Failed badly..590 ( Q48, V23)

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by albatross86 » Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:31 am
I said this before, and I'll say it again - "Your GMAT score is irrelevant to who you really are, which is pure, innocent, intent-less Awareness. " I mean it with all my heart.

To me, you come across as an intelligent guy who has his head on his shoulders. And if there's one thing I've learned, it is to judge a man not by the way he flaunts his successes but by the way he handles his failures - sharing this experience proves you are over and above any "number".

This is only an exam, and you have proved in several mock CATs that you are capable of at least a 100 point increase. If you still feel b-school is right for you, don't let one hiccup put a wrench in your plans.

The GMAT is one of those things that matters so much when it goes wrong, but has little value when it goes right - my research has shown that top 10 schools reject as many as 75% of applicants with 750+ GMAT scores - goes to show how important your goals, achievements and personality are.

I won't preach too much, but I will say that I believe in you and your ability to see beyond this trivial number and live a fulfilling and honest life. Cheers, and respect!
~Abhay

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it. -- Andre Gide

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by sumanr84 » Tue Aug 10, 2010 9:27 am
Words by gtvisa2002 and albatross86 have given me tremedous push..Thanks Guys.
This site is really wonderful as it's full of motivational people who will pull you out of despair thoughts.

A big thanks to all who care so much for me.
I am on a break !!

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by JeetGulia » Tue Aug 10, 2010 10:21 am
sumanr84 wrote:Hi All,

Today was a different day, the final day and I failed to make it a good one. I don't know what to write with such a bad score that I never got even during my entire mocks. I don't want to put any excuse from my side as I know -'Excuses don't change the outcome' and I have grown up with this moto.

Having said that, I feel disheartened but not discouraged. I will take it in a positive way and prepare again to make it a different day from today. Things happen for a reason and may be God has a different plan for me. For now, I have to focus on my job and I will sit for GMAT next year only.

Something about the test: ( for upcoming test takers)
Quant was not so difficult. I must have done some silly mistakes during the start of the test. I maintained a good pace and finished the section with 2 mins remaining. Since, I got only 48 so now I know why I didn't get a probability, triple set etc question. Interesting facts, recently I saw few questions floating in here and those were exactly the same. Watch out for new member's posts especially. Few questions were from OG review as well but with a different data set. As my test was running at 48 level so really I didn't see a tough looking question.

Verbal was difficult than anything I saw till now on mocks. I felt, CR was comparable to OGs. SCs were little difficult but manageable. SCs very convoluted in that I felt difficulty in making out what exactly has been tested here. Lots of Comma separated options in SCs. I saw a bold face CR question as 11th question on test and felt that I am doing good. Then came a long Economic passage as RC and I was totally lost in it. From that RC onwards, it was a downhill for me. I got under time pressure with 25 mins for remaining 20 questions and was really feeling my heart beating fast. Last 2 questions I just marked blindly. Though, I was hoping to see something near 640-650 as I never saw too easy question towards the end of test. But then a 590 popped up and I was shocked!!

I put in more than 3 month(150+hrs) of efforts but did only SC and CR. I never really concentrated on Quant and RC, so I deserve what I have got. I will be active in forum after some break. I have got many well wishers here, and they all sent personal msgs for good luck ..Thank you guys, I will make it happen next time for sure. (Keeping this thread in bookmark and will post here only)
India was bowled out on 88 today...it means just a bad day for the team and nothing else...so take it as a one day match, got odd bouncy pitch and was not your day. I am sure you will score a century on the next one day match...cheers!!

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by edwardsmichele » Tue Aug 10, 2010 1:18 pm
Sumanr84,

I believe your message will do more to give people hope and encouragement than many of the messages that announce high scores. Your strength and clarity in detailing the results will help those of us who are taking the test in the near future. We are all working towards a high score - but if something goes awry, we will pick ourselves up (off of the testing floor, no doubt), remember this message from you, and just re-double our efforts for the next attempt.

A million thanks to you for letting us know of your experience. All of our most positive thoughts will be with you as you gear up for the next exam. (Think about Edison, Einstein, and even Rocky - who had to make more than one attempt before achieving a desired end.)

Best wishes for 700+ on your next exam.

Shelley
Last edited by edwardsmichele on Thu Aug 12, 2010 2:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

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by DanaJ » Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:56 pm
Don't worry sumanr84, I'm positive you'll get a great score next time!

To everyone reading this thread: please understand that we have a zero tolerance policy for posting live GMAT questions. I you suspect someone is doing that, notify a moderator/admin and we'll take care of it immediately.

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by edwardsmichele » Wed Aug 11, 2010 2:06 pm
Thank you for your strength and clarity in posting the results of your exam so that other members can benefit from your counsel. I believe your post will serve to give encouragement and hope to anyone who takes the exam and meets with disappointment. He (or she) will be able to regroup, read your message again, and go forward. I recently read a quote from someone online that is very appropriate for GMAT test takers: "Defeat should never be a source of discouragement, but rather a fresh stimulus."

Of course you were not defeated by the GMAT exam - rather disappointed at not obtaining your personal best. However, I have every confidence that you will triumph during your next exam and all of our best wishes will be with you as you study for that event and emerge victoriously from the testing center.

Shelley.

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by qwe12 » Thu Aug 12, 2010 7:21 pm
sumanr84 wrote:Words by gtvisa2002 and albatross86 have given me tremedous push..Thanks Guys.
This site is really wonderful as it's full of motivational people who will pull you out of despair thoughts.

A big thanks to all who care so much for me.
you really must destroy practice tests and be consistent in them. why did you take gmatprep only once, when you know that is the most important exam?

