My GMAT Debaucle

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My GMAT Debaucle

by Bajjaratt » Thu Jan 28, 2010 6:37 pm
So I finally took my shortly anticipated GMAT test today, and to say that I was shocked would be a grave understatement. However, what shocked me was not that I did not score as high as I had hoped for, but the fact that I scored lower than I could have ever imagined, and trust in the fact that I have a very vivid imagination. I was hoping to fall somewhere between the 600-700s but I ended up at 420 exact (Q=17, V=27). The real kicker is that on all the practise tests I took (dunno 6 or 7, my head hurts) I never even came close to a 420. The Least was a 540 which was the first practise test I took without even studying a thing.
Now, all I can remember besides the $8.00 I paid for parking (apparently just to fail), was that it all started to go wrong after the third Quant question which I answered incorrectly. I knew it was wrong because the next question looked so easy, that the difference in difficulty made my brain freeze. And thats when it happened, my mind shut down to the point that I was unable to solve the simplest of sums or even comprehend the questions being asked, by the time I got the blood flowing through my brains again, the issue of time arose. I had about 20+ questions to go with an average of about a minute per question, terrible, I wrapped up the Quant section by making barely educated guesses because apparently not finishing a section is worse than getting the answers wrong.

Data Sufficiency, Seriously? whats that all about. I have already scheduled a second go at the GMAT so if anyone has any ideas/strategies to tackle or prepare for Data Sufficiency I would very much appreciate it, Please.

The Verbal section was pretty much a crap shoot because the Quant section had already fried my brain and sapped my will to process anything cognitively, so I just zombied through that section. I have no problem with the Verbal section but my overall performance is inextricably tied to my quantitative performance so that is my area of focus.

Incase you haven't figured it out yet, my rant is a cry for help and any lessons learnt from your experience would be very helpful in making sure that my second try is not in vain.

Thanks.
Source: — GMAT Strategy |

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by money9111 » Thu Jan 28, 2010 6:56 pm
Bajjaratt sorry to hear about your experience :-( before many posts come to follow yours... can you post your study routine? we may be able to offer better advice if we know what you did to prepare!

not the end of the world... unless that was your 5th attempt! ;-)
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by Bajjaratt » Thu Jan 28, 2010 7:08 pm
Yeah about that.. I had only about 2 weeks to prepare for the GMAT so I practised using the Official Guide(red), did the practise tests several times, and had my sister and friend tutor me on math skills (which I barely have). You must understand, I have never studied for a standardized test in my life, and I have always come out in the 90th percentile. Until the GMAT that is, which I studied for and still fell considerably short. Must be the whole CAT thing. Anyway my next test is a month from now and I intend to go over the book again, study the entire curriculum for college mathematics, and solve the practise tests till I get a perfect score on the Quant section. It might sound like a lot but I can find the time. Any suggestions or advice you have are very welcome.

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by money9111 » Thu Jan 28, 2010 8:05 pm
yeah the CAT format can be challenging... it's not a test where you can do 1000 problems and get a high score... when studying make sure you understand the way the answers are derived...
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by sars72 » Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:49 pm
are you sure a month is enough? well, you are the best judge. I would suggest you purchase the mgmat guides - Fractions, Decimals, & Percents, Word Translations, Equations, Inequalities, & VIC's & Geometry. These should help you with the quant portion. The usual for Verbal, MGMAT for SC, Powerscore for CR and OG should suffice for RC.

btg has a good guide here: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/books

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by money9111 » Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:54 pm
PowerScore SC Bible is a good quick but useful read as well... i enjoyed that book oddly enough
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