Wow, I spent an hour typing up my first post and it got lost.
I want to thank beatthegmat for a great community and the encouragement everyone gives to each other. I'd like to share my recent GMAT experience, and get some advice on how to continue my quest.
I took the GMAT back in 2008. I had taken the MGMAT 9 week live course prior. My instructor was actually Stacey Koprince before she moved to Montreal. My background is engineering, so my math is decently strong. I'm a native English speaker, so I have all the tools to score well on the GMAT. My target score back then was just to get 700 or above. My actual score was 640 (q44 v33). I had to be honest with myself and realize that this score was close to what I had gotten on my MGMAT CATs, which were in the mid 600s. However I feel like I can do better because I fell into old bad habits and had to guess on the last 5 on the quant. I definitely needed to work on my timing strategy.
The GMAT did take a big psychological toll on me because I did feel like I could ever crack 700. I don't want to say I'm a bad test taker because as plenty of people here have proven, the GMAT is beatable. I avoided the GMAT for a year and a half until 2 months ago when I decided to seriously have another go at it. I signed up for my test, which was this past Saturday, giving me 2 months to study.
I still have all my MGMAT study guides, and all 3 OG11. In addition, I got the 3 OG12. I even hired a private tutor to help me because I was a little afraid that 2 months might not have been enough time for me to study. He was really helpful and knew as an engineer, I was too detail oriented. My problems in the past was running out of time on the quant, despite my true abilities in math. He definitely knew I was rushing through problems, making silly mistakes, and not being organized.
After my sessions with him ended, I had one month to apply what I learned to the OG problems and start doing practice tests. I returned back to MGMAT and took one of their practice tests.
720 (q47 v41) Wow! Like I mentioned before, I had never broken the 700 barrier before, and here I did on my first shot on my new study strategy. I do feel like MGMAT quant is harder, but their verbal is a easier than the real GMAT or OG.
I kept a steady pace going through OG problems and the next week I took a Kaplan CAT.
650 (q42 v41)
I was OK with this because most people score much higher on their actual test than their Kaplan one.
About a week later I returned to the GMATprep. This should give me a close assessment of my progress.
740 (q49 v41). I do remember a SC question I recognized from the OG, but nevertheless, I was estatic and feeling very confident. I had finished the OG12 by this time and was working on going through the 2 supplementary books. I had about a week and half before my test.
The week before my test, I finished both books on Tuesday, but I may have emphasized way more on quantity than quality, because I was feeling a little burned out. I made the mistake of taking my last practice CAT 3 days before my actual test. That was just the beginning of my spiral of doom.
I put a lot of pressure on myself, and I overworry and do not handle stress well. My target score now is 720+. My next GMATprep was "only" a 710 (q49 v39), but I freaked out because I was doing worse now. I did not think rationally, so the next day, Thursday, I implusively took another practice test, thinking that if I scored at least 720, I would keep my confidence and be stress free. Boy was that a dumb plan. My next GMATprep score was 690 (q50 v35). If you thought I overreacted to a 710, imagine what happened when I dropped below 690. I was a total wreck, and I tried to compensate it by cramming. My friends said I was burnt out and needed to relax. In fact, they said I had to do nothing on Friday. So Friday, after I realized nothing I was studying in the morning was going to matter, I decided to just avoid anything to do with the GMAT. That was good, and I went to bed early because my test was 8AM Saturday. However, I did not get a good night's sleep.
I woke up early, and was still kind of tired, but I forced myself to be alert. I went to the testing center early and checked in. Since I've done this before, there were no surprises. I wasn't feeling well rested, but I did eat breakfast and this test was too important for me to fall apart, so I did my best to keep myself alert.
The essays went well. I did not feel rushed nor pressured. I scored 5.5 on the AWA previously, so I wasn't worried. I was hoping to get into a groove for real challenges ahead. I took my break and came back early.
I had 30 sec to spare before my quant and I was feeling pretty confident. If anything, my quant scores during my practice exams were very consistent. However, I saw the first problem and I did not know how to do it. Keep in mind I have all the OG11 and OG12 books as well as all the MGMAT study guides, and I have never seen anything like this problem. This was the first problem!!! I tried to keep it together and made my best guess to move on. Stacey teaches all her students that is it possible to recover on the GMAT from getting early questions wrong as long as you avoid going on bad streaks. I continued on, but I realized that I was going too fast. I slowed down for the last 10 problems or so, but I spent two much time on the 2nd to last problem and for sure go the last problem wrong. Nevertheless I had to shake it off because verbal was next and my best practice GMAT was when I scored the highest on the verbal.
I thought verbal was OK. My pacing was consistent. I thought one RC passage was hard, and some SC came down to idioms. There were a few CR which I struggled between two answers. When I finally finished, I was hoping at least 700. My goal is really 720+ and honestly, at the time, if I scored a 700, I would have retaken it again based on my practice exam scores.
