Ask the Test Maker

Hello All,

As the topic suggests , I have failed in GMAT exam (date : 16-Nov-2013) but as they say "Failure is the first step towards success" , so I have already stepped on it.

Let me give you a brief summary about myself: I'm Male, 25 years old , from India. Completed my Bachelors in Business Administration with majors in banking and Insurance with 3.55 GPA.Currently working full-time in an MNC as a Sr Analyst in MIS & Analytics department.My target GMAT score is 650 as I do not intent to get admission in top b-schools , and schools where I want to apply has median GMAT score of around 620.As I was away from studies for quite few years so I got enrolled in GMAT preparation course from one of the prestigious GMAT coaching centers in India by paying around 30000 INR /500 USD approx (not so prestigious according to me) in May'2013 but I admit that I actually started studying towards the end of June'2013 though not rigorously but if you would ask me how many hours per week ? I would say around 6 or 7 hours a week.

Strategies for preparation and study material used: Initially, I made alot of strategies but couldn't follow any of them.I have used following study materials for my preparations.

- 13th edition OG
- 12th edition OG
- Quant review 2nd edition
- Verbal review 2nd edition
- Manhattan 8 strategy guides (Went through only Number Properties and Geometry from these guides)
- Books provided by the coaching center.

Accuracy rate of official guide problems is as follows :

- PS (80 percent)
- DS (65 percent)
- CR (70 percent)
- RC (75-80 percent)
- SC (It is variable, sometimes as low as 30 percent , Maximum is 60 Percent)

CAT Scores :

MGMAT 1 : 520 Q37 V24 (Date : 08-Oct-2013)
MGMAT 2 : 540 Q38 V27 (Date : 01-Nov-2013)
MGMAT 3 : 550 Q39 V28 (Date : 10-Nov-2013)
GMAT Prep 1 : 420 Q23 V21 (Date :9-Nov-2013)
GMAT Prep 2 : 560 Q42 V28 (Date :13-Nov-2013)
GMAT Attempt#1 :460 Q31 V23 (Date : 16-Nov-2013)

Well, what can I say , as you can see my mock CAT scores, I have never scored below 520 apart from GMAT prep 1 where wanted to be more careful while solving questions and missed last one question in quant section. After giving the gmat exam , many of my friends who are in USA called me up and said , WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO IN THE EXAM ? I obvisously felt embarrassed and told them losers always have excuses and I have mine too but its upto to you to believe. The person who was sitting right next to me kept on coughing and sneezing throughout the exam and this pissed me off. I couldn't concentrate on a single problem because of this.I could have asked for ear plugs but forgot it as I was in a state of frustration. Well whats done is done , now I have another 5-6 weeks time for preparation before the 2nd deadline of admission ends.

As I have spend alot of my hard earned money and time in GMAT preparation. I want you experts to guide me through my preparations.Major areas where I want to improve is sentence correction & data sufficiency. I have exhausted all DS questions from official guides and 2nd edition.Is there any other study material for DS questions which I can use for practice ? I can now spend 4 hours each weekday & 6-8 hours on weekend for preparations.

There's one more thing which I want to ask you guys : In Gmat Prep 2 where I scored Q42 , there were 20 incorrect questions in this section and still I got Q42 while in Gmat Prep 1 , where I scored Q23 , I got 14 Incorrect. I was confused to see this , it is one of the factor that caused me to change my test taking strategy from answering each and every question within two minutes time TO answering first 20 questions carefully and guessing the last 10 - 12 questions.What do you guys say about this ? I tried new strategy while giving GMAT and I was out of time though questions were very simple but as my score suggests I have made a number of mistakes specially in quant section.It almost took me 5 mins to answer the first question in both Quant and Verbal , while ending last 10 question with guessing of answers.I want to know how the algorithm works while giving official gmat exam. Does first 10 questions really matters ? In GMAT prep 2 , I made 2 mistakes in first 10 questions while in GMAT prep 1 , I made 3 mistakes in first 5 questions.

Your advice/opinion would be much appreciated.

Thanks & Regards,
Sachin

Thanks Rich.I'll re-post it on public forum.