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Please help in general, I'm very shocked now :(

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Please help in general, I'm very shocked now :(

by Chris8080 » Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:39 am
Hi,

I've been through the whole book Princeton Review, Cracking the GMAT 2009 now. Repeating 1-3 of the math questions and all the verbal questions. Now, after 4 months of learning, I took my first test with a pathetic result:
TYPE SCORE ESTIMATED PERCENTILE RANK
Quantitative 28 24 %
Verbal 21 25 %
Total 420 17 %
https://www.manhattangmat.com/free-gmat.cfm

How I learned: I took always every morning from 6am to 7:30am and sometimes at the afternoons (but it's hard to learn after work and my own business).

I studied computer science .. I'm not too bad in math and verbal - but somehow I am in this case.

Can you please help me?
Did I do something wrong?
What else should I do?

I was thinking of buying this book:
The Official Guide for GMAT Review 12th
since I often read, that my book is the worst of all :(

I appended my results, I see my weaknesses now but maybe a third person could point out my todo list more objectively than me.
I really want to succeed - what do I have to do?

Thank you in advance!
Bye, Chris
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by VP_Jim » Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:47 am
Definitely get the Official Guide. Those are actual old GMAT questions. If you can do every problem in that book, you WILL get a good score.

As far as what you did wrong: you might've read those books, but if you're scoring in the 400s you don't understand them - at least to the extent that you must in order to do well on the GMAT. It's not sufficient to be "pretty comfortable" with everything - getting a problem 90% right is still means you got it wrong. You must know everything cold, like the back of your hand, in order for the results to show on the GMAT. A good indicator of how well you know something is whether you can explain it to someone else without referring to notes. Pretend you have to teach a GMAT prep class - could you do it?

For every problem you do, make sure you truly understand why the right answer is right - AND why the wrong answers are wrong (for verbal especially). Have a rule or takeaway from every problem so that you can apply what one particular problem taught you to future problems that you do. Make sure you know the quickest and most efficient way to solve every problem (in math). Ask yourself what would happen if a certain number or word in the problem were changed. This sort of analysis takes a lot of work, but it's the key to success.

Good luck!
Jim S. | GMAT Instructor | Veritas Prep
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by 4score20 » Tue Jun 02, 2009 12:47 pm
Manhattan GMAT books are a good prep material. Kaplan is great for students aiming for 500-650. But if you're aiming for a higher score you might try Manhattan.
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by Chris8080 » Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:12 pm
Thank you for your advice.
I ordered the book and I will take a longer time for each question to make sure I understand it.

What's about the workload? I'm employeed and run my own business. So I don't have much time left each day and sometimes other things that occupy me. How many hours per day would you recommend?
Are 1.5 sufficient or do I need more?
I would like to take the test in august.
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