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GMAT murdered me

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by katgyrl83 » Sun May 09, 2010 1:46 pm
Took the GMAT test yesterday and got completely murdered. 530 (Q. 38, V. 26!). Sad times. My goal is to achieve at least a 650+.

I took the Princeton Review prep course and maybe didn't take it too seriously at the time. It was not until I signed up for the GMAT a couple weeks ago that I started to really put all my focus into studying. I probably should have spent a lot more time studying for it. I didn't do well on the 5 diagnostic tests that Princeton Review gives you as part of your package, although I did improve my score by 100 points on my last diagnostic test.

Anyway, I am pretty depressed and think that maybe I should sign up for a Manhattan prep course instead? I keep hearing good things about them. In reality, I could take advantage of the Princeton Review guarantee and retake a class with them for free, but I'm just not sure if this will just be a waste of time.

Friends have advised me to take as many practice exams as possible in order to get a good score. I agree - I practiced a lot of problems but never tried pacing myself, so I would take my sweet time on every problem, which was probably not a good idea.

If you have advice on any of the above, please let me know! THANKS!!!
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by dmateer25 » Sun May 09, 2010 1:58 pm
katgyrl83 wrote:Took the GMAT test yesterday and got completely murdered. 530 (Q. 38, V. 26!). Sad times. My goal is to achieve at least a 650+.

I took the Princeton Review prep course and maybe didn't take it too seriously at the time. It was not until I signed up for the GMAT a couple weeks ago that I started to really put all my focus into studying. I probably should have spent a lot more time studying for it. I didn't do well on the 5 diagnostic tests that Princeton Review gives you as part of your package, although I did improve my score by 100 points on my last diagnostic test.

Anyway, I am pretty depressed and think that maybe I should sign up for a Manhattan prep course instead? I keep hearing good things about them. In reality, I could take advantage of the Princeton Review guarantee and retake a class with them for free, but I'm just not sure if this will just be a waste of time.

Friends have advised me to take as many practice exams as possible in order to get a good score. I agree - I practiced a lot of problems but never tried pacing myself, so I would take my sweet time on every problem, which was probably not a good idea.

If you have advice on any of the above, please let me know! THANKS!!!
Hi katgyrl83,

Sorry to hear about the GMAT. Here is my advice. Your studying should not be focused on the quantity of problems and practice tests you complete. Your focus should be on understanding all the underlying concepts of the questions. When I was studying for the GMAT, I kept a detailed error log of the questions I got incorrect in the OG and on practice exams. I then spent a lot of time reviewing my errors and why I missed the problem. If it was a stupid mistake, then I wouldn't spend a lot of time on those problems. If it was a concept mistake, then I spent a lot of time analyzing each of those problems to ensure I wouldn't miss a similar question in the future. I think this is how you should approach your studying. Don't worry about completing 20 practice tests or something because that won't help unless you understand the mistakes you are making.

I can't give too much advice on taking another class, because I didn't take one However, I think it all depends on your study style. What did you think of the Princeton class when you took it? Did it not help because you didn't put a lot of time and effort into studying? Or was the class truly not that helpful to you? If it is the latter, perhaps it's not worth taking the class again.

Here are the books and tools that I used for my GMAT Prep that I recommend.

All the MGMAT books for quant
Critical reasoning bible (helpful for RC too)
Official Guide 12 (this book is an absolute must)
GMATPrep

Best of luck to you!
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by DAYNE » Sun May 09, 2010 4:23 pm
your not the only one to ever get murdered on the exam

its ok to take a class for prep, but how you do on the test determines what you do outside of the class (self study)

go to the https://gmatclub.com/forum/
this site has a great listing of books to utilize for self study

I recommend the following:
Powerscore Sentence Correction and Critical Reasoning
Manhattan Reading Comprehension
All 5 Manhattan books for quantitative
Official Guide 12, Math, and Verbal
Official Guide 11, Math, and Verbal
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by ReachingHigher » Tue May 11, 2010 4:15 pm
Do you all feel the guides prepared you? Many folks on here are insisting the actual exam is harder than the books.
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