Hi all,
Just looking to see if there's anyone out there who has continued to score below desired range in the final days before taking the test, but ended up scoring way higher on test day. I began my preparation back in July 2012 through the Manhattan online course, which I thought was great and really helped a lot. My first practice exam, before any prep, was a 510. This was frustrating, but I didn't think much of it since I had literally not yet studied for one minute. Weeks later I took another MGMAT CAT and got a 670 (I'm aiming for a 700+), and I was very happy to be getting into close range of what I'm shooting for. The first thing I told myself was to not let this score get to my head since I still had lots of preparation to do. After the course ended I went away for 2 weeks and did not study in that time, but upon coming home got right back to the grind. I took another MGMAT CAT about a month ago and scored 580. I was really disappointed, but continued to work real hard. 3 weeks later scored another 580 and was crushed. I got over it quickly, continued to study 3-4 hours a night after work and more than that on weekends, and a week later (last week), got up to 640. I was happier with this but still know I need to do better.
Today I took my first practice exam with GMAT Prep, since I heard its generally more accurate to the real thing. I overall did better on Quant but much worse on Verbal, and felt my heart sink when I just saw 590. I'm scheduled to take the exam in 6 days and not seeing my scores improve is a sickening feeling when I think of how hard I've worked these last 4 months. I've read through the Manhattan guide books each twice, spent hours upon hours in the OG, and spend at least as much time going over wrong answers as I have actually doing the problems. I've done the online labs from Manhattan, taken tons of notes on everything and gone over them. I don't understand what I'm doing that's preventing my scores from improving.
The #1 thing for me right now is trying to stay positive and not get discouraged, but with 6 days until exam day and the feeling that all this hard work has been for nothing except for the "I did my best" feeling (which doesn't make me feel any better, and unfortunately doesn't help with B School admissions), I need any advice or motivation anyone is willing to give.
I'm particularly hoping there are stories of people who may have been in my situation not having done well on practice tests, then getting it together on test day and scoring much higher. My plan is to calm myself down this afternoon and watch some football, then get back to the books tonight and this whole week and praying for a miracle on Saturday.
Please help!
Just looking to see if there's anyone out there who has continued to score below desired range in the final days before taking the test, but ended up scoring way higher on test day. I began my preparation back in July 2012 through the Manhattan online course, which I thought was great and really helped a lot. My first practice exam, before any prep, was a 510. This was frustrating, but I didn't think much of it since I had literally not yet studied for one minute. Weeks later I took another MGMAT CAT and got a 670 (I'm aiming for a 700+), and I was very happy to be getting into close range of what I'm shooting for. The first thing I told myself was to not let this score get to my head since I still had lots of preparation to do. After the course ended I went away for 2 weeks and did not study in that time, but upon coming home got right back to the grind. I took another MGMAT CAT about a month ago and scored 580. I was really disappointed, but continued to work real hard. 3 weeks later scored another 580 and was crushed. I got over it quickly, continued to study 3-4 hours a night after work and more than that on weekends, and a week later (last week), got up to 640. I was happier with this but still know I need to do better.
Today I took my first practice exam with GMAT Prep, since I heard its generally more accurate to the real thing. I overall did better on Quant but much worse on Verbal, and felt my heart sink when I just saw 590. I'm scheduled to take the exam in 6 days and not seeing my scores improve is a sickening feeling when I think of how hard I've worked these last 4 months. I've read through the Manhattan guide books each twice, spent hours upon hours in the OG, and spend at least as much time going over wrong answers as I have actually doing the problems. I've done the online labs from Manhattan, taken tons of notes on everything and gone over them. I don't understand what I'm doing that's preventing my scores from improving.
The #1 thing for me right now is trying to stay positive and not get discouraged, but with 6 days until exam day and the feeling that all this hard work has been for nothing except for the "I did my best" feeling (which doesn't make me feel any better, and unfortunately doesn't help with B School admissions), I need any advice or motivation anyone is willing to give.
I'm particularly hoping there are stories of people who may have been in my situation not having done well on practice tests, then getting it together on test day and scoring much higher. My plan is to calm myself down this afternoon and watch some football, then get back to the books tonight and this whole week and praying for a miracle on Saturday.
Please help!
