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GMAT Score:620

GMAT Confusion

by saunders1 » Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:37 pm
I have taken the GMAT 3 times so far. I have listed my scores below for all tests (real and practice) Right now I am at a loss of what to do with my self in terms of studying for this test as it has become rather discouraging. The first test was taken after approx. 3 months of studying and a poor understanding of the test 530 result (lower than any of my prior practices which I did not document) . Try number two I came out and studied hard, took a MGMAT class (although I waited almost a year after the class finished to write the exam) the result was a 620, and the most recent 3rd try was done after some serious studying although when it came time for the test i knew i was not as prepared as I should have been which gave me a 600 and made me want to put my fist through the computer screen. I also wonder if the 4th try is just shooting myself in the foot at this point in terms of getting admitted to a top school which is my target. Please provide an thoughts or suggestions as i would like to put forth the effort and dominate this test one last time


Quant Verbal Total
6/7/2008 36 27 530 Real GMAT
6/22/2008 44 33 640 MGMAT1
8/24/2008 43 28 580 MGMAT2
9/28/2008 45 31 620 MGMAT3
12/21/2008 46 N/A 430 MGMAT4
12/21/2008 43 N/A 430 MGMAT5
1/4/2009 45 31 620 MGMAT6
1/17/2009 43 32 620 MGMAT1A
3/23/2009 43 20 530 MGMAT1B
3/31/2009 48 31 640 MGMAT2A
5/3/2009 42 31 590 MGMAT3A
5/17/2009 46 38 690 MGMAT4A
5/22/2009 46 29 620 Real GMAT
7/11/2009 46 33 650 MGMAT5A
7/14/2009 44 35 650 MGMAT6A
7/18/2009 42 31 600 Real GMAT
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by Stacey Koprince » Wed Jul 29, 2009 2:11 pm
Received a PM asking me to respond.

First, it looks like you've already made some good progress from your initial attempt, so nice job with that.

When you say you knew you weren't as prepared as you should have been on the 3rd try, can you elaborate? Why did you feel that way? (Lots of specific detail, please!)

In terms of taking it a 4th time... well, you'll either get a higher score or you won't. If you don't, it doesn't change much, and if you do, then the schools will be more willing to overlook the fact that you took it 4 times (it's always better, when taking multiple times, if you can show an upward trajectory).

You don't mention what you'd like to score on the test, though I assume you want more than a 620. How much higher are you trying to go? There's a difference (in terms of advice to give) depending upon whether you're trying to get to the 650 you scored on practice tests right before the real test or whether you're trying to score significantly higher than that.

In general, looking at the dates of your tests, it looks like you may be kind of up-and-down in terms of how you're studying. You took three tests in May (the last two very close together) and then didn't take another test for almost 2 months. Is it the case that you've been finding it hard to get motivated at times? Slow-and-steady study is really important for this test. It's much better to wait until you have 2 to 3 steady months that you can devote (and then find a way to motivate yourself) than to do things in little spurts.

Your quant score looks a bit more stable (42 to 46 range) on your recent tests than your verbal (29 to 38 range). First, was the 38 an outlier? Did you see a lot of questions you'd see before or something like that?

Second, did you take the essays when you took your practice tests? If not, you may not have been fully prepared for the stamina issue. (Especially because you took a practice test 4 days before the real thing and 3 days before that - so you tired yourself out right before the real thing. I tell my students not to take a practice test within 5 days of the real thing and not to take practice tests more frequently than once a week.)

Anywy, so fatigue may have been an issue as well. What do you think - how did you feel during the test?

Oh, and what did you get on the essays - do you know yet?
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by saunders1 » Wed Jul 29, 2009 4:22 pm
On my third attempt I scheduled the test approximately 2 months after my second and had a gut feeling I was not ready. I was not seeing the scores I wanted on my practice exams and felt like I had hit a wall in terms of learning the material needed to boost my grade sufficiently. I had noticed my poor performance on verbal so I dedicated much of my time to CR and RC and did not get a chance to really practice much SC. As for the math I felt pretty confident but am thrown off by some of the harder algebra and DS questions.

