I just BOMBED The GMAT!

czechchamp · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:19 pm Post subject:

Well I'm going to retake the exam @ the end of August (three weeks left). I started studying again. Ordered CR Bible from powerscore and this will be the only addition to my "book collection" for this upcoming test.

1) I will focus more energy on the Verbal part. Already covered the MGMAT CR Guide again with all of the OG questions. Just started working with the MGMAT SC Guide again. Awaiting arrival of the CR Bible. I should be done with the MGMAT verbal material by the end of this week. I do not need any extra studying in RC, I'm doing well in that respect.

2) Will review Math concepts and try to squeeze out extra Quant points to say 44-45.

3) I will take a few Prep CATs (MGMAT and GMATPrep) before the test, but probably no more than 1-2 of each. I went that route once before and I'm skeptical about how accurately they project the score. Obviously, I may remember some questions from the past as well, so I'll be little more cautious and use the CATs as a timing tool primarely.

So hopefuly I will be able to pull it off this time (I'll be satisfied w/670). If not, I'll take few months off, go back to EU and will use my brother's math knowledge to significantly raise my Quant score. Then, I will retake the darn test and apply for 2010 (2009 will be probably unlikely in this case).

I will see what happens!

Wink

AbhishekGakhar · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:25 am Post subject: THE SAME STORY

I am a guy who got used to 700 scores in my prep tests. I took GMATPREP1 1 month before my test and scored 700. Then after 1 month I took it again, didn't remember much and scored 760. Then I did some Princeton exams and always scored 690, 700, 720 with (Q49-51) and (V39-44). AND IN THE GMAT. I got stuck on the first MATH problem. 10 minutes went by and I motivated myself to kill every question after that. I am sure I did the first math q badly. In the end, I thought I did pretty ok in Maths although not 49 above. Then I thought I need to pull it up with my Verbal, I had got 44 in a practice test also. So, here I ago. I found Verbal ok, CR, SC were doable. Some f**d up Science RC hard to pretend, much harder than OG. Anyway, I dealt with it. At the end I finished with 5 seconds left. I thought I did an ok job, I should get atleast 38. But I got such a rude shock when I saw my score. I could manage only 660 (Q47, V34). I mean what the hell. Verbal 34. I thought I managed it better than Q and there I was with a disappointing 660.

jsl · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:25 am Post subject:

I read a lot on different posts that Verbal is the score which varies the most - between that and quant.

I have a theory... Could it be that you, and I included, are over-thinking the problems when it comes to the real test? Personally, I find myself double guessing and then trying to figure out if there is a catch somewhere. Then in the last few seconds, I switch answer choices... thus getting the question wrong. For me, this applies to all question types.

Recently, I have found that I just need to go with my gut instinct. For some of the questions such as SC, you have to be careful but overall, I use English enough to make a good assessment. FYI, I am a native Englishman.

Have you tried doing a Verbal practise test, in a relaxed state, going on your gut instinct?

caramel3536 · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 6:25 am Post subject: I agree with every poster above

The scoring of verbal now, is different from what it was two months ago. Does anyone know of any channel to communicate with GMAC and ask them to investigate. Something is definitely fishy here, and we should get our hands on it, and put the matter to rest.

i.dreem · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 10:12 am Post subject:

Going thru this thread, reminds me of my friend. She gave the test some months back and scored 690. But she complained that some of the Verbal questions were based on some new concepts which she hadnt studied in any prep material. There were new types of things tested in Verbal.

I would like to ask, all of you, who have written their experiences in this thread, whether you experienced similar thing?

Thanx,
-i.dreem

czechchamp · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 11:53 am Post subject:

czechchamp

k.badri · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 4:58 am Post subject: GMAT is unpredictable

I totally agree with all the people here..

took my test one year back with a score of 600. Then did some amount of intensive study for 4 months before my exam which I took in august. The score remained the same. This seemed ridiculous to me, there is no way the Testprep scores would lie of my improvements. I could myself gauge from all the prep mock tests I took on the improvements I made.

All my GMATPrep tests score were above 700 and the best was 740. I had done OG at least twice. The difficulty level of math questions were way too tougher than the OG/TestPrep. I clearly remember the kind of questions asked. Some of the math questions were comparable to CR qns, they were so long and wordy. The verbal didn't seem very tough though my verbal score was 24 or something way too low.

