I wrote the GMAT on the 23rd of July 2013. I still haven't come to terms with my low quant score. Looking back at what could have gone wrong, I am unable to point my finger an something in particular.
Fiasco leading to the test: I was to travel to Nagpur by train on the 22nd on July and reach the same day at 7:30 PM (It takes about 7 hours). Since my exam was at 11:30 AM the next day, I figured that I'd have enough time to rest and get some sleep. Unfortunately, the Indian Railways lived up to its reputation once again and my train was close to 9 hours late. I eventually reached at 4 AM and got only 3-4 hours of sleep. However, I managed to stay calm and positive throughout the test and didn't feel very tired. I thought of mentioning this as it might help someone in the future. Lesson learnt: If you have to travel out of town to write your exam, make sure you reach a couple of days before or travel by an extremely reliable mode of transport. For example: not by train if you are in India.
Test Experience:
AWA: Easy. Managed to finish writing the passage in about 25 min and spent the remaining time reviewing the passage.
IR: Easy. A lot easier than the questions I saw in the Manhattan CAT's.
QUANT: As mentioned earlier, my quant score really pulled my overall score down. I found the questions really easy. It was definitely one of the easiest quant sections I have ever come across. I was a little surprised at the difficulty level of the questions and decided to slow down (I was ahead on time) and check every question twice before selecting the answer. I was expecting at least a 47 and that too if I had made several silly mistakes.
VERBAL: Found the RC's really tough. I have always been good at RC's and had focussed only on CR and SC towards the end of my prep. The passages had long sentences and were difficult to understand. Each RC passage had 2 inference questions and most of them had really long options (3 lines each). CR and SC questions were also tricky but not as hard as the RC questions Hence, I'm not disappointed with my 37.
Mock test scores (not in order)
Manhattan CAT 1: 650 Q45 V34
Manhattan CAT 2: 660 Q43 V37
Manhattan CAT 3: 670 Q45 V36
Manhattan CAT 4: 620 Q45 V31 (Left 2-3 questions in verbal unanswered)
Manhattan CAT 5: 670 Q43 V38 (Left 1 question in quant unanswered)
Manhattan CAT 6: 730 Q48 V41
Veritas Free Test: 680 Q48 V36
GMAT Prep 1: 710 Q48 V37
GMAT Prep 2: 750 Q49 V42
I hope this debrief is of use to someone.
I'll be giving the GMAT again in month or so because I believe I can do a lot better in quant. I would appreciate any feedback/suggestions/explanations from anyone.
Thanks,
Rishi
Fiasco leading to the test: I was to travel to Nagpur by train on the 22nd on July and reach the same day at 7:30 PM (It takes about 7 hours). Since my exam was at 11:30 AM the next day, I figured that I'd have enough time to rest and get some sleep. Unfortunately, the Indian Railways lived up to its reputation once again and my train was close to 9 hours late. I eventually reached at 4 AM and got only 3-4 hours of sleep. However, I managed to stay calm and positive throughout the test and didn't feel very tired. I thought of mentioning this as it might help someone in the future. Lesson learnt: If you have to travel out of town to write your exam, make sure you reach a couple of days before or travel by an extremely reliable mode of transport. For example: not by train if you are in India.
Test Experience:
AWA: Easy. Managed to finish writing the passage in about 25 min and spent the remaining time reviewing the passage.
IR: Easy. A lot easier than the questions I saw in the Manhattan CAT's.
QUANT: As mentioned earlier, my quant score really pulled my overall score down. I found the questions really easy. It was definitely one of the easiest quant sections I have ever come across. I was a little surprised at the difficulty level of the questions and decided to slow down (I was ahead on time) and check every question twice before selecting the answer. I was expecting at least a 47 and that too if I had made several silly mistakes.
VERBAL: Found the RC's really tough. I have always been good at RC's and had focussed only on CR and SC towards the end of my prep. The passages had long sentences and were difficult to understand. Each RC passage had 2 inference questions and most of them had really long options (3 lines each). CR and SC questions were also tricky but not as hard as the RC questions Hence, I'm not disappointed with my 37.
Mock test scores (not in order)
Manhattan CAT 1: 650 Q45 V34
Manhattan CAT 2: 660 Q43 V37
Manhattan CAT 3: 670 Q45 V36
Manhattan CAT 4: 620 Q45 V31 (Left 2-3 questions in verbal unanswered)
Manhattan CAT 5: 670 Q43 V38 (Left 1 question in quant unanswered)
Manhattan CAT 6: 730 Q48 V41
Veritas Free Test: 680 Q48 V36
GMAT Prep 1: 710 Q48 V37
GMAT Prep 2: 750 Q49 V42
I hope this debrief is of use to someone.
I'll be giving the GMAT again in month or so because I believe I can do a lot better in quant. I would appreciate any feedback/suggestions/explanations from anyone.
Thanks,
Rishi
