169Q on PP1, test in 2 days, what would you do for 170?

GRE General
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I took PP1 and got a 169Q.

Real test is Monday 16 Sept, I have 2.5 full study days left ahead of me, then test day.

I really want that 170Q because it feels close. Yet… you can make 1 mistake in 27 different ways, but 0 errors only happens one way. Maybe the last point really is the hardest.

(Also I’ve heard a few people take a 1-2 point hit on quant from PP1 to the real test, so I don’t want to rest too easy, I could still slide backwards.)

What should I do for the best odds of hitting that perfect score with the limited time I have left?

PP1 Analysis: I was right at time limit on the second section. So on the problem I missed, I inverted a fraction, and would have flipped it the right way with maybe 30 more seconds to review. I double checked the math on solutions as I went and it changed my answer about 1/3rd of the time. There was at least one problem where I misread it two different ways before finally understanding it. So I probably need to improve speed and precision across the board.

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Can you even get a 169Q in PP1? I didn’t know that was possible - thought with one wrong it would be a 168Q on the free PP1.

To answer your question:

  • it is not necessary that you do poorer in PP1 compared to the real test, and one reason is that the exam curve on the real test is a bit more generous (you get 170Q with one wrong there).
  • But, it’s concerning that you’re “right on time” in section 2 - I would expect a student aiming for the high 160s to have a few minutes left over - perhaps even after checking your work. Sounds like you need a better time strategy, particularly making use of skipping and coming back later on.
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Really appreciate the response Leaderboard, thank you. Here are the receipts:

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Looks like I unlocked a new game state. Maybe the question I missed was rated easy or I got partial credit for having the right fraction just inverted? Not sure how it happened. Definitely wasn’t because I had extra time!

I’ve seen you all recommend skipping and I have just held off because of how clunky and slow the navigation is on the ets system. I’m scared of having to flip back 10 questions and it burning 30 seconds. But the arguments you make in the videos are solid, sometimes I do need to just clear my mind and get a fresh look later. And come to think, I do think I sunk like 8 minutes on one question I needed to completely rework. I think I’m getting sniped by individual questions where my pace will be good then I’ll just get hit some question where I’ll fall down a well, I need some defense mechanism for that.

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That is a paid PowerPrep test (what we call PPP1) - a 169Q makes sense then. I was referring to the free PP1.

Also: the timer stops when ETS is trying to fetch the next question.

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169v 168q

Really thought I was closer.

Time was better, I had over 5 minutes to review each section. I didn’t feel stumped, I always had an approach. I found a couple conceptual shortcuts, that helped a lot with time. Must have fallen for a trick though.

Feels within reach, I’m tempted to retake in a week or two. Maybe need timed practice between now and then.

How do you squeeze out that last point or two?

EDIT: Can’t be sure but as I’ve thought about it I think I made assumptions that missed some “cannot be determined” cases. I have some of these traps in ALL CAPS in my notes not to fall for them and think I might have fallen for them. When you have a really elegant solution and put in the work it’s hard to go back and say “but do I know it’s that type of triangle, or it’s non-negative, etc.”

I just need to develop a mental checklist for each problem. “Did you check for negative cases” etc.

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First question: why exactly do you need a 170Q and nothing else? Which programme is this for?

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Some people like jigsaw puzzles, some people run marathons, I just want to see if I can do this.

EDIT: I mean, I get why you’re asking. Totally appreciate Greg’s comments in a few videos about how not getting into a specific program is not the end of the world. I fully agree. I am lucky, I have a good job, a lot of this is optional for me. But people come at these tests with all sorts of motivations. And whatever goals brought us here, we’re all on this site because at some level we want to improve our scores for whatever reason. I’ve considered just letting it lie, and that would probably be fine. But… it’s in-bounds to ask how to do better right? That’s what we’re here for, regardless of where we started, to try to improve, that’s all I’m trying to do too.

