Blindsided

[hamilton]

I only need to score a 450. I started out by taking one practice exam (GMATPrep) and scored 550. I immediately scheduled to take the GMAT in about 3 1/2 weeks. In the meantime, I mainly studied for math questions (scored much lower than verbal on practice exam). I didn't take the time to learn geometry cause I read I'd only get 2-3 questions so I just conceded. Remember, I just need a 450 so I thought I was good. Took the exam and scored 410. Completely shocked!

Anyway, I'm a little nervous moving forward. I thought the GMATPrep exam was supposed to be pretty accurate?

[beatthegmat]

GMATPrep is fairly accurate, but not perfect. Taking a practice test is always going to be a different experience than the real thing.

Were you nervous during the exam?

[aim-wsc]

I only need to score a 450. I started out by taking one practice exam (GMATPrep) and scored 550. I immediately scheduled to take the GMAT in about 3 1/2 weeks. In the meantime, I mainly studied for math questions (scored much lower than verbal on practice exam). I didn't take the time to learn geometry cause I read I'd only get 2-3 questions so I just conceded. Remember, I just need a 450 so I thought I was good. Took the exam and scored 410. Completely shocked!

Anyway, I'm a little nervous moving forward. I thought the GMATPrep exam was supposed to be pretty accurate?

Why did you just need 450?
It's non of my business, thats all you needed for you to get into b-schools & ofcourse you set your own goals but, you can aim higher, right?

For me GMAT preparation was a good exercise! It revived my quants-instincts & helped me use correct English.

Don't you think we should always aim higher?

[hamilton]

My employer will reimburse my tuition as long as it's reasonable. I've got a couple universities in my backyard which makes travel convenient and both require a minimum score for admission. My GPA for my undergrad was high enough that I only needed to score the bare minimum (450) on the GMAT.

I do agree with you that goals should be set high. When I got the 550 without much practice I thought I could improve my final score by 30-50 points. Looking back I made many mistakes in my preparation.

I don't think I was nervous but I will say I think I made a huge mistake...I had heard only 2-3 questions would be on geometry. I simply conceded these questions and focused on probability questions and worded math problems. Come test day I was given 3 coordinated geometry questions in the first 10 questions. I can remember getting at least another couple geometry questions. I don't believe I was ever given a ratio or probability question. I really didn't get any of the type of questions I missed from the practice exam.

Then the verbal destroyed me and I think it was SC. Again, I only practiced 30 questions from the OG before taking the test. Dumb on my part but again I was really banking on the score from the practice exam. Lessons learned.

How many geometry questions should one expect to see on the GMAT?