Please help reviewing the first mock!!

Hi pzgupta,

While the specific data that you asked about is not available in the Official GMAC practice CATs, there's still plenty that we can deduce from your performance (although a full review of that CAT will be required). Before we discuss those steps though, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) How did you score on this CAT (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
7) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

Hi pzgupta,

Assuming that you took this CAT in a realistic fashion that matches what you will face on Test Day, then this initial CAT Score is outstanding. By extension, you're remarkably close to your Score Goal right now.

With a Q48/V39, you do not have any big 'weak spots', so we'll have to nitpick your performance in a bit more detail. "Review" is an exceptionally important part of the GMAT training process; your ability to define WHY you're getting questions wrong is essential to defining the areas that you need to work on (and the specific things that you need to 'fix'). As such, I'd like to know a bit more about this CAT. While a full Mistake Tracker would provide a lot more information, there are some basic questions that you should be able to answer (and the more EXACT you can be with your answers, the better):

After reviewing each section of 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 could not remember how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?
5) How many Verbal questions did you 'narrow down to 2 choices' but still get wrong?

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

From my analysis, I think timing for RC passages seemed to be one of the biggest problems. Though I got most of the RC questions right, but I spent way too long on the passages.
Anything else that I should analyze?

Hi pzgupta,

Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so it's likely that you just have not put in enough time and effort yet. From what you describe, you have been studying for less than 2 months - so you might naturally improve as you continue to study.

Based on your analysis, there are clearly 2 areas that need some extra work: eliminating little mistakes (that generally means that you need to be more consistent about taking organized notes on all of the questions you face) and Verbal Tactics/pacing (while you had to rush through your last RC, that does NOT necessarily mean that your pacing in RC is a problem - you might be taking too much time on your SCs and CRs - meaning that even though your overall Verbal skills are really strong, you're inefficient in how you're working through many of your Verbal questions).

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