Need advice - Got 570 on GMAT on 12 Nov 2010

[focusgmat]

I took GMAT on 12 Nov and since the time I got 570, I have been very depressed not knowing what to do. I understand that Round 2 deadlines are impending and as an international student, Round 2 is the last shot to apply to B-schools.

Let me tell you my story.

I have been planning to give GMAT from past 4 years when I was working. Bought all the books but never made time for preparation. Getting married and quitting my job happened very quickly. I realized that this is the time I need to invest to fulfill my dream. I started self-studying for the past 4 months and the resources I used are:


OG 12
og11
og verbal edition 2
og quant edition 2
mgmat sc
powerscore cr bible
mgmat number properties, VIC's, geometry, word problems
Kaplan 800

Practice Test results:

Princeton review test1 - 580 (before I started my preparation)
MGMAT 1 630
MGMAT 2 640
MGMAT 3 610
MGMAT 4 630
MGMAT 5 650
MGMAT 6 610
Kaplan diagnostic 610
GMAT PREP TEST1- 590
GMAT PREP TEST2- 630
GMAT PREP TEST1 retake - 650
GMAT PREP TEST2 retake - 700(I think this score is really skewed because I started doing questions from GMATFIX.COM which is the exact pool of questions from the GMATPREPS- I think it was a bad decision to follow GMATFIX before thorougly using the tests at hand)

Two days before the actual test date
Knewton diagnostic - 580
I clearly though that I shouldn't be discouraged by such performance and get demotivated.Read reviews about Knewton tests (both +ve and -ve)

Real GMAT- 570 q44 v23 Always got around q42-45 in MGMAT and other tests which is close to my real GMAT.
However, my verbal dropped by 12 points. I always got 35 in verbal in every other practice test I took
I was disappointed because, I was expecting a 650+ and that is my target score. I chose the schools and their requirement falls between 650- 680 GMAT score.

I took my real GMAT and got 570. This was the score I was getting even before I started my preparation.

I maintained error logs after learning from BTG but this was at the end of my preparation. I used to write down the question numbers that I got wrong and revisited them once.

Now I totally feel I need guidance and I have only one more month to take my GMAT. I registered myself to KNEWTON classes after I read reviews on BTG. I really think that this score doesn't depict my ability. I went to 'Inside the MBA' tour yesterday to see what the adcom for the schools I am interested in thinks about my score. They clearly stated that I need to RETAKE. I can right now invest all the time in the world to see my self with 650+ score. I just need a right direction,

MBA is my dream and I just cannot give-up on it merely because of a score. I have 5 years of work experience. wPlease please and please help me. I have my classes scheduled with Knewton from today. I have heard mixed reviews and honestly, I took up this course also because this is the only online course schedule that will help finish my preparation in one month. I can attend a class today and if I donot like I can still request for a refund.

I did well in AWA section and felt confident. Qunat 1st question was a bummer. I tried rechecking and still wasn't able to get thorough. My mind went blank for the first question. I know the method and I felt I solved a similar question earlier. I went past the first question. I was finding quant section a little difficult. I took a break after quant and started verbal. I constantly kept thinking that I need to give Verbal my best shot to improve my score. Honestly, I kept thinking that I was being given reasonably easy questions. However, my verbal score of 24 says it all. No wonder I was getting easy questions. I am not sure what went wrong.

Now I got only one last chance to chase my dream. I can't even think of reapplying in 2012. I will lose confidence in myself if I postpone my plans by another year. I cann't afford to do that. I am not just affecting my life but also my husband's. We both have made sacrifices in the past 4 months for my preparation. I still have to write my essays. I am in a fix though I joined Knewton , I really don't understand if I need to spend time on writing essays or studying for GMAT. I strongly feel that I want to give a second shot to see myself in a school I dreamed of.


Please give me advice on what steps I need to take. I am not working right now so I can't invest in a private tutoring. Please help me as to how I need to restructure my preparation. I can invest around 30 hours in week for 3 weeks. (Excluding the time I for writing my essays).

[karanrulz4ever]

Knewton is a great online tutoring company and u did the right thing by enrolling in it..
just practice more and you should be in th 650 range...
n donot lose heart...GMAT is just one piece in a puzzle of MBA admission.

[beatthegmatinsept]

I agree Knewton is a great tool for practicing questions. I probably attempted about 100+ questions, mainly Quant to build stamina after exhausting OG questions. However, if you are looking to move form 570 to high 600's, you probably need to do more than just practice questions.
For Quant, I strongly suggest reading MGMAT study guides. The ones that were most helpful for me were the Number Properties and Word Problems books. Maintaining Error logs is a great idea as long as you revisit the weak areas and make sure you understand the logic behind every single problem in OG (that's what I did).
For SC, I used e-GMAT and absolutely loved it. After having read all the MGMAT books for math, studying using LMS was a pleasant change and great help in learning SC concepts starting from basics to advanced.
For CR, I read MGMAT book and also took a CR Lecture from e-GMAT which was also helpful.
RC - I pretty much only practiced while attempting practice tests. Definitely won't recommend that to anyone

[fitzgerald23]

From the looks of things you had more prep books for Quant than Verbal. Did you go through the guides step by step and do the MGMAT questions at the end of each chapter? After you did that did you go through the OG and see if you could answer almost every question correctly? The reason I ask this is because there is almost no variation in your practice scores. It makes me think that you were doing more practice problems than actually learning the concepts. If you are starting in math in the low 40s you should be able to get in the 47-49 range by exam day if you are learning the concepts rather than just trying practice questions.

Verbal sounds to me like you got nervous and overthought it. It sounds like you put too much pressure on yourself because you felt your math was going to be subpar. Id study the key concepts in the SC guide as your first step in verbal.

[focusgmat]

Karan - Surely will practice more. Thanks for the encouragement.Aimed at 650+ and will do it this time.

beatthegmatinsept- Thanks for advice. I haven't heard of e-GMAT earlier. Do you think trying this new source along with
Knewton will help me improve in verbal?

Fitzgerald23- I thought your analysis based on my story is very accurate. Your post made me realize as to why I never bumped
up my scores even in practice tests when I gave at least a week of gap between each test. This clearly depicts that my method
of studying is wrong. I think I am practicing the problems which I know than learning new things. I will definitely focus on that now.
I felt defocused while I was attempting verbal section in GMAT. Also, I think that as I was unable to manage time well in
Quant. I gave equal importance to all the questions in verbal by not spending few extra minutes on first few questions in verbal.
Do you think that answering first few questions taking few extra minutes is a good idea at all?
I am reading MGMAT SC again. But is there any other trusted source I can follow for practice questions? How is 1000 sc and 1000 cr?

-focusgmat

[fitzgerald23]

focusgmat-I cant really speak about the time on the early questions. I have read that some people feel it is worth it and other who say it is not and has no bearing on your score. When I took mine I ended up spending more time than I wanted on question 1 because I clicked for the exam to start by mistake and I just went blank for 30 seconds or so. I tried to move quickly after that....I never used any of the SC practice guides. Most of my practice just came via this site whre people post questions and often some very good responses. I think reading peoples responses, and in particular how they eliminated the wrong ones, is really the key to learning moreso than just practicing on your own.

[beatthegmatinsept]

[quote="focusgmatbeatthegmatinsept- Thanks for advice. I haven't heard of e-GMAT earlier. Do you think trying this new source along with
Knewton will help me improve in verbal?

-focusgmat[/quote]

Try e-gmat's free trial and review one of the concepts that they offer in their free trial and see if that helps you. On an average, 1 concept will probably take you about 30-40 mins.