Hi Everyone -
I just took the GMAT for the first time this past Friday (Feb 26th) and totally BOMBED it - 410 (Q25, V21). I was shocked when I saw my score... to say the least!!!
What I need is some advice/strategy. I need to score at least 570 - ideally 600. My question to you guys: Is it possible to increase my score by at least 160 points?
Material used:
OG 12th edition (brownish cover)
OG Quant (green cover)
OG Verbal (purple cover)
Kaplan premier edition 2008
Background:
I began intensively studying on January 6th every day until two days before test day (I took three days off total). My total study time was exactly six weeks/over 160 hours of combined study time. The first two weeks I studied an average of 3.5 hours every day, and the last four weeks I studied an average of 5-7 hours every day. To be quite frank, I did feel I was burnt out towards the end. Is this possible? I know that people do study a lot for this test, so I'm not sure if I did in fact burn out, or something else was one factor for my low score.
Because there are no GMAT prep courses in this country, nor are there any tutors that have taught for GMAT, I decided to get English and Math tutors.
MATH tutor:
Teaches mechanical/electrical engineering courses at a local university. Our classes had to be held in Spanish as he does not understand English. Because my English in strong, I figured it wouldn't be an issue (I translated all the problems), and I felt translating even helped me understand the problems even more. Separately from doing nearly all OG problems (total 350 multiple choice and about 150 DS), we reviewed all Geometry/Algebra/Arithmetic stuff. It almost felt like a college level algebra course.
By the end of the fourth week he felt confident that I was improving greatly. He also had a chance to review all material throughout December, before we started studying. I also felt more confident with everything - from divisions to coordinate geometry. We covered pretty much everything (about 80%) that came in the test.
ENGLISH tutor:
Teaches English at a local English academy. He also had access to the material about a month before we started studying. According to him, I was improving a lot by the end of the third week. We did nearly two rounds of all English material in both the OG guides (including SC, RC and CR). On the OG problems, I averaged 85% on CR, 75% on SC and 81% on RC.
Both my teachers said that I shouldn't take diagnostics, because I could flip out and get nervous before the exam. We opted to just study the material as best we could (covering as many questions as we could). Also, we did not practice timing (BIG mistake) - all we did was work as fast as we could on all questions.
According to my English professor, my score is attributed to complete burn out (too many hours in six weeks, as opposed to more weeks of study time, less time everyday), and also that I did not get used to the test structure (no exams done during my study time). He suggests for me to take two weeks off, and then reschedule-before I start forgetting stuff- for another test six weeks after my break. And this time, he suggests me doing an exam every other day so I can get used to the test and timing factor. I am not sure what to do. But he is utterly convinced that I am ready.
I've seen people that retake it but not in six weeks - they usually take three more months to study for it. Should I follow his advice? If not, professional GMAT advice would be GREATLY appreciated.
So, I plead for your help. This Latin dude is desperate and really doesn't know what to do. I repeat: there are no GMAT experts in this town and I need help!!!
Do I have a chance at improving my score?
I just took the GMAT for the first time this past Friday (Feb 26th) and totally BOMBED it - 410 (Q25, V21). I was shocked when I saw my score... to say the least!!!
What I need is some advice/strategy. I need to score at least 570 - ideally 600. My question to you guys: Is it possible to increase my score by at least 160 points?
Material used:
OG 12th edition (brownish cover)
OG Quant (green cover)
OG Verbal (purple cover)
Kaplan premier edition 2008
Background:
I began intensively studying on January 6th every day until two days before test day (I took three days off total). My total study time was exactly six weeks/over 160 hours of combined study time. The first two weeks I studied an average of 3.5 hours every day, and the last four weeks I studied an average of 5-7 hours every day. To be quite frank, I did feel I was burnt out towards the end. Is this possible? I know that people do study a lot for this test, so I'm not sure if I did in fact burn out, or something else was one factor for my low score.
Because there are no GMAT prep courses in this country, nor are there any tutors that have taught for GMAT, I decided to get English and Math tutors.
MATH tutor:
Teaches mechanical/electrical engineering courses at a local university. Our classes had to be held in Spanish as he does not understand English. Because my English in strong, I figured it wouldn't be an issue (I translated all the problems), and I felt translating even helped me understand the problems even more. Separately from doing nearly all OG problems (total 350 multiple choice and about 150 DS), we reviewed all Geometry/Algebra/Arithmetic stuff. It almost felt like a college level algebra course.
By the end of the fourth week he felt confident that I was improving greatly. He also had a chance to review all material throughout December, before we started studying. I also felt more confident with everything - from divisions to coordinate geometry. We covered pretty much everything (about 80%) that came in the test.
ENGLISH tutor:
Teaches English at a local English academy. He also had access to the material about a month before we started studying. According to him, I was improving a lot by the end of the third week. We did nearly two rounds of all English material in both the OG guides (including SC, RC and CR). On the OG problems, I averaged 85% on CR, 75% on SC and 81% on RC.
Both my teachers said that I shouldn't take diagnostics, because I could flip out and get nervous before the exam. We opted to just study the material as best we could (covering as many questions as we could). Also, we did not practice timing (BIG mistake) - all we did was work as fast as we could on all questions.
According to my English professor, my score is attributed to complete burn out (too many hours in six weeks, as opposed to more weeks of study time, less time everyday), and also that I did not get used to the test structure (no exams done during my study time). He suggests for me to take two weeks off, and then reschedule-before I start forgetting stuff- for another test six weeks after my break. And this time, he suggests me doing an exam every other day so I can get used to the test and timing factor. I am not sure what to do. But he is utterly convinced that I am ready.
I've seen people that retake it but not in six weeks - they usually take three more months to study for it. Should I follow his advice? If not, professional GMAT advice would be GREATLY appreciated.
So, I plead for your help. This Latin dude is desperate and really doesn't know what to do. I repeat: there are no GMAT experts in this town and I need help!!!
Do I have a chance at improving my score?