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by sumanr84 » Thu Aug 12, 2010 10:10 pm
qwe12 wrote:
you really must destroy practice tests and be consistent in them. why did you take gmatprep only once, when you know that is the most important exam?
I agree with you completely. I should have done that before writing the final exam. The big problem is that on forums you discuss lot of questions from GMATPrep as people sometimes don't mention the source of question. So, unknowingly you solve many questions of GMATPrep and then when you write MOCKs then you simple get inflated scores. Hence, GMATPrep is no longer a reliable source for someone who has done lot of questions unknowingly from forums. That is when I enrolled for MGMAT CATs and Kaplan and realized that I stand somewhere b/w 650-700 with my current level and that was the score I was looking for to get into schools. I was never aiming for 720+ kind of score with my prep levels. I need to empty my filled cup first and then do a fresh start.

QUANT : Below are some thoughts I just wrote to a fellow test taker. Hope it might help someone !!

"PS : This advice is for someone who thinks that he/she is not good enough to hit even 48 on real test."

Personally I felt the level of Quant was OK. I think if you are able to do OG12 without any problem then your concepts are good to attack questions at level 45-46. To make it to 48-49, some people just do it by using forum questions(like me). At forums you will find multiple questions randomly spread and you will get a good exposure. But to solve them you need a solid base first. Only you know what is your level on Mock tests, so try to build on that.

If you are aiming for 50-51 then you must get MGMAT books and do MGMAT CATs once you are done with the books. I am going to do the same. The best part of using a book is that you go in a sequential fashion and build your concepts to attack any question. I never paid any attention to Quant as I was consistently hitting 46-48 in MGMAT but on the real test that got translated to 48. If you don't have much time then pick only Number Property and Geometry book of MGMAT. For inequality, ratio, percent, word problems just search the forum and do problems. Use Thursday with Ron, its free :wink:
A wonderful thought written by Papgust worth mentioning,
https://www.beatthegmat.com/i-need-to-im ... 63756.html
I am on a break !!

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by ankurmit » Wed Aug 18, 2010 3:18 am
Hi Suman,

I lost the GMAT same way as you Did. :(

Same happened wid me.I never got less than 620 in MGMAT tests and on T-Day just got 550. It was shocking for me. Praveen told me to visit this link.
Its really inspiring

Same happened with me on T-day.Exactly same...Started good and got one RC quistion lost time in that and finally forced myself to make random guess on some verbal quistions. Verbal betrayed me specially RC :(

planning to retake GMAT in Dec.Lets hope for good.

Sometimes just 1 hour changes our future.
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by indiantiger » Wed Aug 18, 2010 4:36 am
ankurmit wrote:Hi Suman,

I lost the GMAT same way as you Did. :(

Same happened wid me.I never got less than 620 in MGMAT tests and on T-Day just got 550. It was shocking for me. Praveen told me to visit this link.
Its really inspiring

Same happened with me on T-day.Exactly same...Started good and got one RC quistion lost time in that and finally forced myself to make random guess on some verbal quistions. Verbal betrayed me specially RC :(

planning to retake GMAT in Dec.Lets hope for good.

Sometimes just 1 hour changes our future.
dont give up, you are going to do great next time, just keep on fighting
"Single Malt is better than Blended"

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by sumanr84 » Wed Aug 18, 2010 6:59 am
@Ankur : Sorry to hear about your dismal score but don't be disheartened. I am in the same boat. Recently, many people have raised their score from 550 to 700, for example - shweta.aec(560->700) in a months time. Definitely with proper plan and execution it can be DONE !!

Take your time in retrospection to know what could have gone possibly wrong, I am doing same. (PM me!!)

Also, please post your debrief so that at least people can benefit from your mistakes. Your experience and suggestion are precious for recent test takers.

IMO(only for Re-Takers),
Many here might differ but I feel that going over same old stuff will not help. Re-takers need to look beyond horizon for new trusted resources(except OG of course). Doing OLD CRs, RCs won't help in any case whether its OG or any other material. Your brain continuously needs to think and if you see a known question that simply goes OFF. Same problem doing practice tests that are already exhausted in first attempt. Do your research, I don't want to be bias about any particular company, but I do feel that a fresh resource, albeit TRUSTED, will be a positive approach.
I am on a break !!

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by papgust » Wed Aug 18, 2010 9:43 pm
sumanr84 wrote: IMO(only for Re-Takers),
Many here might differ but I feel that going over same old stuff will not help. Re-takers need to look beyond horizon for new trusted resources(except OG of course). Doing OLD CRs, RCs won't help in any case whether its OG or any other material. Your brain continuously needs to think and if you see a known question that simply goes OFF. Same problem doing practice tests that are already exhausted in first attempt. Do your research, I don't want to be bias about any particular company, but I do feel that a fresh resource, albeit TRUSTED, will be a positive approach.

Suman,

Valid point! But applies only for the immediate re-takers. If the candidate re-takes the exam after a long break, then it is likely that his mind is purged completely and thereby, old questions will appear new to him. I'm personally experiencing it. It has been 4 months since i took the exam and looks like my mind is completely flushed now and GMAT questions appear somewhat alien to me.
Download GMAT Math and CR questions with Solutions from Instructors and High-scorers:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/download-gma ... 59366.html

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by ankurmit » Thu Aug 19, 2010 1:32 am
Suman.

Thanks for your valueable advice!! I am full of new energy now.

I will definitely like to share my experience here as I have learnt a lot from BTG.

Most of the time test takers concentrate on SC and CR but i think what you need to practice more is RC. ( specially a good reading speed and sound understanding of passage together )

If you are not a good reader than you will have to pay for it in SC and CR quistions also as you will waste a lot of time in RC.

Maths was not so tough.But somewhat tougher than OG.One can manage it easily.

One thing Suman what i felt in SC was that quistion were not like OG and Manhattan.They were not based on verb tense or idioms.Whats your take on it ?
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