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I did not beat the GMAT

by nehs » Sat Sep 25, 2010 12:45 pm
I just came back from my test and I feel like a complete failure.
My scores:
Quant 37
Verbal 20
Total 490

I really don't know what happened. Although, I was not expecting any stellar scores - I thought I'd at the very LEAST land 540. 490 was so disheartening.

I wondering if I should go ahead with my application. I was targetting spring 2011 and there's still over a month for the deadlines. The schools that I was targetting had said that we could take the GMAT anytime upto 31 october. And it is Master's of Science programs for me;not MBA

I used the following. books and studied about 6 weeks(took a break from work):
Og- 11 and 12
OG - Verbal guide
MGMAT SC
Powerscore CR( just went 2-3 chapters)
PR - almost a useless book I would say

My practise tests:
GMAT prep - 470 (2 weeks after studying)
PR - 440
PR - 480
GMAT PREP - 500
MGMAT CAT - 540
GMAT prep retake - 560
GMAT prep retake - 610 (with AWA)
GMAT prep retake - 580 (with AWA)
I used to give an average of 1 test a week.


I know I was weak in verbal but not so weak that I get a 20. During the test I got 2 very long SC passages. They were really long. I had to scroll down to see one complete paragraphThis did make me think that I was at an extreme,either upper 500's or near the 680 range. Looks like a longer passage means an easier question.

Shpuld I take the test again in the next one month or wait and take after 3-4 months(to apply for may be fall 2011).
Any tips/advices/suggestion/anything is welcome.

Thank You
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by ssaravanaraj » Sat Sep 25, 2010 2:03 pm
I think you should retake the test. May be have a focussed study this time. If possible join some courses, so that you can find your weakness and improve yous score.

Good luck!
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by odannyboi » Sat Sep 25, 2010 2:11 pm
nehs... I posted a response in the my other thread in the GMAT strategy section.

I didn't have the confidence to report my scores. Verbal was TERRIBLE. I hate verbal!! I too anticipated a very low verbal score so I didn't report. My practice scores are similar to yours as well. I'll retake it once more, you should too. I'll devote more time to reading and verbal. It just pisses me off that I wasted about 10 weeks of my young life studying for this crap (in the summer too!).
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by nehs » Sat Sep 25, 2010 2:27 pm
ssaravanaraj wrote:I think you should retake the test. May be have a focussed study this time. If possible join some courses, so that you can find your weakness and improve yous score.

Good luck!
ssaravanaraj,
Yeah..looks like I"ll have to retake..Verbal really threw me off..I must say the real test is no where NEAR the GMAT prep or OG guides. quant felt although as if I am solving 5-8 questions that I had already solved and so was ok
I need to find out if prep institutes do have only a verbal course. I would not want to waste my time and money on quant, I am pretty much ok with it.Even though my current score is not great, I know I can improve. Verbal does not seem to improve at all
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by nehs » Sat Sep 25, 2010 2:32 pm
odannyboi wrote:nehs... I posted a response in the my other thread in the GMAT strategy section.

I didn't have the confidence to report my scores. Verbal was TERRIBLE. I hate verbal!! I too anticipated a very low verbal score so I didn't report. My practice scores are similar to yours as well. I'll retake it once more, you should too. I'll devote more time to reading and verbal. It just pisses me off that I wasted about 10 weeks of my young life studying for this crap (in the summer too!).
odannyboi...I had the same issue but I decided to report to my scores just to know where I stand...I was devastated when I first saw the score. Verbal was terrible for me too..I got 2 VERY VERY VERY long passages that made me feel that I might be doing little better than Quant. But, when I saw the verbal score I was shocked. I am also going to keep reading and do something to bring up the verbal.
I am so pissed off too that I wasted my time studying in the summer,and wasted my husband's time too...And, you know what - I am pregnant and so my poor baby might have been pissed too with her mommy :wink: ..Can You imagine - I even quit my job to study for GMAT and go to grad school.. :oops: I'm thinking of trying the admission process though...I might be lucky.nothing to lose for me except the application fee...I was planning of applying to Baruch - their admit scores are between 510-700 though :-((.Fingers crossed!!

Anyway, Good Luck to you too...when do you plan to retake?
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by odannyboi » Sat Sep 25, 2010 2:50 pm
nehs wrote:
odannyboi wrote:nehs... I posted a response in the my other thread in the GMAT strategy section.

