Stuck at Gmat prep scores. 9 days to brawl.

This topic has expert replies
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1077
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:44 am
Thanked: 118 times
Followed by:33 members
GMAT Score:710

Stuck at Gmat prep scores. 9 days to brawl.

by bblast » Tue Jan 11, 2011 4:01 am
Hey all, I gave my gmat prep 2 today, a full 4 hrs - honestly with complete essays and 5 minute breaks (whole thing spanning a grueling 4 hours)
Ended up with a 650(45/34) again today in gmat prep-2. :( (650 in gmat prep-1 ten days back(47/33))

this time I stumbled in quant at the very first question, a tricky standard deviation Q which took me over 5 minutes to figure out, made 4 mistakes in 1-10(including a factors question which I can solve in my sleep :( ), then got a chunk of about 16-17 correct answers back to back before some random guessing at the end being pressed for time.

In verbal section I nailed each and every CR(11/11) in good time(got 9/11 in grep 1 :) ), made 5/17 mistakes in SC(not bad)
Horribly messed up RC(2 mistakes back to back in every passage- thus a total of 28 correct in 41). I had worked a lot on my RC last month but ignored it a lot recently and results are in front of me. Anyways the RC passages in gmat prep are smaller in length and much more deadly than those I practiced from og -12(plus the clock ticking plays on my mind when i read the passage for over 5 mins ).

I have dedicated just over month to my prep, thus my scores wandering around 650 are obvious. Its just faith in myself(and some time constraints) and that I am still going to go for it on 20th Jan and put my best foot forward.

Any final tips guys ??
Cheers !!

Quant 47-Striving for 50
Verbal 34-Striving for 40

My gmat journey :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/710-bblast-s ... 90735.html
My take on the GMAT RC :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/ways-to-bbla ... 90808.html
How to prepare before your MBA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upz46D7 ... TWBZF14TKW_
Source: — GMAT Strategy |

User avatar
Community Manager
Posts: 1048
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:26 am
Location: India
Thanked: 51 times
Followed by:27 members
GMAT Score:670

by arora007 » Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:53 am
Are you aiming for 7X0 ? well... take my word, miracles do not happen. Change your dates if possible.

But if you sure are going to give GMAT on 20th then work a bit on your Quant section.

a 45Q means 75 percentile whereas a 47Q means 79 percentile, a 50Q would mean 94 percentile and a huge jump in your overall score/percentile.

a 33V means 66% and a 34V means 69% and dramatic changes in verbal in 9 days is only possible in SC. A glance through the MGMAT SC or the CR Bible would help brush up in the early part of the 10 days you have... in the latter part of the 10 days work on your timing, something like mastergmat would be excellent!

keep your nerves, quant is not difficult its usually tricky and one has to be alert to catch subtle mistakes which slip in,
have a good night's sleep. Don't give a test a day before the test, relax, remain calm & be happy!!
https://www.skiponemeal.org/
https://twitter.com/skiponemeal
Few things are impossible to diligence & skill.Great works are performed not by strength,but by perseverance

pm me if you find junk/spam/abusive language, Lets keep our community clean!!

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1077
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:44 am
Thanked: 118 times
Followed by:33 members
GMAT Score:710

by bblast » Tue Jan 11, 2011 11:14 am
arora007 wrote:Are you aiming for 7X0 ? well... take my word, miracles do not happen. Change your dates if possible.

But if you sure are going to give GMAT on 20th then work a bit on your Quant section.

a 45Q means 75 percentile whereas a 47Q means 79 percentile, a 50Q would mean 94 percentile and a huge jump in your overall score/percentile.

a 33V means 66% and a 34V means 69% and dramatic changes in verbal in 9 days is only possible in SC. A glance through the MGMAT SC or the CR Bible would help brush up in the early part of the 10 days you have... in the latter part of the 10 days work on your timing, something like mastergmat would be excellent!

keep your nerves, quant is not difficult its usually tricky and one has to be alert to catch subtle mistakes which slip in,
have a good night's sleep. Don't give a test a day before the test, relax, remain calm & be happy!!

Thanks mate, I understand the level at which I am now and accept I wont go far high from 650 on the actual thing now. But I just want to take the test for now.

The good things are that I know a quant 47 is well within my reach and I have improved drastically in CR(90% hit rates) and SC(over 70% hit rates). The fluctuation in my verbal score is because of the RC(never scored below 30 and never above 37 in preps). Thats what is keeping me interested in the thing. I was initially good at RC's but completely ignored it in the past 2 weeks and suffered in both Gprep's. If I can back up the good base at SC and CR with a little decent success in the 4 dreaded RC's, I can bank on at least a 35 in Verbal. Thats what I am going for now.