To my horror, my score was 640 (q42 v36). The same exact score as before 2 years ago, but this time my verbal percentile was higher, which NEVER happens. I felt like dying. After the shock, I just wanted to get out of the testing center. No tangible improvement at all. 2 months studying wasted. What hurts more is that I cannot do anything about it because I am moving in less than a week. I won't be able to retake the GMAT for at least a few months.
I would dearly appreciate any advice or encourage from the community. Was this a disastrous case of burnout? I am very afraid that if it wasn't being overstressed, maybe I am not cut out for the GMAT and there is something fundamentally wrong with my study habits. The first quant problem I got definitely made me doubt my study materials because after all, even the OG problems are technically all retired, and the real GMAT will throw out anything it wants at you.
I definitely focused way too much on quantity over quality. Forcing all the OG problems did not really help me. I really did not gain much from doing them other than checking someone off my studying to do list. In addition, doing 2 practice tests within 3 days of the real test was a big mistake. I overreacted and tried to overcompensate for it, but it blew up in my face. I also might have succumbed to extreme anxiety as I vividly remember messing up on multiplying double digit numbers and adding fractions. Finally, my test was at 8AM, and I am not a morning person. I never took any of my practice tests at 8AM. Combined with a poor night's worth of sleep, could this have made my score plummet 100 points? It seems very extreme, but if that's possible, I would definitely focus on not overwhelming myself next time and not worry that I don't have the inherent ability to beat the GMAT.
I can best hope that the third time's the charm, but I have read that a 4th time is not a big deal. I want to reach my goal, and this time around, I really felt like I was there. If you were to ask me a week ago, where I thought I was, I was confidently say I was in the 700 boundary level. Never would I have thought I perform so poorly.
What do you guys think I should do? I'm going to take a break from the GMAT, but I don't want to get too rusty. I'm not going to apply for business school for about a year and half, so I don't have the pressure of getting the GMAT done during application deadlines. Do you guys think my practice tests are proof enough I can do it, and I just crashed and burned at the end? I do practice with the essays (Stacey was my instructor).
I'm recovering from the sting a bit since I can't really do anything about it for now. My mind is in such a blur and I'm heavily doubting myself. I feel like I've forgotten everything, and I can't even do some D/S I used to be able to crank out with ease. I'm so upset with myself and it's been a wild rollercoaster ride. I wanted to beat the GMAT so badly you wouldn't believe it. I dragged it on too long and this was my chance to close the door on it.
Thank you for reading this and understanding my plight. I could use any advice no matter how harsh the criticism. I need all the help I can get. Never give up, right?
I want to thank beatthegmat for a great community and the encouragement everyone gives to each other. I'd like to share my recent GMAT experience, and get some advice on how to continue my quest.
I took the GMAT back in 2008. I had taken the MGMAT 9 week live course prior. My instructor was actually Stacey Koprince before she moved to Montreal. My background is engineering, so my math is decently strong. I'm a native English speaker, so I have all the tools to score well on the GMAT. My target score back then was just to get 700 or above. My actual score was 640 (q44 v33). I had to be honest with myself and realize that this score was close to what I had gotten on my MGMAT CATs, which were in the mid 600s. However I feel like I can do better because I fell into old bad habits and had to guess on the last 5 on the quant. I definitely needed to work on my timing strategy.
The GMAT did take a big psychological toll on me because I did feel like I could ever crack 700. I don't want to say I'm a bad test taker because as plenty of people here have proven, the GMAT is beatable. I avoided the GMAT for a year and a half until 2 months ago when I decided to seriously have another go at it. I signed up for my test, which was this past Saturday, giving me 2 months to study.
I still have all my MGMAT study guides, and all 3 OG11. In addition, I got the 3 OG12. I even hired a private tutor to help me because I was a little afraid that 2 months might not have been enough time for me to study. He was really helpful and knew as an engineer, I was too detail oriented. My problems in the past was running out of time on the quant, despite my true abilities in math. He definitely knew I was rushing through problems, making silly mistakes, and not being organized.
After my sessions with him ended, I had one month to apply what I learned to the OG problems and start doing practice tests. I returned back to MGMAT and took one of their practice tests.
720 (q47 v41) Wow! Like I mentioned before, I had never broken the 700 barrier before, and here I did on my first shot on my new study strategy. I do feel like MGMAT quant is harder, but their verbal is a easier than the real GMAT or OG.
I kept a steady pace going through OG problems and the next week I took a Kaplan CAT.
650 (q42 v41)
I was OK with this because most people score much higher on their actual test than their Kaplan one.
About a week later I returned to the GMATprep. This should give me a close assessment of my progress.
740 (q49 v41). I do remember a SC question I recognized from the OG, but nevertheless, I was estatic and feeling very confident. I had finished the OG12 by this time and was working on going through the 2 supplementary books. I had about a week and half before my test.
The week before my test, I finished both books on Tuesday, but I may have emphasized way more on quantity than quality, because I was feeling a little burned out. I made the mistake of taking my last practice CAT 3 days before my actual test. That was just the beginning of my spiral of doom.
