-
gmat_verbal
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Sun May 24, 2009 8:09 pm
Posting after two hours of introspection after taking the test.
Scored an abysmal 620 Q49 V 26
Worst verbal score ever
Exam Day (July 2nd 2009):
Gave my exam in SanFrancisco since the San Jose location is under renovation and could not get a date when I was booking. So SFO is 30 mile ride for me. Exam time was 2:00 Pm today. To be stress free from traffic I stayed overnight in SFO next to the pearson office ( 0.5 mile walking distance).
Woke up early in the morning around 6:30AM, revised my math notes and verbal notes. Did few sample questions on math and verbal to get my brain in to the test mode. Walked to pearson's office at 10:30 AM to confirm my appointment details (yes I was paranoid). The lady told me that there was a computer free and I can take the exam right away. Since I was mentally prepared to take the exam at 2:00 I declined and went to the park, which was in front of the test center. Spent around 1.5 hours relaxing and came back around 12:00PM. Checked in for the test. Everything was going perfect until now.
I had the perfect level of anxiety, calm and composed. Drank some water and took the seat. Started AWA and finished the analysis of argument in 25 mins, reviewed 5 mins. Then went to analysis of issue, finished in 23 mins and reviewed and structured in next 7 mins. For the preparation, I spent few hours on the template approach, practiced writing couple of times when taking exams, so it was relatively very easy. The questions were straight forward.
Took the break. Ate a banana, drank some water and took the seat again. Quant started with a fairly easy question and got me in to the cruising mode. There was not a single instance where I felt I was taking the real exam until now. I was very composed and in perfect mode of mental alertness ( there were some very tricky questions that were thrown at me and I was happy to figure them), saw one repeat (not exact but values changed) from GPrep and was happy since that was a tricky one. Had 2 to 3 lenghthy questions (read brute force calculations like decimal division with large numbers) so took a guess and moved on so that I dont burn time on these lengthy calculations. Finally had 6 mins to spare on the last 2 questions. So took my own sweet time to do the 36th question and the 37 was a killer but did manage to finish on time. Was looking forward for a 49 to 50 in quant since that was my typical score on preps.
Took the break again. Ate another banana, drank some water and emptied fluid from my system from my previous refill. Was in great mood, no anxiety, and was TOTALLY under control before I started verbal. Again never felt for a second that I was dong the real thing and was in complete control. Verbal started. First one was a SC. KILLER. Spent around 1.5 mins and I took the best shot on it. Second was again a SC and it was equally tough. Then CR. My strenghts are CR and RC. My SC skills are very flaky some days I score full and some days I make terrible mistakes. Anyways, back to the test, RC being my strength I messed up the first RC question; I was already seeing that I am spending invariably around 2 mins around each question on Verbal which according to my practice history means I am headed in for trouble. Typically I finish verbal section with 15 to 20 mins to spare and my typical verbal score are in the range of high 30 (37+) to low 40s (44) average around 42. The SC questions until the first half of the exam were extremely diffcult for me, CR and RC were equally bad but I could figure out and solve them. But in most of the SCs I did not see what was wrong in the question. After the first half of verbal I was sensing that the questions I was getting for SCs were below my level and I was seeing the errors in the questions in my face. I got a bunch of SC questions in the first half and few CRs since I knew I cracked all the CRs correctly. Got fours RCs, nothing unexpected in total (2 big 2 small). One long RC was really hard with full of native american words and english translations. This was in the first half of the questions. So all in all SC and RC killed my level. The second half was a breeze and did not realize until question 33 that damage was already done. Suddenly it struck to me that I never saw a bold face question. And said to my self that I was still doing fine. SC level again increased in the last part. Got a series of CRs and I think I got them all right except for 1 where I had to guess. In the middle of verbal I felt that I was losing my control. I thought I held the bull by its horns but until the end did not realize that it stabbed me really bad.
I finished verbal with 3 mins to spare. Not usual at all, the only times I actually used up all the time was when I was scoring really high around 45 and 47, two instances. So I was foolishly confident that I was fine since I finished with 3 mins to spare. I was hoping for a score of 760 (which was my typical score on practise tests).
SAW 620 AND MY HEART SANK
GUESS JULY 2nd IS NOT MY DATE.
