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May 0608:30 AM PDT
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In Episode 3 of our GMAT Ninja Critical Reasoning series, we tackle Discrepancy, Paradox, and Explain an Oddity questions. You know the feeling: the passage gives you two facts that seem completely contradictory....- May 08
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Join the special YouTube live-stream for selecting the winners of GMAT Club MBA Scholarships sponsored by Juno live. Watch who gets these coveted MBA scholarships offered by GMAT Club and Juno.
29 May 2014, 23:31
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Hi
No better forum than this to discuss probably. I gave the GMAT yesterday. Scored a 650 (Q47 V33). Extremely disappointed as the MGMAT CATS and GMAT PREP 1 were much more considerate. ( GMATPREP 730; MGMAT CATS - 640;690;730). Have scored better in Verbal (V42) in GMAT PREP. Not able to figure out what went wrong on the actual test.
Gearing up for a second attempt. Would really appreciate advice on how to improve this to more respectable 720+ otherwise I can kiss my MBA dreams goodbye.
No better forum than this to discuss probably. I gave the GMAT yesterday. Scored a 650 (Q47 V33). Extremely disappointed as the MGMAT CATS and GMAT PREP 1 were much more considerate. ( GMATPREP 730; MGMAT CATS - 640;690;730). Have scored better in Verbal (V42) in GMAT PREP. Not able to figure out what went wrong on the actual test.
Gearing up for a second attempt. Would really appreciate advice on how to improve this to more respectable 720+ otherwise I can kiss my MBA dreams goodbye.
30 May 2014, 13:35
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Scoring lower on the actual GMAT test compared to your practice test is a common gripe for many GMAT test takers. Anything can go off -- and in the end, unfortunately, the only score that business schools see is the real test.
Some test takers score lower due to nerves, some due to new question types they don't feel they've seen before. Some freak out. In the end, to conquer whatever these issues are -- one must be extremely confident going into the exam. Confident body language affects how your mind thinks, and how your mind thinks affects how fast you can answer a GMAT question.
Confidence on the GMAT comes down to being extremely familiar where all the booby traps are and having clear structured, framework strategies for solving the GMAT questions. You can do well on practice tests but when thrown a new question in a new way, if you don't have a structured approach, you'll find yourself reading and re-reading the question stem and reading and re-reading the answer choices. All of this slows you down and eventually affects your confidence in "conquering" the question. The longer you get stuck, the more guesses you make and the more your score is going to be affected.
At GMAT Pill, we recommend developing a framework strategy (similar to how consultants assess business problems) to solve GMAT questions. Where do you suspect you did the worse? If, for example, you're on reading comprehension, I'd recommend taking a look at some of gmatpill's rc videos here: https://www.gmatpill.com/practice-questi ... -guide-rc/
Some test takers score lower due to nerves, some due to new question types they don't feel they've seen before. Some freak out. In the end, to conquer whatever these issues are -- one must be extremely confident going into the exam. Confident body language affects how your mind thinks, and how your mind thinks affects how fast you can answer a GMAT question.
Confidence on the GMAT comes down to being extremely familiar where all the booby traps are and having clear structured, framework strategies for solving the GMAT questions. You can do well on practice tests but when thrown a new question in a new way, if you don't have a structured approach, you'll find yourself reading and re-reading the question stem and reading and re-reading the answer choices. All of this slows you down and eventually affects your confidence in "conquering" the question. The longer you get stuck, the more guesses you make and the more your score is going to be affected.
At GMAT Pill, we recommend developing a framework strategy (similar to how consultants assess business problems) to solve GMAT questions. Where do you suspect you did the worse? If, for example, you're on reading comprehension, I'd recommend taking a look at some of gmatpill's rc videos here: https://www.gmatpill.com/practice-questi ... -guide-rc/
27 Jun 2014, 05:53
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Generally speaking, if you don't like your score on your first test, then you likely need to re-use the materials you have already been using, because you didn't learn everything that you needed to the first time around. Getting better is not about doing a bunch of new problems. It's about thoroughly analyzing the best problems you can get your hands on (OG, of course) so that you recognize what to do when you see something similar on the test. The one major difference is that you (hopefully) have a better sense of your strengths and weaknesses going into a re-take, so you can prioritize your study accordingly.
If you took the course, go get the hand-out from class 2 (you can download it from the Course Downloads page in your student center). That hand-out gives you 10 questions to ask yourself when reviewing problems. Have you been using these? If not, start doing it - this is how you thoroughly analyze the problems you're doing. Ask yourself these questions on every problem you do, including the ones you get right. In a 2-hour study period, spend about 30-40 minutes doing problems and the rest of the time reviewing. (Most of your learning comes from the review and analysis you do after trying the problem!)
FYI: the average score improvement from official test 1 to official test 2 is about 30 points. (That's for ALL test takers, not just MGMAT test takers.) So, it's some improvement, but not huge - not really statistically significant, actually.
Also, practice tests are very good for figuring out what your current scoring level is, but you don't get a lot better merely by taking a practice test. So consider saving one of those GMATPrep tests. Alternatively, You can still take both GMATPrep and MGMAT CATs with repeats as long as you follow a few guidelines to minimize the chance of artificially inflating your score via question repeats. First, anytime you see a problem that you remember (and this means: I know the answer or I'm pretty sure I remember the answer, not just "hmm, this looks vaguely familiar..."), immediately look at the timer and make yourself sit there for the full length of time for that question type. This way, you don't artificially give yourself more time than you should have. Second, think about whether you got this problem right the last time. If you did, get it right again this time. If you didn't, get it wrong again. If you *completely honestly* think that you would get it right this time around if it were a new question (even though you got it wrong last time) because you've studied that area and improved, then get it right this time.
Good luck - let us know how it goes!
If you took the course, go get the hand-out from class 2 (you can download it from the Course Downloads page in your student center). That hand-out gives you 10 questions to ask yourself when reviewing problems. Have you been using these? If not, start doing it - this is how you thoroughly analyze the problems you're doing. Ask yourself these questions on every problem you do, including the ones you get right. In a 2-hour study period, spend about 30-40 minutes doing problems and the rest of the time reviewing. (Most of your learning comes from the review and analysis you do after trying the problem!)
FYI: the average score improvement from official test 1 to official test 2 is about 30 points. (That's for ALL test takers, not just MGMAT test takers.) So, it's some improvement, but not huge - not really statistically significant, actually.
Also, practice tests are very good for figuring out what your current scoring level is, but you don't get a lot better merely by taking a practice test. So consider saving one of those GMATPrep tests. Alternatively, You can still take both GMATPrep and MGMAT CATs with repeats as long as you follow a few guidelines to minimize the chance of artificially inflating your score via question repeats. First, anytime you see a problem that you remember (and this means: I know the answer or I'm pretty sure I remember the answer, not just "hmm, this looks vaguely familiar..."), immediately look at the timer and make yourself sit there for the full length of time for that question type. This way, you don't artificially give yourself more time than you should have. Second, think about whether you got this problem right the last time. If you did, get it right again this time. If you didn't, get it wrong again. If you *completely honestly* think that you would get it right this time around if it were a new question (even though you got it wrong last time) because you've studied that area and improved, then get it right this time.
Good luck - let us know how it goes!
