, you might not need to make any big adjustments to how you're studying. Your studies have been 'book-heavy' though; many Test Takers who study in that way end up getting 'stuck' at a particular score level, so we should see how your next CAT goes (you should take one in a week or so).

After reviewing 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 didn't know how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?

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

Balajikarthick1990 · Answer

I reviewed the quant and verbal part. Concept wise in quants : P&C (2 questions), Prob (1 question) completely blew me away, Time speed and Distance (1 question) -- Predominantly weak in TSD,P&C/PROB.

In verbal - SC 3 incorrect / 12
CR - 6 out of 14

RC - 5 out of 15

CR i think i need to work even hard

Few questions in quants were really hard....I was able to answer them correctly...if i spend >4 minutes.

What do you say. Can i purchase GMAT prep pack and try 1 this week?

OR

Continue with Manhattan CAT 2?

Thanks

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Balajikarthick1990,,

While many Test Takers end up becoming overly focused on hard/weird question types (since those are the questions that most people remember from their CATs), that's likely not what you actually need to focus on. While you described some of the 'hard' questions that you saw on this CAT, you didn't answer the first question (and ultimately the most important question) that I asked:

After reviewing this recent CAT, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?

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

Balajikarthick1990 · Answer

Sorry..I somehow didnt notice that....there were about 5 questions in which i made silly mistakes ...(1 in CR, 1 in RC, 2 in DS, 1 in PS).

and please let me know whether I can take Manhattan CAT 2 or Purchase GMAT EP pack (since i have already given prep 1 and 2).

Thanks

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Balajikarthick1990,,

That number of silly/little mistakes could cost you some serious points on Test Day (remember that there are only 78 questions in total between the Quant and Verbal sections). At higher and higher scoring levels, the GMAT becomes really 'sensitive' to those types of errors, so you will likely have to make some changes to how you work through the prompts during your practice (and on your CATs and on Test Day). The simple solution is to take more notes, label your work and NOT do anything in your head. The challenge will be in how long it takes you to adjust your normal routine for answering questions under timed conditions.

The most realistic CATs on the market are the ones from GMAC (the two free ones and the 4 additional CATs that you can purchase with Exam Pack 1 and Exam Pack 2). The CATs from MGMAT, Veritas and Kaplan are reasonably accurate though, as long as you take them under realistic conditions.

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

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Manhattan Cat 1 - 670 : Please guide to cross 700

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