Gmat 550 Quant(47) Verbal(20)-->Disaster

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Gmat 550 Quant(47) Verbal(20)-->Disaster

by nav88 » Mon Nov 26, 2012 5:49 am
Hi

I gave my Gmat today and scored a really disappointing score of 550(quant 47, verbal 20).Took me 3 hours to come back to normal. Well I don't know where to start my story. I prepared rigorously for 10 months. Last 4 months were fully dedicated to GMAT only. Im am working in an IT company. Although I managed to study for GMAT at work, i think all that has gone in drain. Took Sunday off from studies. Following are my Mock Score

GMAT prep 1 660 (quant 48, verbal 34)

I knew i need to improve my verbal. Dedicated myself to focus more on Verbal. Books used for study : OG 10,OG 12, Mahanttan SC, PowerScore CR Bible, Ron's Reading Comprehension Videos.

Did OG 12 Thrice. Kept a log of all my mistakes.Read every explanation carefully and cleared all my concept. Then i did OG10. Same strategy. Read every Explanation and made notes.

Mahanttan Mocks:

MGMAT 1 680 (10/29/2102) (quant 49, verbal 34)
MGAMT 2 670 (11/03/2012) (quant 49, verbal 33)
MGMAT 3 700 (11/04/2012) (quant 47, verbal 38)
MGMAT 4 700 (11/15/2012) (quant 47, verbal 38)

GMAT Prep 2: 730 ( quant 50, verbal 38) (11/23/2012)

Note: For All mocks I took AWA, IR and two 8 minutes break. Strictly like Real Exam

Ok Fast Forward Test day. Everything was under control. Essay was pretty easy. IR was too easy. Answered well within time.
Quant: I was getting medium difficulty questions. I still don't know why i scored 47 in quant. Well its still acceptable
Verbal: No idea WHY and WHAT went wrong. Kept my cool and answered each question carefully. I was under no mental pressure what so ever.Understood what the question was asking. SC was my strong point, well i guess i was wrong in that too. RC straightforward questions. CR inference ,Strengthen, Assumption,Bold Face Question.

Finally time to accept or reject score. I selected to accept the score and was Devastated to see my score Quant 47 Verbal 20.

Verbal 20?? I was taken aback. 130-150 point difference between actual GMAT and Mocks. I am in No way questioning Mocks, but verbal 20 is like unacceptable to me. Still confused WHY it happened.

SO Its a Sincere Request , please suggest me what to do now. My Aim was 730+. Although Im down ,but Im not Out. I have exhausted all my material. Cant study again from these books. Can i recover from this disaster? I need to give GMAT again before end January.

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by unclesam2013 » Wed Nov 28, 2012 10:00 pm
20 on Verbal is really bad given the fact that you were doing fairly well. Since you said that everything was good during the test and there was no stress, the only conclusion that could be drawn is that you were not sufficiently prepared OR that you were plain unlucky.

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by Tommy Wallach » Thu Nov 29, 2012 7:33 am
Hey Nav,

So sorry to hear about your wild score fluctuations! The truth of the matter is that the facts don't really add up, which means either Uncle Sam is correct and you just had a really unlucky day (though keep in mind, adaptive tests are better than non-adaptive tests at minimizing variations like this), or else you have some kind of test anxiety that, even if you didn't FEEL it, is affecting the way you answer questions.

However, there's also another possibility. I see that you've been through the books multiple times. Usually, when I find a student who has been through the books many times, they've also been through our practice tests multiple times. If that's the case, that will definitely inflate your score. If you want to give me your full name, I can check and see if anything pops out at me in your tests.

You say you can't study from the books you already have, but the truth of the matter is, you should not need more books. In fact, when I'm teaching, I tell my students they should never need more books than what we provide (the OGs and the MG Prep Strategy Guides). And I promise, I'm not just trying to box out the competition! The truth of the matter is that if you understand every question in both the OG and the guides inside and out (as you say you do), that SHOULD be enough to rock the GMAT. There's no way you can score a 20 on the GMAT and also have a deep understanding of every question in the OG, as well as the correct process.

Are you definitely doing these questions with process every time? Just for fun, let's try an exercise. Take the last 10 questions in the 13th edition of the OG. Without looking in the back, and without looking in any book for reference (this is important, or the exercise won't work), please tell me which sentence correction categories each of those 10 questions is testing. Keep in mind, I DO NOT want you to find the answer. I simply want you to scan it, and tell me what categories of SC problem are being tested. Oh, and you have 5 minutes to do this for all 10. Do not give yourself a second more! Write them down on a piece of paper, than copy them here.

-t
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by GMAT Kolaveri » Thu Nov 29, 2012 7:39 am
I have been thro' a similar thing in my life. Here is my advice. Take a short break, spend time with family, treat yourself with the food you love the most and get your mind off GMAT for a couple of weeks.