I can clearly see that the exam is way too tougher than the exam I took a year back, and also that the material supplied by the GMAC is totally irrelevant to the current exam. I believe if GMAC claims there are no changes made to their exams, they should revise the material thoroughly to take in to account of the toughness now. There is no way we could really tackle the situation unless there is sample questions of such difficulty for us to practice.

One more thing that really frustrates me is that the scores of 700+ got few months back is not comparable to scores people get today. I'm sure that the 650 score of today is comparable to the score of 750 gotten few months back.

If we are in unison, we could write to GMAC and see how they respond.

emrahercan · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 6:37 am Post subject:

I have started to read many of experiences such as this. It is scary. Here is what I think:

The experimental questions could play an important role in this paradox. What if you got ALL the experimental questions RIGHT in both sections and all your wrong answers are the questions that GMAT actually count!

And also, stress!! - If stress takes over in the first quarter of the test and make you miss the very few first questions...than you will start to get easier questions, by this time you will feel more comfortable...and this hallucination will make you feel like you are having a great test! Not to mention whenever you feel like you are having a great test...you get a LOW score. On the contrary, when you feel like you are in the last scene of ROCKY IV and get hit by all those 700-800 questions and get in trouble with the timing and finally made it to the end...you get a BETTER Score.

These are just my opinions. But CAT mechanism, stress, experimental questions, time management and etc...make the GMAT a very interesting test with many surprises...

k.badri · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 7:41 am Post subject:

I agree with all your points on exam stress, luck, some silly mistakes.. but does it cost you 100 points in GMAT. I don't think so. I have given GMAT twice and would say that these things would alter your score by a max of 30-50 points.

chmyeung · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 6:39 pm Post subject:

I just want to share that I had the same experience - I was surprised by my verbal score. I was scoring 40 on the practice tests, but ended up with a 33. Good that my quant saved me - so I didn't completely bomb the test.

I don't think the Customer Service personnel will tell us anything - they will never admit it even if things were changed. However, if there are so many of us who were surprised about the verbal scores, then the percentiles for each score will shift accordingly. It is never about the score - it is the percentile that matters, right?

I am planning to re-take the test in January or so. First, I want to wait until the scoretop scandal settles; second, I want to wait until the percetiles shift and the experimental questions tell the GMAC that the questions got harder.

Good luck everyone!!

sp19 · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 6:50 pm Post subject:

I was reading the mba.com website and found that they have removed all the questions from live GMAT that were posted on scoretop. If that is the case , does it mean that they have now been left with only those horrible experimental questions with extreme difficulty level which they did not use to give to the test takers before Jul 2008 ?

Maybe since all the questions are beyond 700+ difficulty level now, people who were getting an average score of 650 are doing worse in the real exam.

It could mean that since those test takers could not get 700+ difficulty level right during practice exams, they are getting affected in the real test because all or most of them are now in that category.

I am seeing that it is mostly people who have a score in range of 35 in practice test are doing generally bad in the real exam for verbal section.

My experience was also real bad. I kept on getting harder questions one after the other even thought I was giving incorrect answers I feel. It never asked me easier questions. So what could be the reason ??

Just a thought....

Thanks.

k.badri · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:27 am Post subject:

I checked pagalguy forum and they too have similar sharing:

http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/gmat-and-related-discussions/31377-low-gmat-scores-find-help-8.html

not sure what is going on Rolling Eyes

khurram · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:56 am Post subject:

As written in another post, Verbal has been made much harder. I think it is not the SC but the CR that has been made really hard.

Hopefully (word always wrong on Gmat), the % may change.

Khrram

Motherjane · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:03 am Post subject:

Guys,

I agree with you all. Scored in high 600s and low 700s in all the prep tests but bombed miserably in GMAT. Quant 45 and Verbal 28, Score - 600

Wanted to ask, I have taken GMAT once in 2003, got 640 and now the second one with 600 and I am too dejected to take it again this year. I have decided to put one more year in my job and take the next GMAT sometime next year.

My question is do the B-schools frown upon the number of attempts at GMAT even if I will be taking the exam again next year and looking for an admission in 2010?
Being optimistic, if I get a score of 700+ next year, do I stand at a disadvantage during admissions that I had scored a miserable score of 600 this year?