I didn't have the confidence to report my scores. Verbal was TERRIBLE. I hate verbal!! I too anticipated a very low verbal score so I didn't report. My practice scores are similar to yours as well. I'll retake it once more, you should too. I'll devote more time to reading and verbal. It just pisses me off that I wasted about 10 weeks of my young life studying for this crap (in the summer too!).
odannyboi...I had the same issue but I decided to report to my scores just to know where I stand...I was devastated when I first saw the score. Verbal was terrible for me too..I got 2 VERY VERY VERY long passages that made me feel that I might be doing little better than Quant. But, when I saw the verbal score I was shocked. I am also going to keep reading and do something to bring up the verbal.
I am so pissed off too that I wasted my time studying in the summer,and wasted my husband's time too...And, you know what - I am pregnant and so my poor baby might have been pissed too with her mommy :wink: ..Can You imagine - I even quit my job to study for GMAT and go to grad school.. :oops: I'm thinking of trying the admission process though...I might be lucky.nothing to lose for me except the application fee...I was planning of applying to Baruch - their admit scores are between 510-700 though :-((.Fingers crossed!!

Anyway, Good Luck to you too...when do you plan to retake?
I will probably retake in about 5-6 weeks. I want to apply to University of Miami and Pepperdine... UM's round 1 is Dec 15... Pepperdine is Nov 15. I also wanted San Diego state but they start rolling admissions Oct 1... which means if I apply by late Nov, I'll already almost be left in the dust. SDSU fills up by lat Dec... with only a 35% acceptance rate.

I suggest you study a little more and try to do good in your retake. I am taking this as a learning experience. Get some fire in your belly.. then your child will be strong and confident too! :)

I am beginning to regret not reporting my score... I just didn't have it.. its like I had a crash in energy during verbal (SCREW YOU 5-HOUR ENERGY!!!). Maybe I should have taken my 4 minute break between Q and V. It really sucks that the GMAT is holding us back.. for now.
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by Victory_GMAT » Sat Sep 25, 2010 3:43 pm
nehs wrote:I just came back from my test and I feel like a complete failure.
My scores:
Quant 37
Verbal 20
Total 490

I really don't know what happened. Although, I was not expecting any stellar scores - I thought I'd at the very LEAST land 540. 490 was so disheartening.

I wondering if I should go ahead with my application. I was targetting spring 2011 and there's still over a month for the deadlines. The schools that I was targetting had said that we could take the GMAT anytime upto 31 october. And it is Master's of Science programs for me;not MBA

I used the following. books and studied about 6 weeks(took a break from work):
Og- 11 and 12
OG - Verbal guide
MGMAT SC
Powerscore CR( just went 2-3 chapters)
PR - almost a useless book I would say

My practise tests:
GMAT prep - 470 (2 weeks after studying)
PR - 440
PR - 480
GMAT PREP - 500
MGMAT CAT - 540
GMAT prep retake - 560
GMAT prep retake - 610 (with AWA)
GMAT prep retake - 580 (with AWA)
I used to give an average of 1 test a week.


I know I was weak in verbal but not so weak that I get a 20. During the test I got 2 very long SC passages. They were really long. I had to scroll down to see one complete paragraphThis did make me think that I was at an extreme,either upper 500's or near the 680 range. Looks like a longer passage means an easier question.

Shpuld I take the test again in the next one month or wait and take after 3-4 months(to apply for may be fall 2011).
Any tips/advices/suggestion/anything is welcome.

