GMAT Strategy

Hello Everyone,

I appeared for my first GMAT in May 2012 and scored meager 550. I tried a lot of time to start over but there a couple of issues I am facing.

1. I am finding it very hard to concentrate. Though this can be worked out I just wanted to mention this one.
2. Major problem is that I am confused about how can start over? Should I simply study everything? Most of you will suggest to analyze my performance and identify weak areas and start working on that. Or should I take diagnostic test before I begin? It is been a long time I appeared for my 1st attempt. It might also be possible that I have unintentionally remembered some answers on the diagnostic test as well as OG questions. How can I overcome this?
3. I am pretty sure I had given enough on my 1st attempt. It is just I could not keep on my nerves and I screwed up. I kind of find it boring to study same theory all over again.

Any help in this case will help me get started again. I am looking forward to appear before Dec 20th 2013. If not, I can certainly extend the date but do you all think I should book a test date first and then I might be able to push myself?

Thanks in advance!

Ameya

First of all, thanks Brent that is actually good option. I had subscribed for 60 days study guide but never really followed. That looks pretty good point to start. Thanks for making me aware of this again I will try studying inline with the study guide.

@Rich - Thanks for your advice. However, I am really not sure how do you see this to be a medical disorder. Isn't it quite obvious that you find it hard to concentrate at the beginning and as you go ahead you find your concentration going up? This also happened when I appeared for first time but after a couple of months my concentration was good enough. About keeping nerves, I accept that I lack here but isn't this too common? I really don't think this is anywhere related to medical disorder. About boredom, before appearing for GMAT, I appeared for CAT (Similar test in India) for 5-6 years. So I kind of know theory well. It is about applying while solving problems. That is why I said I am no longer interested in going through theory.

As far as my target score is concerned, for first attempt it was 740+ and as you can see from my MGMAT and GMATPrep scores here (https://www.beatthegmat.com/way-off-the- ... tml#468107), I feel it was inline with my scores? So as of now, not much has changed because I don't think I am anywhere less and the score that I have got on actual GMAT is not at all a reflection of my actual capability. That said, I simply cannot accept this score. I am targeting for at least 720+ now as I have got some good additions to my profile recently.

Please let me what you think of this? I am all ears and open for advice so that I can improve. thanks again for the reply.

Best Regards,
Ameya

ameya85 wrote:First of all, thanks Brent that is actually good option. I had subscribed for 60 days study guide but never really followed. That looks pretty good point to start. Thanks for making me aware of this again I will try studying inline with the study guide.

@Rich - Thanks for your advice. However, I am really not sure how do you see this to be a medical disorder. Isn't it quite obvious that you find it hard to concentrate at the beginning and as you go ahead you find your concentration going up? This also happened when I appeared for first time but after a couple of months my concentration was good enough. About keeping nerves, I accept that I lack here but isn't this too common? I really don't think this is anywhere related to medical disorder. About boredom, before appearing for GMAT, I appeared for CAT (Similar test in India) for 5-6 years. So I kind of know theory well. It is about applying while solving problems. That is why I said I am no longer interested in going through theory.

As far as my target score is concerned, for first attempt it was 740+ and as you can see from my MGMAT and GMATPrep scores here (https://www.beatthegmat.com/way-off-the- ... tml#468107), I feel it was inline with my scores? So as of now, not much has changed because I don't think I am anywhere less and the score that I have got on actual GMAT is not at all a reflection of my actual capability. That said, I simply cannot accept this score. I am targeting for at least 720+ now as I have got some good additions to my profile recently.

Please let me what you think of this? I am all ears and open for advice so that I can improve. thanks again for the reply.

