Beaten badly. Need advise

[AjayRawat]

Dear all,

I gave GMAT today and scored a dismal 620.

I studied for 3 months like crazy but never expected to land in a mess like this. The following are the materials I used for studying:

MGMAT book for SC, LR Bible for CR, MGMAT books for Number Properties, Geometry and Word translations.

OG12 - Only RC and SC. I though Math was way too simple in OG.

I took the following practise tests:

MBA.com GMAT Prep1- 580(1st attempt), 700 (2nd attempt)
MBA.com GMAT Prep2 - 700(Only attempt)

I didn't write even a single practise test with AWA(biggest mistake). I became extremely nervous during the exam and could not concentrate properly. The first few questions I got in Math section were very very easy. As I started getting tougher questions, I became more and more nervous. I just could not concentrate properly on the questions.

I am planning to retake the exam in mid-October(6 weeks left). Please suggest how to go about preparing for the exam. I am ready to DIE for the sake of cracking the GMAT but I do not want to give up my MBA dream like a loser.

I am badly in need of your advise.
Thanks,
Ajay

[Anurag@Gurome]

First of all, breathe. It's really not that bad. Your highest scores were 700. On any given day you could score 20-30 points less or more than your average score (which may be around 670-680, can't be sure). I suggest the following in the next six weeks and you should do better:

1. Take one test every week - buy some additional tests; there are some really good ones out there. ALWAYS do the AWA section and do NOT pause the test at any stage. Do not worry about the absolute scores from any of the tests but the official ones.
2. Monitor which types of questions you are making most mistakes in - practice those specific ones until you master them as soon as you discover them.
3. Study 3-5 hours per day, if you can. Do both quant and verbal questions every day. In addition to the OG12 questions, get access to more questions (BTG has a good database of questions).
4. A week before the test, stop studying any theory and stop worrying about individual topics. Relax and do the official test #1 and #2 multiple times (2-3 times total would be good).
5. The day before the test, go catch a movie (kidding, but you get the idea - relax)