Thanks again.
Cheers !!

Quant 47-Striving for 50
Verbal 34-Striving for 40

My gmat journey :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/710-bblast-s ... 90735.html
My take on the GMAT RC :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/ways-to-bbla ... 90808.html
How to prepare before your MBA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upz46D7 ... TWBZF14TKW_

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 132
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2011 12:26 pm
Location: New York City
Thanked: 68 times
Followed by:37 members
GMAT Score:780

by Adam@Knewton » Tue Jan 11, 2011 2:49 pm
bblast wrote: this time I stumbled in quant at the very first question, a tricky standard deviation Q which took me over 5 minutes to figure out, made 4 mistakes in 1-10(including a factors question which I can solve in my sleep :( ), then got a chunk of about 16-17 correct answers back to back before some random guessing at the end being pressed for time.
This is always a good moment to remember good timing strategy at the beginning of the test. No matter how many times you hear it, it's hard to remember that the beginning of the test does not matter more. Spending 5 minutes on the first question will undoubtedly hurt your score, regardless of whether you get it right or wrong. Now that you've experienced this in practice, you'll have a clear reminder of why NOT to do it come test day! :)
Prep Smarter, Score Higher
www.knewton.com

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1077
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:44 am
Thanked: 118 times
Followed by:33 members
GMAT Score:710

by bblast » Tue Jan 11, 2011 8:22 pm
AdamKnewton wrote:
bblast wrote: this time I stumbled in quant at the very first question, a tricky standard deviation Q which took me over 5 minutes to figure out, made 4 mistakes in 1-10(including a factors question which I can solve in my sleep :( ), then got a chunk of about 16-17 correct answers back to back before some random guessing at the end being pressed for time.
This is always a good moment to remember good timing strategy at the beginning of the test. No matter how many times you hear it, it's hard to remember that the beginning of the test does not matter more. Spending 5 minutes on the first question will undoubtedly hurt your score, regardless of whether you get it right or wrong. Now that you've experienced this in practice, you'll have a clear reminder of why NOT to do it come test day! :)
exactly Adam, now I have decided not to spend over 2.X minutes in any question, come what may. The bad start in Q played on my mind during the entire test and as if i was just making up for it during the entire 3 hours rather than to try and score huge. Would have been better if I had just guessed and move ahead. Another lesson learnt.
Cheers !!

Quant 47-Striving for 50
Verbal 34-Striving for 40

My gmat journey :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/710-bblast-s ... 90735.html
My take on the GMAT RC :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/ways-to-bbla ... 90808.html
How to prepare before your MBA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upz46D7 ... TWBZF14TKW_

Legendary Member
Posts: 1337
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 6:29 pm
Thanked: 127 times
Followed by:10 members

by Night reader » Wed Jan 12, 2011 1:16 pm
bblast wrote:Hey all, I gave my gmat prep 2 today, a full 4 hrs - honestly with complete essays and 5 minute breaks (whole thing spanning a grueling 4 hours) You will be relived from this care on GMAT exam day, you will have to do test under your exactly performed timing constraint naturally.

copy/paste grueling 4 hours I agree, that's very grueling... my advice on how to overcome your mood follows this quote

Ended up with a 650(45/34) again today in gmat prep-2. :( (650 in gmat prep-1 ten days back(47/33))

this time I stumbled in quant at the very first question, a tricky standard deviation Q which took me over 5 minutes to figure out, made 4 mistakes in 1-10(including a factors question which I can solve in my sleep :( ), then got a chunk of about 16-17 correct answers back to back before some random guessing at the end being pressed for time.

In verbal section I nailed each and every CR(11/11) in good time(got 9/11 in grep 1 :) ), made 5/17 mistakes in SC(not bad)
Horribly messed up RC(2 mistakes back to back in every passage- thus a total of 28 correct in 41). I had worked a lot on my RC last month but ignored it a lot recently and results are in front of me. Anyways the RC passages in gmat prep are smaller in length and much more deadly than those I practiced from og -12(plus the clock ticking plays on my mind when i read the passage for over 5 mins ).

I have dedicated just over month to my prep, thus my scores wandering around 650 are obvious. Its just faith in myself(and some time constraints) and that I am still going to go for it on 20th Jan and put my best foot forward.

