Failed the GMAT(460). Need advice.

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Failed the GMAT(460). Need advice.

by SteelersWVU09 » Tue Oct 16, 2012 9:14 am
After 6 months of studying on and off I finally took the GMAT this past weekend and failed. I was about 43% percentile on verbal and 10% percentile on quant. It has been pretty hard for me to study due to 50-60 hour work weeks and top of that I travel for work which the hours are not built into my schedule, but that is why I started studying 6 months ago.

I was pretty confident going into it from going through all of the below materials. I completed all of the problem sets in the verbal/math guides, used an error log broken out by question category(i.e. find assumption,triangle geometry,etc.), took all 6 of the MGMAT CATs and both GMAT Prep CATS. And went through the MGMAT series based on my weaknesses multiple times.

I was consistently receiving above 600s on my MGMAT CATs.. I believe I received a 400 something(first practice exam) and a 550 on my GMAT prep cats. I don't remember off the top of my head all of the scores but they were in that range.

I used the below set of books during my studies.
Books
MGMAT Verbal Guide
MGMAT Math Guide
MGMAT OG 12
MGMAT Series

I started the test with a really easy essay topic. I felt like I got off to a really good start. I also felt like the IR section came really easy to me. My confidence was sky high going into the Math Section considering the essay and IR is what I barely prepared for. I don't know what got into me but I started doing things that I wasn't doing on the practice exams(maybe it was because it was the real thing and i was nervous), but I was double checking answers.... doing a lot of long division... going through all of the answers... reassuring myself that I was correct.... before I knew it I was running out of time and I had 9 questions left with about 5 minutes left to go and I started just guessing. After I knew that I was screwed from this... I got really nervous and didn't do that well on the verbal.

I am honestly just looking to score above a 600. I have a pretty good set of credentials which will help me get into Bschool. It's just the GMAT that is holding me back at this point. I am completely crushed by my score. I feel like all of the time I have put in has been worthless. I need some advice on how to rebound from this. I don't want to give up but I am completely burnt out from studying and work. Should I take time off from the test and take a second attempt next spring when my work hours decrease? Should I maybe take a class? Should I take another crack at it in a month and work on my timing? I am not sure what to do at this point.
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by Jim@StratusPrep » Tue Oct 16, 2012 9:29 am
Couple of quick things:

Sorry that you did not perform as you had hoped.

1) If you are in no rush to apply to school, I would keep up some of your studies, but plan on taking the exam in the spring if work will be lighter.

2) I would say that tutoring would be a better option than a class given the amount of work that you have already done.

3) Did you not use the official guides? That is where you should focus.
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by SteelersWVU09 » Tue Oct 16, 2012 12:44 pm
Thanks for the response. I used the OG and the verbal and quant guides by MGMAT. I completed all of the problems out of the vebal and quant guides. I would say I was getting about above 75-80% of them correct. However, that is without timing myself. I think my biggest issue is timing.

Also, do you recommend web tutors?

Jim@StratusPrep wrote:Couple of quick things:

Sorry that you did not perform as you had hoped.

1) If you are in no rush to apply to school, I would keep up some of your studies, but plan on taking the exam in the spring if work will be lighter.

2) I would say that tutoring would be a better option than a class given the amount of work that you have already done.

3) Did you not use the official guides? That is where you should focus.