Hi Everyone,
I want to start off by expressing a big "thank you" to all the members and the founder for the valuable information and advice in this forum!!
Having said that, one would think that I've not made the best use of all the advice and effort from my GMAT score. I am terribly disappointed and have decided to give it another shot but not quite sure how.
July (mid) -- GMAT prep 1-640 (Q47 V31 without essays)- Felt a solid prep will help boost my score.
July/Aus -MGMATs - 640, 670, 650, 670 with essays in all tests to get used to the marathon test
Aug (2 days b4 the actual GMAT) -- GMAT prep 2 -730 (Q49 V41 without essays) Was happy and confident.
Aug 30 -Actual GMAT - 640 (Q48 V31)
Material used: OG guide, Manhattan SC guide, Kaplan 800.
On the quant side I was comfortable with most topics except for permutation/combination, probability and sets -I was either slow or couldn't not solve them.
One the verbal side I needed to work on SC from the start - the Manhattan SC guide is terrific. Once I got a little comfortable, I focussed on increasing my speed in CR in Kaplan 800 and OG guide but did not focus too much on RC becuase I was comfortable withthem during the MGMATS and GMAT prep tests.
The day before the exam I was very anxious. I have a habit of going through everything I've studied in the past the day before the exam so I went through the same routine. Made up my mind to sleep by 9:30pm so that I was fresh for the test at 8 in the morning. At 2 am in the morning my mind was racing with no sleep all night. Finally, I got some sleep but woke up at 4 without an alarm which is surprising. I realised I was too anxious to get anymore sleep.
During the quant section I felt neutral about my preformance but during the verbal section I started feeling a little tired and was starting to hurry up in the test. I'm tired of blaming factors like lack of sleep and anxiety for poor peformance. Having given numeorus tests in the past including the GRE I feel I should be more comfortable with tests.
I want to give it another shot and would like to make a more robust plan. This may disrupt my MBA plans as I may have to delay my application to the third round or another year. Clearly I need to focus on english to improve my score and sustain my quant performance. I am seeking tips on what I could do to make sure I can improve my consistency in performance. I have run out of the valuable GMAT prep tests though. I plant to purchase the powerscore bible to improve my RC and CR accuracy which I seemed to struggle with in the actual GMAT. I also seem to have a timing issue with verbal questions and end up trying to make best guesses.
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From GMATtest prep-730 to actual GMAT-640-Very Disappointed!
This topic has expert replies
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applicant2010
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:50 pm
Hi,
I do have to say that lack of sleep/anxiousness will affect your performance atleast by a few points. I know how painful it is to see a lesser score after hard work.
What was your verbal split in your mgmat scores? I felt that mgmat verbal was easier than the actual GMAT. I scored consistently less than the mgmat verbal score. (I gave GMAT twice). Even though you gave GMATprep twice you could probably use it again after a month or two..You will see a few repeats but it is still the best practice exam out there.
Regarding prep, I concentrated on SC .(It was my weakest section. I am indian, non native speaker). This is the section I feel that can be improved a lot. I am not sure how to explain, but I went through every single SC in OG and verbal guide. I went through 10 at any given time, but I concentrated on the explanations, not only whether I got the correct answer but also why the wrong answer was incorrect. This helps a lot..You can start seeing patterns. (It takes time, but this technique really pays off). If you don't find the explanation clear,(OG does list a lot of constructions as awkward) google it and try to find Ron's (manhattan gmat instructor) explanation. Its probably the best explanations out there. my SC accuracy improved to 90% and I was able to find the errors in less than a minute..(This is no joke when compared to the start of my prep when it was just 60%)
RC- This is an open book test. The answer is right there. You just have to find it. There are several techniques available in BTG and other websites. This is a timing issue more than anything. I read every paragraph and rephrased it in my mind(active reading). I didn't register details, I went back to the passage for detail questions.
CR -- Power score is one of the good books out there. It should help. Here, I don't know any tricks. This was my strong area and I didn't put a lot of effort in this.
The biggest disadvantage with RC and CR is if you have already used up the OG material, you have to look for new material. I used LSAT for RC (difficult RCs but its a good practice) and CR(although LSAT CR is slightly different than what is tested in GMAT)
Regarding applications, I am not sure about your plans and deadlines, but if you give the GMAT by end of october(gives you two months of study time), you will still have two months for second round. It might be hectic and painful but if you are planning to apply for 3-4 schools, its doable. I wouldn't recommend third round, if you have a spectacular resume and experience, you could still apply in third round. ..again this goes for your background. If you are asian/Indian there are a lot people and hence a very competitive pool.
I do have to say that lack of sleep/anxiousness will affect your performance atleast by a few points. I know how painful it is to see a lesser score after hard work.
What was your verbal split in your mgmat scores? I felt that mgmat verbal was easier than the actual GMAT. I scored consistently less than the mgmat verbal score. (I gave GMAT twice). Even though you gave GMATprep twice you could probably use it again after a month or two..You will see a few repeats but it is still the best practice exam out there.
Regarding prep, I concentrated on SC .(It was my weakest section. I am indian, non native speaker). This is the section I feel that can be improved a lot. I am not sure how to explain, but I went through every single SC in OG and verbal guide. I went through 10 at any given time, but I concentrated on the explanations, not only whether I got the correct answer but also why the wrong answer was incorrect. This helps a lot..You can start seeing patterns. (It takes time, but this technique really pays off). If you don't find the explanation clear,(OG does list a lot of constructions as awkward) google it and try to find Ron's (manhattan gmat instructor) explanation. Its probably the best explanations out there. my SC accuracy improved to 90% and I was able to find the errors in less than a minute..(This is no joke when compared to the start of my prep when it was just 60%)
RC- This is an open book test. The answer is right there. You just have to find it. There are several techniques available in BTG and other websites. This is a timing issue more than anything. I read every paragraph and rephrased it in my mind(active reading). I didn't register details, I went back to the passage for detail questions.
CR -- Power score is one of the good books out there. It should help. Here, I don't know any tricks. This was my strong area and I didn't put a lot of effort in this.
The biggest disadvantage with RC and CR is if you have already used up the OG material, you have to look for new material. I used LSAT for RC (difficult RCs but its a good practice) and CR(although LSAT CR is slightly different than what is tested in GMAT)
Regarding applications, I am not sure about your plans and deadlines, but if you give the GMAT by end of october(gives you two months of study time), you will still have two months for second round. It might be hectic and painful but if you are planning to apply for 3-4 schools, its doable. I wouldn't recommend third round, if you have a spectacular resume and experience, you could still apply in third round. ..again this goes for your background. If you are asian/Indian there are a lot people and hence a very competitive pool.
