This was my first full practice test after 10 weeks of full-time studying and to be honest, I thought I did ok on the maths section but totally failed on my verbal. I'm trying to aim for around 650 - 700, so I guess if I had gotten my verbal to around a score of 40 or 41, I would be where I want to be?
Maths
Maths is normally my weak point and I felt I struggled during the practice test, getting 14 questions wrong. After review, I was stunned by the very first question which was an exponents question, and I froze and ended up losing 4 minutes to it. I eventually found out I got it wrong anyway, but I manage to pick up on time again from completing most data sufficiency questions in under a minute. By the time I finished my last question, I had a minute to spare. Contrary to normal practice, my data sufficiency was surprisingly good and efficient (13/18 correct) but my problem solving was abmismal (10/19 correct).
Verbal
I normally considered my verbal to be my strong point and I could usually complete a CR/SC question between 60 seconds to 2 minutes with a 80% success rate from the OG. So I thought I would try to be slower on the practice test and boy, I couldn't have been more wrong. Just like my maths section, I got the first question wrong, with 11 wrong in the first 30 questions, 16 wrong in total from the 41 questions.
At the end I got 11/13 correct on reading comprehension, 6/11 for criticial reasoning and 8/17 on sentence correction. I actually used the last 3 weeks, almost everyday doing around 20 sentence corrections so I was really surprised that I scored that low. I normally enjoyed critical reasoning questions because I find it like a puzzle and you try to solve the logic behind the arguments. As for reading comprehension, I guess I'm naturally ok with it as I scan through the passage fairly quickly and try to absorb the main points and main structure to the question.
After-math
I had originally scheduled my actual GMAT on next Wednesday, 2nd December but after flunking this practice test, I rescheduled it for the following Tuesday, 8th December.
Some thoughts:
- I did surprisingly well on areas that I felt I was poor (data sufficiency questions) and failed in areas where I was supposedly strong (verbal).
- Time-keeping is absolutely essential with GMAT. Its an adaptive test so you have to be on your feet all the way through.
- I read from another post comparing the GMAT to a marathon and this could not have been anymore true. You really have to buld up a good stamina and this first practice test defnitely put things into perspective.
So with about 12 more days until my actual test date, I guess I'm going to try do more practice tests and at other times when I'm not practicing on tests, review the concepts where I felt weak and do more practice questions until I consolidate those concepts cold.
I'm not sure if my post would help many people but if there's one advice that I can give, I would definitely recommend getting a good night's worth of sleep before taking any test (whether practice or actual) to be in the best state of mind. The GMAT is meant to put you under the heaviest of pressure and push you to your limits so you need to condition your body and mind accordingly.
Maths
Maths is normally my weak point and I felt I struggled during the practice test, getting 14 questions wrong. After review, I was stunned by the very first question which was an exponents question, and I froze and ended up losing 4 minutes to it. I eventually found out I got it wrong anyway, but I manage to pick up on time again from completing most data sufficiency questions in under a minute. By the time I finished my last question, I had a minute to spare. Contrary to normal practice, my data sufficiency was surprisingly good and efficient (13/18 correct) but my problem solving was abmismal (10/19 correct).
Verbal
I normally considered my verbal to be my strong point and I could usually complete a CR/SC question between 60 seconds to 2 minutes with a 80% success rate from the OG. So I thought I would try to be slower on the practice test and boy, I couldn't have been more wrong. Just like my maths section, I got the first question wrong, with 11 wrong in the first 30 questions, 16 wrong in total from the 41 questions.
At the end I got 11/13 correct on reading comprehension, 6/11 for criticial reasoning and 8/17 on sentence correction. I actually used the last 3 weeks, almost everyday doing around 20 sentence corrections so I was really surprised that I scored that low. I normally enjoyed critical reasoning questions because I find it like a puzzle and you try to solve the logic behind the arguments. As for reading comprehension, I guess I'm naturally ok with it as I scan through the passage fairly quickly and try to absorb the main points and main structure to the question.
After-math
I had originally scheduled my actual GMAT on next Wednesday, 2nd December but after flunking this practice test, I rescheduled it for the following Tuesday, 8th December.
Some thoughts:
- I did surprisingly well on areas that I felt I was poor (data sufficiency questions) and failed in areas where I was supposedly strong (verbal).
- Time-keeping is absolutely essential with GMAT. Its an adaptive test so you have to be on your feet all the way through.
- I read from another post comparing the GMAT to a marathon and this could not have been anymore true. You really have to buld up a good stamina and this first practice test defnitely put things into perspective.
So with about 12 more days until my actual test date, I guess I'm going to try do more practice tests and at other times when I'm not practicing on tests, review the concepts where I felt weak and do more practice questions until I consolidate those concepts cold.
I'm not sure if my post would help many people but if there's one advice that I can give, I would definitely recommend getting a good night's worth of sleep before taking any test (whether practice or actual) to be in the best state of mind. The GMAT is meant to put you under the heaviest of pressure and push you to your limits so you need to condition your body and mind accordingly.
