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ttin0307
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I first wrote my GMAT in October 2010 with reasonable preparation -I was hitting close to 680 in Kaplan tests and thought that I was ready to score in the vicinity of 700 at the real thing. I wrote the test only to end up with a disappointing 640 (Q48, V29).
In February this year, I started thinking about the second attempt and finished following material over 3 months or so:
Quant - OG 11 and 12, GMATClub forum questions (and there are lots of them and really good quality too)
Verbal: Apart from OG 11 and 12, I also finished following material for specific sections
SC - MGMAT SC, Aristotle SC grail
CR - Powerscore bible
RC - RC99
I also took lot of full CATs once my material was over. Following are my scores for those CATS
MGMAT 1: 710 2: 700 3: 750 4: 730 5:770
Kaplan 1:690 2:700 3:690
GMATPrep 1:710 2: 740
1 (Reinstall): 660 - I did this immediately after I finished MGMAT 5 (complete four hours) and realized that it is futile to write a test when one is extremely tired and drained out
2 (Reinstall): 760
On the day of the exam, this is how it all went:
QA - The section started as a breeze - till 15th question I felt completely in command of the section and thought I was managing pretty well and kept solving every question that came my way. Next thing I remember is having about 15 minutes left for last ten questions - I felt myself rushing through last ten questions and I thought I lost my way a little in the end.
VA - The section was going OK - was not sure of my accuracy for some CR questions. RC is generally my weak area and hence I was not sure if I was doing well there or not. But, I had felt such uncertainty every time in practice CATs and broadly did OK there, so I kept going. Here again, I realized that I had 9 more questions to go with only 15 minutes left and then I got a long RC passage, completely messing up my time management.
In the end, I managed a poor score of 660 (Q47, V34) - nowhere close to my practice scores or the scores that I need to make my application competitive.
Questions I am grappling with now are:
1. Should I retake the test? If yes, what more can I do and how do I check if I have really made progress in my preparation?
2. Should I blame my overall low score on just the time management issue in last 10 problems in both sections?.
4. If I should retake, should I do this at the earliest opportunity (31 days) or should I wait for 2-3 months or so.
Comments/suggestions/help welcome.
In February this year, I started thinking about the second attempt and finished following material over 3 months or so:
Quant - OG 11 and 12, GMATClub forum questions (and there are lots of them and really good quality too)
Verbal: Apart from OG 11 and 12, I also finished following material for specific sections
SC - MGMAT SC, Aristotle SC grail
CR - Powerscore bible
RC - RC99
I also took lot of full CATs once my material was over. Following are my scores for those CATS
MGMAT 1: 710 2: 700 3: 750 4: 730 5:770
Kaplan 1:690 2:700 3:690
GMATPrep 1:710 2: 740
1 (Reinstall): 660 - I did this immediately after I finished MGMAT 5 (complete four hours) and realized that it is futile to write a test when one is extremely tired and drained out
2 (Reinstall): 760
On the day of the exam, this is how it all went:
QA - The section started as a breeze - till 15th question I felt completely in command of the section and thought I was managing pretty well and kept solving every question that came my way. Next thing I remember is having about 15 minutes left for last ten questions - I felt myself rushing through last ten questions and I thought I lost my way a little in the end.
VA - The section was going OK - was not sure of my accuracy for some CR questions. RC is generally my weak area and hence I was not sure if I was doing well there or not. But, I had felt such uncertainty every time in practice CATs and broadly did OK there, so I kept going. Here again, I realized that I had 9 more questions to go with only 15 minutes left and then I got a long RC passage, completely messing up my time management.
In the end, I managed a poor score of 660 (Q47, V34) - nowhere close to my practice scores or the scores that I need to make my application competitive.
Questions I am grappling with now are:
1. Should I retake the test? If yes, what more can I do and how do I check if I have really made progress in my preparation?
2. Should I blame my overall low score on just the time management issue in last 10 problems in both sections?.
4. If I should retake, should I do this at the earliest opportunity (31 days) or should I wait for 2-3 months or so.
Comments/suggestions/help welcome.
