beaten by GMAT 600 (qa 46 va 26) suggest strategy for retake

dextar

Hi All
Today after 4 months of rigrous prep, I sat for GMAT and scored a horrible 600. This was my score when I started preparing for GMAt in the first week of Feb in GMAT Prep. Seems as if 4 months of prep din't materialize.

What happened there while taking GMAt , I still fail to understand. I never scored less than 48 in QA and always used to finish qa with 15-20 mins left. Today I can't believe: my time limit in qa was over when I moved to the last question. Also I spent my 15-20 mins on q 4 and same for I guess q 8. I was so erratic in quant that for the first time I had to blindly guesses the questions coz I had only 3 mins left and 5 questins to answer.

However, as u can see the major problem was verbal. In all my practive tests I was scoring consistently with a range of 30-36 in all my mocks including GMAt Prep. I scored 710 three days ago with GMAt Prep and was scoring in that range only with the highest at 750(GMAt Prep). In the actual GMAT , I was scoring pathetic because I was receiving easy questions(length of the CR was no more than 3 lines and in SC I hadly remember I faced any question with more than 1 line) time and again as far as CR and SC are concerned. No idea abt how good was my RC but I guess wasn't that bad.

My problem is that I have already exhausted all the study material that I had with the only exception of 1000 series. Following is the list of materials that I used. I went through OG atleast 3 tmes each for sc and cr.

Kaplan Premier
Kaplan 800
Manhattan SC
Princeton Review with DVD
GMAt Official Guide Review 11
1000 RC (first 60 passages only)

I used the following tests
Kaplan
Princeton
GMAT Prep

I'm planning to retake the exam probably in a month and a half time. Pls suggest what shd I do. At present I don't see any way out and I'm clueless about verbal. I had spend 80 % of my time for verbal section

mbadrew · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:20 am Post subject:

Sorry to hear about your score. I think you may have become nervous and that led to a drop in score.

camitava · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 8:01 pm Post subject:

dextar,
U r not only the person who faced this kind of miserable situation. Many people around u have already faced the same. So dnt be depressed. Plan ur preparation strategy and I believe that is vey important to crack the GMAT. I believe verbal is the part where u have to concentrate more! Look, we genrally have little problem in VS though we are quite confident in QS. So Plan out accordingly and try to take the test before September because by that time, R-1 of maximum colleges will strart or on the way to end.
So be ready! And crack the GMAT this time ...

dextar · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:07 am Post subject:

Hi Pls post the retake strategies. I have already mentioned the material that I have used.What to follow next. I have already taken GMAT Prep 3 times each for GMATPrep1 and GMAT Prep2. I only have 1000 series left with me.

camitava · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:30 am Post subject:

I will suggest u to take a break for some time. After that start ur preparation so that u can fully devote urself for preparation.
For verbal, go with OG-11 again. If you answer a question wrong, find out what mistake u did in that Qs. Note ur mistakes down in paper or in soft copy. For SC, I will suggest u to refer MGMAT SC Guide. This book is pretty good to go with. For RC, try to apply different strategies mentioned in diff book and find out which one is suitable to u.
For Quant, if u r confident that u can manage, keep QS prepation aside for a while. Concentrate fully in VS. When u will find u r pretty comfortable in VS, u go ahead with the preparation of QS.
For QS, I will suggest to refer GMATPrep's Math review. It contains all the different formulas and concepts to work with.
Now start giving tests. First go with GMAT Paper Test. Then other tests like - Princeton Review, Kaplan, MGMAT, GMATPrep etc. But after giving a test, dnt be satisfied with the score but try to find out what mistakes have u done and how u can solve the Qs correctly. My suggestion is to learn from mistake.
I will suggest not to go with 1000 SC or RC or CRs. My opinion is that they will help u much to confuse urself rather than to build ur confidence. Have I helped u to give some focus?

camitava · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:17 am Post subject:

Look dextar, one point I would like to add that way of preparation depends upon the person who is taking the preparation. The plan I already mentioned in my last post suited me most! Hope, this strategy is working fine with me! But whether this can be applicable to u, is a question and u r the best person to provide the answer ...

dextar · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:59 am Post subject:

Hi
Thanks for ur reply

Right now I'm still to come out with the shock of yesterday. Nothing went rite.

I still believe that 1000 SC is a worth try. From my experiences if u look at Kaplan , Manhattan or even at GMAt Prep tests there is a common mistake that we do. Generally, when we are confused between two options, I always go for the shortest option (in length). Howver, In 1000 sc questions(I did some 50 odd), I noticed that shortest may never be the best as it can change the implied meaning of the sentence. Howver, I don't have a real example to support my point.

In the real GMAt also I faced many SC which were not very long and whenever I was left with the option of choosing between the two, I chose the shortest one. I guess any comments in this regard will be appreciable.

I have already exhausted the GMAt Prep. I have done OG-11 at least 3 times. How abt going for the GMAt verbal review.

Thanks again for ur advice. I'm planning to start my prep next week onwards. I guess one week break is more than sufficient.

camitava · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 3:13 am Post subject:

gmat Verbal Review is good. This time I have also gone thru that book. But u know onething? My understanding says that at least 2/3rd of the qeustions present in Verbal Review are already present in OG-10 or 11. I have already faced this situation.
I am personally against for preparation from 1000 series. Hope this will work for u. In my last attempt, I did a miss - I did not take VS seriously. I also appeared for few tests - only GMATPrep once for each test. This time I do not want to do those mistakes to be repeated. That's why this time my main focus in on VS. I am taking preparation for QS not so frequently as I am preparing myself for VS.
I still now have problem with RC. I have found a study partner. She is helping me lot in RC preparation. For RC, I have done OG-11 and Verbal Guide.
For CR, I am confident - Hope this confidence will help me in GMAT!
For SC, I will again advise to go for MGMAT SC Guide.
Dextar, I think, u should not have problem with QS. Just try to concentrate more in VS. And I think everything will be fine.

mbadrew · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:39 am Post subject:

Have you thought about strengthening you core knowledge about the subjects. I find it essential because then no matter which way the question is constructed, you'll have the knowledge to answer. I recommend taking a comprehensive review. I'm taking gmax online and it's helping me tremendously, especially the verbal and SC section.

dextar · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 7:35 pm Post subject:

Hi mbadrew I din't get u . What is gmax here? and what is subject matter knowledge?

braindump1 · Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 3:43 pm Post subject: GMAX ONLINE

Natashangmat · Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 8:30 pm Post subject: hey dextar

natasha here....i m plannng to tak gmat in aug or sep...

cud u plzz give some advice and suggest how to go abt preparing for RC and quant? i m very poor in RC and also not that gud in quant

thanks for ur time and help
gud luck for ur next try!

natasha

zagcollins · Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 11:26 pm Post subject:

natasha,

start off with OG for quant and verbal both...as far as RC goes, just practice the ones in OG11 and OG verbal review....if you want some killer RC's, try kaplan gmat 800....trust me, RC's are the easiest to crack because you devote max time to the RC questions...if you are careless, RC's will pull you down and how!

The last GPREP that i wrote i got 29 correct in verbal, that means 12 incorrect....7 wrong in RC Sad

i reviewed the test and i was as careless as careless could get...

As far as quant goes, I am not the best person...my quant is realllly bad....But, I've been told that the Manhattan Review Series (7 books costing 26$ each)are really good...try getting em...if you're in India, they'll blow a hole in your pocket...so check libraries@ coaching classes...usually, they do have 1 or 2 books from the series..just get 'em xeroxed...!
HOPE that helps....cheers!