Preparation:
I studied, OG10, OG11, GPREP multiple times, PowerPrep, Manhattan GMAT SCs, CR Bible and 1000SCs.
I am a working professional and my prep has been on and off for the past 1 year. For the past 15 days I had a terrible schedule and personal life. My grandfather passed away two weeks back and I broke down completely, did not study for that whole week. After that I was caught up with work and until yesterday night 12 I was working. I was able to spend atleast 2 to 3 hours for 2 to 3 days in the week but the last two weeks I could not concentrate at all. I was still confident for a 760 since took a practise test last week and everything seemed fine.
Practise score (Gprep1 and Gprep2 with repeats):
Q - 47 - 12 quant mistakes with 4 questions unanswered 690
V - 37 - 9 verbal mistakes with 1 qtn unanswered
Q - 50 - 7 Quant mistakes with 6 repeats 740
V - 40 - 7 Verbal mistakes with 1 RC, 4 SC, 2 CR
Q - 49 - 10 Mistakes 760
V - 45 - 4 mistakes
Q - 50 - 7 mistakes 770
V - 42 - 7 mistakes
Q - 50 - 9 Mistakes 780
V - 47 - 2 mistakes
Q - 50 - 6 Mistakes 790
V - 47 - 2 mistakes
Q - 50 - 6 mistakes 760
V - 41 - 5 mistakes
Q - 49 - 9 mistakes 700
V - 36 - 10 mistakes 3 sc, 4 cr, 3 rc
Q - 51 - 1 mistake (4 repeat) 770
V - 44 - 4 mistakes
Q - 51 - 6 mistakes (770)
V - 44 - 5 mistakes
Q - 50 - 5 mistakes (750)
V - 41 - 7 mistakes
Q - 49 - 9 mistakes ( 760)
V - 44 - 4 mistakes
Q - 50 - 6 mistakes (760)
V - 44 - 5 mistakes
======
Going on vacation to India this week so break from GMAT and Work. Will come back with iron fists and cut the bulls horns..
July 2nd was really not my day
==================
One important thing to note is that, if you repeat GPrep multiple times the exam will just feel like the prep. Not a single question type on Quant for the real thing was something which I had not seen on GPrep. Verbal was also equally identical to GPrep but I am still not able to figure out why I screwed it up so bad.
Scored an abysmal 620 Q49 V 26
Worst verbal score ever
Exam Day (July 2nd 2009):
Gave my exam in SanFrancisco since the San Jose location is under renovation and could not get a date when I was booking. So SFO is 30 mile ride for me. Exam time was 2:00 Pm today. To be stress free from traffic I stayed overnight in SFO next to the pearson office ( 0.5 mile walking distance).
Woke up early in the morning around 6:30AM, revised my math notes and verbal notes. Did few sample questions on math and verbal to get my brain in to the test mode. Walked to pearson's office at 10:30 AM to confirm my appointment details (yes I was paranoid). The lady told me that there was a computer free and I can take the exam right away. Since I was mentally prepared to take the exam at 2:00 I declined and went to the park, which was in front of the test center. Spent around 1.5 hours relaxing and came back around 12:00PM. Checked in for the test. Everything was going perfect until now.
I had the perfect level of anxiety, calm and composed. Drank some water and took the seat. Started AWA and finished the analysis of argument in 25 mins, reviewed 5 mins. Then went to analysis of issue, finished in 23 mins and reviewed and structured in next 7 mins. For the preparation, I spent few hours on the template approach, practiced writing couple of times when taking exams, so it was relatively very easy. The questions were straight forward.
Took the break. Ate a banana, drank some water and took the seat again. Quant started with a fairly easy question and got me in to the cruising mode. There was not a single instance where I felt I was taking the real exam until now. I was very composed and in perfect mode of mental alertness ( there were some very tricky questions that were thrown at me and I was happy to figure them), saw one repeat (not exact but values changed) from GPrep and was happy since that was a tricky one. Had 2 to 3 lenghthy questions (read brute force calculations like decimal division with large numbers) so took a guess and moved on so that I dont burn time on these lengthy calculations. Finally had 6 mins to spare on the last 2 questions. So took my own sweet time to do the 36th question and the 37 was a killer but did manage to finish on time. Was looking forward for a 49 to 50 in quant since that was my typical score on preps.