I put a lot of pressure on myself, and I overworry and do not handle stress well. My target score now is 720+. My next GMATprep was "only" a 710 (q49 v39), but I freaked out because I was doing worse now. I did not think rationally, so the next day, Thursday, I implusively took another practice test, thinking that if I scored at least 720, I would keep my confidence and be stress free. Boy was that a dumb plan. My next GMATprep score was 690 (q50 v35). If you thought I overreacted to a 710, imagine what happened when I dropped below 690. I was a total wreck, and I tried to compensate it by cramming. My friends said I was burnt out and needed to relax. In fact, they said I had to do nothing on Friday. So Friday, after I realized nothing I was studying in the morning was going to matter, I decided to just avoid anything to do with the GMAT. That was good, and I went to bed early because my test was 8AM Saturday. However, I did not get a good night's sleep.
I woke up early, and was still kind of tired, but I forced myself to be alert. I went to the testing center early and checked in. Since I've done this before, there were no surprises. I wasn't feeling well rested, but I did eat breakfast and this test was too important for me to fall apart, so I did my best to keep myself alert.
The essays went well. I did not feel rushed nor pressured. I scored 5.5 on the AWA previously, so I wasn't worried. I was hoping to get into a groove for real challenges ahead. I took my break and came back early.
I had 30 sec to spare before my quant and I was feeling pretty confident. If anything, my quant scores during my practice exams were very consistent. However, I saw the first problem and I did not know how to do it. Keep in mind I have all the OG11 and OG12 books as well as all the MGMAT study guides, and I have never seen anything like this problem. This was the first problem!!! I tried to keep it together and made my best guess to move on. Stacey teaches all her students that is it possible to recover on the GMAT from getting early questions wrong as long as you avoid going on bad streaks. I continued on, but I realized that I was going too fast. I slowed down for the last 10 problems or so, but I spent two much time on the 2nd to last problem and for sure go the last problem wrong. Nevertheless I had to shake it off because verbal was next and my best practice GMAT was when I scored the highest on the verbal.
I thought verbal was OK. My pacing was consistent. I thought one RC passage was hard, and some SC came down to idioms. There were a few CR which I struggled between two answers. When I finally finished, I was hoping at least 700. My goal is really 720+ and honestly, at the time, if I scored a 700, I would have retaken it again based on my practice exam scores.
To my horror, my score was 640 (q42 v36). The same exact score as before 2 years ago, but this time my verbal percentile was higher, which NEVER happens. I felt like dying. After the shock, I just wanted to get out of the testing center. No tangible improvement at all. 2 months studying wasted. What hurts more is that I cannot do anything about it because I am moving in less than a week. I won't be able to retake the GMAT for at least a few months.
I would dearly appreciate any advice or encourage from the community. Was this a disastrous case of burnout? I am very afraid that if it wasn't being overstressed, maybe I am not cut out for the GMAT and there is something fundamentally wrong with my study habits. The first quant problem I got definitely made me doubt my study materials because after all, even the OG problems are technically all retired, and the real GMAT will throw out anything it wants at you.
I definitely focused way too much on quantity over quality. Forcing all the OG problems did not really help me. I really did not gain much from doing them other than checking someone off my studying to do list. In addition, doing 2 practice tests within 3 days of the real test was a big mistake. I overreacted and tried to overcompensate for it, but it blew up in my face. I also might have succumbed to extreme anxiety as I vividly remember messing up on multiplying double digit numbers and adding fractions. Finally, my test was at 8AM, and I am not a morning person. I never took any of my practice tests at 8AM. Combined with a poor night's worth of sleep, could this have made my score plummet 100 points? It seems very extreme, but if that's possible, I would definitely focus on not overwhelming myself next time and not worry that I don't have the inherent ability to beat the GMAT.
I can best hope that the third time's the charm, but I have read that a 4th time is not a big deal. I want to reach my goal, and this time around, I really felt like I was there. If you were to ask me a week ago, where I thought I was, I was confidently say I was in the 700 boundary level. Never would I have thought I perform so poorly.
What do you guys think I should do? I'm going to take a break from the GMAT, but I don't want to get too rusty. I'm not going to apply for business school for about a year and half, so I don't have the pressure of getting the GMAT done during application deadlines. Do you guys think my practice tests are proof enough I can do it, and I just crashed and burned at the end? I do practice with the essays (Stacey was my instructor).
I'm recovering from the sting a bit since I can't really do anything about it for now. My mind is in such a blur and I'm heavily doubting myself. I feel like I've forgotten everything, and I can't even do some D/S I used to be able to crank out with ease. I'm so upset with myself and it's been a wild rollercoaster ride. I wanted to beat the GMAT so badly you wouldn't believe it. I dragged it on too long and this was my chance to close the door on it.
Thank you for reading this and understanding my plight. I could use any advice no matter how harsh the criticism. I need all the help I can get. Never give up, right?
