Re-taking the exam after scoring 430

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camlimsim: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 4; Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:45 am

by camlimsim » Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:57 am

Hi
I know all new genuises over here might not like my article but I need help on my situation. I did a big blunder in the GMAT. I applied for it and without any preparation except for a week and scored a horrible 430. I had all the materials, the mahattan princeton and kaplan live online. The funny part is when I praticed i had no math topics whose concept is unknown to me, but in the english section I use to fail horribly (specially in sentence correction and comprehension). Is there any tricks apart from rigorous practice that am lacking. Is there any chance or example that if I practiced a lot and followed you people's technique or trick (if any) and clear the concepts I would still be able to make it up to 700's. I am morally down, please help. Its a do or die situation for me now. Please suggest a good study plan. When I started to look into materials after the exam, math seemed to be fine. I still know all the concepts, is it only the amount of practice thats lacking or something else. I felt like crying because I was always good in maths infact exceptional during my masters time, but yes I admit it was a horrible mistake and lack of practice.
Have sort of promised myself not to give up so please guys give me a good plan which I can follow.

If I score a good number in the next exam will the universities average my scores or just take the best one.
Any help is highly appreciated.

Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:57 am

Ashish321: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 36; Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2011 3:48 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 3 times

by Ashish321 » Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:55 am

camlimsim wrote:Hi
I know all new genuises over here might not like my article but I need help on my situation. I did a big blunder in the GMAT. I applied for it and without any preparation except for a week and scored a horrible 430. I had all the materials, the mahattan princeton and kaplan live online. The funny part is when I praticed i had no math topics whose concept is unknown to me, but in the english section I use to fail horribly (specially in sentence correction and comprehension). Is there any tricks apart from rigorous practice that am lacking. Is there any chance or example that if I practiced a lot and followed you people's technique or trick (if any) and clear the concepts I would still be able to make it up to 700's. I am morally down, please help. Its a do or die situation for me now. Please suggest a good study plan. When I started to look into materials after the exam, math seemed to be fine. I still know all the concepts, is it only the amount of practice thats lacking or something else. I felt like crying because I was always good in maths infact exceptional during my masters time, but yes I admit it was a horrible mistake and lack of practice.
Have sort of promised myself not to give up so please guys give me a good plan which I can follow.

If I score a good number in the next exam will the universities average my scores or just take the best one.
Any help is highly appreciated.

You have given the answer yourself Calmimsim - You have hardly studied for the exam .

Now what you need to do is simple - Study with the resources that you have . Since , you studied only for a week , i doubt whether you had gone through the Concepts at all.

Read through the posts of people who have scored 700 + on the GMAT , and they all would have done a fair bit of studying.

First get your concepts clear through the recources that you have - MGMAT , PR and Kaplan .

As you said you struggled with SC - i strongly suggest that you go through MGMAT SC Book , not once , buit at least twice.
You would yourself not know in the process , that your SC improved so drastically .

Now , don't be disheartened , that you know that you scored 430 without any preparation at all.

Believe me , give 2-3 months to GMAT , and there is no doubt that you will be there what you desire .

Hang in there . Now look forward with enthusiasm and optimism .

Now you have a baseline - 430 . Take a practise test after a month of so of dedicated study and analyse your improvements in Quant and Verbal .

Moreover , on your query , the B-Schools consider your Best Score among all your GMAT Scores , and not the Average.

eternal_optimist: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 88; Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2010 12:05 amFollowed by: 15 members; Thanked: 67 times

by eternal_optimist » Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:25 am

@Camlimsim
I feel a sense of deja vu after reading your post. I remember myself in the same situation two years back,bemoaning my failure . Since I have been through your stage, I ask you to not lose hope . Remember, the lines "A new day will dawn for those who stand long" from the legendary song "Stairway to Heaven". However, you have to be realistic in your aspirations so that you can form a strategy accordingly. Since you have scored a 430 now, expecting a 700 within 2 months would be very difficult. Your current score reflects that your lacked conceptual clarity and lacked application skills.Secondly, it also indicates that you have to really put yourself on a level playing field so that you're prepared to achieve a 700.You may wanna go through my debrief to get some inspiration,suggestions and tips. I had a long term strategy but you don't have to necessarily wait for that long a time. However, I think that you'll definitely need another 4-5 months to get where you want. Keep us posted about your progress or any questions which you might have.Welcome aboard!

