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GMAT disaster :(

by andy233 » Thu May 12, 2016 9:22 am
Hello Folks,

I wrote my GMAT last week and it was a total failure. I spent around 3 months preparing for it. I used MGMAT, OG. I was fairly confident based on my mock test scores

GMAT PREP 1 -- 710
GMAT PREP 2 -- 740

MGMAT 1 -- 640
MGMAT 2 -- 660
MGMAT 3 -- 680
MGMAT 4 -- 720

In all the exams quants was approximately 49-51 and verbal was in the range of 35-44

Real GMAT -- 580 ( Q 44 V 26).

I think I pretty much froze the exam. I started doubting myself for some reason and started making dumb mistakes in quants as well. With all the panic I was in, i literally screwed the DS. But I sincerely thought verbal was going well :).

I want to write it again very soon preferably within the next 30-45 days.

Any suggestions :) ?

Thanks much!
Andy
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by [email protected] » Thu May 12, 2016 9:31 am
Hi Andy,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. When these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day.

If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you ever seen any of the questions BEFORE you took the CAT?

It's possible that you just had a "bad day"; but if we can figure all of this out quickly, then you shouldn't have to wait too long to retest.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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by andy233 » Thu May 12, 2016 10:34 am
Hi Rich,

Thanks much for the reply.

One of the GMATPREP exams which I took, I did 3 sections IR, Quants and Verbal. The second one I took all the 4 sections.

Among the MGMAT ones, out of 4 , 3 I did just the Verbal and Quants. The other one I did 3 sections, IR, Q and V.

I took the exam at home and it was fairly calm, not much noise. I did not take the exam at the same time of day as my official GMAT exam though.

I did not pause during the exam , but I do admit that maybe couple of times a did take a longer restroom break to attend nature's call. I might have seen some questions repeated all exams cumulatively as I was also working out questions from forums.

Appreciate the reply

Thanks much!
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by [email protected] » Fri May 13, 2016 9:15 am
Hi andy233,

The extra information that you've provided is quite useful, as it helps to define what went wrong on Test Day. In real basic terms, you took your CATs in such a way that you were NOT properly training to face the Official GMAT - so you were not ready to face it on Test Day (not either time).

Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" your scores can become - and that's what happened here. By skipping sections, taking the CATs at home, answering questions that you'd already seen , etc., you weren't properly training for the FULL GMAT 'experience.'

Thankfully, this is a relatively easy set of problems to fix. The big question now is "how long will it take you to properly get 'used to' taking the full GMAT?" You'll certainly need a new set of practice CATs to work with and you have to put in the necessary time to train your brain (and body) for the FULL GMAT. You might also need to invest in some new GMAT training materials.

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by andy233 » Mon May 16, 2016 9:59 am
Hello Rich,

Thanks for the reply. I would probably say a few full length tests should help me prepare for the whole thing. I have used up my gmat prep and mgmat CAT's. I would need some more tests preferably difficult ones.

Thanks much!
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by [email protected] » Mon May 16, 2016 11:36 am
Hi andy233,

Beyond building up the necessary stamina to face the full GMAT, you'll also need to keep your skills sharp with additional practice. As such, taking a bunch of FULL-LENGTH CATs isn't the only aspect of preparing to retake the GMAT. For additional CATs, there are the two Exam Packs from GMAC and the blocks of CATs that can be purchased from Kaplan or Veritas.

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by andy233 » Mon May 16, 2016 11:45 am
Thanks much Rich,

Of course. I would need to also do some additional practice to keep the skills sharp. I would need to practice bit more on inequalities, absolute values and geometry for sure, as couple of those questions took more time than i should have given in the main exam.

Is there any 30-45 crash course? Between work and this, i should be able to spend around 12-16 hours a week . I am hoping the prior preparation would come in handy for saving some time hopefully.

Thanks again,
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by [email protected] » Mon May 16, 2016 11:54 am
Hi andy233,

Since it sounds like you know the areas that you need to work on, you could use one of the EMPOWERgmat Score Booster Study Plans and/or 'jump around' the Course Modules for the subjects that interest you. In that way, you could conceivably be ready to retest in under a month, but if you needed a bit more extra study time, the price and time commitments wouldn't be that great.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
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