Welcome! Check out our free B-School Guides to learn how you compare with other applicants.
Login or Register
 

Completely Defeated by GMAT!!Cant even imagine.Please HELP

This topic has 1 expert reply and 8 member replies
Bookmark
Previous Topic Next Topic
deepak.pec Just gettin' started! Default Avatar
Joined
20 Oct 2007
Posted:
6 messages
Completely Defeated by GMAT!!Cant even imagine.Please HELP Post Sun May 20, 2012 3:05 am
I joined BTG long back in 2007 just to understand, what GMAT is all about, but had never thought that I will take the exam, till few months back, when I realized that my career is stagnating and I must do something else.<By profession, I am an Engineer in core manufacturing Industry>

In Oct'11, I decided to take GMAT with the target score of 750+, But somehow, could not kick off studies till Feb'12. To start with, I took GMAT prep-1 and then started preparation after gathering requisite material (Manhattan, CR Bible, OG 11, 12)..

Scores during Mocks

GMAT prep-1: End Feb'12 - 650
MGMAT-1: End Mar12 - 690
MGMAT-2: 14 Apr'12 - 730
Kaplan-1: 21 Apr'12 - 600
Kaplan-2: 29 Apr'12 - 640
MGMAT-3: 5 May'12 - 780
MGMAT-4: 8 May'12 - 780
GMAT prep-1: 11 May'12 - 750 <retake>
GMAT prep-2: 14 May'12 - 760
GMAT prep-2: 17 May '12 - 780

Actual GMAT: 20 May '12(today only) - 630 <COMPLETELY DEVASTATED>


I have not been able to figure out, what went wrong, when preparation and Mock results were going well..

I am planning to take GMAT again in 2 months time, Please suggest me, what strategy should I adopt and how should I go about preparation now.
Need help urgently...Experts, please guide...


Thanks
Deepak

Need free GMAT or MBA advice from an expert? Register for Beat The GMAT now and post your question in these forums!
samudranb Just gettin' started!
Joined
15 Jul 2010
Posted:
15 messages
Followed by:
1 members
Post Sun May 20, 2012 4:07 am
Hi Deepak

Can you answer a few questions?

1. What was your mental state before / during the exam?
2. Were you able to concentrate during the exam? Or were you distracted?
3. Were you surprised at the difficulty of the questions? Or did they seem normal to you?
4. What did you do to prepare yourself mentally for the exam? Did you e.g. visualize your exam? NOT the end result (720/750/whatever) mind you... but THE PROCESS OF TAKING THE EXAM?

deepak.pec Just gettin' started! Default Avatar
Joined
20 Oct 2007
Posted:
6 messages
Post Sun May 20, 2012 4:43 am
Hi,
Thanks for responding.

1. I was bit anxious before exam. But by the time, I finished with AWA, everything sounded normal. But yea, I lost around 3 minutes for quant, due to long break after AWA. But I am sure, that should not have caused such a big impact on the score and performance.

2. Experience was more or less similar to that of Mocks. So, I did not feel issue of concentration.
3. Except 1or2 Quant questions and 1 CR, I did not find any question completely out/abstract.
4. I took mock test to get the feel of exam. But now I feel, because one tends to get questions from the study material, so these mocks may not be the true representative of exam. <No matter, whether one remembers the answers or not>

Can you suggest me, what strategy should I adopt.

Deepak

samudranb Just gettin' started!
Joined
15 Jul 2010
Posted:
15 messages
Followed by:
1 members
Post Sun May 20, 2012 5:50 am
Hi Deepak

I feel you did do the right things, but maybe you just had a bad day. (Although having a bad day should not explain such a huge difference... maybe you had a really REALLY bad day! I feel your score should have been around 700+/-20 on a bad day)

With respect to losing the 1st 3 minutes of your Quant section, I feel that may have forced you to put more pressure on yourself, and may have resulted in a few careless mistakes at the very beginning. And on the GMAT, it is difficult to recover from a bad start.

You have not mentioned your split. Was it skewed? More than the overall score, that might be helpful.

If you do have an (unusually) skewed split, then it might be time to focus on your test-taking strategies. But if your split is what it usually was for you in your mocks, then you need to focus on the theory more, and practice more problems.

