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550 1st attempt & 610 2nd attempt.. Where am I going wro

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550 1st attempt & 610 2nd attempt.. Where am I going wro

by Ri.TwEaK » Fri Oct 18, 2013 4:02 am
Hi Guys !!

Happy to be a part of this community. This is my first post here and its a little long... so please bear with me :)

I gave the GMAT first in October 2012 and got a score of 550 (Q47 V28). I didn't exactly follow any strategy guide at the time. Just picked up the OG and hammered away at all the sections without any analysis or timing strategies. My mistake here was that I'd thought of the GMAT like any other college/school exam and didn't take it seriously enough. I'd thought I'd learn from this and do better the next time.

I gave the GMAT again on 17th October 2013 and got a score of 610 (Q40 V34). I was more shocked than disappointed at the score especially at the Quants section. Never in In all my life have I got such a low score in Quants. Even in the mocks I had been scoring consistently between 45-49. I'm just not able to wrap my head around what went wrong and where.

And an improvement in the Verbal score from 28 to 34 is barely a consolation :(

The thing is that now I'm not sure how to proceed. Should I take the GMAT again in a month? I feel that my weaknesses lie in CR and Number properties... and there were quite a few number questions on the GMAT (inequalities, moduli etc) so if I focus on improving these I think I can do better next time. Also I'm not quite sure how exactly to manage the time. The last few questions in Quants had to be rushed because of lack of time.

My target score is 720+. I used the following for my Prep;

GMAT OG 13 - Solved completely
Princeton 13
OG Verbal Review 2nd Ed
OG Quant Review 2nd Ed
Princeton Mock - 650 (Q46 V34)
MGMAT Test 1 - 630 (Q45 V35)
MGMAT Test 2 - 660 (Q47 V36)
GMAT Prep Test 1 - 690 (Q49 V37)
GMAT Prep Test 2 - 710 (Q48 V38)

I'm a Mechanical Engineer from India. Ironically, I've been working in Sales & Marketing since the last 3.5 years with top MNC's (both national & international). I feel that now would be a good time to complement my practical experience with theoretical knowledge and I really want to apply this year.

I would really appreciate your feedback and thoughts on my situation. Specially with regard to the time management and how exactly to go about the GMAT now after 2 attempts.

Thanks,
Ritwick
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by Mike@Magoosh » Fri Oct 18, 2013 12:37 pm
Dear Ri.TwEaK,
I'm happy to respond. :-)

First of all, here's a three-month study plan designed for folks who are much stronger in math than in verbal:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-gm ... l-focused/

Here's a free idiom ebook you may find helpful.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idiom-ebook/

Here's a perspective for thinking about the math section:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/how-to-do- ... th-faster/
Here's a general blog about timing strategies:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/pacing-and ... -the-gmat/

Here's a blog about guessing in the last few minutes of a section:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/guessing-s ... -the-gmat/
Here's a blog about guessing as a time-saving strategy during the test:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/when-to-guess-on-the-gmat/


Here's a free practice CR question:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/3129
Here's a free practice SC question:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/3273
When you submit your answer for each one of those, the following page will have a complete video explanation.

If you search that free blog, you will find several articles that will help you.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Mike :-)
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
https://gmat.magoosh.com/
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by [email protected] » Fri Oct 18, 2013 1:00 pm
Hi Ri.TwEaK,

You're not the first person to hit a snag during their studies, so don't feel to bad about that. Business Schools don't care if you retake the GMAT, so that's not a problem either.

If you can answer a few questions, I'll be happy to offer some advice:

1) Where do you want to apply to school?
2) When do you want to apply?
3) Have you scheduled your next GMAT yet? If so, then when is it?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
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by Ri.TwEaK » Tue Oct 22, 2013 12:33 am
Mike@Magoosh wrote:Dear Ri.TwEaK,
I'm happy to respond. :-)

First of all, here's a three-month study plan designed for folks who are much stronger in math than in verbal:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-gm ... l-focused/

Here's a free idiom ebook you may find helpful.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idiom-ebook/

Here's a perspective for thinking about the math section:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/how-to-do- ... th-faster/
Here's a general blog about timing strategies:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/pacing-and ... -the-gmat/

Here's a blog about guessing in the last few minutes of a section:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/guessing-s ... -the-gmat/
Here's a blog about guessing as a time-saving strategy during the test:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/when-to-guess-on-the-gmat/


Here's a free practice CR question:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/3129
Here's a free practice SC question:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/3273
When you submit your answer for each one of those, the following page will have a complete video explanation.