3 yrs, 4 attempts- The Story of my Metamorphosis

camlimsim: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 4; Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:45 am

by camlimsim » Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:27 am

Hi Ashis,
Thanks for a wonderfull encouragement, i would surely concerntrate on the concepts now this time. One simple question about the sentence correction, will it be wise to study some other books because with this sort of score i think am a layman in english and need a lot to improve my grammar rather than my vocabulary. Please suggest

Ashish321: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 36; Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2011 3:48 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 3 times

by Ashish321 » Tue Mar 01, 2011 11:02 am

camlimsim wrote:Hi Ashis,
Thanks for a wonderfull encouragement, i would surely concerntrate on the concepts now this time. One simple question about the sentence correction, will it be wise to study some other books because with this sort of score i think am a layman in english and need a lot to improve my grammar rather than my vocabulary. Please suggest

GMAT , unlike GRE , doesn't test your Vocabulary . Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction Guide starts from scratch . Level I covers all the fundamentals , and Level II covers the topics in more detail.

So , my suggestion is that for SC , start with MGMAT SC only . It is the best recource available , even for someone who is not that well equipped with the GMAT Grammar .

camlimsim: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 4; Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:45 am

by camlimsim » Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:58 pm

eternal_optimist wrote:@Camlimsim
I feel a sense of deja vu after reading your post. I remember myself in the same situation two years back,bemoaning my failure . Since I have been through your stage, I ask you to not lose hope . Remember, the lines "A new day will dawn for those who stand long" from the legendary song "Stairway to Heaven". However, you have to be realistic in your aspirations so that you can form a strategy accordingly. Since you have scored a 430 now, expecting a 700 within 2 months would be very difficult. Your current score reflects that your lacked conceptual clarity and lacked application skills.Secondly, it also indicates that you have to really put yourself on a level playing field so that you're prepared to achieve a 700.You may wanna go through my debrief to get some inspiration,suggestions and tips. I had a long term strategy but you don't have to necessarily wait for that long a time. However, I think that you'll definitely need another 4-5 months to get where you want. Keep us posted about your progress or any questions which you might have.Welcome aboard!

thanks mate, I read your approach, I thank the person who bought this discussion forum, its where I got the ideals of Gems like you people to get encouraged. You are a fighter, I wish I can sustain my courage like you. thanks for helping and encouraging me.

camlimsim: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 4; Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:45 am

by camlimsim » Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:02 pm

Ashish321 wrote:
camlimsim wrote:Hi Ashis,
Thanks for a wonderfull encouragement, i would surely concerntrate on the concepts now this time. One simple question about the sentence correction, will it be wise to study some other books because with this sort of score i think am a layman in english and need a lot to improve my grammar rather than my vocabulary. Please suggest
GMAT , unlike GRE , doesn't test your Vocabulary . Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction Guide starts from scratch . Level I covers all the fundamentals , and Level II covers the topics in more detail.

So , my suggestion is that for SC , start with MGMAT SC only . It is the best recource available , even for someone who is not that well equipped with the GMAT Grammar .

Hi Ashis, first of all thanks for giving some personal attention to my problem. Yeah I agree with you, and will follow your advise. it would be too many questions posed to you so I would rather complete my initial error log as you all have advised, and get some feel of where I lack, before even asking you another question. this week ill dedicate on the initial error logging methodologies. and have a initial stratergy to overcome my weakness from a poor stage to atleast an average stage. thanks and I will surely come up with a lot of questions in future.

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