Disappointed: 690 (Q47, V38) - recap of test and preparation - The Beat The GMAT Forum

First of all, though this post appears under the “I just beat the GMAT” category, I don’t think I succeeded in “beating” GMAT, at least this time round, since my target score is in the low 700s.
My background: Indian on the wrong side of 30s with an Engg. background; 10+ years job experience; full-time job; wonderful family of 4 – I can’t thank my wife and kids enough who put up with all my time-off from family.

*** Warning: Long post *****

I took the GMAT this morning – the result: 690 (90%ile); Q47 (81%ile), V38 (84%ile) – not too thrilled with the score. But yet, I feel obligated to share my story with my fellow-BTGs (Beat-the-Gmatters, for short), for I am very grateful to Eric and scores of others who have made this lively site a wonderful GMAT resource.

AWA: Prior to the actual exam, I took only 2 full-length tests, but I wrote about 6 essays on the side in isolation, including argument and issue topics. I also went through a random sample of arguments and issues from the “AWA Essays” doc on this site.
Not too pleased with my performance in the argument section – I could come up with only feeble arguments, but thought I had a good structure. The issue section was relatively far better – I would be happy to get an overall score of 5.

Quant: I breezed thru the first 5/6 questions so comfortably fast that I had a comfortable buffer of 5 minutes at that point. Alas! Good things (and nerves) don’t last long – around the 9th or 10th question, I pondered too long, losing all of the buffer time that I had built until that point. The result – I guessed on a few questions just to get back on the time front. I may be repeating a cardinal rule ad-nauseam, but it is worth repeating – your nerves are the key. Prior to the exam, I knew fully well that winning the “battle”, in terms of solving a question but taking too long in the process, only results in losing the “war” – that is, the section as well as the overall score. But come exam time, I lost time in winning the “battle”. I must have guessed on a total of 5 questions (to the best of my recollection) roughly between questions 9 and 20, especially on DS questions which typically need more time than PS ones (at least speaking for myself). I got back on the time-track around question 25.

Took a break – almost immediately recollected a blunder on a particular question and felt miserable. My feeling at this stage was a Q score in the mid-to-upper 40’s.

Ate a few cookies, took a breather, and said to myself that I still had a fighting chance of a score >= 720, if I held my nerves better and did well in Verbal.

Verbal: My time-management in Verbal was surprisingly better that it was in the Q section – “surprising” because I have always had time-trouble with Verbal during my practice tests. The SC questions were fairly easy, and the RC passages were not very complicated, unlike the brutal ones that I had encountered in the Kaplan tests.
Towards the end, I had more than 2 minutes on an average for the last 6 questions! I finished the section comfortably, taking a leisurely 2.5 minutes for the last (SC) question.

Did a quick recap of my V performance at this stage – I thought I got 90% RC & SC and around 70% CR right.

Post-test thoughts: I expected a Q scaled score in the mid-to-upper forties and a “V” scaled score from the low-to-mid 40’s, especially considering my comfort level with Verbal. So I began to entertain thoughts of a 700+ score, only to find the “cat-on-the wall” score of 690 (Q47, V38) – huge disappointment! Maybe if I had done 1 or 2 more questions correctly, I would have broken the 700- barrier – sigh!

Preparation:
I followed the advice of a friend of mine who scored a 720, and read materials in the order that he had recommended. But I am proud to say that this site was my "discovery” – am I glad to have found this site or what!
I prepared for about 3 months, which I think is a sufficient duration. I started with Princeton, which I thought gave a very good overview and feel of the exam. I particularly liked their Verbal explanations. Also, I felt the questions in “Bin 4” (Quant) were quite tough, especially under timed conditions.
Then moved on to Kaplan, and then to OG (Orange), OG-11 (Q & V), in that order. I also used CR, PS & DS material from this wonderful site (thanks again, Eric!).

Other materials: SC MGmat guide – can’t say enough about this guide – definitely a factor in my steady SC improvement; Spidey’s & Sahil’s SC notes.

Practice tests:
1. PR CAT1 (Mid-October): 650
2. Kap1 (Nov. 10th): 590 (felt a sickening blow – others’ remarks about the “stingy” Kaplan marking scheme did nothing to alleviate my shock)
3. Kap2 (Nov. 17th): 550 (felt even more miserable – I thought I was supposed to improve upon my previous score???)
4. Kap3 (Nov. 24th): 560 (marginal improvement, though I thought the marking was unfair, as, for the first time with Kaplan, I managed to complete the V & Q sections with relatively more correct answers).
5. Gmat Prep1 – full-length test with AWA (Dec. 1st): 710 (Wow! This was a real boost to me – I began to see sense in others’ remarks about Kaplan’s scores being 70-110 lower than one’s actual capabilities). At the same time, I had to take this score with a grain of salt, as I found a lot of overlap in the Verbal section – about 6 questions – during the test, I marked these with an “F” on the side, indicating to myself that I was already familiar with these questions. But at the same time, I felt elated at having broken through the “700” barrier!
6. PR CAT2 (Dec. 8th): 720 – I had only 2 quant mistakes and the best verbal performance to-date – only 7 errors! But I thought 50% of the quant Qs were on the “easy” side.
7. Kap4 (Dec. 9th): 590 – I really wanted to break the 600-barrier in Kap, and I almost succeeded – my best Kap Quant performance – 32 out of 35 correct! But my Verbal performance on Kap was still fraught with time-trouble and low accuracy problems.
You may ask as to why I continued to subject myself to the “torture” of the Kap tests, especially the Verbal section, but I can tell you this – it is excellent practice! I feel that one is battle-ready for the actual Verbal section if he/she gains a comfort level with the Kap Verbal tests.
8. Gmat Prep2 - full-length test with AWA (Dec. 15th): 720 – Before the test, I hoped that I got as few familiar questions as possible, and I got that wish this time – only 2 familiar OG questions in Verbal. On the flip-side, I guessed on the quant section and it so happened that 3 of my guesses turned out correct! Nevertheless, I thought I had a “700 streak” going, judging from the three 700+ scores out of my last 4.
9. The Real deal – Dec. 20th: 690 (Q47, V38).

That’s all, guys. I am not really happy with my score – I would have been much happier with even 10 more points that would have catapulted me to the “700” zone.

I was eyeing Duke’s Executive MBA, but this may be out of bounds with my current score.

P.S.: For what it is worth - having heard warnings about the laminated practice sheets and marker pen provided during the actual exam, I visited my exam center two weeks before my "D" day, got information about the laminated sheets and had a look at the kind of pen that would be provided. I got a couple of A4-sized papers laminated and bought an ultra-fine marker pen so as to get a good feel for the actual exam conditions as far as possible. I recycled these sheets for my last 3 tests – simply wiped off the earlier test work with guess what – after-shave!

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Disappointed: 690 (Q47, V38) - recap of test and preparation

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