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can't sleep

by life is a test » Mon Mar 02, 2009 12:22 pm
Hi everyone,

I just joined as a new member so thought I would share my experience of the gmat test I took today...

I keep going over the this afternoon's rubbish score in my head... (500: Q41 V31)...

I knew I wasn't going to get anything amazing as I have only had one month's preparation alongside full time employment but I was expecting at least mid 600 mark...

I guessed the last 6 or 7 questions on both sections as I ran out of time - does anyone know how this impacts the bell curve? Does it take you into a new lower range altogether even if you have managed to climb to the higher range of the normal distrbution curve through the previous questions??

I was put off by the score because my numeracy is pretty strong having come from an engineering background and english is my native language...

I know its not too much use thinking about what has happened but I just want to analyse for next test...thinking I should do it in a month's time - is that too short a time frame? I am worried that >month might be too long a gap..??

My worst fear is a lower score on the next test !!

By the way, am looking to apply to LBS but don't think I will even bother applying this yr with this score..

Maybe you guys can shed some light on my situation given your previous experiences... should I resit in a month? worth applying anyway to LBS with this score? whats the best way to drastically boost this score (my aim is 700+).

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...
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by clubtwofour » Thu Mar 12, 2009 9:28 am
I believe the average GMAT score of LBS applicants is 680, with 80% of the most recent class scoring between 620 and 740. At minimum, you should score at the lower range. In my opinion, you should score at least at the average score.

To go from a score of 500 to 700+ takes a bit of work. Most likely, it will take you longer than 1 month to move into the 700+ range. If you have a shot at applying to LBS this year if you take it within a month, then GO FOR IT! The only downside if you don't score high enough this time around is the cost of the test and perhaps a bit of stress.

For most people, it would take at least a couple of months to move from 500 to above a 700+. So how does this progression work. Well, there are several posts on this site - https://www.beatthegmat.com/resources.html This link provides you with pretty much every resource you need (i.e. book recommendations, testimonies from high scorers, and more).

Improving your score will require you to address several aspects of the test.

1. Timing: If you had to guess on several questions toward the end of the test, then your timing/pacing is off. If this was the case for you, employing timing strategies should improve your score. Logitech captures this concept really well - https://www.beatthegmat.com/mission-acco ... 31374.html You can address timing issues in two ways. One, time yourself when doing practice questions. This will help you to "feel" when two minutes has passed while solving a question. Second, be willing to pull the "guess" trigger on questions you don't know how to solve. In other words, within 30 seconds identify whether you can answer the question. If not, guess and move on. I liken the concept to a concept of having two bullets per section that you can use to shoot down questions you don't know by guessing. Sometimes people have a hard time pulling the guess "trigger" because they feel that this would admit failure and lead to a bad score. The GMAT allows for some latitude for error. You can still score high in quant and verbal even if you guess, so this concept may make you feel a little more comfortable in your decision to guess.

2. Section concepts: I once read on this forum that it may be helpful to not write anything down on both the quant and verbal section. While this is probably foolish on some questions, approaching practice questions with this mindset may open your eyes to how GMAT questions are structured. Most OG problems can be solved with purely mental math because the questions tend to really test math concepts and not your ability to do long division. Besides how this method may increase your awareness of GMAT concepts, it also speeds how fast you answer questions, and challenges you to find shortcuts to solving various problem types. Lastly, it helps develop your mind to identify problem types and solution paths. This will help you to assess whether you know how to answer each question you're provided.

