Round 1 goes to GMAT

[satishkhatri5]

Actual GMAT score590 (Q47, V23)

Preparation time 3.5 months.
Study material: Manhattan SC, GMATprep, OG 11, OG Verbal, 300 qns of 1000SC. And some more material.

some of the practice tests
First practice test without preparation - Powerprep-610
then
Kaplan 540
Kaplan 620
Princeton-1 590
Princeton-2 650
GMATPrep-1 720
after GMATPrep 1 on 28th April, I booked exam slot for today(19th May 2009)
Princeton-3 590
Princeton-4 710 4 days before exam
GMATPrep-2 720(Q49, V39) 2 days before exam

I felt quant was tough, I had to guess on 3 questions. On the other hand I felt comfortable in Verbal. But score tells a different story.

I was neither too relaxed nor too tense. I had a decent sleep of 5+ hrs on the night before test. Exam center was good.

Needless to say I am dissappointed and feeling down.

Earlier I had 2 choices-
1. I continue to do what I am doing
2. beat the GMAT, switch career

I choose option 2.

Again I have 2 choices-
1. I beat the GMAT
2. I beat the GMAT

Now the question is when and how.

How to analyze what went wrong?
When to start preparation again?
Which study material(I have practiced lots of questions and now I remember answers to most of them)?
What should be the approach?



Thanks,
Satish

[myohmy]

I'm sorry things did not work out better for you on test day, but just think of it as a second chance to do better than you could have.

You have used a lot of materials already so I would look into Kaplan + PR review Q books, and OG12, which supposedly has 300 new questions.

What stands out to me though, is that your practice test scores are all over the map. Obviously, you used a lot of different companies so some variation is expected, but there's a lot of variation even in your scores from one company's test. Do you know why? Ideally by your next exam you should be consistently scoring where you need to be on your practice CATs.

Since it doesn't seem like you've used MGMAT CATs, I might look into purchasing those. The quant is little tougher than you'll see on the exam but it's great to help you prep.

5 hours of sleep before the exam wouldn't be enough for me -- are you sure it was for you?

I'm sorry the test went poorly My first test, I thought the computer had made a mistake, I thought there was no way I did that poorly when I thought I was doing well. Such is the nature of the beast, I guess, and I'm sure you'll do better next time!

[Arsene Lupin]

GMATPrep-1 720
GMATPrep-2 720

You can reach that high. You just need more focus mate, and some time management. Also, I'm guessing bad luck played a major role.

I'm expecting the next time to be 700+, just have 8 hours of sleep before the text

[VP_Jim]

It's very weird to get 720s on GMAT Prep but under 600 on the real exam. Maybe you just had a bad bunch of questions...

On a related note, always be wary if it seems like you're doing well. By definition, a CAT should be throwing you questions that are at the limit of your ability. If it feels like you're getting all of them right, you probably aren't - you're likely missing things that you should be seeing. Personally, I always feel like my score is going to be horrible, but it ends up fine! As you said, you felt like the math was tough but you scored great - and you felt like the verbal was easy and your score was much lower.

As for reviewing old material, there's no harm in knowing the right answers. The answer itself is not what you should be studying - it's the concept underlying the answer. Go through the OGs and know WHY every single verbal answer is right or wrong. Don't be happy simply knowing the answer - that won't teach you anything.

Good luck!

[satishkhatri5]

Thanks guys for all the encouragement and guidance. I will start the preparation again in couple of weeks.