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GMAT Nightmare. Recovery and what to do next?

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GMAT Nightmare. Recovery and what to do next?

by Josh85 » Wed Mar 30, 2011 5:10 am
I'm not ever sure I'm going to score well on the GMAT. I've tried using the MGMAT books, classes with Kaplan, classes with Knewton, two OG '12 guides, and Crack the GMAT with Princeton but nothing seems to work. I wanted to get into school for the fall of 2011 but with my score that I got yesterday I don't think it's going to happen.

My score has improved but only slightly.

Quant: 24
Verbal: 32

Overall: 480

When it comes to standardized tests, I just can't hack it. The problem is that I've already applied to schools this year and they're waiting on my GMAT results to give me a decision (they wanted me to fax an unofficial score over). I'm not really even sure what to tell them. "Admit me even though my score sucks?" My score is embarrassing. After spending countless hours studying I feel shameful and I feel like didn't accomplish anything.

Do I feel like the GMAT is an accurate representation of my academic abilities? Absolutely not. But others consider it vital.

So what do I do now? I want to submit my strongest application but this is clearly not it. Not to mention I've already taken the GMAT twice before this and got scores lower than what I got yesterday. I've already spent last year and this year trying to get into grad school and I'm at a complete loss for words.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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by Josh85 » Wed Mar 30, 2011 7:13 am
Is it possible to get this topic moved? I think I posted it in the wrong section of the forums. Maybe it should be under Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant?
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by utep2step » Thu Mar 31, 2011 9:29 am
It seems like you've covered all the bases in terms of prep material. During practice exams, do you feel like you're making silly mistakes? and that after reviewing solutions, do you feel like you should have answered more questions correctly given more time? If so, you might want to consider improving your mental faculties such as short term/working memory. It's far from a guarantee to work but it seems like you're reaching a mental barrier. You know the material and you've studied it already, but you're not connecting the dots. I think your best bet is to move forward from this. You've taken the test 3 times and studied enough. Perhaps apply to some safety schools? Or try a completely different approach and work towards improving your career without business school?

Best of luck to you.
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by Josh85 » Fri Apr 01, 2011 9:36 am
There are times when I feel like I'm making silly mistakes. Sometimes when I'm taking the exam, (depending on the type of problem) everything just goes blank and I can't seem to recall rules specific to that problem. OR I'll over-analyze the question being presented (especially during Data Sufficiency). Honestly though, that's just the type of thinker that I am. I do over-think everything and look at a problem from every point of view to make sure I have it exactly right.

I don't believe there's a problem with my mental faculties; I can express myself easily and eloquently. Short term/working memory has never really been a problem for me either.

I would take your suggestion utep2step but 1) I want an MBA so I can switch careers and 2) I'm extremely stubborn when something has beaten me. Lol.

Thanks for your suggestion though.
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by ldoolitt » Fri Apr 01, 2011 12:54 pm
Josh85 wrote:There are times when I feel like I'm making silly mistakes. ...
I'm not sure from your description but it seems like you are unsure of WHY you are missing questions. I spend as much time or more reviewing and classifying my answers into bins as I do actually studying material. For example on the OG I have categories (correct and good timing, correct and too long, guessed and correct, couldn't identify problem type, couldn't apply problem type, silly mistake) and I constantly analyze those for patterns on problems (I get inference questions wrong on RC frequently because I can identify but can't apply problem rules). Thats the only way you can know what to attack (I now take additional time once I have identified an RC problem as inference). That is where I would start. If you have done this then post some additional information about why you are missing problems and we may be able to give more detailed help.

PS
I think there is an excellent post by Stacey somewhere around here about analyzing test results as what I have described above isn't super extensive.
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