3. Address your weakness: "Addressing your weakest concepts first will improve your score the fastest." This is the common concept on how to plan your study schedule. It makes sense. An alternate approach that may be helpful to you is to study for the test in the same order you will be tested - first AWA, then quant, then verbal. I think this is a more reasonable approach for those people who wish to score high. If you're looking to score 700+, then you'll have to do well on all sections, right? So the only benefit you would gain in jumping around topics is that your practice tests will provide you with higher level questions to question types (e.g. critical reasoning) you are currently poor in; however, if you're scoring below a 700 anyways, its a waste of time to even try to answer an easier question on a practice test than the ones you should be presented with on your real test. So, here's my recommendation - liken your study of each section to a steamroller - lock down the AWA, lock down quant, then lock down verbal. A high scorer on this site once recommended to always do a few questions from sections you have studied in the past. This is completely true! At least mentally review your approach to the AWA and mentally calculate quant questions before you start your daily review of verbal. If you can quickly identify problem types and solution paths on the test, you'll be able to quickly and accurately answer questions on the real test. This level of skill comes best from consistent review.

You can get to 700+! Give yourself time and persevere!
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Re: can't sleep

by Ian Stewart » Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:21 am
life is a test wrote:
I keep going over the this afternoon's rubbish score in my head... (500: Q41 V31)...
Surely one of those numbers isn't quite right; a Q41/V31 should produce a score right around 600. If those scaled scores are right, then you have an above average performance in both sections of the test, which is encouraging. If one of the two is wrong, you'll know which area is weaker, and where to focus in your studies.

Pacing is an area where you can see dramatic improvement with practice. Guessing on the last several questions on a test can really hurt your score; long strings of wrong answers lower scores the most on a computer adaptive test. The GMATPrep tests (free from mba.com) are best for practicing pacing. Ideally you'd be reaching the end of your test without needing to guess completely randomly, but it's not a big deal if you need to guess on one or two questions at the end. You do want to avoid guessing randomly on several questions at the end. Normally this means you will need to cut your losses on some questions. By design, the test gets harder and harder until you can't handle it. Getting a very hard question wrong is not really damaging at all; it only proves to the test that you might not be an 800 scorer. You want to avoid getting easier questions wrong, which means you want to save enough time to give each its due consideration. If after a minute (sometimes less) you don't see a path to a solution on a math question, it's a good idea to save time for later - make a good guess and move forward. Using GMATPrep tests, you can practice this strategy and see the difference it can make to your score.

Good luck!
For online GMAT math tutoring, or to buy my higher-level Quant books and problem sets, contact me at ianstewartgmat at gmail.com

ianstewartgmat.com
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by NethraN » Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:36 am
Even I think a 41 in quant and 31 in verbal fetches more than 500. I gave my GMAT on the same day as you did and got 570 with 44 in quant and 25 in verbal. It was very depressing as I was doing well in practice tests and scoring above 650.

Timing is a very important factor. During my initial days of preparation itself I realized that getting a easy question wrong proves more costly than getting a tough question wrong so we need to be more cautious and avoid silly mistakes. Timing can be improved by practice.

Good luck.
Nethra
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by beatthegmat » Sun Mar 15, 2009 4:04 pm
Moving this thread to the GMAT Strategy section.
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by life is a test » Wed Aug 05, 2009 8:27 pm
Thats to all who posted a reply...I didn't know I even had replies to that post as I stopped tracking it.

some very sound advise...a few months down the line I can say i feel more comfortable...I wouldn't go so far as saying I feel confident yet but I am reluctant to take the exam this time without the concepts being second nature...for me its all about timing for me and getting the basics so clear that I invest the time in more creative problems if they come up...

That was definately the score...not sure how this mysterious algo works but I used a guessing strategy of selecting C always when i guessed ..probability of getting 20% right...not a great strategy but I was desperate at the time!!

This post is really great...although I am not doing any solid revision at the moment, I am reviewing posts everyday even if its just a couple of questions sometimes...clubtwofour, you are definately right, it is very important to keep the different sections refreshed to avoid re-revising...from my experience this is it not only extremely boring but you end up missing details because of being farmiliar with the question (or so you think!).

Anyways really appreciate all you responses..i hope I have some good news a month or so down the line when i hope to be ready to tear the thing apart! That sounds vioilent but am cautiously optimistic I think :)
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