Analyzing Your GRE Practice Tests, Part 2
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Welcome to part 2 of the process for analyzing your GRE practice tests. As we discussed in the first part of this series, we’re basing the discussion on the metrics that are given in Manhattan Prep tests, but you can extrapolate to other tests that give you similar performance data.
Last time, we discussed how to assess the data provided in the “question list”—the list that shows the questions you received and how you performed on each one. This week, we’re going to interpret the analysis given in the Assessment Reports.
When you log into your Manhattan Prep student center, you’ll be on the Exam Page. Click the link titled “Generate Assessment Reports.” Make sure all of the reports are checked and then choose your most recent (single) test. Finally, click “Generate.”
Assessment Summary
The first report produced is the Assessment Summary; this report summarizes your performance across accuracy, timing, and difficulty level.
The top half of the report shows the six main question types on the GRE. Take a look at this fictional example (you may need to zoom in to see the details below):
First, examine the three Quant types (the first three rows). It’s important to look at the three categories of data (accuracy, timing, difficulty) collectively.
On Quant questions, the student has a decent percent correct but she’s rushing and the average difficulty level on correct answers is the lowest of the three categories. She might be able to improve her time by slowing down a little on these kinds of questions (and making fewer mistakes).
The student seems to be struggling a bit more on Quantitative Comparison (QC). This type is her lowest percent correct but she’s spending about the right amount of time (so that lower percent correct is not due to rushing). The difficulty levels are a little higher, so it’s logical that the percent correct would be a little lower—but she’s still struggling a bit more with QC.
It’s a bit surprising that incorrect QCs are slightly faster than correct QCs, given that the average difficulty level of incorrect QCs is so much higher than the average difficulty level of correct QCs. In general, harder questions should take longer. Either this student did a great job of recognizing that a question was too hard and appropriately cut herself off, or she rushed a bit too much and possibly cost herself some points. She would have to look at the individual questions to figure out why.
The student has great accuracy on Data Interpretation (DI), particularly given the difficulty levels, but she’s spending too much time. Perhaps this is why she had to rush on the other question types. On average, she spent an extra 1 minute and 40 seconds per correct DI question; that’s a lot of time that could have been spread over multiple other questions in the section. The student is going to need to decide whether DI is really the best use of her time; perhaps she could get more questions right overall by letting these go and spending that time elsewhere.
In general, look for the warning signs below. Note that when I say “lower” or “higher,” I’m referring to your own relative results. The student above had a higher percentage correct on DI and a lower percentage correct on QC.
– Lower percentage correct coupled with too-slow timing or lower difficulty levels (or both)! These areas are your bigger weaknesses.
– Lower percentage correct coupled with too-fast timing. Here, you’ll need to figure out why you were going so quickly. If you knew you didn’t know how to do the problems, that’s okay. If you thought you were answering lots of these problems correctly, then this area is a weakness.
– A big discrepancy (more than 30 seconds) in average time for correct vs. incorrect questions of the same type. It’s normal to spend a little extra time on incorrect questions, but not more than about 30 seconds on average. That just means you’re being stubborn and refusing to let go!
– A lower average difficulty for wrong answers than for right answers of the same type. In general, wrong answers should have a higher average difficulty level because you should be missing more of the harder questions. If you are missing more of the easier questions, then you may have holes in your foundational skills, you may be rushing, or both.
All right, your turn. Go back up and analyze this student’s performance on the Verbal question types. Remember: analysis doesn’t just mean “What does the data look like?” Analysis also includes “What strengths and weaknesses might have led to those results and what should I do to deal with them?”
When you’re done, read below to see what I think.
The student had better accuracy on Verbal overall, compared to Quant (in fact, the overall score for this test is about the 90th percentile in Verbal and about the 60th percentile in Quant).
The student was working very quickly; her average timing is fast for all three types. She can probably get better by learning to slow down and work more systematically.
Her highest accuracy question type, Text Completion, also had a higher average difficulty, so she’s really good at this question type. The other two categories reflect about the same level of skill even though one has higher accuracy, because that one also has a lower average difficulty on correct answers.
Okay, all of that was just the top half of this report. We still have to examine the bottom half!
As you can see above, the bottom half summarizes performance across the five main math categories. Use this to determine your overall strengths and weaknesses in terms of both accuracy and timing. Again, try to analyze the data yourself before you read my analysis.
This student did really well with geometry but she’s seriously struggling with algebra. Looks like it’s time to do an algebra review! She’s also got some timing issues with fractions, decimals, & percents (FDPs) and word problems.
Word problems are a quicker fix, because she’s spending far too much time on just a few questions that she ultimately answers incorrectly. In this case, she wants to make a mental note that, when she starts getting all caught up in a really tough word problem, she should cut herself off, make a guess, and move on. If she’s going to get it wrong anyway, she might as well get it wrong more quickly!
FDPs are a bit more problematic because her time is too high on the questions she’s answering correctly. Here, she’s likely rusty on some math skills, such as manipulating numbers, translating stories into math, or converting among fractions, decimals, and percents. She’ll need to review the individual questions to see what the specific weaknesses are and then she’ll turn to her books to drill those skills.
All right, one assessment report down, four more to go! The next four will go faster, I promise. We’ll tackle those in the third part of this series. ?
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Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California. Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here.