Devastated by 660 (Q48 V32)

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Devastated by 660 (Q48 V32)

by ankitji » Mon Sep 05, 2011 3:01 am
I can not control my tears as I am writing this post. I had been dreaming of writing a post with 720+ score in the GMAT. As I went to give the GMAT, I was confident of getting at least a 700 as I had got a 700 in my last GMAT Prep.
But I still do not know what happened to me, I could not complete my Maths section. I had to select random choices for the last 5 questions. I never had problems with timings while giving the GMAT Prep. I simply could not concentrate. When I was doing my verbal part, I thought I was doing reasonable well but got the score of only 32.
I have got the date of October 5 now, will give another try to get 700+ since I am targeting Ohio Fisher with a decent scholarship. My main area of concern is inequalities with Word Problems. Do you have any post that i should refer to for this?

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by ronaldramlan » Mon Sep 05, 2011 7:31 am
Many have written about their 660 score, which matched mine on my first two tests, and I cannot stand reading their posts and doing nothing. First of all, I can understand how you feel as I was in your shoes. Feel free to have a look at my story here ...
https://www.beatthegmat.com/gmat-660-qua ... tml#398833

Second, when you have 48 on your Quant and 32 on your verbal, you should be more concerned with improving your verbal score than with boosting your quant score. Studies have shown that an increment in verbal score will boost your overall score much more than the same increment in quant score. My point is, while it's nice to hone your quant score, you are not going to see a significant improvement on your total score unless you do something with your verbal score.
I'm not sure what you did during your preparation, but I suggest that you have a look at Thursdays with Ron sessions at ... https://www.manhattangmat.com/thursdays-with-ron.cfm
You will find many useful concepts and strategy there, and it is free.

Finally, if you are truly targeting Ohio State Fisher, I think your current score is good enough. You should spend more time on other aspects of your applications. As many have said, even a good GMAT score will only set your foot at the door, it won't get you in. I truly believe that a score of 660 is sufficient to set your foot at Fisher's door. The rest of your applications will determine whether you are in or out.

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by bblast » Mon Sep 05, 2011 7:33 am
Really sad to hear about the bad day u had. I had this link bookmarked so pasting here. Collection of inequalities :

https://gmatclub.com/forum/inequality-an ... 86939.html
Cheers !!

Quant 47-Striving for 50
Verbal 34-Striving for 40

My gmat journey :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/710-bblast-s ... 90735.html
My take on the GMAT RC :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/ways-to-bbla ... 90808.html
How to prepare before your MBA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upz46D7 ... TWBZF14TKW_

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by ankitji » Mon Sep 05, 2011 9:23 am
Thank you Ronald..
I think I can get into Fisher with a 660 since I have got good academics and a decent ECs but I am looking for a scholarship as well. My chances of getting a scholarship will be better if I have a 700+ score (that is what I think), so I have taken a date of October 5 now and will try to improve my Verbal score.

The problem is I do not know in which topic did suck the most in the exam. I used to do almost all CR questions correct in OG and Gmat Prep. I have to work a lot on SC. Also, I was pretty good in RC. Moreover, the pressure and inability to concentrate during the exam due to anxiety is also a reason for my failure.
I have done OG 12, OG Verbal 2nd Edition, OG Quant 2nd Edition. I will do 1000SC, 1000CR and some hard Maths questions from Kaplan to improve my score.
Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

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by ankitji » Mon Sep 05, 2011 9:24 am
Thank you bblast. It is an excellent link.
Do you have anything in which inequalities with word problems in DS are tested.
I saw a couple of questions like that on the GMAT and could not do any of them.

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by ronaldramlan » Mon Sep 05, 2011 3:59 pm
One advice I did on my third test was to take some sweet snacks during the breaks. It worked... helped me to start on the next section fresh.

Regarding your intention to tackle on difficult Quant questions, I have a good advice from an MGMAT instructor. He said "Build up, not down". What he means is that you need to ensure that the basics are thoroughly well covered. I understand the temptation to conquer the hardest Quant questions (you can find some in Knewton Brutal Math Challenge), but I then realized that there is no point of being able to correctly answer the most difficult Quant questions for at least two reasons.
First, you are not likely to see those questions on real GMAT. Second, if you are so much focused on difficult questions, you may ignore the basics, which are more important because, on your real test, if you DO NOT get the basics correct, you are NOT going to see the hard questions.

My advice would be, master the basics ... make sure that you can flawlessly finish them. Then, start on looking at more difficult questions, but NOT very or the most difficult ones.