Confused!! NEED HELP!

Expert replies

tejaswini0712: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 15; Joined: Tue Jul 30, 2013 9:16 pmFollowed by: 4 members

by tejaswini0712 » Tue Oct 29, 2013 11:25 am

HI,

I scored a 640 on my first Gmat prep test, which i took before starting my prep
I prepared rigorously for a month.Completed all 8 manhattan Gmat books, Egmat for verbal and the entire OG 13 book. I have maintained an error log and am have gotten pretty good at solving. But here comes the problem. I have taken 2 Manhattan Gmat CATs in the past week and scored a dismal 650 and 630. I fare badly and get terribly stressed under timed conditions.I take long even for problems I know and hence randomly guess and move on. I am absolutely terrified now as my GMAT is less than a month away. Am targeting at least a 680.
Any suggestions to help me out of this deep dark pit are welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Tejaswini

Source: Beat The GMAT — Quantitative Reasoning | Tue Oct 29, 2013 11:25 am

GMAT/MBA Expert

[email protected]: Elite Legendary Member; Posts: 10391; Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pmFollowed by: 511 members; Location: Palo Alto, CA; Thanked: 2867 times; GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Tue Oct 29, 2013 11:46 am

Hi tejaswini0712,

First off, none of those scores are "dismal"; they're all around the 80th percentile, which is higher than most Test Takers will score in their lives. It's more appropriate to say that you haven't hit your goal yet. To that end, what were your Scaled Scores for the Quant and Verbal section on each of those CATs? We need to know how you're performing in each section before I can offer any pointed advice.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at [email protected]

tejaswini0712: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 15; Joined: Tue Jul 30, 2013 9:16 pmFollowed by: 4 members

by tejaswini0712 » Wed Oct 30, 2013 4:42 am

HI,

Thanks for your quick reply and your encouraging words.

My score breakup is as follows:
Manhattan Gmat CAT 1: 650 Q:42 V:37
Manhattan Gmat CAT 2: 630 Q:42 V:34.

I fare badly on the SC section and with the timing on the Quant section.
I have a GPA of 3.66 and am aimimng to get a 680 in the least though my actual target was 710+ before seeing my mock scores.

Thanks again.

GMAT/MBA Expert

[email protected]: Elite Legendary Member; Posts: 10391; Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pmFollowed by: 511 members; Location: Palo Alto, CA; Thanked: 2867 times; GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Wed Oct 30, 2013 11:04 am

Hi tejaswini0712,

Your Scaled Scores show that you're solid in both the Quant and Verbal sections. While SCs may be your weakest Verbal area, your Verbal scores show that you can't be that weak. A review of grammar rules/idioms and some extra practice would likely help. Your Quant scores, combined with your pacing problem mean that you're doing (or attempting to do) to much math and not enough strategic thinking. I'd suggest that you go back and review those CATs. Take a good look at anything that you got wrong AND anything that took you more than 3 minutes to solve. My guess is that you'll find a number of silly mistakes and "little things" that you can fix.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at [email protected]

mevicks: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 269; Joined: Thu Sep 19, 2013 12:46 amFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 94 times

by mevicks » Fri Nov 01, 2013 2:23 am

tejaswini0712 wrote:HI,

I scored a 640 on my first Gmat prep test, which i took before starting my prep
I prepared rigorously for a month.Completed all 8 manhattan Gmat books, Egmat for verbal and the entire OG 13 book. I have maintained an error log and am have gotten pretty good at solving. But here comes the problem. I have taken 2 Manhattan Gmat CATs in the past week and scored a dismal 650 and 630. I fare badly and get terribly stressed under timed conditions.I take long even for problems I know and hence randomly guess and move on. I am absolutely terrified now as my GMAT is less than a month away. Am targeting at least a 680.
Any suggestions to help me out of this deep dark pit are welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Tejaswini

I'm no expert on this but here are my views on your situation:

Firstly, as mentioned by Rich any thing above 640 keeps you in the 75-80 percentile range and is pretty decent enough to say the least! Literally translated the percentile means you are better than 75-80 % of the test takers! So you can only improve from here

Now, as far as timing issues are concerned make sure that you do take a practice test atleast every week until the G-day. But keep the last week relaxed and no tests during that time. Also make sure that you SIT FOR THE ENTIRE 4 HOURS -- with proper timed breaks between sections and attempt all the 4 sections religiously !

And lastly I'd suggest you read the following articles by Stacey (who has helped 1000s of GMAT takers achieve great results ):

https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... game-plan/
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... nt-part-1/
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... nt-part-2/
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2009/10/ ... went-wrong
https://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/keeping-pace.cfm
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... tudy-plan/

Featured schoolRound 2 closes Jan 7, 2027 54 days left

Chicago Booth

Since 1982, 10 Booth faculty members have received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, more than any other business school.

#3
U.S. News rank: $175,000
Median base salary: 670
Average GMAT Focus: 635
Students in the class

Apply to Booth Visit chicagobooth.edu See the full profile

Photo: Warren LeMay, CC BY-SA 2.0

GMAT Course Reviews

563 reviews

1168 reviews

431 reviews

359 reviews

147 reviews

5/5

5 Star (563 Reviews)

"Target Test Prep is the closest to the official version of the GMAT exam, about 99% accuracy in terms of the quality and quantity of information. The course has excellently created singular sets of focused lessons and tests for every possible topic that one could come across in the official GMAT exam."

"The TTP course maximizes the efficiency of the time you spend studying. It will take time and effort but I could almost guarantee that if you complete the course exactly as it is laid out you will get an amazing score. They also have a very responsive team willing to help with any questions you might have."

"TTP has two things that I think no other test prep company offers: A teaching approach that reinforces understanding and an attitude that will give you the mental preparedness needed to succeed on the test. TTP gives you a deep understanding of the concept you need to know while teaching you how to think."

Write a Review