I took the GMAT this January and didn't score as well as I would have liked. Ideally I was looking to score high 600's low 700's but ended up with a 550 (37 Q, 27 Verbal). I knew halfway through the test that I wasn't going to score well because by the middle of the Quant I started falling really far behind on time. I had to guess on basically the last 10 questions. My frustration carried through with the verbal and I didn't gain focus until it was too late and ran out of time again.
I didn't focus so much on timing when I started studying. I bought the OG, OG quant and OG verbal books and went through some timed sets, but also other sets that were not timed. Needless to say, I didn't think I had the right strategy, and based on my CAT exams (around 550 as well) I shouldn't have expected to score any higher than that. After I took the test I bought all of the Manhattan books to dive more deeply into the content and really learn the material. This helped me a lot in terms of my initial attack on problems but I'm still struggling a LOT on timing. My latest CATs have been 550, 540, and 560. So again, average of 550. I feel that I know a lot more material now but I feel that even when I take practice tests my anxiety blocks my ability to recognize problems off the bat and attack them. I don't think this is a learning issue because looking back at specific problems/categories, I can test into the 700-800 level questions. But before its too late I make the careless error of falling off on time.
Do I need to try taking the test after taking a few shots or drinking a beer? A Xanax? I know that I can answer basically any of the questions not under stress and pretty quickly. I can even do many of the PS problems in my head quickly from the MGMAT app and get them right. I think coming from an engineering background, fundamentally I feel that I need to get every problem right, which is NOT the way to take the test (you will always get questions wrong), but how do I switch my mentally to get better at timing and not go from a 700 track mid test all the way down to a 550! Any suggestions would be useful!
I didn't focus so much on timing when I started studying. I bought the OG, OG quant and OG verbal books and went through some timed sets, but also other sets that were not timed. Needless to say, I didn't think I had the right strategy, and based on my CAT exams (around 550 as well) I shouldn't have expected to score any higher than that. After I took the test I bought all of the Manhattan books to dive more deeply into the content and really learn the material. This helped me a lot in terms of my initial attack on problems but I'm still struggling a LOT on timing. My latest CATs have been 550, 540, and 560. So again, average of 550. I feel that I know a lot more material now but I feel that even when I take practice tests my anxiety blocks my ability to recognize problems off the bat and attack them. I don't think this is a learning issue because looking back at specific problems/categories, I can test into the 700-800 level questions. But before its too late I make the careless error of falling off on time.
Do I need to try taking the test after taking a few shots or drinking a beer? A Xanax? I know that I can answer basically any of the questions not under stress and pretty quickly. I can even do many of the PS problems in my head quickly from the MGMAT app and get them right. I think coming from an engineering background, fundamentally I feel that I need to get every problem right, which is NOT the way to take the test (you will always get questions wrong), but how do I switch my mentally to get better at timing and not go from a 700 track mid test all the way down to a 550! Any suggestions would be useful!