Took the break again. Ate another banana, drank some water and emptied fluid from my system from my previous refill. Was in great mood, no anxiety, and was TOTALLY under control before I started verbal. Again never felt for a second that I was dong the real thing and was in complete control. Verbal started. First one was a SC. KILLER. Spent around 1.5 mins and I took the best shot on it. Second was again a SC and it was equally tough. Then CR. My strenghts are CR and RC. My SC skills are very flaky some days I score full and some days I make terrible mistakes. Anyways, back to the test, RC being my strength I messed up the first RC question; I was already seeing that I am spending invariably around 2 mins around each question on Verbal which according to my practice history means I am headed in for trouble. Typically I finish verbal section with 15 to 20 mins to spare and my typical verbal score are in the range of high 30 (37+) to low 40s (44) average around 42. The SC questions until the first half of the exam were extremely diffcult for me, CR and RC were equally bad but I could figure out and solve them. But in most of the SCs I did not see what was wrong in the question. After the first half of verbal I was sensing that the questions I was getting for SCs were below my level and I was seeing the errors in the questions in my face. I got a bunch of SC questions in the first half and few CRs since I knew I cracked all the CRs correctly. Got fours RCs, nothing unexpected in total (2 big 2 small). One long RC was really hard with full of native american words and english translations. This was in the first half of the questions. So all in all SC and RC killed my level. The second half was a breeze and did not realize until question 33 that damage was already done. Suddenly it struck to me that I never saw a bold face question. And said to my self that I was still doing fine. SC level again increased in the last part. Got a series of CRs and I think I got them all right except for 1 where I had to guess. In the middle of verbal I felt that I was losing my control. I thought I held the bull by its horns but until the end did not realize that it stabbed me really bad.
I finished verbal with 3 mins to spare. Not usual at all, the only times I actually used up all the time was when I was scoring really high around 45 and 47, two instances. So I was foolishly confident that I was fine since I finished with 3 mins to spare. I was hoping for a score of 760 (which was my typical score on practise tests).
SAW 620 AND MY HEART SANK
GUESS JULY 2nd IS NOT MY DATE.
Preparation:
I studied, OG10, OG11, GPREP multiple times, PowerPrep, Manhattan GMAT SCs, CR Bible and 1000SCs.
I am a working professional and my prep has been on and off for the past 1 year. For the past 15 days I had a terrible schedule and personal life. My grandfather passed away two weeks back and I broke down completely, did not study for that whole week. After that I was caught up with work and until yesterday night 12 I was working. I was able to spend atleast 2 to 3 hours for 2 to 3 days in the week but the last two weeks I could not concentrate at all. I was still confident for a 760 since took a practise test last week and everything seemed fine.
Practise score (Gprep1 and Gprep2 with repeats):
Q - 47 - 12 quant mistakes with 4 questions unanswered 690
V - 37 - 9 verbal mistakes with 1 qtn unanswered
Q - 50 - 7 Quant mistakes with 6 repeats 740
V - 40 - 7 Verbal mistakes with 1 RC, 4 SC, 2 CR
Q - 49 - 10 Mistakes 760
V - 45 - 4 mistakes
Q - 50 - 7 mistakes 770
V - 42 - 7 mistakes
Q - 50 - 9 Mistakes 780
V - 47 - 2 mistakes
Q - 50 - 6 Mistakes 790
V - 47 - 2 mistakes
Q - 50 - 6 mistakes 760
V - 41 - 5 mistakes
Q - 49 - 9 mistakes 700
V - 36 - 10 mistakes 3 sc, 4 cr, 3 rc
Q - 51 - 1 mistake (4 repeat) 770
V - 44 - 4 mistakes
Q - 51 - 6 mistakes (770)
V - 44 - 5 mistakes
Q - 50 - 5 mistakes (750)
V - 41 - 7 mistakes
Q - 49 - 9 mistakes ( 760)
V - 44 - 4 mistakes
Q - 50 - 6 mistakes (760)
V - 44 - 5 mistakes
======
Going on vacation to India this week so break from GMAT and Work. Will come back with iron fists and cut the bulls horns..
July 2nd was really not my day
==================
One important thing to note is that, if you repeat GPrep multiple times the exam will just feel like the prep. Not a single question type on Quant for the real thing was something which I had not seen on GPrep. Verbal was also equally identical to GPrep but I am still not able to figure out why I screwed it up so bad.
