Quant Score declining. Help!

Question

Hello all,

I might have a bit of an odd problem. I am going to take my GMAT exam on the 3rd of December and I have started to up my mock exams from Manhattan Prep. I will post them below, including the date:

5th of September: MGMAT CAT 1 - (Q43, V?)
30th of October: MGMAT CAT 2 640 (Q44, V34)
14th of November: MGMAT CAT 3 660 (Q43, V37)
20th of November: MGMAT CAT 4 710 (Q41, V45)

So, as you can see my Quant Score is not moving at all, but rather declining and for some reason my Verbal Score is improving. I have completed all of Manhattan Preps study guide and I am mainly focusing on practising OG questions, with focusing on Quant. I would assume my learning style is good, since I go through every mistake, try to understand the flaw and every few days repeat the questions i got wrong.

I do not know, if the Manhattan Prep CATs are way harder than the OG, but for most of the questions thrown at me, I have no idea how to solve them. If I check them during review, I do understand the approach (I quite rarely do not understand the explanation/approach). But during the test I literally have no idea how to solve the problem. The OG Quant questions also seem a lot more accessible for me.

Does anybody have some suggestions on how I can drastically improve my quant score in the next upcoming days?

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  ceanma . The Manhattan Prep mocks do tend to run a little harder than OG questions. I would recommend familiarizing yourself with official questions as much as possible before the exam, working to hit accuracy benchmarks for each level of question. For instance, you should probably be hitting at least 90 percent accuracy on Easy questions and 80 percent accuracy on Medium questions. The biggest mistake I see people make when they are flirting with that 700 threshold is ignoring Medium questions especially, assuming that such questions are a given, and focusing almost exclusively on Hard questions. No matter how Manhattan Prep labels the difficulty of a particular question, that is no substitute for an official designation for a question from the OG. Sure, there might be different shades of Medium or Hard, but if it says Hard, it is categorized that way for a reason, and you can trust it. So, within the short time you have between now and your scheduled exam, I would hit those Easy and Medium questions hard, shore up any conceptual gaps that emerge from such practice, and pepper in Hard questions as well. And by all means, if you have not taken an official CAT through mba.com, you ought to consider doing so soon. Those exams are the most accurate predictors of how you will likely perform on test day.

Good luck with your studies. If you have further questions, feel free to ask.

- Andrew

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi ceanma,

To improve your GMAT quant score to a higher level, you have to go through GMAT quant carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills. The overall process will be to learn all about how to answer question types with which you currently aren't very comfortable and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving up your score point by point.

For example, if you find that you are not strong in answering Number Properties questions, then carefully review the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions and practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. When you are working on learning to answer questions of a particular type, start off taking your time, and then seek to speed up as you get more comfortable answering questions of that type. As you do such practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you got a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not properly apply the remainder formula? Was there a concept you did not understand in the question? By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to efficiently fix your weaknesses and in turn improve your GMAT quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.

Each time you strengthen your understanding of a topic and your skill in answering questions of a particular type, you increase your odds of hitting your score goal. You know that there are types of questions that you are happy to see and types that you would rather not see, and types of questions that you take a long time to answer correctly. Learn to more effectively answer the types of questions that you would rather not see, and make them into your favorite types. Learn to correctly answer in two minutes or less questions that you currently take five minutes to answer. By finding, say, a dozen weaker quant areas and turning them into strong areas, you will make great progress toward hitting your quant score goal. If a dozen areas turn out not to be enough, strengthen some more areas.

So, work on accuracy and generally finding correct answers, work on specific weaker areas one by one to make them strong areas, and when you take a practice GMAT or the real thing, take all the time per question available to do your absolute best to get right answers consistently. The GMAT is essentially a game of seeing how many right answers you can get in the time allotted. Approach the test with that conception in mind, and focus intently on the question in front of you with one goal in mind: getting a CORRECT answer.

In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new quant materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the  best quant courses .

You also may find it helpful to read this article about  how to score a 700+ on the GMAT .

Please reach out with any further questions.

Let’s do this!!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi ceanma,

To start, a CAT is really a 'measuring device' - when used correctly, it will give you a realistic score and help define your strengths and weaknesses, but it will NOT help you to fix any of those weaknesses. To raise your scores, you have to learn the necessary Tactics and put in the proper practice and repetitions. The CAT will show you whether your studies are helping you to improve or not. In addition, the process of taking (and reviewing) a CAT requires a significant amount of energy and effort - and takes time to 'recover' from. This is one of the reasons why you typically shouldn't take more than 1 CAT per week - and your last CAT should be taken about 1 week before Test Day. Going forward, you really shouldn't take more than 1 FULL CAT per week.

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, 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) You've listed 4 CAT/mock results in this post, but have you taken any others? Did you take either of the 2 Free CATs from www.mba.com yet?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Consider taking an Official Mock to see where you are at

ceanma · Answer

Thank you for your advise. I listened and took an official mock test by GMAC.

760 (Q49, V44)

The quant section seemed much more accessible for me than on Manhattan prep. On the one hand it's nice to see the good score and on the other hand I am afraid to not meet my self set expectations on test day. 
But I guess that's a problem that I will have to handle on my own.

Posted from my mobile device

AndrewN · Answer

Glad to hear of your fine performance,  ceanma . The best way to prepare yourself to hit that target score on test day is to consistently earn such results. If you take three or four official mocks and they all fall within the 730-760 range, then the degree of reliability is high that such a score will be the outcome of the real test, provided you do not suffer from crippling anxiety. My advice for that is to let go of your expectations. Just focus on the question right in front of you. When you tune out other nonsense, your ability to perform at the highest level increases.

Good luck. If you have further questions, you know how to lean on the community.

- Andrew

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