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Gmat horror story

by Marianajacome » Fri Mar 17, 2017 8:29 am
Hello Gmat Avengers!!!

I have a horror story with my gmat exam, I have taken it three times yet and i haven´t got a good score. I practice everyday, i have taken 6 simulations test and i don´t know what else i have to do. I feel really depressed and my confident is totally broke. I don´t if its better to give up.....
Please help me!
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Fri Mar 17, 2017 11:48 am
Marianajacome wrote:Hello Gmat Avengers!!!

I have a horror story with my gmat exam, I have taken it three times yet and i haven´t got a good score. I practice everyday, i have taken 6 simulations test and i don´t know what else i have to do. I feel really depressed and my confident is totally broke. I don´t if its better to give up.....
Please help me!
You certainly should not give up. Plenty of test-takers require multiple attempts before everything clicks. If we have some bad testing habits and we haven't yet corrected them, it makes sense that we'd have the same result. Can you tell us a bit more? What material did you use to prepare? What were the splits on your practice tests vs splits on the actual test? What was your process for reviewing those practice tests?
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by [email protected] » Fri Mar 17, 2017 1:19 pm
Hi Marianajacome,

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you're looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied?
2) What materials have you used?
3) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
4) How have you scored on each of your Official GMATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?

Goals:
5) What is your goal score?
6) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
7) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
8) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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by Marianajacome » Sat Mar 18, 2017 2:16 pm
DavidG@VeritasPrep wrote:
Marianajacome wrote:Hello Gmat Avengers!!!

I have a horror story with my gmat exam, I have taken it three times yet and i haven´t gotten a good score. I practice everyday, i have taken 6 simulations test and i don´t know what else i have to do. I feel really depressed and my confident is totally broke. I don´t if its better to give up.....
Please help me!
You certainly should not give up. Plenty of test-takers require multiple attempts before everything clicks. If we have some bad testing habits and we haven't yet corrected them, it makes sense that we'd have the same result. Can you tell us a bit more? What material did you use to prepare? What were the splits on your practice tests vs splits on the actual test? What was your process for reviewing those practice tests?
Hi DavidG@VeritasPrep! Thank you for replying I am studying now with The Economist Tutor and before that i studied with Kaplan. I study everyday one hour and half and for the weekends i study three hours per day. I usually, have the same splits in my test practice and my real test.
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by Marianajacome » Sat Mar 18, 2017 2:28 pm
[email protected] wrote:Hi Marianajacome,

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you're looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied?
2) What materials have you used?
3) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
4) How have you scored on each of your Official GMATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?

Goals:
5) What is your goal score?
6) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
7) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
8) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Hi [email protected] thank you for your response:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied? I have studied for six months for this year and last year i studied for three months.
2) What materials have you used? I have used The Economist Tutor and Kaplan.
3) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)? On each on my cat i score form 26-30 for the quant and for the verbal part i scored between 26 and 34.
4) How have you scored on each of your Official GMATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)? In my official test i score between 25 and 28 in the quant and for the verbal between 14 and 28


Goals:
5) What is your goal score? 600
6) When are you planning to take the GMAT? i'm planning my next gmat exam next month
7) When are you planning to apply to Business School? This year
8) What Schools are you planning to apply to? Rotterdam University
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by [email protected] » Sat Mar 18, 2017 4:28 pm
Hi Marianajacome,

When I asked about your practice CAT scores and Official Scores, I really wanted to see the individual results for each Exam including the overall score for each (and not your score "ranges"), so if you could provide that information - along with the dates that you took the Official GMAT - then that would be helpful.

1) What is the exact application deadline for the Program that you're interested in?

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Rich
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Sun Mar 19, 2017 6:06 am
Marianajacome wrote:
DavidG@VeritasPrep wrote:
Marianajacome wrote:Hello Gmat Avengers!!!

I have a horror story with my gmat exam, I have taken it three times yet and i haven´t gotten a good score. I practice everyday, i have taken 6 simulations test and i don´t know what else i have to do. I feel really depressed and my confident is totally broke. I don´t if its better to give up.....
Please help me!
You certainly should not give up. Plenty of test-takers require multiple attempts before everything clicks. If we have some bad testing habits and we haven't yet corrected them, it makes sense that we'd have the same result. Can you tell us a bit more? What material did you use to prepare? What were the splits on your practice tests vs splits on the actual test? What was your process for reviewing those practice tests?
Hi DavidG@VeritasPrep! Thank you for replying I am studying now with The Economist Tutor and before that i studied with Kaplan. I study everyday one hour and half and for the weekends i study three hours per day. I usually, have the same splits in my test practice and my real test.
The next question is how thoroughly do you analyze your practice exams, and do you come up with a concrete action plan after each one? (Ideally, you'll be dissecting why you missed the questions you missed and why you spent too much time on the questions you failed to solve efficiently. It's possible that you have a full understanding of the concepts, but are failing to use appropriate strategies. It's also possible that your grasp of the fundamental concepts could use some strengthening. The diagnosis you come up with should then lead to 3-4 strategic takeaways that you can implement before taking your next exam. So after one test, you may remind yourself to back-solve on questions with hairy algebra, resolve to do some drilling on rate and mixture problems, and review your approach to Sentence Correction question in which modifiers are misplaced. Only after you address these specific issues do you want to take another test.) If you haven't done this yet, that's the first step going forward.
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by Marianajacome » Sun Mar 19, 2017 4:19 pm
[email protected] wrote:Hi Marianajacome,

When I asked about your practice CAT scores and Official Scores, I really wanted to see the individual results for each Exam including the overall score for each (and not your score "ranges"), so if you could provide that information - along with the dates that you took the Official GMAT - then that would be helpful.

