3rd time around ... suggestions please

This topic has expert replies
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 99
Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2011 12:42 pm

3rd time around ... suggestions please

by factor26 » Mon Apr 11, 2011 4:57 pm
Hi All,

Let me start off by saying thank you for taking the time to readmy post and offer any advice you may have in helping score do better on my GMAT exam.

After two disappointing attempts and about a month long hiatus, I have decided to retake the GMAT exam again. I believe i have been studying for this exam since September of last year; taking my first exam in December and scoring a miserable 440; studying for an additional 3 months and scoring an even more miserable 370.

Test number one I went into saying to myself; "what do I have to lose?" After all I only studied for two months and graduate school applications aren't due until the beginning of May, I thought I had plenty of time to retake and get an even better grade, right? WRONG! I studied a lot the second go around. Buying all the Manhattan GMAT books, studying during my lunch break at work, on the train ride home and on the weekends in the library. This All this studying appeared to be paying off; so when test day came I thought I was going to really beat the gmat; but I didnt. Instead, I was so engrossed in answering every question on the exam I ran out of time on both sections; having to guess on 6-7 questions straight on the math section and left 1-2 questions blank. Something similar happened on the verbal section as well.

As you can see my timing is horrible. Can anyone suggest a way to properly attack this task? Also can someone tell me if "in order to receive a good score, one must get the first 5-10 questions on each section correct". I am also having trouble in reading comprehension/sentance correction on the verbal section on the exam. Can anyone help me on this or point me to some articles I can read into?

My study conditions also seem a little detrimental to my success in that while studying on the during lunch and on the train I am easily distracted. Should i just wait till I get home to study the material. Also does anyone have a suggestion of maintaining a balance between studying and enjoyment. Seems like I havent been able to enjoy myself for a while and not only is it straining my studies, but it is also putting a strain on my relationship with my fiance as well.

Thanks for all your help guys, sorry for such a long post but i just wanted to give all the details.
Source: — GMAT Strategy |

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 184
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2007 9:23 am
Location: Madison, WI
Thanked: 17 times

by ldoolitt » Mon Apr 11, 2011 5:23 pm
factor26 wrote:
...
As you can see my timing is horrible. Can anyone suggest a way to properly attack this task? Also can someone tell me if "in order to receive a good score, one must get the first 5-10 questions on each section correct". I am also having trouble in reading comprehension/sentance correction on the verbal section on the exam. Can anyone help me on this or point me to some articles I can read into?
...
I actually wanted to address this portion specifically. In no way is it required to get the first 5-10 questions correct on the GMAT to score well. In fact I believe the founder of MGMAT took an exam and INTENTIONALLY got the first 2 questions wrong on both the quant and the verbal and got a 750. You will see some strategies that say the first questions are "more important" than the last questions but that is folly. I do believe that, according to the CAT scoring on the GMAT, the first question will ALTER your score more than will any proceeding question. But it all evens out in the end since you have to answer 37 or 41 questions and the CAT spends the rest of the time nailing your score. I don't personally believe that you should spend more time on earlier questions than later ones, rather spend the amount of time necessary for you to solve the problem or, if you know you can't solve the problem in a reasonable amount of time, spend time to make a good guess.

As far as overall timing, I time almost all of my studying on individual questions and put it in a spreadsheet for later analysis. I don't think you can get an accurate guess on how well you are doing without timing practice sessions.

My 2x10^-2 cents