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oooh help..........

by FELLA » Wed Oct 01, 2008 11:01 am
Hi there,

I just found this webpage and I like it, good job!!!
I am so frustrated with GMAT. I took it in July, I prepared for it for four months, 12 hours a day, every day!!!! I scored 350 at real GMAT. I was devastated. How could it happen, I was not nervous, I was very very very confident that I did well. I found it weird that I had only 9 real math questions and the rest was only data suffieciency. I would like to retake it and I have no idea what to do. I did not score that low when I was practicing at home. I studied with NOVA, OG, Princton and something else (four books) I cannot remember the name right now. I took about 60-70 prep. full length tests and yet, I look like I never even did anything for this test. I don't know what to do. I am not dumb, lol. I've been an A student for six years now (three bachelor's degrees in two different countries) and yet I cannot get the score (450). I have classmates who've been failing our major classes (in my case accounting) which I think are simple easy classes, and yet without any preparation they showed up and took the test just to see how it looks like and scored almost 600. When I asked them how they managed it, the answer was same from all of them, "I guessed." And I am not a good guesser.
Please, help me, what should I do????
Thanks
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by Prasanna » Wed Oct 01, 2008 1:17 pm
60-70 prep tests :? :shock:

I think you should focus on the OG in very qualitative terms. Identify the areas where you are weak and work on it. You cannot improve your score by just taking prep tests. Devise a plan that would work for you.
Wish you good luck
Prasanna

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by VP_Jim » Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:01 am
I agree, there is little point in taking that many prep tests (where did you even find that many?!). Studying for the GMAT is about quality, not quantity. You don't need to study 12 hours a day - at some point around 90-120 minutes, the value of studying drops considerably. If you're studying the right way, a couple hours of studying 5 days a week for 2 months should be sufficient.

Focus on the Official Guide. You should spend about a month doing the problems in there. If you fly through it in a week, you're going too fast and not studying the right way. Take your time, think, and analyze every problem. Pretend you have to teach a GMAT class and explain how to do every single problem.

Good luck!
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by FELLA » Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:26 am
Hello,
thank you so much for your advise. I keep on reading about the Official Guide. I bought one it has an orange cover, is that what you guys are referring to? Could you put a web page link to that book, please?
Thanks so much
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by VP_Jim » Mon Oct 13, 2008 3:50 pm
Yes, that's the one. There is also a green (quant only) and purple (verbal only) with different problems once you're "done" with the orange book.
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by FELLA » Wed Oct 15, 2008 10:40 am
You asked me where I found so many computer tests. I downloaded the software from mba.com and took those exams. I don't know any other software for computer tests. Any advise?

Thank you so much,
Fella
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by VP_Jim » Wed Oct 15, 2008 12:37 pm
So you took the two tests from mba.com 60-70 times?! Wow! You probably had a lot of repeat questions, so your score may not be accurate.

Lots of companies publish practice tests, and some post them online for free. I can't speak for other companies, but here's the free Veritas test. I found it to be pretty accurate - I did 10 points worse on this test than on my real GMAT.

https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-prepara ... ctice-GMAT
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by bekkilyn » Wed Oct 15, 2008 1:18 pm
Wow! If you took those tests 60-70 times and your score isn't improving, then it sounds like you need a new strategy other than taking tests. What areas are giving you the most trouble? Perhaps you need a more thorough review of the basics in those areas. It doesn't mean you're dumb. Heck, just as one example, you could even have a degree in something that uses a lot of high level math and yet still forget a lot of the fundamental stuff from earlier school years.

When you go through the problems on the tests, are you really understanding why an answer is right or wrong and would you be able to apply that same strategy to other types of problems?

What's that quote about insanity and repeating the same thing over and over? Don't just keep using tests. Forget the tests and work on the fundamentals. A 350 isn't a disaster. It just means you need to work smarter, not necessarily harder. :)
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by FELLA » Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:33 am
@VP-Jim,

thanks for this web page, I emailed it to myself (i'm not at home right now) and I'll make sure that I take those tests.

@bekkilyn,

I cannot tell you where I went wrong. No, math has actually never been a problem for me, at work or at school I usually don't use a calculator, I like to do it in my head. I've participated in several math competetions :-( Verbal part, I am also confused, I like to write, I used to publish stories but later, I started to work and had to give it up. Anyways, I will do my best to learn HOW to take this test. I also need to learn the elimination procedure. I am not a big fan of multiple choice questions and have never been good in guessing. :-(((
Thanks guys,
FELLA
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by bekkilyn » Mon Oct 20, 2008 2:44 pm
It sounds like you don't have fundamental issues with math in general, so that's good. Competition math techniques are probably a bit different than GMAT math techniques though, so you're probably right that learning the how of taking the test would be a lot of help. You also shouldn't have the "Oh no! I've forgotten how to do things without a calculator!" problem that some other people have. :)

Even if you can do a lot of things in your head, you still may want to get in the habit of writing things down for GMAT. GMAT likes to play tricks inside the head!

Also, when you record exactly what you're doing and for how long you're doing it, you can later go back and analyze that information for patterns that can help you determine just where things are going wrong for you.
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