1) What is the exact application deadline for the Program that you're interested in?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Hi [email protected],

Well on my first one, was really bad i didn't´t knew the exam at all, it was on the 23th of February of 2016. I got 280. On my second trial i got 350 and it was on january 19th of 2017 and my last exam was on 16th of may and i got 450.
The deadline for my university is the first of may.
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by Marianajacome » Sun Mar 19, 2017 4:21 pm
DavidG@VeritasPrep wrote:
Marianajacome wrote:
DavidG@VeritasPrep wrote:
Marianajacome wrote:Hello Gmat Avengers!!!

I have a horror story with my gmat exam, I have taken it three times yet and i haven´t gotten a good score. I practice everyday, i have taken 6 simulations test and i don´t know what else i have to do. I feel really depressed and my confident is totally broke. I don´t if its better to give up.....
Please help me!
You certainly should not give up. Plenty of test-takers require multiple attempts before everything clicks. If we have some bad testing habits and we haven't yet corrected them, it makes sense that we'd have the same result. Can you tell us a bit more? What material did you use to prepare? What were the splits on your practice tests vs splits on the actual test? What was your process for reviewing those practice tests?
Hi DavidG@VeritasPrep! Thank you for replying I am studying now with The Economist Tutor and before that i studied with Kaplan. I study everyday one hour and half and for the weekends i study three hours per day. I usually, have the same splits in my test practice and my real test.
The next question is how thoroughly do you analyze your practice exams, and do you come up with a concrete action plan after each one? (Ideally, you'll be dissecting why you missed the questions you missed and why you spent too much time on the questions you failed to solve efficiently. It's possible that you have a full understanding of the concepts, but are failing to use appropriate strategies. It's also possible that your grasp of the fundamental concepts could use some strengthening. The diagnosis you come up with should then lead to 3-4 strategic takeaways that you can implement before taking your next exam. So after one test, you may remind yourself to back-solve on questions with hairy algebra, resolve to do some drilling on rate and mixture problems, and review your approach to Sentence Correction question in which modifiers are misplaced. Only after you address these specific issues do you want to take another test.) If you haven't done this yet, that's the first step going forward.
Hi DavidG@VeritasPrep!
Thank i will certainly follow your recommendations
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by [email protected] » Mon Mar 20, 2017 10:01 am
Hi Marianajacome,

If you took your most recent GMAT last week, then that leaves you about 6 weeks until May 1st. Unfortunately, the goal of raising a 450 to a 600+ in that time is likely too difficult to be considered realistic. To hit that score, you'll have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections - and all of that work will take time. I suspect that you'll need at least another 3 months of consistent, guided study to score at that level. While you can certainly make some big improvements in the time that you have, we might need to consider some alternatives to your current plans/goals.

1) Would you be satisfied with a score that is lower than 600? If so, then what would be acceptable?
2) What is the next Application Round for Rotterdam after May 1st?
3) Are you considering any other Schools besides Rotterdam?

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by ceilidh.erickson » Tue Mar 28, 2017 10:37 am
Marianajacome wrote:Hello Gmat Avengers!!!

I have a horror story with my gmat exam, I have taken it three times yet and i haven´t got a good score. I practice everyday, i have taken 6 simulations test and i don´t know what else i have to do. I feel really depressed and my confident is totally broke. I don´t if its better to give up.....
Please help me!
You have taken the real test 3 times, but have only taken 6 practice exams. This is not a good ratio! Most successful test takers take at least 5 practice exams before taking the real thing, and many take 10 or more! It seems like you've only been studying for a few months. It's way to early to feel demoralized! This isn't a test that can be conquered quickly and easily. People typically spend many months (even years), and hundreds of cumulative hours studying.

If you were learning to play soccer, you wouldn't expect to win 3 games if you had only ever had 6 practice sessions! GMAT skills take a lot of time to build. First you need to learn the content in depth, but then you need to give yourself time to make quick decisions under timing pressure, recognize patterns, manage your mindset, etc.

Between now and May 1, you should take at least 3 more full practice exams, including IR and essay, to perfect your time management and your mindset.

Then, review all of those practice exams in a TON of depth! Carefully track any mistakes you make, and redo all of the problems, right or wrong.

And tell yourself - this is a HUGE and difficult task! You're not allowed to get discouraged until you've put in a few hundred hours of effort.

Good luck!
Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education
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by Bara » Sat Apr 01, 2017 1:45 am
I agree with Manhattan Prep: you're not allowed to get discouraged!!!- - your mental state has a HUGE effect on your performance, and from what you've described, you've only just begun! So to be blunt: if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

The good news is that this test is extremeley coachable and improve-able. First, as my colleagues have written the more you know about your performance, the better you will do. Once you have a sense of your needs sets, it's extremely valuable to embark on an organzied, structured study program. What are your tutors telling you to do? I believe someone from The Economist and Kaplan are on BTG. What are THEY saying about your performance?

Rich has some great questions about your goals and aspirations.

Bottom line is to practice like crazy but to be intentional in learning about what you're doing right and wrong. If you are feeling 'depressed' or 'overwhelmed' seek help (look up test anxiety, i have several posts that directly address this, and we're the only company that employs mindful holistic modalities that support the students mental game).

YOU CAN DO THIS!!!


Best,

Bara
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