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Scored 490 , Dejected . what to do now , no idea :(

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Scored 490 , Dejected . what to do now , no idea :(

by sohailmbaprep » Wed Sep 11, 2013 2:38 am
Hi

I have got 6 years of work ex and I am a software engineer.

I took GMAT 1 week back and scored dismal 490 (AWA 4.5 , IR 4 , Q 33 /VA 25).
My target score was only (660-680) .
My studies started 1.5 years back with a score of 480 in GMAT Prep 1.
I used to study whenever I could manage some time out of my hectic working hours.
To brush up basic theory I bought OG 13 and Manhattan SC guide and collected notes and small pdf materials from my friends.
I practiced OG 13's all questions and studied only the theory part from Manhattan SC(thrice) along with other materials, then I started taking mock tests from Manhattan (scores with dates given below).
I studied Powerscore bible's notes for CR.
I used to keep marking questions in tests that I couldn't get right in first attempt to review them later and which I did seriously.

560 (Q 37/ VA 30) on 10/21/12
580 (Q 37/ VA 32) on 11/13/12
540 (Q 37/ VA 28) on 01/05/13
590 (Q 44/ VA 27) on 01/23/13
560 (Q 39/ VA 29) on 03/30/13
620 (Q 42/ VA 33) on 05/01/13

1 day before the final day I took GMAT Prep2 and scored 620 (QA 45/ VA -don't remember).

But on final day my score was so low,where did I go wrong and what should i do now to get my targeted score in next 2 months. (Now I am targeting >=680.

Please suggest.
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by David@VeritasPrep » Wed Sep 11, 2013 4:32 am
Something did go wrong for you. What happened during the test? Anything unusual? How did it feel as you went through each section?

I just responded to another student who scored 100 points lower than expected. See if this is useful to you. https://www.beatthegmat.com/epic-failure ... tml#692302
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by sohailmbaprep » Wed Sep 11, 2013 5:52 am
David@VeritasPrep wrote:Something did go wrong for you. What happened during the test? Anything unusual? How did it feel as you went through each section?

I just responded to another student who scored 100 points lower than expected. See if this is useful to you. https://www.beatthegmat.com/epic-failure ... tml#692302
David,

3 things that I can recall

1) Upon clicking next button in last question of each section my computer used to stop responding and test administrator used to do something from his system to get it back running and when I reached VA from QA I lost 15 secs. (I am not sure if this has got any bearing on my low score)

2) I did have to rush through last 5 questions in QA and VA. (Don't know can that bring a difference of 100 points)

3) One night before the D day ,I couldn't sleep properly because of test anxiety but then did manage to get 1 hr sleep while travelling to my test center. (I think I had 100% concentration while taking test)

While going through the QA section I felt like WOW ! I am doing good but when the score popped up I felt how stupid I was.
In VA section also I wasn't expecting such low score.

Your suggestions please.
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by [email protected] » Wed Sep 11, 2013 12:13 pm
Hi sohailmbaprep,

I'm sorry to hear that your GMAT didn't go as well as hoped. The good news is that Business Schools don't care if you retest, so that's not an issue. With your new goal, you're going to have to make some serious adjustments to how you view the GMAT. Here are the answers to your immediate questions:

1) Losing 15 seconds wouldn't affect your score, but the question is if you let it effect your state of mind. The right attitude can help you to stay focused and working throughout the exam. Distractions, fear, anxiety, negativity, etc. will hurt your performance over the course of 4 hours.

2) Rushing through the last 5 questions in each section could certainly hurt your score (especially if you got all of those questions wrong). It wouldn't be enough to drop your score 100 points though (even if you left those two sets of 5 questions unanswered, your score wouldn't drop 100 points). The real damage occurred earlier on in each section.

3) Sleep problems CAN have a big effect on one's performance, so it's quite likely that this is one of the BIG factors that hurt your performance.

One other thing worth noting: taking a CAT 1 day before your GMAT was a bad idea - you should have kept your review really light instead of taking a full CAT and potentially "burning out."

I'm going to email you some personal suggestions, but for now, I'd suggest that you take a day off and try to decompress a bit.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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by sohailmbaprep » Tue Sep 17, 2013 10:12 pm
Hi All,

Would welcome , suggestion from other BTG experts too.
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by lunarpower » Tue Oct 08, 2013 12:37 am
I received a private message about this problem.

The first thing that struck me as ... interesting was this:
sohailmbaprep wrote:My target score was only (660-680) .
...
(Now I am targeting >=680.
^^ Either there's a typo in here, or it doesn't make sense.
As currently written, here's what it says:
* You had a certain target score.
* You scored way, way lower than that target score.
* So now you have an even higher target score.

Again, I hope that's a typo, because that's not how goal-setting works.
If my goal is to run a mile in 5 minutes, but then I run out of breath and take 8 minutes to run a mile, I don't say "Ok, now my goal is 4.5 minutes!" That would be rather silly.
It would be fine if my eventual dream were 4.5 or 5 minutes, but that doesn't make sense as a proximate goal. If my immediate goal isn't something that's reasonably attainable, then it's not going to help, and could very likely be demoralizing.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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by lunarpower » Tue Oct 08, 2013 12:37 am
studied only the theory part from Manhattan SC(thrice)
This... is a problem.

You can't read through the entire guide and suddenly expect to be able to apply all the concepts at once. (!!) That's just not how learning works.

* Imagine you're learning a new language. Would you read all the way through a grammar book, and then try to make sentences using everything you've read? No, of course you wouldn't -- you'd learn one element, practice it, then learn another element, and so on.

* Say you've never boxed before. Would you read about all the punches, defenses, footwork, and so on, and only then get into a boxing ring? No, of course you wouldn't -- you'd learn one punch, then go throw it at a punching bag hundreds of times. Then another punch. Then some footwork. And so on.

Etc.

You should learn one concept (or closely related family of concepts, e.g., pronouns) from the book. Then you should go practice it.

In the case of SC, this means not trying to solve entire problems all the time.

E.g., let's say you've just studied pronouns. Ok. Now go through some OG problems, and find all the pronoun errors you can find. Don't worry about solving the whole problems -- just eliminate what you can, using pronouns, and check to make sure you aren't eliminating the correct answer. But stay focused on pronouns.

Then do the same thing for other types of errors.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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Pueden hacerle preguntas a Ron en castellano
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Voit esittää kysymyksiä Ron:lle myös suomeksi

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Quand on se sent bien dans un vêtement, tout peut arriver. Un bon vêtement, c'est un passeport pour le bonheur.

Yves Saint-Laurent

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by sohailmbaprep » Tue Oct 08, 2013 2:43 am
Thanks Ron , I am already started doing what you have suggested.
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