Please help (88%tile on practice tests, 48% on test day)

Hi guys, thank you very much for responding. After a day of reflection, I think I may have spent too much time on reviewing old problems in the last 2 weeks, than solving new ones. I thought last time I didn't do as good of a job at reviewing my mistakes, so I thought addressing this would improve my score. Alas. Below I have provided answers to your questions. If you could advice on what else I can do to improve in the next 16 days I would appreciate it tremendously. Thank you!

1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)? I took only 1-2 full CATs and did mostly quant and verbal the rest of the time, but I studied and did problems for longer than 4 hours each time I did only quant and verbal
2) Did you take them at home? Yes, figured I’d save time that way since I work long hours, full time
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT? I took them between 10am and noon every Sunday. Yesterday, I took the exam at 8am but I really don’t think this was the issue
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.)? I’ve certainly paused the CAT once or twice but was very cognizant that I shouldn’t do that. My 8 minute breaks sometimes were 10-15 minutes.
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE? Yes, I have taken the gmat CATs 2-3 times each, and on the 2nd and 3rd time, some questions, 3-4 repeated in each section. I did make a note of them.

1) Can you provide us with the dates and score breakdowns from your Official GMAT prep practice exams? When you took the practice tests, did you take them under realistic conditions (e.g. in a quiet environment, no extended breaks)?
Did you complete the entire CAT, including the IR and Essay sections? I did quant and verbal mostly and on some days also IR, but not the essay. On the last two tests I did essay and IR.

From the official GMAT prep, below are the last 3
MCAT 580 (Q40, V 30)
MCAT 610 (Q38, V 35)
Princeton 510 (Q 41, V 21) This was a shocker since I only had less than 10 mistakes, others noted that Princeton’s scoring software is not really accurate)
OG Pack 1 Exam 1: 640 don’t have specifics on Q & V near me.
OG Pack 1 Exam 2: 680 (Scaled: Q46, V37) (Percentile: Q 71%, V 81%)
OG Pack 2 Exam 1: 650 (Q 43, V 37) (Q61%, V81%)
OG Pack 2 Exam 2: 690 (Q 47, V 38) (Q74%, V84%)
Test day: 560 (Q36, V31)

2) Can you describe your study routine in greater detail? I see you have been studying for a year and a half. Have you been using the same materials for that entire duration? If so, did you find that you were reading the same material multiples times? Initially, I went through Kaplan’s book to familiarize myself with the fundamentals. Then I started doing OG problems 13th edition. I was reviewing mistakes and taking practice tests; I took the 4 GMAT tests. Later last year, I bought Manhattan’s tests, and I reviewed Manhattan’s books (Number properties, etc). My math score improved significantly but verbal fell down. The best I did on test day was 580 (Jan. 2016), despite higher scores of 650 on practice tests, which I took without breaks and with the essays. Then I decided that I must have done a poor job at reviewing my mistakes.

What I did over the last two months: I aggregated all mistakes I’ve made since fall 2015 in one Word document, solved each one of them, and marked the ones that were not clear. I separated the problems by topic (Number properties, Word problems, Roots& Powers) and used Manhattan’s books (Fundamentals of Quant) to ensure I have the basics covered. Once I did that, I started scoring above Q 45. I then started focusing on Verbal since I never really prepared for it. I used GMAT’s software question pack (497 questions or so) and I did CR and SC only. My V score improved. I can definitely boost my Verbal up over the next two weeks, but I am worried about quant, and the discrepancy between practice tests and test day.

3) When you studied for your most recent GMAT, for how many hours a day did you study?

In terms of daily routine: I wake up by 5-6 am every morning, try to do 20 PS/DS questions and 10 CR and 10 SC at night. I review any mistakes and do the same the next day. I believe the 30-40 questions daily took 2-3 hours of my day. When something was not 100% clear, I pick up the manhattan books. On Fridays, I do a thorough review of my work that week, where I improved / where I didn’t and tackle these areas. On Saturday or Sunday, I take practice tests. I have covered the Manhattan tests and OG tests, and I need new materials. I have 5 tests with Princeton, but they seem quite different from the real thing. So do Veritas. Any recommendations?

From the questions you asked, I think I should do the following over the next two weeks:
1. Do full practice tests at a setting outside of my apartment (my work office) and do not take longer breaks.
2. Continue to solve 30-40 problems a day, new and unseen problems, and continue to fill in gaps with manhattan quant book.
3. Take new practice tests (Princeton – any other ideas?)
4. Target improvement in verbal

What else would you recommend? Thank you so much for taking a moment to read and respond. I appreciate the guidance so much!

Do you have the enhanced score report by chance? If not, I would suggest that you get it; the ESR is the single most powerful performance analysis tool there is. If you post it on this forum, I or someone else will be able to help you with your analysis and provide you with specific feedback.

I do not, do I request this? Does it provide data from the actual test?

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You can view the instructions here: https://www.mba.com/us/store/store-catal ... eport.aspx

And yes, it does. A lot of it. You can view others' in this thread: https://gmatclub.com/forum/information-o ... 21111.html

Hi mitko20m,

The extra information that you've provided is quite useful, as it helps to define what went wrong on Test Day. In real basic terms, you took your CATs in such a way that you were NOT properly training to face the Official GMAT - so you were not ready to face it on Test Day.

Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" your scores can become - and that's what happened here. By skipping sections, taking the CATs at home, retaking CATs that you had already taken, etc., you weren't properly training for the FULL GMAT 'experience.' The score results on those CATs were all 'inflated', so you didn't have the realistic, accurate score information that you needed to adjust your studies and improve. Given your two Official GMAT Scores, it certainly appears that your current ability level is in the high-500s.

Thankfully, this is a relatively easy set of problems to fix. However, if your goal is to score at a much higher level, then you're going to need the necessary time to improve (and 16 days is probably not going to be enough time). By extension, you might also need to invest in some new GMAT training materials.

1) What is your goal score?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

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

I cannot thank you guys enough for responding with such specific instructions! I will be sure to follow them.

I plan to apply to business schools first round, most deadlines are in the first week of September so I could take the exam once on 8/30 or potentially twice every 16 days. Obviously I want to score 700, but realistically, a 680 or 670 should be enough. I am reapplying to business schools and after speaking with some of the admissions officers who had reviewed my overall application, they said that a 680 could help me. The rest of my application is extremely strong.

How would you advise I prepare in the next 16-30 days? I will get the official extensive report. What else should I do in terms of preparation? I have decided that private tutoring or classes are not needed since I understand the basics. Please advise and again, thank you so much for your time and help!

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Hi mitko20m,

Raising your score 100+ points is going to take some serious time and effort, so the more time that you can commit to your studies, the better your chances of hitting your score goal. As such, 30 days would likely be considerably better for you than 16 days would be. For your studies, you're going to need some new CATs (ones that you have not taken before). Considering the length of time that you've already studied, and the fact that your two Official GMAT scores are so similar, you're also likely going to need to learn/practice some new Tactics. All of this is meant to say that you're going to have to invest in some new materials AND you're going to have to work to change the way that you 'see' (and respond to) the GMAT.

1) Going forward, how many hours a week do you plan to study?

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

I can realistically spend at least 3 hours each day, that's 90 hours on top of the basics I've covered. I plan to use Princeton's tests and go over the Manhattan textbooks. What else would you recommend I do? What other tests are good/ similar to the official Gmat? Thanks again!

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You probably don't need to start over from scratch, but you do need to identify and fix your weaknesses. I would actually recommend that you try a tutor. With a tutor, you are almost guaranteed a score increase, since this person can help you identify your weaknesses, fill in the holes in your approach, give you lots of useful advanced tips, and help you tailor specific study plans. Or you could also enroll in a class that gives you direct access to a teacher who can give you individual help with your weaknesses, for a cheaper option.

Without knowing what went wrong on test day and where your weak spots are, how are you going to find out what to focus on? Or were you going to simply review everything?

Attached is the enhanced score report. Could you please advise on next steps that would help me get to 680-690? I tried a tutor last fall and although he was good, I didn't find the sessions helpful. I was much better off solving problems on my own and reviewing shortcuts on gmatclub and from manhattan gmat. The reason I even got a tutor was because I was stuck in the 580-600 range last fall and needed help to get to my desired score, but the tutoring sessions were not helpful. I learned some tricks here and there, but gmatclub and manhattan books were most helpful. In any case, could you please recommend next steps based on the score report card? I am really looking forward to hearing back from you.

Thank you!

I have a few questions based on your ESR:

1. What types of Quant questions did you tend to skip? I'm guessing Data Sufficiency and Geometry?
2. Do you remember what happened in the first quarter of the Quant section? You got most of the questions wrong here right off the bat.
3. What was your typical accuracy ratio in your un-timed practice?

1. What types of Quant questions did you tend to skip? Geometry, and some arithmetic. I have improved significantly in both areas since taking the exam in January (the ESR is for January, I cancelled the test I took last week). The most challenging problems for me now are word problems (ratio, or very word-lengthy problems), which I plan to focus on.
2. Do you remember what happened in the first quarter of the Quant section? You got most of the questions wrong here right off the bat. I think I was given a few tough root problems that threw me off. I have improved in this area, and haven't come across a root problem I cannot solve. Data sufficiency I do well in these days - I would make 2-3 mistakes every 20 questions or so.
3. What was your typical accuracy ratio in your un-timed practice? In practice tests, on quant I usually make 6-10 mistakes, and similar case in verbal. That said, my percentile in each section was above 75% most of the time.

You know you can obtain an ESR from a cancelled attempt, right? January was a while ago...

Anyway, you didn't answer my question on un-timed practice. As you were practicing questions from the OG with time restrictions, how many questions did you typically get wrong among 10 consecutive questions?

1 (2 at most) wrong every 10 problems. When I solve 10 problems from the OG, I solve 1 every 10 problems so the difficulty increases. For example, I would solve question #1, #20,#30...#100.

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There was no option to obtain ESR for cancelled scores.

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The GMAC disagrees with you.

https://www.mba.com/us/frequently-asked- ... #question6

Thanks but when I logged in and attempted to select the cancelled test, there was no option to activate the ESR, the option was available only for the scores I reported. I will contact Gmac. In the meantime, could you please advise on next steps regarding the preparation? Thank you!

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