GMAT Strategy

Hi,

Gave my GMAT today and scored a decent 720, but was expecting higher so am not sad or happy with my result. I wasn't anxious but somehow my sleep cycle just screwed me over. Got just 2 and a Half hour of sleep before the exam and I could see that affect my performance- specially in verbal, where I could feel the screen go hazy. Ended up washing my face, during breaks, prepping myself up and even doing pushups at the center to stay in the game.

I also finished both sections with around 12-15 minutes to spare.

My test scores so far gave me confidence of at least a 740 but by the end of the test I knew I might not hit it. Here are my scores (started in August) and final few leading up to the test.

EconomistGMAT- 680 Q48 V35 (August)
GMATPrep- 710 Q46 V41 (August)
Economist GMAT- 710 Q50 V38 (December)
MGMAT- 680 Q45 V38 (December)
EconomistGMAT- 740 Q50 V40 (January)
GMATPrep- 760 Q49 V45 (January)

All Dec/Jan exams given under test conditions with IR and essay. Economist I felt underscored my Verbal and MGMAT just thrashed my confidence with the scores it put out= but I read around and did not look too much into it.

I have a decent score in my pocket but want to give it a shot for a higher one- maybe after getting a proper 8 hour sleep. I would want to know how can I approach the retake.

1)My final days of prep for verbal was based around the OG13 and I seem to have exhausted a lot of resources.
2)Should I take a break and get back at it or have a crack as soon as possible.
3) I should I prepare again - as although I think my sleep had a major part to play but what if that is not the case.

Generally I never gave retake a thought. I was somehow confident I will achieve my target- I think that is required to do well on the exam (no self doubt) but now I feel a little lost as to what pieces to pick up and start with.

Please feel free to ask any questions possible I would be really happy to help (although with so many 760's around I might not be the best guy) and hoping to get some advice.

My quest for 740 and above is not just vanity, I am an Indian working in Europe and schools back home are very score focused (One has a GMAT average of 760) so I have a legitimate need to cross a barrier.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards.

I say don't wait too long for the next one. Just take a little break if any and keep getting better at this.

For one thing, that GMAT Prep score seems to indicate that you are pretty well prepared. No sense losing that only to have to rebuild it.

One source of good verbal practice is Veritas's question bank and also the Veritas practice CATs, which also are pretty close to the real thing.

Building up your verbal skills could be good as you have some room to raise your verbal sub score.

The way I see it is this. If you can score 50 on quant, and you can score 40 on verbal, then you have the basic language skills and the logic skills necessary to get all or most of CR and RC right, which, with a half decent hit rate in SC, gets you to the mid to upper 40s in verbal. I can further confirm your language skills from what you have written here. So maybe you should get a little clearer on how to do RC and CR and boost that score. Of course, for all I know there is some low hanging fruit in the SC area too.

Also, keep your quant skills fresh and maybe increase them a little too.

As far as the no sleep thing goes, that's freaky. I too was caught up in a stressful situation right when I was taking the test and my score probably suffered as well. I too was during breaks doing all I could to make up for what was going on. I am pretty sure that in both of our cases there was some kind of unconscious self sabotage involved in the creation of those circumstances.

We can have things like anger, fear, anxiety or inner conflict affecting us without our being aware that they are. So maybe a little introspection would help. I have seen how changes in psychology can result in a significant score increase.

Anyway, you might score 740 or higher even with just a decent night's sleep. So with a little more practice and skill development that seems like a lock.

Hi Rich,

Indian business schools in general (except ISB) are a lot more Score focused. They do not really have much of an application apart from straightforward statistics (Score in School/Under Grad/Years of Exp). Usually they take scores of a locally conducted exam (Common Admission Test) but since I am living abroad I can submit the CAT.

A friend of mine needed 99.81 percentile (on the above test) to get an interview call. Its just a lot of people struggling for very limited seats. Last year they took 6 students based on GMAT scores and the lowest admit was 740- hence my concern and thought of a retake.

Thanks and Regards.

I have. GMAT suits me much better. I think a point higher on either Q or V would have put me at 740. Just wasn't meant to be on my first time

Marty Murray wrote:I say don't wait too long for the next one. Just take a little break if any and keep getting better at this.

For one thing, that GMAT Prep score seems to indicate that you are pretty well prepared. No sense losing that only to have to rebuild it.

One source of good verbal practice is Veritas's question bank and also the Veritas practice CATs, which also are pretty close to the real thing.

Building up your verbal skills could be good as you have some room to raise your verbal sub score.

The way I see it is this. If you can score 50 on quant, and you can score 40 on verbal, then you have the basic language skills and the logic skills necessary to get all or most of CR and RC right, which, with a half decent hit rate in SC, gets you to the mid to upper 40s in verbal. I can further confirm your language skills from what you have written here. So maybe you should get a little clearer on how to do RC and CR and boost that score. Of course, for all I know there is some low hanging fruit in the SC area too.

Also, keep your quant skills fresh and maybe increase them a little too.

As far as the no sleep thing goes, that's freaky. I too was caught up in a stressful situation right when I was taking the test and my score probably suffered as well. I too was during breaks doing all I could to make up for what was going on. I am pretty sure that in both of our cases there was some kind of unconscious self sabotage involved in the creation of those circumstances.

We can have things like anger, fear, anxiety or inner conflict affecting us without our being aware that they are. So maybe a little introspection would help. I have seen how changes in psychology can result in a significant score increase.

Anyway, you might score 740 or higher even with just a decent night's sleep. So with a little more practice and skill development that seems like a lock.

Exactly Matt. The more I couldn't fall asleep the more I started thinking that my exam would get screwed. So what started as not much stress turned into no sleep and over thinking maybe.

That sounds right, typical vicious cycle, things being a little off and then one's reaction making them even more off. In fact, maybe the screen's looking hazy was to some degree due to your mental state.

Rich also highlighted the extra time you had. I mean dude, if the screen was going hazy on you, maybe you would have hit your target if you had just slowed down and taken a little time to relax, or something.

Sounds as if you were tired and bugging. What a thing. So well prepared too. Well, next time you know. If you know a little about meditation, you could probably put yourself to sleep even in that situation, and one thought that could help is that if you stay calm, you could score higher even with little sleep.

Hah. Now I'm feeling sleepy just from talking about this. Might just sign off for the night.

Hi akhilsuhag,

Keeping in view your scores in all your tests scoring a 740+ in the GMAT will not be tough for you.Following the below steps will definitely help you hit your target score.

1. Start with a mock test. This will help you identify your strong and weak areas
2. Get your hands on the best preparatory material available in the market.
3. Joining a coaching institute or a study group is recommended because it gives a structure to your preparation and keeps you motivated all the time. Remember cracking GMAT is not just about working hard but working smart as well
4. Make a study time table for yourself that suits you best. You can start with spending 2 hours every day and as you move closer to your test date, start increasing your study hours
5. Keep taking mock tests in real test taking situations. However, more important than taking a mock test is to analyse your performance in the same. If you spend 2 hours on a mock test, spend 6 hours in analyzing the same.
6. Figure out ways by which you can continuously keep improving your score
7. Make sure you stay consistent with your schedule. This is extremely important

Feel free to comment and post here anything further you want to know from us and we are there to guide you.

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