Thank You
I think you should remove the time barrier first so you can really prepare in free style. You can score well in last week of December if you hit the ground running from now. The good thing is that now you will be working on specific areas as you already have a base of 500 score. You have identify:
-Areas in Grammar to work
-Type of reasonings in CR
-Passage practice in RC
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by ssaravanaraj » Sat Sep 25, 2010 4:04 pm
hey nehs, please do not scare me too much, my exam is on monday :).
Anyhow good luck with your 2nd time. I agree with the other poster, once you start to hit your GMAT score consistently in your practice test, then schedule the test,
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by nehs » Sat Sep 25, 2010 5:11 pm
Odannyboi ,
Don't regret over canceling your score now as it is of no use.
Prepare well for your next attempt with more energy and motivation.
Your post says that you did not take the second break - I feel that might me a cause of your exertion too. Anyway. We all have to learn from our first GMAT exp:)
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by nehs » Sat Sep 25, 2010 5:14 pm
ssaravanaraj wrote:hey nehs, please do not scare me too much, my exam is on monday :).
Anyhow good luck with your 2nd time. I agree with the other poster, once you start to hit your GMAT score consistently in your practice test, then schedule the test,
ssaravanaraj, don't think about what happened to us ! If you have scored consistently in your prep tests then you should be ok if you keep your cool throughout the test. Goodluck and let us know how it goes :)
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by nehs » Sat Sep 25, 2010 5:20 pm
Victory_GMAT, thanks for your positive words. I found it motivating!!!
I was initially thinking of retaking the test in 4-5 weeks but now I amthinking of taking it in Jan.
I really wanted to start my program this spring. I ' ve quit my job too :( and am feeling so helpless now.
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by celestia007 » Sat Sep 25, 2010 6:32 pm
Hey Nehs - don't get discouraged, you'll get it the second time around!

I was scoring 650, 640 in my practice tests, but I got so nervous, that I ended up scoring a 490 on my actual exam - what a disaster! So, this just goes to show you, being calm and collected is also key in getting a good score.

I'd suggest getting the MGMAT strategy guides if you haven't already as it'll help you brush up on core theory and strategies before your next attempt. I'm writing a blog about my GMAT re-attempt so feel free to visit as it may give you some insight into learnings that I got out of my experiences.

Good luck on your journey! :)
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by papgust » Sat Sep 25, 2010 6:34 pm
Hi nehs,

Sorry to hear your bad experience with the test. I was hoping to see good results from you as you were so eager to beat the gmat over the past few months.

Firstly, give yourself some time. You know that you need to work hard on both quants and verbal. This situation will be tricky as you need to precisely plan for both quants and verbal without neglecting either subject.

If you're aiming for a 700 or more, I would suggest you to take up private tutoring. If you're aiming for a 600, I'm sure that you can definitely manage by yourselves.
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by fitzgerald23 » Sat Sep 25, 2010 6:40 pm
First of all never get down on yourself. Look around these boards and you will see plenty of people who started out with scores in that 500 level and jumped to 700+. There is no reason you cant do the same.

If you feel you can afford to spend the extra time to study it will probably pay off in the long run. I wouldnt think that rushing and taking it again without studying will give a big enough jump to help you out with some of your school choices. Id actually suggest doing a very different study plan. I know you want to focus on verbal because that is the area you scored low in, but I would actually suggest starting out by studying math. I say this for two reasons. One is that your math score is already slightly above the mean in quant. From the looks of your study plan you put no work in on math other than just using the OG. If you buy just a few of the MGMAT books and put in the work your quant score is going to jump from a 37 to at least a 43, if not higher. That is going to be an easy way to ensure that you get out of the 400s and into the mid 500s. Secondly I found from really going through the study of quant and specifically the DS questions you will force yourself to begin to read more critically and that will actually help you with both CR and RC on test day. Those Manhattan books also give you access to 6 exams which is worth the price alone of the books.

Id focus on verbal secondly. Rather than focusing on your weakest point Id actually start with your strongest and try to build on that. I found that if you can become good at CR you can become pretty good at RC as well. I think many of the basics of those two types are very similar. You already have the SC book. I think its a great book but can be very overwhelming especially if you are not a native English speaker. If you have limited study time I would think it is best to focus in depth on those first few chapters of basics rather than taking a less intensive approach where you do not get through the whole book. Sitting and memorizing idioms is not going to help as much as really understanding the basics of sentence structure. Most of those questions can be solved in a number of ways anyway so being real strong in a few areas will probably help you reach your goals more than being mediocre in every area of the book.

Best of luck!
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by beatthegmatinsept » Sat Sep 25, 2010 9:02 pm
Neha - I myself started at 530, and got myself to my target score in 2 mths. You can definitely get to 550 in a couple weeks once you get your basics clear. Since you verbal is 20, I would recommend focusing on that, getting that up to 25 or so, will get your GMAT score to 530-540. Don't be disheartened, and don't worry your baby will be proud of you very soon! :)
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