_________________
Fresh, Effective and Engaging GMAT prep - www.PearGMAT.com

deepak.pec Just gettin' started! Default Avatar
Joined
20 Oct 2007
Posted:
6 messages
Post Sun May 20, 2012 6:11 am
Hi,

My scores have gone for the toss from all aspects. Q-48; V-28. Even if I attribute drop in Quant score to some careless mistakes,I am not able to figure out, what went wrong in Verbal. I did not see anything below 39 in last one month of prep.

Does it mean, Was my preparation not upto the mark? I am still not clear on concepts?If it would have been so, how could I score in mocks.
OR
time was putting pressure onto me..If so, what can I do for it?only practice will do..

Well, I am thinking to join some online/classroom course/coaching, if it can be of some help.

Can you please suggest, what can be the best course of action at this stage. Earlier, I used Manhattan, CR Bible and OG 11, 12 for preparations. Where can I find further requisite material for practice...

Thanks for building my morale.

arultm Just gettin' started! Default Avatar
Joined
26 Jun 2011
Posted:
3 messages
Post Mon May 21, 2012 2:00 pm
Hi,

I took my GMAT exam today...I scored 600(Q47 V26 Sad ).
In GMATPREP, I scored 660 and 670...And this is the lowest verbal score I have ever received.
Lowest verbal score I received in mock is 33.
My target score is 700+.
I am planning to retake the exam.
Please provide me some tips to proceed further.

DanaJ Site Admin
Joined
01 Jan 2009
Posted:
2567 messages
Followed by:
416 members
Thanked:
605 times
GMAT Score:
770
Post Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:03 am
Deepak, that's a huge drop in score! I believe it might have been a combination of factors that led to this performance. First off, did you also take the AWA during your practice tests? If not, you may not have built your stamina to handle the entire test. Second, did you hurry through the test or were distracted in any way? If that's the case, you need to focus better the next time you take the test. Other than that, you seem to have the right materials. The question is if you used them in the right way or just breezed through. If it's the latter, I highly recommend that you review your books!

AbhiJ GMAT Destroyer! Default Avatar
Joined
19 May 2010
Posted:
352 messages
Followed by:
1 members
Thanked:
36 times
Post Mon Jul 02, 2012 11:49 am
How do you explain the difference between your Kaplan score and MGMAT scores. Kaplan gives you a lower score but not by that much. Did you use MGMAT tests twice ?

I think you might have psyched yourself/ burned out before the actual exam. I would suggest not to study anything in the last 2 days before GMAT.

You can also post in MGMAT Startegy forum and take help from Stacey Koprince. I believe she in an expert in these issues.

GMAT/MBA Expert

Jim@StratusPrep MBA Admissions Consultant
Joined
11 Nov 2011
Posted:
1787 messages
Followed by:
194 members
Thanked:
525 times
GMAT Score:
770
Most Active Expert Most Responsive Expert Most Thanked Expert
Post Sun Jul 08, 2012 5:23 pm
Test day anxiety is a huge thing and likely the culprit. The best way to get that down is to have a firm grasp of the concepts... Try answering forum posts here as practice.

_________________
If you find my posts helpful. Please take the time to click the "thank" icon at the top of the page and/or follow me!

Full Length GMAT Exam | GMAT classes | GMAT Prep|GMAT Tutoring|MBA Admissions Consulting|Stratus Prep Reviews

rjain5 Just gettin' started! Default Avatar
Joined
03 Apr 2012
Posted:
6 messages
Followed by:
1 members
Thanked:
2 times
Post Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:44 pm
Deepak....please take my advice without being offended. I am an Indian too and that is why I can tell you that our english tends to be very poor on grammar, and that is where we lose a lot of points in the verbal section. When you are doing your mocks, please understand the reasoning behind both a correct answer and the wrong answer. Just blindly practising is good for maths but not so for english. You have to go back and delve into the grammar rules for english before you can get a good score.

I hope it helps.

Best Conversation Starters
1 vipulgoyal 32 topics
2 hemant_rajput 23 topics
3 guerrero 18 topics
4 abhirup1711 17 topics
5 sana.noor 16 topics
See More Top Beat The GMAT Members...

Most Active Experts
1 image description Brent@GMATPrepNow

GMAT Prep Now Teacher

 211 posts
2 image description GMATGuruNY

The Princeton Review Teacher

 137 posts
3 image description Jim@StratusPrep

Stratus Prep

 60 posts
4 image description Jon@Admissionado

Admissionado

 49 posts
5 image description David@VeritasPrep

Veritas Prep

 31 posts
See More Top Beat The GMAT Experts