After couple of weeks, review your study methodology. Were your study methods and strategies used in preparation/test effective? Did you prepare in the right way? What strategies you were using for time management in the test? Were you aware of your strengthens and weakness? What steps did you take to close the knowledge gaps/weak areas? Google and find out the retaking strategies. There are many advice on retaking strategies.

Here is some more advice from my earlier post.
Prepare in the right way.

Faulty method of preparation:
Solving more and more problems each and every day from multiple sources without reviewing the mistakes will not help you in improving your score. In my first attempt at GMAT I also wasted a lot of time in hunting for resources online.

Right way to prepare for GMAT:
Quality is greater than quantity. Solving a small set of questions, reviewing them periodically and redoing the wrong ones helped me improve 110 points. Stick to retired GMAT questions from OG quesstions and GMATPREP collection. Learn from each and every question. This will definitely help in verbal. In CR and SC you can see that the testmakers use a definite pattern in making the questions. Also work on your stamina. GMAT is 4 hrs long exam. If verbal is your weak area this is even more important as verbal is at the end. Ways to improve your stamina : ensure that your study sessions are 1 hr in length(1 hr of study without any break or interruption), solve 40 questions of one type in 1 hr like 40 PS in 1 hr, 40 DS in 1 hr, 40 CR in 1 hr ( as you are expected to solve 37 in 75 min (quant) and 41 questions in verbal), and take full length tests with AWA and IR. DO NOT SKIP the AWA and IR.

The one thing you wish you knew for taking a test date:

If you are taking the GMAT for the first time, take the test date 3 months ahead.
If you are retaking the GMAT (which you will be doing for considerable point improvement), take the test date only when you feel you are ready. When you feel you are ready take the test date for the next month and use the 3-4 weeks to work on your strategies and to work more on your weak areas.

The one thing you wish you knew for the TEST DAY.

1. Relax the last week before your GMAT Test day. Do small set of questions and work on your strategies. Do not do anything related to GMAT the day before GMAT. Your brain has be fresh and relaxed on the test day. If you are a working professional take a break for atleast 7-10 days before the test day. This is one thing that definitely helped me in my 110 point increase. Also EAT WELL ON THE TEST DAY. In my first attempt I had a light/normal breakfast and took the GMAT. At the start of the verbal session, I was too tired and I just could nt read the words from the screen. My empty stomach was making all sorts of noise and the words were flying on the screen. For a moment I thought that there was some problem with the computer screen. I looked at the ceiling and I knew that it was a problem with me and not the computer screen. On my second attempt I had a heavy breakfast and 1 can RED BULL before the start of Quant section and another can before the verbal session.
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by nav88 » Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:26 am
Tommy Wallach wrote:Hey Nav,

So sorry to hear about your wild score fluctuations! The truth of the matter is that the facts don't really add up, which means either Uncle Sam is correct and you just had a really unlucky day (though keep in mind, adaptive tests are better than non-adaptive tests at minimizing variations like this), or else you have some kind of test anxiety that, even if you didn't FEEL it, is affecting the way you answer questions.

However, there's also another possibility. I see that you've been through the books multiple times. Usually, when I find a student who has been through the books many times, they've also been through our practice tests multiple times. If that's the case, that will definitely inflate your score. If you want to give me your full name, I can check and see if anything pops out at me in your tests.

You say you can't study from the books you already have, but the truth of the matter is, you should not need more books. In fact, when I'm teaching, I tell my students they should never need more books than what we provide (the OGs and the MG Prep Strategy Guides). And I promise, I'm not just trying to box out the competition! The truth of the matter is that if you understand every question in both the OG and the guides inside and out (as you say you do), that SHOULD be enough to rock the GMAT. There's no way you can score a 20 on the GMAT and also have a deep understanding of every question in the OG, as well as the correct process.

Are you definitely doing these questions with process every time? Just for fun, let's try an exercise. Take the last 10 questions in the 13th edition of the OG. Without looking in the back, and without looking in any book for reference (this is important, or the exercise won't work), please tell me which sentence correction categories each of those 10 questions is testing. Keep in mind, I DO NOT want you to find the answer. I simply want you to scan it, and tell me what categories of SC problem are being tested. Oh, and you have 5 minutes to do this for all 10. Do not give yourself a second more! Write them down on a piece of paper, than copy them here.

-t
Thanks Tommy for your valuable suggestions. I just came back from work and will definitely do the exercise as suggested by you. But the problem is i have OG 12 right now. I need to buy OG 13 and then i'll post the answers here( duly following the rules posted by you and without looking back at answers). Also You might be right that at the time test i was anxious. I got to know all this when i contemplated the entire situation. Next time i'll give my mocks at a cyber cafe where people are coming and going and where distraction is at the highest level. Thanx again