I just Beat The GMAT!

I have taken the gmat 3 times and have had an insane experience.


1st Attempt.

The first time I took the gmat I was not prepared for it. I had signed up for it a few months beforehand and I took it to get the first time jitters out of the way. I was pretty relaxed, I think, since I knew it was just a test run. I got a 42 quant 27 verbal for a total of 570. I wasn't suprised with the verbal as I had not studied SC, but my quant was low.


2nd Attempt

This was in late May. I had been studying with a fantastic tutor for three months and I was at the top of my game. My math was as good as it was going to get. My tutor said I should get at least a 48- probably wont get a 50 or 51 simply because of timing and thats those scores are reserved for the quickest and the smartest.... and that he had nothing left to teach me, regarding quant. Verbal- I was getting so few wrong and had gotten maybe one or two RC wrong while reviewing with him. My sc was in top shape as well and my CR was very good. However, there were always a couple of CR or SC that i got wrong. I mostly got the CR wrong if I simply didn't really understand the argument- which didn't bother me. Also, the SC where the answer was " well b is wrong because its awkward", when a ton of awkward answer are correct- thats b.s. but i was fine with in. Overall, verbal was strong. All my practice tests on mgmat were from 700-740. Quant was usually 47 and verbal was low to mid 40's. I go in to take the test. I was clearly very nervous but wait for it... I get a 610 38 quant! 35 verbal... ??? I honestly looked at the screen and was just confused. I knew WAY more math than my first attempt. My verbal I was actually ok with since one passage I completely did not understand- thats life i cant prevent that- and thought i got a lot of CR wrong... anyway I said screw it and didn't open a gmat book till about two weeks ago.. yup thats a little over 3 months of no gmat work.

3rd attempt

I tell myself I'm going to take it one last time for the hell of it. I review for about 2 weeks. I go over the material and most things came back to me very quickly. I reviewed math for probably a total of 6,7 hours and went over about 60 SC from the og, getting maybe 3-4 wrong... I have always had major problems with testing so I read about beta blockers and took them right before my exam today. This test my main and only priority was being relaxed and taking the test as if I was sitting at home. I started quant and I took it as if I was on the beach. I thought I wasn't doing well since the questions didn't seem to hard but I did a TON of smart guessing. I guessed on so many questions its riduculous but I told myself that when i practice, my smart guessing is usually right and i had to trust myself, and I did. I ended up getting lucky with the questions as well. Sometimes you just get a test that hits you in all the wrong spots... My huge weakness is rate questions- i got one ds rate question and I was 90 percent sure of the answer because it was basically the same concept being tested as a once I had seen earlier in the year. So i ended with about 8 minutes and 11 questions left. I ran through more or less guessing on half of them. My second to last question I had a really crazy looking sequence question and i knew they werent giving expiremental questions as a 2nd to last question so I was hoping i got over a 40 on quant this time....

Verbal- I don't know what the hek happened. I understood all the passages. I thought I was doing ok since I got a boldfaced but I thought i was really doing badly since the SC question were very, very short.

I look at the screen and theres a 630, 48 quant 28 verbal...??

I went from a 38 quant to a 48 quant with knowing less- I think this test is crazy and it was defenitely reassuring to know I can do well- I just happened to get the scores I wanted on different tests. I know I deserve from my scores over a 700 but would have been satisfied with a 680. Now that I know i could a 48 quant- I'm simply going to have to take the test until i get that 700. I am young so I have 2 more chances and then I have to wait another year. I'll take it 10 times if i have to, but I will get that 700.

I think one of the first steps to your achieving more consistency in your scores is for you to create more consistency in your studying. Only studying for two weeks and then taking the test is not the most efficient use of your time. I recommend you create a 2-3 month study plan and stick with it. Truly focus on your areas of weakness. Also, did you use the OGs or just MGMAT?

I used the OG's and mgmat. I didn't really study RC and CR. When I went through them originally I was doing very well, unless I didn't understand the passage, which did happen sometimes- nothing you can do about that. The thing is, before my 2nd attempt, I was consistent. I was studying gmat non stop for 2 months and I was on top of my game. I was breathing the gmat every second. I think that put so much pressure when test day came...

Consistency is the name of the game...