I just Beat The GMAT!

Hi to all..
I sat for GMAT on 12th of AUG and end up with a big dissappointment. I am writing this post to get all of your valuable advise to improve my score and to identfy where went wrong in my prepartion.

Educational Background
My back ground is in accounts. I am non-native english speaker. I studied only basic math in my whole life. In my exams I always score average. But I am quick learner and hardworker. Dont easily give up.

Gmat Prepartion.
I started Gmat prepartion from end of january this year. I was on and off with study. Started with OG 12 and then MANHT book (all set). I used GMAT Prep test and sat for the test lot of time. My initial score was 420. Later I imporved with time ans were scored
Gmat Prep
590(Q 47 v 24)
580(Q 48 v 21)
540 (Q 45 V 21)
490
460
550(Q44 V 27)
I sat for one MANHAT test and score was
520(Q 33 V 28)
I tried to use different material and tried to attemp hard Q question as much as possible. Geometery was my weekest point but used to manage most of the questions. Struggled with Verbal in my whole journey. I used Manht for SC and it helped a bit. Then I got a number of SC questions over 700's difficulty level. I attemted all of them and 70 percent i got right first time. But it is clear cut observation that I was not picking the right pace.
I observed a repeating patteren during my prepartion. If one week I spent more time to solve Q, in next test I got good score in Q. But if following week I spent more time with verbal. I got more score verbal and Q score droped.

AWA
I have got 4 in AWA. I didnot spent time on AWA I just took one touter class for AWA and paractise only two essays.

Seeking for advise
Please guide me to come out of this trape. I am not going to give up. Yes my score is very low and I need to do a lot of hardwork. But I am ready for that. I want to score over 700. To getting touter help is advisable? Or what i have to do improve my score.

About this fourm
I find is very valuable. It has plenty of information and has lot of inspiration stories. When ever I feel stress regarding GMAT or feel low, I vist this site and read about the people who have acheived their dreams..

Hopefully I will too.
thanks

I know exactly what you are talking about with your math background. Im myself an Accounting/Finance major, and have only studied basic math. So GMAT for people like us requires more studying the concepts and practice, because we don't have that kinda aptitude towards math like say for example Engineering/Math majors.
What I would recommend is read the MGMAT books, they are really good and will help you with basic math concepts. Practice math problems as much as you can. There is no reason for you to not be able to solve difficult questions after going thru the concepts and practice questions.
Good Luck!!

First of all I highly appreciate your courage to post a 460 Debrief. It's easy to post 700+ debrief , because you are happy at that moment, but too difficult to post a low score debrief. You have the right courage and attitude to crack the GMAT next time.

I hardly remember seeing such a low Quant score. The only possible explanation I could think of is getting easy questions wrong in a row. A wonderful thought written by Papgust worth mentioning,
https://www.beatthegmat.com/i-need-to-im ... 63756.html

The zest is - "Don't try to run when you are just learning to walk". I see that you directly HIT Manhattan material, though they build concepts from scratch but I am not sure whether you could take anything out of those books. So, you can plan to go through those books again, learning concepts in a rather slow fashion.

I think you can consider going through Kaplan GMAT Math Workbook. Read the review by Dana,
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2009/11/ ... ook-review

MGMAT books have lots of information and sometime you may feel that you are getting over-loaded with information store-recall. Take a simple book first like Kaplan which has lots of practice problem. Once you base is set around 600 level question(100% accuracy) then build on that using MGMAT books for 700+ level question.

Your Verbal score is pretty good and with a proper approach towards Quant you will certainly be able to push your score into 700 bracket.

Please accept my appolgy My Q score is 33 and V 21. I did typing mistake.

beatthegmatinsept
Thanks for your advice.. yes MANHT study materil is very good. I am trying to built my math foundation from scratch.
It will take time but i am possitive..
Your comments are valuable..
many thanks

Sumanr84

First thanks for your appreciation and encourgment. Yes I am not going to give up.
Secondly, MY Q score is 33 and V is 21, by mistake I wrote the other way.
I am going to give myself another one and half month before next attempt.
The links you have send are very helpful. I am going to buy Kaplan gmat workbook. I think it will give me enough paractise. I think in Q my skill is between 500-600.
What else you think I can do to improve my score.
thanks

Hi there,

I am glad to hear that you are not planning to give up. This is a right attitude. I totally understand your situation and want to give you few advices that might help.
I think that books that you have will be helpful to achieve the desired score and you don't have to buy anything else besides OG Verbal Book second edition and OG Math second edition...CR Bible may be as well?
I have few thoughts:

1. Sign up for 60 Days GMAT preparation. It will keep you focused. In my case I always get destructed by something (work, friends, laziness, excuses that I can catch up tomorrow with the material and everything will be totally under control...IT WILL NOT!!! Unless you practice every day!!)...Even if you are planning to take the test sooner, this is the still a good fresh start #2.
2. If first option is not an option, you can do next:
a) Make sure you know the topics that are tested on Math section. You know in MGMAT books there are useful tables with formulas, FDP's, other rules. Just make copies, tape them on hard paper and review them every other day/night.
b) Since you don't have much time, start working on OG problems. The best way is to understand exactly what you did wrong / right. Ask yourself, if you will see the same problem again, will you be able to solve it?
c) When you are doing CATs, go through each question you got wrong. If you don't know how to solve it, post the question here.
d) Read explanation of some harder topics in your native language. Do not spend too much time though on going through all the basics of math. MGMAT books cover all the necessary topics you need to know on a test day.
3. Verbal..."Oh how I don't like the RC! I can't even sit and read boring passage that I don't even understand. Even if I spend 15-20 minutes on it, I still get all the questions wrong!" Is this how you feel? I am:) Then let's try to improve CR and SC. Go through SC MGMAT book one more time. Once did so, start working on OG12 problem set. Make sure you recognize the question types. You must know them by heart! CR? I heard CR Bible is a great source. I bought it, but didn't finish that book yet. Read each problem in OG, like it's the most important thing to read in the whole World!! I think what happens with you is you are getting stuck between two answers and not sure which one to pick. Then you pick one and it's the wrong one...This is common, just keep practicing! Daily!!

P.S.: Once again, consistency is the key. Please convince yourself to study every day!! EVERY DAY!!
You know Sahad123, how much time I spent on reading "I just beat the GMAT" posts? Most of my "when I supposed to study" time:)...Pick few the most interesting stories and make sure to read them when you are not studying.

I truly believe that you can do this!!

Good luck,
Zhana

Zhana
thanks a lot for writing in detail. I really appricate it..
Yes i am not going to give up. I have book few one to one classes with touter. They are helping a great deal. I have got some grammer materil from touter that is helpful as well.

Yes you are right, I also get destructed a lot.. I think this study is not only borring but also stressful. It is quiet dry.. I think combine study can be better option but hard to find some with same goal and on same place. And then every body has different working shecdule.. Any way, we have to help our selves..

Have you done ur Gmat or yet you have to sit.
once again Zhana thanks

Exactly, we need to do what we have to do!
I believe that tutor is a very good idea! I had a study partner, however we had different GMAT goals and it affected our preparation process. Tutor is the best study partner:)

I am taking GMAT at the end of September.

Zhana
Yes tutor is best study patner but expensive study patner as well .
Wish you good luck for you GMAT exam in september