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660 (q41 v40) and confused by SUPER EASY quant questions...

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660 (q41 v40) and confused by SUPER EASY quant questions...

by zuleron » Fri Apr 17, 2009 5:19 pm
OK... so I I got beat and I am upset.

660 is one of those scores that is within the 40 + or - points of 700 so it doesn't tell you much... Perhaps it is enough to get looked at and that is fine.

But what upsets me is that in the quant section I saw two or three SUPER EASY questions. I mean I saw one DS that was something like: There's triangle ABC, what is angle BAC? (1) Angle BCA is 45 (2) AB = BC. I was a little scared when I saw this question and I spent a minute trying to figure out what hidden trick there was... but I couldn't find any... and then I was a little worried that the test was too easy. And even though later on in the test I saw some fairly tough stuff like probability of two people in a round table sitting next to each other... I saw a couple more VERY BASIC questions!!! :shock:

During the test, I thought that these super easy questions must be trial questions that won't affect my score, and because I'm seeing a few tough ones, I must be good... BUT when I saw my score I knew the super easy questions must have affected my score... right?

BUT HOW????? I mean my first GMATPrep was 640 but after 1 month of study I scored 720 on the second GMATPrep and 740 on a retake of GMAT1 and a 730 on a retake of GMAT2.... My verbals (after studying) have always been 40-42 (so my final score was within the range)... but Quant was 44-46...

What gives????
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by Z_I » Fri Apr 17, 2009 7:24 pm
I know exactly what happened with you. This is a classic case of over-thinking. It happened to me in the first question of Quant. It was as basic as what is 1/x + y = ? I could not believe my eyes when I saw this question. However, I had learned my lesson during the practice tests. A lot of times i would overthink a quant problem and then do a silly mistake and get it wrong. I would keep thinking that there must be a hidden trick that im not able to get.

However, after a few practice test I learned myself to trust my preparation and believe that a problem could be straightforward too!!

The other thing I learned after all the tests was to treat each problem equally. Read every problem with the same keen eye and give every question one full minute of your time. If its the easy ones then I would tell myself to choose the right answer in a minute not less. That way I would have enough time to recheck the question once or even twice to ensure there were no hidden twists. On the difficult ones I would then allow myself an extra minute.

So I think you were capable of solving most of the questions in quant but you got a little rattled by the super easy ones and then allowed your mind to start analyzing the difficulty levels etc and lost the concentration to focus on one question at a time.

660 will definitely get your application reviewed so if you have a strong app then don't worry. Though if you have time then you can consider re-taking coz i think you should be able to score a 700.
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by zuleron » Sun Apr 19, 2009 8:06 am
Thanks! You're probably right. Now that I have had a few days to digest the experience and analyze my preparation, I think I focused too much on extremely difficult questions. I mean I completely exhausted the question bin on GMATPrep 1 by taking and retaking the exam over and over.... and writting down the difficult questions and completely breaking them down afterwards... I even composed 70 of my own 700+ level questions. So I was ready for the tough stuff and accustomed to dealing with them and so when I saw these super easy questions, I got seriously rattled. I did see some hard questions just not enough of them.

Is it possible I got locked in to a quant 41 by my performance on the first 15 or so questions?
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by Z_I » Sun Apr 19, 2009 11:27 am
zuleron wrote:Thanks! You're probably right. Now that I have had a few days to digest the experience and analyze my preparation, I think I focused too much on extremely difficult questions. I mean I completely exhausted the question bin on GMATPrep 1 by taking and retaking the exam over and over.... and writting down the difficult questions and completely breaking them down afterwards... I even composed 70 of my own 700+ level questions. So I was ready for the tough stuff and accustomed to dealing with them and so when I saw these super easy questions, I got seriously rattled. I did see some hard questions just not enough of them.

Is it possible I got locked in to a quant 41 by my performance on the first 15 or so questions?
Absolutely! That might have been the case coz you you must have been trying hardto understand what could you possibly be doing wrong considering that the answer stared at you in like 30 seconds.....for the firs few super easy questions!
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Thanks!

by Jen1268 » Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:50 am
This exact same thing happened to me on Saturday and I got the same score. I'll remember this the next time I take it. Thanks for the help!
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by zuleron » Mon Apr 20, 2009 10:07 am
Yes, the psychology of the test is very important. I think it's not merely a knowledge test (how much do you know) or even an apptitude test (how much are you able to learn) but also a psychological test (can you stay calm if the unexpected comes your way) and a strategic test (can you make strategic decisions to skip a question). I wish I had known this going in... but next time I take the test, I will focus more on the psychological and strategic aspects of the GMAT.
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by siownschu » Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:04 pm
the psychology is definitely a strategy that the test makers try to put on the exam. I mean seriously, its a 3.5 hour exam and they have you take the verbal AFTER the math.. i think the evidence is quite clear they try to psych you out.

i don't know about the rest of you guys but the Math section leaves my brain pretty dead, and then having to read a long paragraph about something that i have no idea about really adds the pressure during the exam.
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by tuscan21 » Tue Apr 21, 2009 12:32 am
very good score, congrats
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