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OK. To answer your actual question, this is partially

  • a function of luck at this level of performance. 168Q is most likely a -2 after all - get one more right and you would have gotten that dream score. Greg once got a 166V, and when he next took the test, he was back at his usual 170V. See Home - GregMat - GregMat
    as well.
  • trying to keep the 5th percentile as high as possible. In other words, your expected performance should be “beyond a 170” so that even if something goes wrong, you’ll still be at a 170Q. Our practice tests tend to do this very well due to their fat curve - try to see if you can get two wrong or less on any of our three full practice tests.
  • how well can you autopilot?

Beyond that,

  • you cannot retake within three weeks of your last attempt, and
  • regarding why I asked that question - there are programmes where a 168Q would be too low
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Great video, right on target. (Here I was searching for “170”). The moment he says we do this because we’re weird, that definitely landed. :smiley:

Pushing avg. performance up above 170 and the need for luck both make sense. Good update on the 21 days (I only remembered the 5 / year cap.)

By autopilot, do you mean you’re deploying strategies reflexively when you see certain question types, or you mean the grunt work of solving linear equations and quadratics, the tasks that are pretty much plug and play?

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Put it this way: you should “just know” what to do - ideally spend 30 seconds or less when you do the question the first time. That allows you more time to recheck your work.

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@Leaderboard

Ugh. 169v 166q.

Over the last few weeks every marker in practice has consistently improved. Down from ~31 to ~21 minutes on Big Book and up from 28s to to 30s. Perfect scores on PP1 and PP2. 169 on your first mock test, which should have been a warning sign I didn’t have a cushion.

I did daily drills of the problems with formulas to make those automatic: quadratics, combinatorics, sum of multiples, finding harmonic means in work rate problems. Mental math improved by sheer repetition, prime factorization of common 3 digit numbers got automatic, etc. Started to anticipate where I’d make mental math errors and how I’d misread questions, errors went down, scores climbed, speed improved.

Got much more comfortable skipping questions, skipping a couple per section just to clear my mind and come back with a fresh approach. Fully cured me from spending 10 minutes on a question mid-test for no reason.

TEST DAY: Everything honestly felt really smooth. First half I feel like I found conceptual shortcuts all over the place and burned through it. I reviewed every single question, trying a different approach where I could. Solid. Could I have misread something? Obviously possible but would have bet money against it, I reread everything looking for common traps.

Second half was tougher, but I never felt overwhelmed. I marked anything where I even had a bad feeling. >3 calculations? Marked. I only had time to review my marked questions, but still didn’t feel worried.

At the end I was so shocked to see my score drop. Stings a lot.

In early practice tests, I had a really good feel for which ones I might have missed. Here I am pretty sure about one question, I debated two different interpretations and a little salty about ETS’s wording, but other than that I’m at a loss. I could have flipped A and B somewhere and missed it in review, maybe missed a case that would move to a D, I honestly don’t know.

I picked an arbitrary date first and stuck to it. Had it to do over again, I really wish I used all your mock tests and got to somewhere in the overkill zone and not rushed back in before that. I was still making gains in consistency and time.

By sheer coincidence I’m reading Moby Dick right now and I feel like the universe is trying to tell me something.

Thanks for being a sounding board, it really helps let off some steam.

For anybody who finds themselves in my shoes when I originally posted:

  1. If you’ve done fundamentals, blitzing mock tests will improve your markers. You put that off at first to do your fundamentals, that’s good, but eventually you do want to do 1000 questions, you will improve your speed and catch common errors by doing that, if you track your mistakes.

  2. Set a target for performance on mocks not a target date.

  3. Luck is apparently a very real thing, everybody has bad days.

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This. Greg got a 166V one time. And I’m no different.

Plus the standard error on the shorter GRE is higher, and in fact you’re lucky this is the GRE - on the GMAT getting the wrong question incorrect is enough for a 5-point drop (90 to 85).

isn’t enough in my opinion, unfortunately.