Any final tips guys ??
Hi Kumar, you will have to do the final task with all your neatness and aspiration now; this should take you not longer that January 18th- I agree with Arora here

Take your 2 GMAT Prep tests, write down the incorrectly answered topic names (be as much accurate as possible) even if it was silly mistake, say simplification of two irrational numbers, still write down the topics

Launch the search function of BTG with the command line of one-two words from the topic names you have written down and solve the problems

5 mistakes in SC is bad, no offence, but it's still bad and no way even to touch 7XX... :( download MGMAT flash cards from GMAT club for free and answer each and every question there (try to analyze and understand the concepts flawed by yourself)
as promised in green color - your quote- before your exam on that same date, get up early , take the contrast shower and start meditation or some auto-training to fine-tune yourself for exam
In the exam, don't get stuck on the first question - spend well 3 minutes per each question for 10-15 first questions and be pace-wise (do not think 3 minutes, this is the worst case scenario meaning your wrong answers in the fist 10 questions will kill your scaled score 4 times easier than your wrong answers after the so said question 15)
you said that in the 2nd test -GMAT Prep 100% accuracy was made in CR and performed poorly in RC - these two are related not wholly but still are interlinked with the inference type of questions... what about the inference based questions in your CR? As we all know CR may be divided into two broad categories of questions these are - assumption based (Strengthen, Weaken, Assumptions, Paradox, Explanation and Evidence) and inference based questions (bold face is sitting here as well). So glance at the topic range in your CR again. Try to minimize the effect of troyan horse by GMAT Prep now.
Reading Comprehension - I can only suggest to drink in all the passage information on exam day. Think you are in front of the High Supreme Court and they are reading possible sentencing charges against you, so you better watch out because your public defender is not even listening to the judge and the audition process. So you are trapped and need to drink in all words and statements (that was a joke, but you might take your notes :) )

User avatar
Community Manager
Posts: 1048
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:26 am
Location: India
Thanked: 51 times
Followed by:27 members
GMAT Score:670

by arora007 » Wed Jan 12, 2011 7:38 pm
+1 for MGMAT flashcards and BTG flashcards, they are really helpful for that "jo jeeta wohi sikander" kind of a leap in the race!! Kudos Night reader for the valuable insights... btw when is the CJI waiting for you?taken a date??
https://www.skiponemeal.org/
https://twitter.com/skiponemeal
Few things are impossible to diligence & skill.Great works are performed not by strength,but by perseverance

pm me if you find junk/spam/abusive language, Lets keep our community clean!!

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1077
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:44 am
Thanked: 118 times
Followed by:33 members
GMAT Score:710

by bblast » Wed Jan 12, 2011 9:02 pm
agreed with almost all ur words night reader, your posts are always inspiring, and I always get into your profile to see the maths questions posted by you :)

thanks for the mgmat flash card advice, already eaten the btg flashcards multiple times, i am giving in my best shot now, will study will 18th Jan, and only take flashcards on 19th. I missed a trick or two in RC's in my last few tests, also stopped RC practice couple weeks back, that hurt me badly, I am trying to get back on track with some intense practice and revisiting the techniques i applied initially for some good hit rates in RC.

I have worked very hard on my CR. The only thing which intimidates in CR's is the odd boldface.
Cheers !!

Quant 47-Striving for 50
Verbal 34-Striving for 40

My gmat journey :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/710-bblast-s ... 90735.html
My take on the GMAT RC :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/ways-to-bbla ... 90808.html
How to prepare before your MBA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upz46D7 ... TWBZF14TKW_

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1077
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:44 am
Thanked: 118 times
Followed by:33 members
GMAT Score:710

by bblast » Fri Jan 14, 2011 1:32 am
Hey Guys,
how much are the repeat gprep scores inflated?
V section :
I did well on my rc's today, saw 3 new passages, 0 mistakes in them, just 2 mistakes that too in a repeat RC which appreared :mrgreen:

2 incorrect in CR at the end as I was pressed for time, 2 repeats I saw. 1 boldface which I got correct :)).

5 mistakes in SC. i think its difficult to remember an SC even if it repeats. ended up with V 40.

Q section :
6 questions repeat in all, got 49.(I purposely waited 2 minutes before moving onto the next question whenever I saw a repeat) The start today was much better , only 2 mistakes in the first 15 odd. repeats appeared between questions 10-20 mostly.

Score 730. can I deduce that I performed slightly better today (the most +ve aspect is that it was RC where i missed the trick in verbal earlier-looks to be on track now )? Or an 80 point jump is usual with such repeat questions ?
Cheers !!

Quant 47-Striving for 50
Verbal 34-Striving for 40

My gmat journey :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/710-bblast-s ... 90735.html
My take on the GMAT RC :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/ways-to-bbla ... 90808.html
How to prepare before your MBA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upz46D7 ... TWBZF14TKW_