590 Q 46 V 27 Not Completed the Test - Need help

tobeanmba

Hi,

It was all going well in the verbal section until i was faced with 2 bold faced questions and tryin to answer them took alomst 6 mins each becos of which i had 30 sec for the last 2 questions.When i clicked my answer choice on the screen, i did not get the prompt to confirm the answer and i was taken to the prompt that my time has expired.
Does this mean that i did not complete my test or was my performance in verbal so abysmal that i retake the rest in any case.

1)It is clear that i did not manage my time properly..note i did not get stressed its just there were conceptual gaps and i had not practised bold faced ones ...so it took time to relate to them.As a result of which i lost on time

2nd is a question for Manhattan GMAT experts here to help me understand and may be helpful to others whether not answering the last question would mean disaster?
If so would my V 27 have transformed into atleast anything better than it seems right now, cos i know for a fact that i had improved on my RC accuracy for sure and SCs were tough but i did recognise the kind of errors...im not sure...

3) I now have booked a date for my third attempt on Dec 20th, i have got 2 months (btw my first attempt was 580 last yr with Q44 V 26.
i thought my prep after 1.5 years wasnt all that great but sheer fact that i had taken the test did give me a boost in confidence and i did go thro a lot of this fora questions to help me broaden my horizon.)

I request you to help me identify a strategy and give me your valuable input on all of the above, for least i feel right now is sort of indifferent about my ego....exams......

beatthegmat · Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 9:40 pm Post subject:

It sounds like you ran out of time for your last two questions--the GMAT does reduce your score significantly when you do not complete a section, so your verbal score was likely affected by this.

It sounds like you need to regroup with a new strategy that focuses on time management. I recommend that you spend some time reading through this blog to get a sense of how to structure your time:

http://beatthegmat.blogspot.com

As well as study some of the resources available here:

http://www.beatthegmat.com/wiki/

Best of luck.

tobeanmba

I would like to know how much would i have scored if i had completed the test ...by taking the worst case scenario of getting both wrong?

beatthegmat · Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:19 pm Post subject:

Unfortunately, there's absolutely know what to predict that. The GMAT scoring algorithm is somewhat of a black box--your score depends on a variety of factors, most notably how you had been performing in previous questions on the section.

Stacey Koprince · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 6:45 pm Post subject:

I'm not sure if you ran out of time on the second to last question or the last question. For whichever one, if you had an answer bubble clicked and you attempted to click next but didn't have time to click "confirm" - the test is supposed to accept that answer. There has been some debate about this because this info isn't officially published by GMAC - I'm actually going out to New York next week to attend a conference that GMAC is holding, so I'll make sure to get the definitive answer on this.

So, if you did that on the 2nd to last question, you should have one question (the last one) marked blank. They treat this as though you would have answered it incorrectly, so it does hurt you, but one question wrong will not make or break your score.

The larger problem was probably that you were rushing on the last some-number-of-questions because you knew you were behind on time, and you probably made a lot of errors you might not have made if you had had adequate time. By rushing for the last (5? 10? 15?) questions, you greatly increase the chances that you have a string of questions wrong in a row at the end, which is the absolute worst thing you can do. That's what kills your score - not one question wrong, but a string of questions wrong in a row.

The major lesson here: you CANNOT spend 6 minutes on one problem. Ever. No matter what. A question that takes you that long is a question you are probably going to get wrong anyway, and you also absolutely guarantee yourself at least 2 or 3 other questions wrong on top of that because you are using up your valuable and limited time.

No matter what you can do, the test can give you something harder.

You cannot get so good at the test that you will never have to pull the plug and let go.

At some point on the test, you will have to pull the plug and let go, regardless of how much you study.

Most people find that they have to do this between 3 and 7 times in each section.

Finally, if you do not fix your pacing problem, your score will not improve very much. You HAVE to maintain that steady pacing to give yourself a solid shot at the later questions in the test.