590 to 570? What happened?

[balloris]

I'm EXTREMELY disappointed right now!

I took the GMAT in December of 2008 and got a 590 (Q46, v26) I didn't really read through and study as much as I should have. I didn't complete the verbal section.

This time around, I studied straight for 2 months. I did the Thursdays with Ron sessions and went through the Manhattan Study Guides (each and every book), and even went through the entire GMAT 800 Kaplan book.

My practice tests were fluctuating from 610 to 650. Today, when I was taking the test, I thought I was doing well, until
BAM! 570 (45Q, 24V) made my heart just drop and my dream of going to Business School just shattered... AGAIN.

Should I take it again? Should I just not bother studying? I DON'T GET IT! I'm not DUMB! But I sure as hell feel like I am now. Might as well go flip some damn burgers now.

[aslan]

hi,

Did you happen to get the experimental section?.How were your scores on the mocks in both Q and V?

There is something going on here btw take a look at the thread "I dispute my score"

[balloris]

i was getting around 43 - 47 on Q and 28 - 33 on V

I don't think I got the experimental section. Does that come up separately?

[aslan]

yes that exp section was coming up separately after you finish the test for about 30 mins.

How did you find the Q section?.Did you feel any awkwardness in doing Quant questions?.

Its possible if one gives the GMATprep a number of times the results start to get skewed higher (due to many repeats), and one starts believing that he is prepared, but eventually falters when the surprise element in the new questions start coming on the original.

Although if you look at it, the result is the average of your scores on both sections!.

[odannyboi]

Its quite simple: you bombed verbal.

After being a longtime listener on this forum, I noticed that in cases where people received scores lower than most of their CATs, it was due to verbal. I concentrated on verbal for about 5 weeks (on and off) since I did not want it to happen to me (got a 36V today, my highest on any exam).

You aren't far off from getting a really good score.. verbal is your killer. Are you a native english speaker?

Here is a tip.. SC takes up a larger portion of verbal than any other question. I've noticed that knowing 2 concepts (subject-verb agreement and parallalism) will get you far. Master these. There are tons of idioms.. but the GMAT probably tests about 7 of them (unless you get into 90% territory). For CR, I can only help you with assumption questions... look up the "negate" strategy. It will do you wonders. For RC, skim the passage... don't waste time trying to get ever detail, chances are, you will need to go back the passage anyways so trying to comprehend every sentence will waste time.

I am a firm believer in spending more time for the 1st 20 questions to maximize your score. Ignore the "myth buster" at the beginning of the OG. The GMAC/GMAT is a business and when it comes to money, people lie. GMAC wants you to retake the exam (and most people do).

[balloris]

@aslan i didn't get the experimental section. and yes. the verbal raped me.
some of the quant questions i found unusually SAT like. which kind of worried me, but i didn't think into it too much and kept going. i try not to let new questions get to me. if i look at the question and have no idea where to start, i just pick something and move on. if i have somewhat of an idea, i'll try to solve as much as i can and take an educated guess.

@odannyboi thanks for the tips. i'll focus more on the verbal for the next month. i am a native english speaker, which is probably why i'm too familiar with all the slang and short hands of everything versus proper english.

i'm just bummed that i spent all this time studying only to lower my score. i'm applying for january round, so i have one more shot at making the test work for me

[aslan]

@balloris: I didnt give the SAT before, so no idea here...but I'm assuming you found it easier.

your being native also makes it a bit confusing for this low end in verbal!

[balloris]

@odannyboi thanks for the recommendation!

I just took a test out of a gmat prep book and got a 710. 41 v and 49 q. It's my highest score yet.
I've been working on verbal, especially sc and cr, which I seemed to breeze through during this exam.
What I'm wondering is, do the paper test scores really say much since the questions don't adapt
to your performance? I found them to be a lot easier than the CAT questions. I've taken the
computer tests so many times I'm starting to see repeat questions. Any suggestions or thoughts?

Good luck studying/working on apps and Happy Holidays!