Best Regards,
Ameya

Hi Ameya,

First of all 560 is not that bad score. Another thing I want to mention as a student is that You MGMAT score sometimes just doesn't give good indicator of the real test. I am surprised though that you scored 760 on gmat prep twice still scored 560 on real test. There are two reasons for that:
1. Time of your test and you didn't take essay and IR when doing the gmatprep practise test.
2. You have seen lot of questions in gmatprep tests already before taking mock test( now here you might say how can I see the questions if I have not taken the test) but there are lot and lots of question or I might say if you search on this forum or gmatclub you will get more than 80% of the gmatprep test1 and 2 questions. So might have had already practised them and when you went to the real test you saw something new. Otherwise I have never ever seen anyone whose score vary as high as 200 points specially between gmatprep tests and real test. If you give gmatprep tests will full honesty and if you see any question already known you know that its not the correct score. Now here 4-5 question already know on each section can make huge difference.
I scored 590 gmatprep mock on my 2 gmat and I scored 580 on the real test. I scored 700 on gmat prep and this time got 690. I also got 710,710 and 700 on veritas prep and 740 and 710 on kaplan.
Regarding MGMAT tests I want to add one thing here. If you are reading too much MGMAT books and if you give their test you will get high score. If you give veritas prep test for a change your score will drop drastically and same will happen with kaplan. I read MGMAT and Veritas books both and practise a lot. First time I scored 510 on veritas prep mock test but just after 4-5 weeks of reading their books and techniques I scored 700. Its strange but it happens.
Broaden your question bank. I don't mean to say do 1000 questions a day. But read the books from whichever source you are reading also do some random questions from forums. That way you will know your actual level. If you are scoring 90% correct on MGMAT mocks and getting only 50% correct on forum then you know you are in trouble.

These are the things that I think might have happened with you. I am not expert and I could be wrong but having studied so many books and being active on the forum I have learned this.

Regarding the concentration thing it happens when you study after a while something different. Imagine if you are not exercising for years and you started running all of a sudden you will be bored and fill like why I am doing this. Its pain leave it but once you get habit of it and start enjoying you will succeed.

Thanks,
Rakesh

Hi Rakesh,

That was indeed a good suggestion. I understand thing with MGMAT now. However, don't they say you should stick to only one source of study material? Studying from many will through you off the board. Isn't this true? I think it is about time that I also try other material in addition to MGMAT. I also agree to your point on remembering some of the questions from GMATPrep. I agree 760 isn't the real score but I will make a note of this for my 2nd attempt and won't practice any random question from forums that are related to GMATPrep. In addition, there is one more point where I went wrong. I had kind of an anxiety attack the earlier night of my GMAT appointment. I could not sleep almost entier night and I appeared at 9 in the morning without any sleep. By the time I reached verbal sections, my mind had almost given up and I wasn't able to process any information at all. I accept I failed under pressure and this is one more point which I have to improve.

Thanks for the reply

Ameya

ameya85 wrote:Hi Rakesh,

That was indeed a good suggestion. I understand thing with MGMAT now. However, don't they say you should stick to only one source of study material? Studying from many will through you off the board. Isn't this true? I think it is about time that I also try other material in addition to MGMAT. I also agree to your point on remembering some of the questions from GMATPrep. I agree 760 isn't the real score but I will make a note of this for my 2nd attempt and won't practice any random question from forums that are related to GMATPrep. In addition, there is one more point where I went wrong. I had kind of an anxiety attack the earlier night of my GMAT appointment. I could not sleep almost entier night and I appeared at 9 in the morning without any sleep. By the time I reached verbal sections, my mind had almost given up and I wasn't able to process any information at all. I accept I failed under pressure and this is one more point which I have to improve.

Thanks for the reply

Ameya

Hi Ameya,

Well in Quant if you want to succeed than just practise as many questions as you can. In verbal I would be suspicious if I don't know the source. But in quant just pick up the questions from the forum and other sources. veritas prep question bank is free and their questions are representative of real gmat. Try them and see how you go. They have explanations too and that is all free. In Quant you need to get outside your comfort zone if you want to take 700. I never thought that I would do inequality, mixture and probability but once you start doing them they are easy and you get used to of them. You are right that if you run around and try different material they will throw you off but my point was to practise from other sources as well just stick to the same technique or method that you have learned in MGMAT. If you try new question you will learn more techniques and write them if you see something new. This way you will get comfortable with most problems on test day.

Thanks,
Rakesh