Started keeping an error log

Yesterday, I took time to make a note of all the mistakes I made on the Kaplan material. I set apart two books, one for quant and the other for verbal. Though I'm not done studying all the books (Kaplan Premier, Kaplan 800, Kaplan Verbal WB and Kaplan Math WB), I hope to complete them by the end of this month. With growing anxiety, I found that I had made over 70 mistakes in Quant, so far. I am yet to take stock of the errors on verbal (have 2 to 3 chapters left). 

As Richard suggested, I've decided not to worry so much about practice tests, but instead focus on the material (where I went wrong) and analyze my mistakes. Also, MGMAT Instructor Stacey Koprince has a good post on how to analyze practice problems. Take a look!

Beat the GMAT Practice Questions

I attempted 43 questions in all (verbal + quant) with 20 incorrect :-(

Knewton Diagnostic - Quant Mistake Category

Knewton Diagnostic - Verbal Mistake Category

All Practice Tests - Quant Mistake Categories

All Practice Tests - Verbal Mistake Categories

Knewton Diagnostic Test - 590 (37Q, 36V)

I took the Knewton Diagnostic Test and here's my score. This translates to an overall 67%. Definitely bad news!

Quant Total : 37 Qns - 27 correct, 10 wrong, 0 unanswered - 49%
Verbal Total: 41 Qns -  31 correct, 10 wrong, 0 unanswered - 78%

A pleasant surprise!

Grockit is offering 5 practice CATs to those who purchased the standard membership and beyond! For more details visit this link! I'm thrilled!

Today's Progress

Feeling so sleepy even before reviewing all the 17 mistakes in Quant. I'm searching for the solutions in the forums and categorizing the mistakes. So far I've managed only 10. Rest for tomorrow morning.

On the study front, I've marked this month for Kaplan. 

• Kaplan Verbal Workbook
• Kaplan Math Workbook
• Kaplan 800
• Kaplan Premier Program

Regardless of whether I follow the plan or not, I'm crazy about making plans. I made a note of all the chapters in a diary and am checking the chapters as and when I complete them.  Gives me a feeling of being in control!

Moreover, I end up feeling really low when my scores dip. So I need to be prepared before taking those brutal Kaplan CATs. That's the reason I'm trying to finish up Kaplan. I think Manhattan GMAT and Knewton CATs may not be all that bad. So those are reserved for the month of October. I'll be out of town this weekend, so can't take another CAT during the weekend. Maybe I can fit in a PowerPrep CAT just before leaving.

GMAT Prep I - 640 (41Q, 36V)

As I mentioned in my previous post, I lost the test data because of a system re-install. So I took the GMAT Prep I again and here's my score. Will review the incorrect questions tomorrow.

Quant Total : 37 Q - 20 correct, 17 wrong, 0 unanswered - 54%
Verbal Total: 41 Q -  30 correct, 11 wrong, 0 unanswered - 73%

GMAT Test Analysis

Finally, I've done a consolidated analysis of the practice CATs that I've taken so far. One mistake I made was that I waited too long to log those mistakes into an excel sheet, which resulted in me spending the last two days fretting, putting all this stuff (4 Practice CATS) into an excel sheet and getting the pivot table generated  I couldn't include the Veritas Prep CAT (since it didn't give me a category of the mistakes) and my GMAT Prep data (lost this information because of a system re-install). Anyways, I'm thankful to Princeton Review and Manhattan GMAT for giving a nice breakup of the mistake categories, which made it easy to enter into the excel sheet and get the graph generated. If you might find this useful, here's the link!

All Practice Tests - Verbal Mistake Categories

All Practice Tests - Quant Mistake Categories

Princeton Review - CAT 2 - 580 (36Q, 34V)

Scored 580 (36Q, 34V) in the Princeton Review CAT 2. 

Quant Total: 37 Q - 26 correct, 11 wrong, 0 unanswered - 70%

8/22 mistakes in PS - 64%
Problem Areas: Geometry, Averages/Rates/Statistics, Plugging in
3/15 mistakes in DS - 80%
Problem Areas: Geometry, Puzzle pieces

Verbal Total: 41 Q - 31 correct, 10 wrong, 0 unanswered - 76%
This time it was CR, where I made most of my mistakes. Was especially careful with RC, making notes and found the passages to be quite easy.
3/15 mistakes in SC- 80%
4/12 mistakes in CR- 67%
3/14 mistakes in RC - 79%