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GMAT around the corner. ALL ADVICE WELCOMED

by knightfan2013 » Sun Mar 02, 2014 4:33 pm
Hey guys,

First post ever on here. Have my GMAT tomorrow actually! As everyone can imagine am freaking out a bit. I just completed the entire Vertias course and completed 3 practice exams of 560, 620 and 620 so i was feeling good with my goal range of 650-700. however i just completed the 2 practice exams from GMATPrep and ended up with a 530 and 540. Needless to say I'm pissed and demoralized because from what i have been reading they are the most representative of your actual exam score. What I'm asking i guess is if there is even anything left to do before the big day tomorrow and what i should expect? I was feeling good and gaining confidence throughout my Veritas course and with the last 2 Veritas exams i took and then it all came crashing down with the 2 GMATPrep exams. THANKS IN ADVANCE EVERYONE!
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by David@VeritasPrep » Sun Mar 02, 2014 6:28 pm
At this point, you are taking the exam tomorrow.

So you need to forget those last two exams. You need to go in there with the attitude that you will do well and also that it does not matter - you can take it again. You do not want to have too much pressure on yourself.

Now if you start to get down on yourself during the exam you need to correct that. So if you notice that you are talking to yourself just notice it and stop doing it. Do not try to think of how you are doing during the exam. Just focus on the question in front of you. Be reasonable and now when to guess and move on but do not overly focus on the clock. Do not let yourself get distracted. Take it one question at a time and do your best.

You can get a great score tomorrow. Much higher than 530 and 540. It is likely that you made lots of mistakes that you can certainly correct. So take care, watch for traps and simply do your best.

Make sure to bring snacks. Get some sleep tonight. You may need to try meditating on your breathing to clear you mind in order to sleep. Try to treat it like any other practice test tomorrow - except be just a little more careful that you are not going for the trap. Remember that you can miss plenty of questions and get a great score. Just get the ones right that you can. I bet you will do much better than you think.
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by David@VeritasPrep » Sun Mar 02, 2014 6:38 pm
Also, realize that the Veritas tests have a good correlation with official GMAT results so do not discount those scores.

Try not to stay up late thinking about it. There is not much that anyone can tell you accept

1) to focus - meaning no wandering mind during the exam

2) to focus - on the question in front of you

3) Stay positive

4) Never try to anticipate how you are doing. It is only a distraction.

5) Try not to focus too much on the clock.

6) On the quant if you see a question that seems easy - respect it and get it right.

7) On the verbal - trust yourself and do not second guess.

8) On the quant - if you are not making progress after 90 seconds (by your internal clock) guess on that question and go.

9) Getting questions right is all you can do - do not worry about getting questions wrong - everyone does and you can still get a great score.

10) What it comes down to - your entire job - is simply to get questions right. That is all. It is not your job to know exactly how much time is left per question or what you think you current score is. The only thing you have control of is the present moment. If you get this question right and then put it out of your head and get the next one right and forget that one and keep doing this, the time will soon be over and you will get the best score that you can on that day.

Try to go to sleep at a reasonable time and go in there tomorrow and do what you can do. If you have a lucky shirt it would not hurt to wear it!

Best of luck.
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by [email protected] » Sun Mar 02, 2014 11:46 pm
Hi knightfan2013,

While it might be easier said than done, your ability to stay calm and make good decisions is essential on Test Day. The best Test Takers that I've ever worked with always stayed calm, did work on the pad, thought about the various ways to approach a question and then chose one (and did what was required to get the correct answer). There was no staring. The GMAT is NOT an IQ test, so don't think in those terms. The GMAT will give you a score that you EARN, so make sure that you keep earning points throughout the test.

You should report back here with your results. The worst case scenario is that you'll have to take the GMAT again, but since there's no harm in that (since Business Schools don't care if you retest), you don't have any real problems. Go in, work hard and deliver your best.

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by iongmat » Mon Mar 03, 2014 3:38 am
Indeed this must be tough for you. But at this point, go with the belief that you have nothing to loose, and only have upwards to go.

See if you can sleep well tonight and have light breakfast tomorrow before the exam. As was rightly pointed out above, at this point, there is not much that can be done to improve the "academic knowledge"; your positive attitude can be your only savior.

So, go ahead and give the exam with an almost unreasonable confidence...and let us know the good news.
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by knightfan2013 » Mon Mar 03, 2014 7:27 am
Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement! My exam today isn't until 4:30PM but will be back on with my score, whether its good or bad.
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by dibyamaharanagmat » Mon Mar 03, 2014 8:14 am
all d best.. (y) do share ur experience nd score..
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by knightfan2013 » Mon Mar 03, 2014 6:18 pm
Hey everyone.