My ideal score is 700 (maybe a ten point wiggle room). I want to go to a top twenty b-school and am trying to make my self as well rounded as possible in terms of work experience and extra curricular activities as well. But I know i need a score that falls into their range because I am pretty average.

My studying was put on hold after my first exam until i started MGMAT's summer session last summer then I kind of fell off again due to work and low motivation. I got back on it and really started going hard for round 2 and felt more confident took it and got a 620. My previous practice exam was a 690 so that may have helped my mood as well. For round three I was putting in approx 1 and 1/2 hours a day studying and 3-4 each day on the weekend but that was spent taking a test one day and reviewing it the next.

My quant remains stable I have mastered most concepts I think and have also taught myself when to make an educated guess (which is much easier to do on a practice). As for the high verbal score no I did not see any repeat questions. I was just on my A game that day and had crushed the RC which gave me a problem previously. So I guess outlier would be a suitable description of that test.

I do not write essays on my practices as I feel they are a waste of time. I do not feel fatigued during the exam just a bit tense I guess but I think that is inevitable and my personality. I have received 5's on all of my essays.

I guess I should also list that for test one I was trying to use every piece of available GMAT study material offered and think I spread myself too thin by doing a ton of questions without really looking at the in depth answers of just a group and mastering concepts. Round 2 I limited myself to OG, MGMAT and some 800Score when I could hide it at work. Round three was similar to round two but like I said I just didnt feel right about it. I even tried to reschedule but it was too late to do so w/o losing my full exam fee.

I appreciate your prompt response.
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by Stacey Koprince » Thu Jul 30, 2009 1:17 pm
I do not write essays on my practices as I feel they are a waste of time.
So, this would be equivalent to training for a marathon by building up the stamina to run only the first two-thirds of it. What do you think is going to happen during that last one-third? Are you going to do as well as you've done for the first 2/3?

It is absolutely NOT a waste of time to do the essays on your practice tests. You have to be prepared for a 3.5 hour test, not a 2.5 hour test. You may have felt fine, but I guarantee you that you weren't as "on top of your game" for the verbal section as you normally were (when you weren't doing the essays first). If you want to make sure you're fully prepared next time, this is one thing to change.

Have you already done a Post-Exam Assessment with MGMAT? Students who took our courses are eligible for this (free) service. If you haven't done that yet, contact the office ([email protected]) and request a Post-Exam Assessment. It's a free phone call with an instructor to debrief from your test experience and figure out a game plan for moving forward.

You did have a good instinct about your preparedness; if you want a 700, you need to be scoring in that range on practice tests in order to have a reasonable shot when you go in to take the real thing. Remember that for next time - sometimes, it's worth losing $250.

Were you also concentrating a lot more on verbal than math? That might account for the dip on the quant side of things; it's important to keep up your skills across the board.

So, we've got some ideas as to why your score took a bit of a dip; it will be important to deal with those things so that something similar doesn't occur next time. Now, we've also got to deal with the difference between your practice test range (mid-600s) and your goal score (700); it will take some more work to try to lift yourself that last 50 points.

For each specific question type, are you struggling with content, technique, timing, or all of the above?

If content, what specifically is giving you the most trouble? (eg, in SC, modifiers and verbs) Include in this category the different types of questions for CR and RC (eg, find an assumption vs. weaken or inference vs. main idea).

On what types of questions or content areas are you struggling with technique or timing? (Technique is knowing how to identify / categorize a particular type of question and knowing what you're expected to do / answer as you move through the problem.)

Also give me any other detail you have noticed about your own strengths and weaknesses and the kinds of errors that you tend to make repeatedly.
Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

Stacey Koprince
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Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT

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