SC mistakes

Question

Hello folks!
I'm from Russia and I'm not native speaker. That is why Verbal part is very hard for me. I'm preparing for about 3 weeks. Yesterday I decided to try CAT from GMATPrep. I got 630 scores (Q49,V26). In Verbal part I made 17 mistakes, 7 of them from SC part. 
Question. What would be my Verbal score, if I made only 1 SC mistake, in your opinion?
Thank your for you feedback!
I hope this question is not very silly!

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

Hi there,

Your question is not at all silly, but missing 1 SC problem is very unlikely to happen! Because the test is computer-adaptive, it gets more difficult as you get more problems correct. This usually causes you to start missing problems! So regardless of your score, you are likely to miss quite a few questions. In fact, most people only get about 60% correct, so your experience is fairly typical. Even if you improve your verbal to a 37 (83rd percentile), you might only get a few more problems correct.

So, to answer your original question, if you got only one SC wrong (and perform similarly in RC & CR), you would get a near-perfect verbal score. If the missed questions were high enough level, you might even get a perfect 51. However, that is not a realistic goal, even for most native speakers. What would be more useful would be to make sure you have a strong enough grasp of the relevant rules and strategies that you are not missing the easier questions, because missing those questions drives your score down more than missing hard questions. In other words, improve from the bottom up, and don't worry too much about missing the hardest questions. That will always happen!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi idkksh,

Since this is your 1st practice CAT, and you've only been studying for 3 weeks, you've done well (the average score on the Official GMAT is right around 540-550 most years).

Most Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) on their studies to hit their "peak" scores, so it might be that you just need more study time and practice. If you can answer a few questions, then I'll be happy to offer some advice:

1) What is your goal score?
2) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
3) What practice resources have you used so far?

4) When you took this CAT, did you have to rush just to finish the Verbal section (and guess on a bunch of questions)? Did you leave any questions unanswered?

Thankfully, the Verbal section of the GMAT is as predictable as the Quant section is, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

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

idkksh · Answer

Thank you for your request! I will be waiting for your advices.
I do not think I've done well, because, unfortunately. BSchools do not take people with average score..
Answers on your questions:
1. My goal is 730+
2. Crazy date - April,20 (deadline April, 23), alternative date somewhere in May (deadline June,20), and second attempt, if bad, in the middle of June.
3. I read MH SC Guide, solve about 15 sets in SC and read about 20 texts in RC. Checked my math on app (solved some tasks on every topic).
4. I was really in a hurry. I am really good in math, but I had only 120 seconds for my 2 last questions, and answers were wrong for both of them. Because it was my first try, and also because I knew that my Verbal part is bad, I answered very quickly. I read everything, and understood almost everything. I ended when I have about 7 minutes free time). Actually I haven't guessing, but there was some answers when I chose answer which just sounds better.

So, problem is that I read Guide, practiced sets, but it has not improved my quality. I answer only in 50 % correctly in my SC sets yet. Comparing to this, My RC is improving, I started with 20-40 %, and yesterday it was 4/6,4/6, 5/6(in last was guessing from 2 variants, wrong and right)

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi idkksh,

From what you described, you made a lot of mistakes in SC and in CR, so you know what you have to work on for these last 3 weeks before your GMAT. Since this was your first CAT, it's okay that your pacing was not perfect, but you did finish 7 minutes EARLY in the Verbal section, which means that you were moving TOO FAST. You should plan to slow down a bit, take more notes, etc. on your next CAT.

I have a follow-up question about this CAT: Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?

You have a lot of work to do in a very short period of time. You should plan to take another CAT this coming weekend and report back here with your scores.

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

idkksh · Answer

Hi  EMPOWERgmatRichC !

I do not write essay, but I solve IR. I found a great teacher with a native English, and one of the part of our lessons is to prepare for essay. 
I took second CAT this morning. My scores are worse than in the first attempt. I also made more profound analysis of results in both attempts, and I hope it helps us.

1 CAT mistakes PS 3/19, DS 7/18, SC 7/17, CR 4/11, RC 6/13. Q49 V26, total 630 
2 CAT mistakes PS 5/20, DS 6/17, SC 8/17, CR 2/11, RC 7/13. Q49 V19, total 560
Comparing Quantitive part: 
In a second exam I made 1 more mistake, but first 10 questions was correct. There are 2 couples of mistakes (1 after another - 22-23, 25-26), and I had only 15 seconds to the last question. Later I solved it correctly in 1 minute. I also met question, which was hard for understanding and spend a lot of time with it.
In a first exam the first mistake was made in the third question. There is one triple set of mistakes (30-31-32) and 2 sets of 2 mistakes (16-17, 36-37).

Comparing Verbal part:
The main figure is that my CR is not bad in all 2 cases, although, as I mentioned before, I was not preparing to this part (except solving 16 examples on this week). As for SC, it is constantly bad. In RC I answered wrong in all questions for the first text, 2 of 4 in a second were also wrong. In general, in the second attempt I made slightly more mistakes in the first half of Verbal part than in the first CAT.

First CAT i took at night (started at 11 p.m. with 1 can of red bull)), while today I woke up at 10, ate a breakfast with cup of coffee and began taking exam.

My daily plan of preparing for nearest weeks:
- 5 hardest math questions (from top 100 by @Bunuel)
- 20 SC with timing (goal - 60 second in average), with reading/finding explanations of correct answers.
- 4 RC from RC1000 (30-36 questions per day).
- learning vocabulary for GMAT (set of 1 000 words, and words which I did not understand in RC1000) - 1-2 hour per day
In addition to that:
- write 2-3 essays per week
- have 2 1,5 hour lessons per week with my teacher - debating my errors and mistakes
- solve from 20 to 40 CR per week
- re-read MH SC
- read MH CR

Sorry for so long post, but I hope that this discussion can help another GMAT takers to improve their plan of preparing.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi idkksh,

When taking CATs, it's important to take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections) so that you can work on your endurance. Since you did NOT take the Essay section with either of these CATs, you took a shorter Test and likely scored higher because of it. The only real way to properly test how ready you are for the Official GMAT is to take FULL CATs under realistic conditions that match what you'll face on Test Day.

Since you're already scoring at such a high level in the Quant section (Q49 on both CATs), you really MUST focus on the Verbal section if you want to hit your score goals. A 730+ score goal requires a strong performance in BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections and right now your Verbal scores are far too low.

Given that score goal, you might want to think about pushing back your Test Date.

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

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