GMAT Strategy

Just got back from the test centre... Bombed it. 580 (q37 v33). I've been preparing for this damn thing now for 18 months... I don't konw what I'm doing wrong... I know I'm not stupid

btw my last GMATPrep was 640 (q42 v33) which I took one week ago in the local library but a person kept coughing behind me and I couldn't concentrate during verbal, my verbal is normally at v40-42 and my last 2 quants before that were q44.

I think I know why I bombed it:
* I'm really burnt out and exhausted from it all at the moment. In the past 2 weeks I've done zero prep, I just didn't have it in me.
* had a very early start - the exam was at 845am, 1 hour from my home. I'm not a morning person.
* Not much sleep last night.
* Became very tired during verbal and couldn't concentrate at all in the 2nd half of it.
* I just wasn't ready, and I knew it. I should have listened to my intuition more...

Anyways I am off back home to Australia tomorrow for a 2.5 week holiday, I may just do 1 hour a day max on weak areas whilst I'm away and then get back into it again when I get back... when I get back though I only have 4 weeks until R2 deadlines... Should I just postpone applying until next year? or am I close to that 700 (with a quant of 47-50 ideally)?

I really don't know what to do at this stage to improve and get "back on the GMAT horse".. I've used most of the MGMAT CAT's and have done most of OG12... Any advice?

Sorry to hear about a frustrating experience!

You know, based on what you described with the 18-month study process, the perceived burnout and sleepless night beforehand, the fatigue noticeably setting in during the test, etc., I'd recommend that you take at least the first week of your vacation (or, honestly, all of it) to just get away from the GMAT altogether. If that one week away is enough to make you forget all you've learned over 18 months, you were in a world of hurt to begin with because you didn't know it anyway, so don't worry too much about losing momentum with that - mental health and a clear mind should be top priorities.

And think of it this way - you had a rough couple weeks leading up to it, a bad night's sleep and some tough circumstances surrounding it, and you still scored 580 - significantly above average! Don't overstress this - take your vacation (or at least the first half of it) to decompress a little bit and then when you do get back to it try to think more about *how* and *why* than about *what*. It also sounds like you're focusing more on time-spent and quantity-done (you mentioned your 18-months of study and the items that you completed for study, but not much about the mistakes you were making or the conceptual areas that you found troubling) than on how you think and how you can improve. Once you're back to it, pay attention to the kinds of traps you're falling into and the thought processes that are working for you and you can definitely make some significant gains.