I just Beat The GMAT!

Just got back from the test center

580 Q51 V18 dismissal performance

Verbal is the lowest I have ever scored on any practice test.

Practice test score

KAPLAN CD1 Q50 V33
KAPLAN CD2 Q48 V35

MGMAT CAT1 Q50 V28
MGMAT CAT2 Q51 V32
MGMAT CAT3 Q49 v33
MGMAT CAT4 Q48 V42
MGMAT CAT5 Q49 V34

GMAT prep 1 Q50 V38
GMAT prep 2 Q50 V37

I just cannot make any sense from my performance on practice tests.
I took all the practice with AWA + at the time of my test.

Any help is appreciated.

Felt like blowing up the entire test center.

Anyway, I aint gonna give up that easy. GMAT just got lucky this time, I'll beat it no matter what.

I feel sorry for you.

I too am in the same boat.Took the exam on 14th Oct - got a miserable score in 500's.My chase is on too.

BTW,I remember,ur answers in Q forum were superb !

Hey buddy, Really not upto your level.

I am sure you will certainly do well next week.
Forget all this and just get back to studies.

Don't even waste a single sec.

All the very best....

I am sure now you know your weaknesses ..
btw, Can you recall few moments which costed you so much ?

I am sure you will certainly get what you deserve...

parallel_chase wrote:Just got back from the test center

580 Q51 V18 dismissal performance

Verbal is the lowest I have ever scored on any practice test.

Practice test score

KAPLAN CD1 Q50 V33
KAPLAN CD2 Q48 V35

MGMAT CAT1 Q50 V28
MGMAT CAT2 Q51 V32
MGMAT CAT3 Q49 v33
MGMAT CAT4 Q48 V42
MGMAT CAT5 Q49 V34

GMAT prep 1 Q50 V38
GMAT prep 2 Q50 V37

I just cannot make any sense from my performance on practice tests.
I took all the practice with AWA + at the time of my test.

Any help is appreciated.

Felt like blowing up the entire test center.

Anyway, I aint gonna give up that easy. GMAT just got lucky this time, I'll beat it no matter what.

Hi Parallel Chase,
On the positive side thats an excellent QUANT SCORE. I guess u just need to focus on Verbal. May be u just had a bad day...

If u can do this well in Quant I think its just a matter focusing more on Verbal and nailing it.

Your practice verbal scores are pretty good. I am sure if u had got high 30's in verbal u might have been in the 700's

How was your stamina/concentration level after u finsished quant?

Good luck!

Regards,
Cramya

i am in the same boat ,got 620 (q50,v24) , i was also scoring almost same in my practice test but failed in real gmat. may be that was my bad day, i will try again next month.

parallel_chase wrote:

580 Q51 V18 dismissal performance



KAPLAN V33
KAPLAN V35

MGMAT V28
MGMAT V32
MGMAT v33
MGMAT V42
MGMAT V34

GMAT prep V38
GMAT prep 2 V37

.

Okay your range on verbal - without stress - is 28-42

18 does not make any sense to me!!

I am sure this has nothing to do with your verbal skills. YOU ARE EITHER RUNNING OUT OF FUEL, or GETTING STRESSED!

Work on your psychology! Stay cool!

Thanks for your replies. I truly appreciate this.

Now that I have come to terms with my score, I think my nerves got the best of me.
If same thing would have happened in quant, I would have probably scored 47 or 48.

I think GMAT wants me to get 51 in verbal as well . I will be taking GMAT in 1 months time again. I want to start verbal from the scratch.
This time even if I screw up I should get at least 42-45 rather than 18.

Any suggestions on how to start verbal. I feel doing questions and practicing OG or other stuff can only get one so far.

I dont have much to offer to people who are looking for verbal suggestions, but I think i can definitely help people in Quant. Here is a list of suggestions that I think would be most helpful to people who are struggling with quant.

1) Dont go on solving every question that you see. I didnt even completed OG or quant guide. Learn the fundamentals first. Dont learn the tricks and strategies. (Look at my verbal score, tips and strategies can only get you so far)

2) Timing. Dont jump on this unless your fundamentals are absolutely clear. Do 10 questions in 6 mins. This will help you to look for the underlying principle of the question. And this exactly what GMAT quant is.
No fancy calculations, just straight math. Sometime question can be as simple as what is 2+4

3) Search for Ian's and Stuart's posts on this forum. They have the most breath taking strategies, especially Ian's approach for solving absolute values. I can guarantee this, every 20 posts of Ian and Stuart can help you gain 5 points in quant section.

4) Nothing will come beyond GMAT prep. In some of the questions I actually felt i am solving the same question as GMAt prep just the values are changed.

5) Dont fret too much about permutation, combination, & probability. I dint even get a single question from any of these topic. Though this is my strongest area.

6) Number properties, absolute values, exponents. GMAT love them all and me too. Almost 25 questions out of 37 were from these topics.