Just returned from the testing center and am livid. Didn't come close to the mark I needed. I got a 570 (40Q, 28V). Not sure how the hell i managed such a low verbal score. Clearly the veritas tests aren't representative of the real thing. My verbal for the 3 practice exams were 35, 36 and 38. Not sure what to do at this point. Took the exam at this time in order to meet certain deadlines and now i most likely wont meet them if i opt to take it again. And I'm not try to settle for a program because my score doesn't reflect my capabilities. How bad is this score for top 25 B-schools looking for MBA with a concentration in real estate.
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by [email protected] » Tue Mar 04, 2014 12:21 am
Hey knightfan2013,

When an Official GMAT score is significantly lower than one's practice CAT scores, the big question to ask is: what was different about Test Day relative to when you took your practice CATs? The differences matter, and can include, but are not limited to...

1) The time of day that you took your Tests.
2) The amount of sleep that you had the night before.
3) If you took the ENTIRE CAT (or if you skipped sections...such as the Essay and/or IR...then you weren't prepared to take the entire exam...)
4) External (or internal) distractions

With a 570 though, you're in range of your practice CAT scores - you performed about the same (you just made a few silly mistakes that cost you some points). Since I don't know the details behind your prep, I can't define the exact issues behind your score. I CAN tell you that you'll have to make some changes and properly address your weakness before you take the GMAT again.

The good news is that Business Schools don't care if you take the GMAT more than once, so doing so won't hurt your applications.

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by iongmat » Tue Mar 04, 2014 4:10 am
Hello knightfan2013, I think you are being slightly harsh on Veritas for not being representative. In fact, you scored 560 on one of the Vertias exam; so 570 on your actual GMAT is quite close.

In fact, you scored much lower on both your GMATPreps. So, if there is some exam that was not representative in your case, it was the GMATPrep!
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by knightfan2013 » Tue Mar 04, 2014 6:21 am
Hey iongmat,

The reason for my attacks on the veritas program is simply because my verbal scores were 35,36 and 38. And in regards to that 560 I took that half way through the course and then scored consecutive 620's as i was approaching my test date. Then I had scored the 530 and 540 this past weekend right before the exam with my Verbal scores of 29 and 28 which should of put up a red flag i suppose on my verbal? I just dont understand how i was performing pretty well on the veritas verbal to lay an egg on both GMATPrep exams and the real thing

[email protected]: My real test was at 4:30PM and i was taking my practice exams at about 1:00 PM everyday. Although i was skipping the AWA and IR on the 3 veritas exams i did complete the entire exam for my 2 GMATPrep exams. As far as my studying went, I attended the veritas prep course monday and wednesday nights from 7:00PM-10:00PM and then would continue my studies on non class days for 2-4 hours by doing practice problems offered through the course and a few from the most recent OG. During the actual exam I wasn't as nervous and anxious as I thought i would be and was feeling pretty confident in both sections and ended up with a 40Q and 28V.

I really want/need to be in the 650-700 range in order to not settle for a program. I am looking to go to a top 50 b-schools that is a top 10-25 for my concentration that is real estate/real estate development. Some schools i have been researching are Southern Cal, Arizona State, University of Denver, University of Colorado at Boulder, UNC (IF YOU GUYS HAVE OTHER PREMIER PROGRAMS FOR MY CONCENTRATION PLEASE SHARE!). Anyways, I'm just beginning to realize i'm probably going to have to take this again and thats completely screwing up my plan. Was hoping to make the application deadlines of March 15 and others in early April in order to attend this coming fall.

Thanks again everyone for being so responsive and supportive. Been a pissed and unhappy individual.
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by [email protected] » Tue Mar 04, 2014 2:18 pm
Hi knightfan2013,

The 4:30pm Test Time was likely a big factor in your performance. Most people do their best thinking/test-taking earlier in the day, so you might have expended too much energy up to that point in the day to have a great Test performance.

Skipping ANY section of a CAT tends to lead to an artificially inflated score result (since you wouldn't have had to spend energy on the AWA and IR and you went straight to Quant). This could also mean that you weren't properly ready to ENDURE the full GMAT. The lower Verbal score provides some evidence to support that idea (meaning that maybe you were too fatigued to perform well on that final section).

You can absolutely retake in 31 days and score better, but you'll need to make some adjustments to your process. As to the schools that you listed, you're not necessarily out of the running for any of them, as long as your overall application is strong. Business Schools tend to list 2 types of information regarding the GMAT scores that they accept: the average GMAT score for a group and the "middle 80%" of that group. Those numbers might lead you to believe that you need to score at a high level, but clearly some people were accepted with scores that were lower than the listed range.

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