I just Beat The GMAT!

Hey guys,

my first post here and I'm telling you all about my lowly score from today's exam! I had been lurking on this forum during my studies. I honestly don't know how I went wrong but I went seriously wrong, as this score is lower than any of my latest practice tests.

My background:
24 yo female with a background in finance. Been working for 2 yrs and hope to get into a Sept09 program. I have always been good with numbers!

My "strategy" (if you can call it that):

- January: took a GMAT class over 1.5 months offered by a university here in Vancouver. The teacher was good and I think the class was good too. It helped get me started and I knew I had a lot of work to do.
- mid-Feb - March: only studied sporadically. My resources:

Material provided by the prep class
OG 11
OG Quant and Verbal
MGMAT Geometry, Number Properties (a weakness of mine), Equations, and Critical Reasoning
This website.
- my first practice test was by Princeton and I scored 580. Not bad, I thought, considering I had barely started studying.
- second practice test, after some studying: GMATPrep1 620
- third practice test, after more studying: MGMAT 670 (Q45 V36)
- around early April, I really did start to study. I can't tell you approx how many hours I studied/week but honestly, it wasn't a lot (I work full time, plus I am very active in endurance sports/races)
- last 2 weeks of study, I had off from work because I am changing jobs. I went for a 5 day vacation where I brought all my books with me an studied on the plane (3hrs) and each night (1-2hours). The daytime activities definitely put a damper on my studytime though
- home for the last 3 days before the exam, I studied for 10-12hours each day!!!!
- final CATs: MGMAT 650 (Q45, V34), GMATPrep2 680 (Q45 V36 - st like that).

I really did think that would score somewhere between 640-680. And it looked like my Q was fairly consistent. You can imagine my surprise when the screen popped up and it said 580 and even MORE surprised at Q33!!!!! I kind of thought the Q was easy while doing it... but I had no idea at all that I was doing THAT poorly.

Anyways, I came home and cried for an hour and I wondered how on earth I am going to ever make it into an MBA program since it's obvious that I am incapable of doing math. Then I set up my Wii (which I had made myself not set up until after the exam) and played some games, and I am in better spirits but now left wondering how I can prep for my retake. I'm not in a rush to get it done.. I may wait until September to retake. However, how should I approach this? I think I should start the Q from scratch with the MGMAT books and take some more CATs.

Thanks everybody for reading this and for your advice and encouragement!!

cheer up connstar....a 580 is just 20 points away from a 600 and that would make you score at the 80 percentile! which means you would beat 80 percent of the people taking the gmat. actually i think a 580 is a pretty good score so don't be too sad! if you are unsatisfied you can always take the test again good luck studying

AAh bugger! I am yet to take the GMAT and I have just started studying and I think I am in the same boat as you....I feel that I have always been good with numbers but even while doing the practice questions I kinda feel I need alot of time to do questions and even after all that I STILL get it wrong.

Firstly check to see if its enough for you to get into the school you are trying to get into. If you are not then I think you should give it another go if not just to give you a better chance to get into your b-school then at least for you personal satisfaction.

Sumi

Hello,

I am in a similar boat. I took the GMAT yesterday and when I got my score I was so upset! I ended up getting a 540 (Q42, V23)!!! SOOO BAD! My practice test scores were higher. I took a PR course and studyed for about 2 months.

I am planning on retaing the exam and this time will do things differently. What I believe went wrong for me was the level of anxiety I built in my mind. I need to be more relaxed and tell myself that it's just a test, I know the material and to breathe!

Secondly, I have to remember to guess on a Q problem if I'm not able to solve it within a few minutes. There were a few problems that I took forever working on, and in the end still had to guess. As I continued through the section I was running out of time and had to guess on a few questions.

Then, when I started the verbal, I was shaken up because I had guesses on a few math problems. That was a huge distraction for me.

Lessons Learned:

1. RELAX! Know that I know what to expect in the exam, I will be sure to take it easy and not get too worked up over it

2. If I can't solve a problem, it's better to guess and move on. Save that time for another problem that requires it.

3. Once I select an answer, I will NOT DWELL on it! It's over and now I will have to focus on the question in front of me.

Good luck everyone

Hello,

I am in a similar boat. I took the GMAT yesterday and when I got my score I was so upset! I ended up getting a 540 (Q42, V23)!!! SOOO BAD! My practice test scores were higher. I took a PR course and studyed for about 2 months.

I am planning on retaing the exam and this time will do things differently. What I believe went wrong for me was the level of anxiety I built in my mind. I need to be more relaxed and tell myself that it's just a test, I know the material and to breathe!

Secondly, I have to remember to guess on a Q problem if I'm not able to solve it within a few minutes. There were a few problems that I took forever working on, and in the end still had to guess. As I continued through the section I was running out of time and had to guess on a few questions.

Then, when I started the verbal, I was shaken up because I had guesses on a few math problems. That was a huge distraction for me.

Lessons Learned:

1. RELAX! Know that I know what to expect in the exam, I will be sure to take it easy and not get too worked up over it

2. If I can't solve a problem, it's better to guess and move on. Save that time for another problem that requires it.

3. Once I select an answer, I will NOT DWELL on it! It's over and now I will have to focus on the question in front of me.

Good luck everyone