Hi,
First-time with forum. I recently took the GMAT's on Saturday, after three months of studying and taking Manhattan. My last three tests (two with MBA.com, one with MGMAT) I got 660/670 and my target is 700+. Below is my experience:
I had four hours sleep before Saturday 8AM test and did not eat breakfast (besides orange and coffee). I had a decent essay and was relatively confident going into quant. I lost a minute off quant (b/c my proctor was slow to let people in/out of test center) and was frazzled when I wasn't positive on the first question (in quant). I don't think I quite recovered from there - and I quickly lost confidence as I was constantly battling time (I lost a minute and time went by a lot quicker on actual test) and I was not getting the easy questions (or questions I could do) correctly/on time. I guessed quite frequently in quant (always double-checked questions, took longer that I should have/have done in the past). Again, I felt like I was rushing through the quant section just to stay on pace (even made almost 5 random guesses), I wasn't sure on a lot of them, and concepts were not difficult but challenging for me to solve in the 2 min guidelines.
After quant, I thought I could redeem myself in verbal since I improved all my weaknesses much more (RC/CR). Granted I didn't try as hard since I knew my score was shot because of quant - I still received a poor score. Not sure why. I got relatively "easy" passages and each CR/SC question seemed fairly straight-forward.
Study Plans:
Since day one of class (6/10) I had devoted 15-20+ hours a week for homework and studying. After class ended on 8/5, I put in 35-50 hours a week.
I have gone through the entire OG w/ MGMAT's Companion Guide, and maybe 30-40% of both Verbal and Quant supplemental. I made a cheat sheet of 12-13 pages of quant questions I had issues with (using MGMAT, MBA.com, and OG), along with 4-5 pages of SC problems. I also made a 4-5 pg cheat sheet, which I was constantly updating.
The first two months were focused on Manhattan class/hw and the OG problems assigned. The last month was almost entirely spent on Gmatprep and during the last two weeks I focused on timing and test-taking. I did 3-4 tests, 2-3 MBA.com and 1 MGMAT. I was more concerned with the mechanics of the test and pacing during this time. I spent a solid amount of time reviewing problems I had gotten wrong, found tricky, Horacio's Hot List (from OG Companion), and my study sheet. This was the nexus of my studying the last two weeks.
Questions
I don't quite understand why I failed so miserably. I know my confidence was going downhill throughout- but did it account for my score to drop from 660-600? Any suggestions/comments on how I can cope with that come test day? How can I get from 660-700?
First-time with forum. I recently took the GMAT's on Saturday, after three months of studying and taking Manhattan. My last three tests (two with MBA.com, one with MGMAT) I got 660/670 and my target is 700+. Below is my experience:
I had four hours sleep before Saturday 8AM test and did not eat breakfast (besides orange and coffee). I had a decent essay and was relatively confident going into quant. I lost a minute off quant (b/c my proctor was slow to let people in/out of test center) and was frazzled when I wasn't positive on the first question (in quant). I don't think I quite recovered from there - and I quickly lost confidence as I was constantly battling time (I lost a minute and time went by a lot quicker on actual test) and I was not getting the easy questions (or questions I could do) correctly/on time. I guessed quite frequently in quant (always double-checked questions, took longer that I should have/have done in the past). Again, I felt like I was rushing through the quant section just to stay on pace (even made almost 5 random guesses), I wasn't sure on a lot of them, and concepts were not difficult but challenging for me to solve in the 2 min guidelines.
After quant, I thought I could redeem myself in verbal since I improved all my weaknesses much more (RC/CR). Granted I didn't try as hard since I knew my score was shot because of quant - I still received a poor score. Not sure why. I got relatively "easy" passages and each CR/SC question seemed fairly straight-forward.
Study Plans:
Since day one of class (6/10) I had devoted 15-20+ hours a week for homework and studying. After class ended on 8/5, I put in 35-50 hours a week.
I have gone through the entire OG w/ MGMAT's Companion Guide, and maybe 30-40% of both Verbal and Quant supplemental. I made a cheat sheet of 12-13 pages of quant questions I had issues with (using MGMAT, MBA.com, and OG), along with 4-5 pages of SC problems. I also made a 4-5 pg cheat sheet, which I was constantly updating.
The first two months were focused on Manhattan class/hw and the OG problems assigned. The last month was almost entirely spent on Gmatprep and during the last two weeks I focused on timing and test-taking. I did 3-4 tests, 2-3 MBA.com and 1 MGMAT. I was more concerned with the mechanics of the test and pacing during this time. I spent a solid amount of time reviewing problems I had gotten wrong, found tricky, Horacio's Hot List (from OG Companion), and my study sheet. This was the nexus of my studying the last two weeks.
Questions
I don't quite understand why I failed so miserably. I know my confidence was going downhill throughout- but did it account for my score to drop from 660-600? Any suggestions/comments on how I can cope with that come test day? How can I get from 660-700?
