680 - Q50, V31.. Completely Devastated

[kyabe]

I took my GMAT on 3rd September and scored a mere 680. I was not able to gather the courage to post a thread in this section but today I thought that I owe it to myself and to the forum members. Although few will say that its not that bad but the worst part is that I scored just 31 in Verbal. I ran out of time in almost all the sections.

AWA : I didn't get the chance to revise any of the essays.
Quant : I almost guessed in last 4 questions.
Verbal : I was cruising along well and was confident till the question number 30. I looked at the time when I was on question number 19 and 40 minutes were remaining. But I dont know what happened and when I looked at the time again only 15 mins were remaining and there were 11 questions still to answer. Since a RC passage was still to come, panic crept up and I dont remember how many I guessed after that.

In past one month my scores in CATS were always at par.. Following are my CAT scores:

Manhattan CAT : 710 (V36)
Knewton CAT 1 : 720 (V40)
Knewton CAT 2 : 750 (V45)
GMAT Prep 1 : 720 (V37)
GMAT Prep 2 : 710 (V37)
GMAT Prep 1 : 720 (V36) (With AWA)
GMAT Prep 2 : 740 (V39)

I always finished sections in time and use to finish Quant sections atleast 10 mins before (Except in Manhattan CAT, I was panting to finish Quant) and in Verbal again I use to have 15 mins for last 3 question on average.

Materials Used:

Quant : Manhattan Books
SC : MAnhattan SC
CR : Powerscore Bible
OGs : OG10, OG11 and OG 12 along with the quant and verbal supplements.

As of now I am not able to think whether I should take another GMAT asap or should work on it more. Friends, please help me. I am completely devastated.

[shanrizvi]

i think you should definitely take it again but you need to work on a) verbal b) pacing yourself.

[Turnpike]

i'd suggest you understand it well that you can take the GMAT again and again. i've been telling that to myself so that i don't freak out on test day (less than a month away). your practice scores do not reflect your current GMAT score and i strongly think that a bit of judicious pacing will help you utilise your minutes better. good luck.

[ogbeni]

Your situation is one of those where I'll recommend retaking the test again because Quant is obviously your strong point.

You'll defintiely nail Quant next time around. You just need to practice increasing your Verbal speed. Verbal is probably the most tasking on the test mentally because it is the last and requires even more concentration.

There is a tendency for the brain to slip into passive mode but you CANNOT afford this on Verbal. Especially on CR and RC, you MUST motivate yourself and tell yourself before tackling any CR and RC questions that I WILL ENJOY this - LOL. I do this and it works, because if forces me to get into ACTIVE READING mode instead of PASSIVE READING. In Active reading mode I'm having conversations in my head and before reading the next sentence I'm already anticipating where the passage/argument is going to go. Trust me, with practice active reading will become second nature and you'll raise your score.

Come back in a month and tell us how you scored a 750!!

[kyabe]

Thanks guys for taking the pain in replying to my post. @ogbeni: I guess you are right in saying things about active and passive reading and I follow that too.. And thanks for the encouragement..

[gmatmachoman]

Thanks guys for taking the pain in replying to my post. @ogbeni: I guess you are right in saying things about active and passive reading and I follow that too.. And thanks for the encouragement..

Dude...U can do more!!!I urge u to take one more time..

Now u need to concentrate on stress management.just recall how many times u tried to take deep breath while giving verbal section in Real GMAT.I presume u wuld have fully engrossed in the testmode forgetting the real concept of stress management which lead to take unqualified random guess.

Adding on to that, I wish u can take more timed test for verbal.
U can try Yoga for standardising your pacelimit.Deep Breath or "pranayama" as they call it is a wonderful tool when u are completely stressed and want your brain to behave in active mode with your eye speed matching the brain's recognition speed.

In Quants we have a option to ascertain the right answer.But in Verbal we dont have the "100%" liberty to make our brain to be sure of the right answer.This gives load on the brain & makes it go to "fancy passive mode"

And Verbak is the very last part of test calling for the greatest attention...

Soln is concentrate on stress management!!!

Take 30- 40 sec break after every 10 questions.That wont hurt u that much.. Just concentrate and track how your body reacts while taking practice Verbal tests.Even U can use a excel sheet and track your mental faculty behaviour a and post here for further discussions.

All the best ,we wish u come back and say " I beat the Monster called GMAT!!

[p2dski]

You'll kill it if you take it again!

Don't feel bad about your quant score at all. 50 is great!

Work on that verbal. It might have been the atmosphere that made you freak out and do poorly on the verbal. But I, like everyone else here, knows you can do better if you take it again.

[kyabe]

Thanks once again guys for the encouragement (I guess this is what I need as of now).. I am certain to take one another try at it and I will.

@gmatmachoman: U are right that I forgot to take the stress management into concern while attempting Verbal and again 100% correctness is the thing which I was lacking in Verbal.

@p2dski: I can't whine about my Quant Score as it is just 1 less the maximum one can get. Its verbal which pummeled my score to 680.

My aim is just to get that 80/80 breakdown. Hope I can get it next time.

Thanks once again guys..

[gmatmachoman]

From the above posts, i can feel there are so many good natured souls wanting others to succeed in their goals...Wow..thats a nice attitude & spirit !!!

Keep up guys....!!!

[wharton750]

On the brighter side you have a killer Quant score and we will know that Adcom is all about the quant portion.

[kyabe]

On the brighter side you have a killer Quant score and we will know that Adcom is all about the quant portion.

Buddy,

I dont think that adcom will see quant and neglect a poor performance in Verbal..