490......What gives?

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medea66: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 186; Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:05 pm; Thanked: 2 times

by medea66 » Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:28 pm

After a disasterous score (370) in May after a prep course and many months of studying, I decided to hit the books again. After completing all of the PS questions in OG green and all questions except for RC in OG purple, I took my first GMAT PREP today and scored a miserly 490(Q29, V28).

Just to break things down, I have been doing problems under timed conditions and then review each one that I got wrong along with each one that I got right but had doubts on during the practice session.

I have scheduled my test for the end of the month and really need to do some legwork in order to break the 600 mark. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:28 pm

bilko: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 42; Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 8:10 am; Thanked: 1 times

by bilko » Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:39 pm

Which prep course did you take? I know at least Princeton Review and Kaplan have a guarantee that lets you retake the course for free (well, PR's is free; not positive Kaplan's is, but if not, it's likely a small fee).

newera: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 82; Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 4:26 pm; Thanked: 10 times

by newera » Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:17 am

well, on the bright side, you managed to bump your score up by 120 pts, which is a good start. Don't lose faith, keep going.

I suggest you primarily focus on mastering the official gmat material...the official guides and the gmatprep software. I have a friend who got a 490 and kept practicing only from the OG books for 3 months and ended up with a 710 on the real thing. Practice practice practice and for every wrong answer, go back and really try to understand why you missed it. and do it over again a couple days later.

good luck. if you feel you're not ready by the end of the month, delay your test date. you can take the exam a week before submitting the application and you'll be fine.

medea66: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 186; Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:05 pm; Thanked: 2 times

by medea66 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 4:20 pm

I took Kaplan...boy was it a waste of time and money.

Newera,

Thanks for the encouragement! I don't exactly have 3mos, I've devoted way too much time already. This entire year has been about studying for the GMAT and I have to take this one soon.

One school has a deadline in the middle of Sept and the other a month later. I have about 2more weeks to study, so I better do it right. As for the 120pt improvement, I don't really look at it that way since I was able to get mid-500 in my practices. So the main goal now is to make quick improvements.

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