If you search that free blog, you will find several articles that will help you.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Mike :-)
Thanks Mike !

I will definitely go through all the links you have mentioned.

Now that I think in retrospect, I probably made careless mistakes and assumptions during the quant section wich resulted in a score of 40. I need to carefully analyze my weaknesses and work upon them - Inequalities, Modulus, Probability, CR.

Since I want to apply in Round 2, I am retaking the GMAT on 7th December, 2013. The only issue is that I will be working simultaneously unlike last time when I'd taken a leave of around 20 days. Plus, I will be working on application essays as well.


Here's hoping that the third time's a charm.

Thanks,
Ri.TwEaK
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by Ri.TwEaK » Tue Oct 22, 2013 1:29 am
[email protected] wrote:Hi Ri.TwEaK,

You're not the first person to hit a snag during their studies, so don't feel to bad about that. Business Schools don't care if you retake the GMAT, so that's not a problem either.

If you can answer a few questions, I'll be happy to offer some advice:

1) Where do you want to apply to school?
2) When do you want to apply?
3) Have you scheduled your next GMAT yet? If so, then when is it?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Hi Rich. Thanks for your response.

My answers to your questions are a bit detailed. So please bear with me :)

1) Where do you want to apply to school?
After working in Sales & Marketing for around 3 years, I think I've found my niche in Marketing and its related fields. judging by the business schools with the best Marketing programs, my ideal list is as follows (no order of preference, not sure whether I'm being overambitious or unrealistic)
1.) Kellogs
2.) Ross
3.) McCombs
4.) Duke
5.) Booth
6.) Anderson
7.) IE (Spain)
8.) Emory-Goizueta
9.) Tuck
10.) ESADE
11.) Warwick
12.) Manchester
13.) SDA Bocconi
14.) Cornell
15.) Haas

These are, more or less, the places I would like to apply to.If there are any other schools with good marketing programs, do let me know.

2) When do you want to apply?
Trying for R2 this year, if my score is good. Otherwise I will try again next year. I'm not too sure about R3 as I've heard that it is more difficult but I guess it all depends on the score and the application essays.

3)Have you scheduled your next GMAT yet? If so, then when is it?
I'm retaking the exam again on 7th December which gives me slightly more than a month to prepare. However, this shouldn't be that big an issue as I have already been studying since July. This time it would be more of a analyse-rectify approach. Although since I'm planning to apply in R2, I will have to work on the application essays as well.

Any feedback/comments would be appreciated. Do let me know if I'm going about this the right way.

Thanks,
Ritwick.
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by Mike@Magoosh » Tue Oct 22, 2013 9:56 am
Ri.TwEaK wrote:Thanks Mike !

I will definitely go through all the links you have mentioned.

Now that I think in retrospect, I probably made careless mistakes and assumptions during the quant section wich resulted in a score of 40. I need to carefully analyze my weaknesses and work upon them - Inequalities, Modulus, Probability, CR.
Dear Ri.TwEaK,
I couple things I share about this. The GMAT definitely designs questions to elicit assumptions that aren't justified --- many of these mistakes are as predictable as clockwork. I would recommend getting detailed feedback on any quant problem you get wrong. Don't just settle for glancing over the solution and saying, "yeah, that makes sense now." Type up the problem, what you thought, what you did, and your understanding of the nature of your mistake --- type that up as a thread here in BTG, and ask experts to give you additional feedback or to confirm your understanding. You are more than welcome to solicit my help in a private message --- just send me a link to the thread. You see, math is all about the details, and especially once you are as advanced as you are, you only make additional progress through a rigorous analysis of the details of each problem on its own.

Here's a blog about thinking about math differently:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/how-to-do- ... th-faster/

If focus and attention and careless mistakes are an issue for you in general, here's a blog that you may find quite germane:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/zen-boot-c ... -the-gmat/

I hope all this helps.
Mike :-)
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
https://gmat.magoosh.com/
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