I just Beat The GMAT!

Hello all,

I did the GMAT this morning and scored far below my target. I would have been satisfied by anything above 730. I am satisfied with my Q score but V is way below my averages.

I am a bit confused right now about reasons of such a low score in Verbal. During the test, I felt questions were tougher than what I saw during GMATPrep and though it was probably because I was doing well. I was schocked to see my score.

I will most probably re-take it in the coming months (don't know when exactly yet).

I am obvisously really disappointed but I try to think there is much worse in life, it is always good to put things in perspective.

Hello,

Sorry to hear that you didn't do so well. What was your study strategy?
What do you think went wrong in the verbal section?

Drew

What were your Kaplan and PR scores test scores? Did you try MGMAT Cats?

Hello guys,

Thanks for your replies. Here is a summary of my preparation.

For my study strategy, I went through the following books:
- Kaplan
- Kaplan 800 (2x)
- Manhattan SC (3x)
- O.G. 10

My full list of score:
1- MGMAT 1 - 680 (Q47, V35) - 2 months before the test
2- MGMAT 2 - 640 (Q46, V32) - 1.5 months before the test
3- GMATPrep 1 - 720 (Q48, V40) - 1 month before the test
4- GMATPrep 1 #2 - 710 (Q44, V42) - 3 weeks before test
5- PowerPrep 1 - 750 (Q49, V42) - 3 weeks before test
6- PowerPrep 2 - 720 (Q50, V38) - 2 weeks before test
7- MGMAT 3 - 700 (Q43, V41) - 2 weeks before test
8- GMAT Prep 1 #3 - 770 (Q50, V45) - 1 week before test
9- GMAT Prep 2 - 700 (Q45, V40) - 5 days before test
10- GMAT Prep 2 #2 - 750 (Q49, V44) - 3 days before test
11-GMATPrep 3 #3 – 780 (Q50, V47) - 1 day before test

I think what went wrong:
- I was really stressed, like never before. I took this test like a competition whereas I usually take things in a much more relax way. Probably, it had an effect on the test day.
- It is true that during verbal, I picked my choice very quickly. I was reading the options and very often, knew upfront what I was looking for (esp. in CR and RC). In practice, I used to scan the choice once and then think about which one was the best. Maybe sometimes, I read A and though 'OK that is the one' and looked very quickly at the other ones...

My fear is now to do it wrong again...

Well, your practice tests suggest your potential is much higher and also since you do know the possible reasons for your lower than average score in verbal, maybe you should try giving it again.

Yes, I will definitly take it again because I need at least 720-730 for the scholls where I will apply. I will however wait some time before taking it again (probably after the summer) when I will be 'fresh' again.

Thanks a lot for your advice

hey don't feel so down! that's a great score. apply to the top 20 schools...i bet you'll get into one that you'll like. i would kill to get that score!

Given my background, there is no point in doing a MBA unless it is in a TOP-3 school.

I've done the GMAT today as well. 660 (Q47, V35) and I would have been very happy with 700.

I have to say that I wasn't as well prepared as Magellan since I just got 710 in GMATPrep2 yesterday, but I did expected to be closer to 700 because last month I scored 650 and I hoped to fill the gap in a month. Maybe because I'm Spanish I cannot improve my verbal fast enough... please, no siesta jokes!

My plan is to retake it again in a month, before I forget stuff like 3-4-5 magic numbers. I'm running out of CAT tests though. In the last 2.5 months I did:
- 2xGMATPrep (twice)
- 4xKaplan (from Premier prog)
- 3xManhattanRev (I took a crash course with them)
- 3xGMAT Focus
- 800score (5Q + 5V)

I guess that ManRev 6xCAT is the best bundle to buy next. I wonder if there is any other interesting (and representative) CAT tests.

Regarding books:
- OG 11 (did all PS and most of the rest)
- Official Q and Official V (started from the last questions, did about half)
- ManhRev Q + V (did all the sentence correction and all the verbal, fantastic but tough!)
- Kaplan GMAT premier prog (did almost all the CD)

Other material I used (thanks a lot for it guys):
- 300 Flash cards
- Sahil's grammar notes

I know, there is no magical book (unfortunatelly ), just lots of practice to do, however if you have any suggestions, please let me know! I guess that I'll finish the questions I did not reach and redo all those I did wrong.

Thanks again for any help and for keeping up with the site! It's great to find such shelter when the GMAT storm approaches!!! Or goes away for a bit to come back stronger!!!

Slightly OT and don't mean to offend any one

There are only 2 GMAT prep tests right. If we take the third time in a matter of weeks, dont we get the Q's repeated? If so, isn't the score we see probably skewed because we get to chose answers in a matter of seconds.

Thoughts?

i totally agree with you. so don't expect too high on the quant if you see a great quant score on gmat prep. especially data suff questions. those are easy to memorize the answers.

Two comments:

1) toni35 and myself have been disappointed by our verbal score not quant score. Quant was in line with our GMATPrep score.
2) When you re-do GMATPrep, almost all quant question are different. Verbal shows much more repeat.

Yeah, I agree.
I observed the same RC passages and similar SC... not that I could remember the questions, but maybe that explains why the score went from 39 to 35...