Where to start

Question

Here is what happened - Today I started my GMAT prep by giving a Princeton CAT test.

The Score 660 Q43 V39 is not bad but is perplexing - in terms of where I go next.

I am good at Quant, but made silly mistakes so am less concerned there (Out of 7 wrong Q's - 5 were small / silly mistakes - can be corrected by devoting more time - I still had 15-20 mins spare in the section)

For verbal - I do not have a clue where to start - the category view is below:

Category: Right : Wrong : Unanswered : % Correct 
 
 Sentence Corr. 12 3 0 80% 
 {
 Idiom 3 1 0 75% 
 
 Verb Tense 2 1 0 67% 
 
 Subject/Verb Agreement 1 0 0 100% 
 
 Pronouns 3 0 0 100% 
 
 Parallel Construction 3 0 0 100% 
 
 Misc 0 1 0 0% 
 }
 Arguments 11 1 0 92% 
 {
 Weaken 7 1 0 88% 
 
 Assumption 2 0 0 100% 
 
 Resolve/Explain 1 0 0 100% 
 
 Evaluate 1 0 0 100% 
 }
 Reading Comp. 12 2 0 86% 
 {
 RC General 2 0 0 100% 
 
 RC Specific 7 2 0 78% 
 
 RC Reasoning 2 0 0 100% 
 
 Reading Comp. 1 0 0 100%
}

bakfed · Answer

To be quite frank with you, you'll need to practice on the quant section (even if it means you made careless mistakes). Careless mistakes are most likely what triggers a lot of people's lower quant score. These tests are designed to trick you into thinking something that the question's not really asking. It's hard to comprehend this fact until you've done enough practice. Simply by going over the answer (and then having that ah-ha moment) won't help much. At this point, your verbal is strong enough and if you can raise your quant to a Q49, you're looking at around 720-740.

DeepGagan · Answer

Thanks for the reply ... so you are saying that Q48-49 + V37 may land me in the median range for the top B schools - hmmmm interesting.

Also, is there a specific/real advantage that I gain by trying for higher score. I mean is the GMAT score a decent predictor of admission success or is it a primarily hiegene factor?

bakfed · Answer

Yes, a Q49 V37 would land you around what the top schools are looking for. If you score a Q49 V39, you would be looking at around 720, which is more than enough to satisfy any adcom's appetite for GMAT. I personally would like to see that the GMAT is simply a "check" in the box that if it's good enough - a check; if not so good, - no check. It's hard to define exactly what GMAT is "good", per se. However, given the averages of top b-schools, it's fairly easy to know that 700 is a good score to be at. A 660 would not put you at a significant disadvantage, unless you're going for the highest end of the spectrum, such as Stanford, which has an median GMAT of 730 (unbelievable...). But judging from what you originally posted, you can easily boost it up past 700, which is a significant difference from a 660. If you're able to make this jump, I advise you to do it. Also, your current quant score is going to cause some adcoms to feel that you're not quantitatively adaptable. If anything, AdComs care more about the quant score than the verbal score (in percentiles) and your goal is to achieve at least 80 percentile on both (which should give you 700+). Of course, GMAT is really just one indicator and without knowing the rest of your profile, it's too hard to say if a 660 is not good enough. My main point is, why put yourself at a disadvantage if you know you can get 700?

DeepGagan · Answer

Thanks Bakfed, Here is where I am right now. I have 2 weeks to the D-Day. I have taken the following Full length exams: I went with Princeton - It was the only available within 150 miles

so a lot of driving once a week. P1 Q43 V37 660 (Described above) P2 Q51 V31 660 (was working on Quant for 2 weeks) got 1 Quant wrong. P3 Q51 V37 710 (started working on all 3 section of verbal) got 1Q and 9V wrong P4 Q50 V37 700 (Worked on AWA) got 2 Quant wrong – score dropped to Q50 P5 Q51 V41 730 (Worked on verbal SC and analytical reasoning) So after that I really really worked on the verbal – I assumed that I need V43-44 to get to 750+. Today I took the test that comes with GMAC I believe that it is called GMAC test or something (It is on GMAC software) and I am totally baffled ! Score = G1 Q51 V38 730 Questions / thoughts: 1. I scored Q51 although I got 5 Q's wrong. (Have been out of practice - but that is not the big deal). How is that possible? 2. I scored V38 although I got 9 Q's wrong. In the earlier exams I had done equally well or bad in all three subsections(relatively), but I scored V41. This could be due to CAT but is surprising nevertheless. 3. In CR I had 100% accuracy (used to have around 80-90%) – I did work on this but was pleasantly surprised. 4. I completed the Verbal exam atleast 20 minutes earlier – my pacing went for a toss, How did this happen – Is this typical? 5. I was baffled by the RC – the passages were a lot shorter than the Princeton, but were intense – so I got 6 out of 14 wrong (I was averaging under 2 minutes with 70-80% accuracy) Do I need a diff strategy? 6. Biggest mystery is: How come a score of Q51 V38 translates to 730 in the GMAC test? While in Princeton tests Q51 V41 translated to 730. This is a significant statistical anomaly – is this expected?

abhicoolmax · Answer

I don't quite trust PR Quant analysis. They give you very easy questions and hence are harsh with your score if you make any mistake. With virtually no preparation, I finished my PR quant section - 30 mins before the end time and had 0 questions wrong; this is absolute impossible on real GMAT! However, in MGMAT CAT after a week I got 7 wrong (still q51), which is right estimate. You should consider taking some MGMAT CAT tests to see if you can consistently score 51, in which case you are all set for 51. But I think you are all set for Q51 on the D'Day.

krishp84 · Answer

Hope you have taken the GmatPrep from mba.com....That will give you the real baselined score...

That is the only official diagnostic test.....No one else even comes near to it in predicting the results...........Redoing the diagnostic tests can itself give you so many questions that you will just need to supplement them with some other tests...Best of the rest - MGMAT CAT currently.

Give kudos if the post helps you in anyway.

DeepGagan · Answer

Thanks krish and Abhi,

the test was from mba.com (GMAC). Abhi - what you told me has opened my eyes - I will do a lot more of practice from MGMAT tests for the maths portion (after I do a runthrough on the course - one more time) As you can see Q51 is critical to my over-all strategy.

How about the following - any thoughts on these?

4. I completed the Verbal exam atleast 20 minutes earlier – my pacing went for a toss, How did this happen – Is this typical? 
5. I was baffled by the RC – the passages were a lot shorter than the Princeton, but were intense – so I got 6 out of 14 wrong (I was averaging under 2 minutes with 70-80% accuracy in PR) Do I need a diff strategy? I go with 2:30 min skim + 1:30 per q for short passages and 3:30 min skim + 1:30 per Q for long passages.

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