LASTLY, MOST IMPORTANT SUGGESTION

Quant alone will not help you get pass 700, hell it will not even help you get pass 600. My scores vindicate this harsh reality

If you are scoring around 47-49 in quant, forget about it, give as much time as you can to verbal.

If you still need any help regarding quant, feel free to pm me. It would be nice if you could help me sort out my verbal.


Thanks guys.

Hey parallel_chase....
I like ur spirit..thts the way to do it...M sure u ll get unprecedented result in verbal...

pls let me know if u have any specific query regarding verbal,will try to help to the best of my ability....

Good Luck!!

I am on a same boat, i came out of test center with a dismal score of 570(Q50 & V17). Verbal is my weak area, especially RC, in which my timing & accuracy are great concern. I do not what happen to me whenever i face long RC, i am not able to concentrate for too long. Same thing happen in test when i faced my second RC of 4 paras. I thing that came at my 12th question (58mins are left). That RC consumed my time, tempo & confidence.
Guys, please suggest what to do to overcome this mania. .

Hey parallel_chase

Firstly congrats on getting such a brilliant quant score. You deserve it completely.
Secondly can you list down the material you used for practicing the verbal section and the areas you particularly find difficult in verbal?

Same happened to me. Sat the GMAT last week, did well in Q but verbal got the better of me. This really is a test of stamina and endurance. I felt like nothing was going in when reading the questions. I had 4 long RC questions too which really beat me to the ground! Any tips for conquering V would be much appreciated. I find it tough when working against the clock and maintaining composure and focus - as a result I found myself re-reading, wasting time, getting flustered and confusing myself very quickly. This certainly isn't a test of intellect, it's a test of character to some extent. Feeling somewhat disheartened as have a busy month coming up, 2nd round apps are due soon and last thing I feel like doing is studying again after studying for 8 weeks. I will soldier on however. Man this test is tough, it must ruin so many people's dreams and aspirations. Enough venting for now I will get there!

cheeseburst wrote:Hey parallel_chase....
I like ur spirit..thts the way to do it...M sure u ll get unprecedented result i verbal...
Well,I m struggling with quant..non-quant background;scoring in early forties;have 1 month to go;want to score 50;
Is it possible in 1 month??My verbal is going well,if I can ace quant I can get a nice score overall.....Wht should I do n how??
Thanx n yes pls let me know if u have any specific query regarding verbal,will try to help to the best of my ability....

Good Luck!!

Firstly, Gmat has nothing to do with quant background. My undergraduate major was Fashion Merchandising and Marketing. The only quant that I used in work life was Rates & work and Profit and loss. So if I can do it so can you.

Now get hold of high school math book, you will find questions in there tougher than 800 level, but this will get your basics right. Also follow my strategies listed in above post. Follow this and you'll see yourself knocking 50.

For one month I didnt do anything, just high school math. After doing this even Kaplan looked like a cake walk.


Let me know if you have any other questions. Also any verbal suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks.

mals24 wrote:Hey parallel_chase

Firstly congrats on getting such a brilliant quant score. You deserve it completely.
Secondly can you list down the material you used for practicing the verbal section and the areas you particularly find difficult in verbal?

Thanks.

Materials used for verbal

OG10 SC & CR
OG11 SC & CR, RC incomplete
Verbal guide SC & CR
MGMAT SC Guide
Power score CR bible

Strongest area is RC, in any practice test I never got more than 3-4 wrong out of avg. 13-14 questions.

Weakest area is SC. In SC my strongest area is modifiers and parallelism. Weakest area is the tenses.

CR I can say I am pretty good with it. But nevertheless need to work on all sections.

Any suggestions is appreciated.

Thanks.

where in verbal u think r u lacking??If RC is baffling then LSAT passages r the ones which ll help u master the section....
Let me know where u need improvement in verbal.

For improving SC it is very important to improve your basics in grammar (just like you would do for the quant section).

I would recommend you to buy a good high school English grammar book just to brush up your understanding on the basics. I would recommend using the high school grammar book published by Wren and Martin. You can find it easily on amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/High-School-Engli ... D1WCXAJFYN

They have an extensive list of all the topics in grammar that one is required to know for SC. It really helped me in understanding the verb tenses and pronoun agreement (2 of my weakest areas in SC).

After doing this go back to MGMAT SC guide. Trust me itll improve your understanding of modifiers and parallelism incredibly.

Also when you do SC ques take a piece of paper and writer down the 6 common types of errors that you will see in every SC ques. SV-Agreement, Pronoun error, Verb tense, parallelism, modifier, Comparisons and Idioms. When you do a SC ques always look for these 6 errors (in the order listed)and try to eliminate options. This will give you a systematic approach to attack the problem.

For verbal you can even practice questions from Kaplan premier and 800. They have some pretty good questions and very helpful explanations.

And most importantly, practice the questions posted in this website. I think you'll agree with me how helpful the questions and advices posted in this website are for one's prep.

So don't loose hope if you have any particular problem or difficulty feel free to ask and hope to see a 30 point improvement in your verbal score next time you take the exam.