Painful Journey....not over yet.....

[3gmater]

Folks.

I took the GMAT 2nd time and scored a dismal 600 (Q 48 V 25). The first time around the score was 560.

-----Few Facts:)

*During my first attempt, my practice test scores ranged from 680 to 720 (all Gprep). Hence after I saw my GMAT score after the actual test, I thought there was some problem with the ETS algorithm (even my assesment score was way above 560).

*I was shaken for few weeks but gathered steam and hired a tutor(so that I can save time and get more ROI on my effort). This time I was dead confident that I will atleast get a 700 (if not more). This time around too my practice test scores were between 680 to 770 (all Gprep). I took all MGMAT tests and scores ranged from 670 to 720. After 5 months (however I studied for 2 months) I took the test again. The result - A poor 600!

My verbal scores ranged from 35 to 40 in MGMAT tests and 38 to 44 in Gprep exams, during my build towards the 2nd attempt.

-----Facts are over

My heart sank after I saw the score and I was wondering whether I should take this result as another outlier or whether I should think that I dont have the stomach for this gruesome test! The result made me question my ability and my dream of going to a top school.

I have exhausted most of my prep materials (Gprep tests, SETS and MGMAT tests). I am not going to give up and will fight to live another day. Even If I decide not to pursue an MBA in future, I still want to do well in GMAT and obtain a score that will make me eligible for most of the top schools. The only concern I have is that my life revolves around this prep, whenever I decide to do so. I have given enough time (from my standards) to this test and I have no Idea whether there will be a good ROI on this investement (i.e the time) in future. A lot of stuff in my life has stalled because of the prep, with NO returns!

But it is a different story now....its Do 700+ or Die! For all folks like me who have tried once/twice in vain (if there are any) and who have succeded eventually(or are enroute to success), please let me know your mantra!

Any feedback/insightful advice is gold!

Thnx.

-3gmat

[ElleBee]

I don't have any great insight to offer (I have yet to take the GMAT), but I wanted to wish you good luck! I think your situation is one that a number of people are in, but they don't want to talk about, and I think it's great you're sharing. I'm sure you'll do better next time....and it seems that you can take the GMAT up to four times without it truly impacting your admissions chances:

https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

So you can score a 700 with this third test and maybe a 750 with your fourth! Good luck to you...we'll all be cheering for you. Let us know how it goes!

[3gmater]

got my AWA score: 5.5/6.0 ....which is of no use.

[3gmater]

Folks/Experts

Any pointers toward next steps?

Following are my concerns:
* I dont have enough tests to practice (I used GPREP several times and MGMAT during my previous two attempts. Besides I have also practiced SETS, as recommended by many successful GMATER's)
* I am not sure whether the strategies that I follow to attack the questions are appropriate. I did well on most of the practice tests, using these strategies (my tutor gave a positive response about the effectiveness about these strategies....and I picked up most of the verbal strategies from him)
* Which material do I start practicing? (I have done about 700SC from the 1000SC doc, about 600 CR from LSAT/1000 CR Doc and same number of RC from the LSAT/1000RC doc)
* I have done OG 11, couple of times and I found it easier than the real exam.
* Once I start taking the practice tests, I am sure I will get respectable scores (ranging from 680 - 7xx), however this will still not be an indicator of a good show in the real exam - courtsey my previous two attempts!

I dont want to strech the prep for my third attempt, however I want to make sure I nail it this time. I can run full-throttle for a month, provided I have a sound prep strategy this time.

Has anyone been in this situation before? - A situation in which the practice tests are far better than the actual actual score?

Thank You in advance.

[wawatan]

from the looks of it your quant score is really high. but the verbal score is quite low. 25. my lowest verbal score was 27 and that was b/c i didn't read the reading passages on the cat exam...bad idea! are you sure you are doing ok on all the sections of verbal...sentence corr. reading comp, and critical reasoning? you could take additional tests on McGraw Hill cd for the gmat. i find it pretty useful. also powerscore LSAT was recommended by some guy who scored 770 on this forum. i really think you have to know what areas you are weak in. take a practice test in which it is computer adaptive and you have never done the questions before. that is the only way to judge how accurate your score is. try McGraw Cd, it is computer adaptive. you can buy their book for 35 which includes 6 tests in there. also there is explanations to the answers. i hope this helps!

[3gmater]

Thank You Wawatan.

I have tried McGraw Hill CD's too. My least verbal score during my build-up towards the 2nd test/attempt was 35 and the average was around 40.
I have used powerscore CR bible to prep for CR.

I will try the McGraw hill tests again (I have taken only 3 from the CD's but all 6 from the book).

[Stacey Koprince]

Yes, it does look like verbal is the thing that brings you down on official test day, at least according to your score on the second official test. Was the pattern the same for your first official test?

Obviously, something different is going on during the official test.

How is your stamina? When you were taking practice tests, were you doing the essays? During the official test, were you getting up and walking around on the breaks? Did you eat and drink things that would give you long-term energy? (Or were you drinking caffeine or eating simple, high-sugar carbs that would cause you to crash by the verbal section?)

Did you get good sleep each night for the two nights before the test? Did you eat well the night before and morning of - foods that give you long-term energy and keep you alert? (Complex carbs, protein, fat)

How are your nerves during the test? If you're significantly more nervous when taking the official test, that can add up and also cause you to be too fatigued by the time you get to the last portion of your test.

The 5.5 on your essays is actually excellent news. Go for a 4 next time. Literally - dumb your essays down Use less energy and brain power. Save that brain power for the verbal section!

Let me know your take on the above - plus ANYthing else you think might have been different from your practice tests to your official tests. Even if you think it couldn't possibly matter - any differences at all.

[3gmater]

Hi Stacey.

Yes, verbal has been my nemesis in both the attempts.
I have scored only once in the 20's (I guess it was 28 ) and that too during the build-up toward first attempt.

During the actual exam (2nd Attempt), I never felt nervous. Infact I was so relaxed that I felt I was a bit slow.

I did not eat/drink anything new during the test, just couple of tiny snicker bars(My Fav. chocs). I took all the breaks, walked around the hallway and felt relaxed each time I satrted with a new section.

Something just did not work my way.......and I dont know what it is.
I have never scored so low in Verbal (not even in the diagonistic tests).

I know that there is no cookiee-cutter type solution to this. My only fear is that the demons from my previous attempts should not come alive during my 3rd attempt.

The past failures are a real dent to my confidence (since the practice test pattern do not match the actual test scores). I have started my prep again and I am trying my best to pump up the motivation, telling myself.....just roar full-throttle - one last time!

[GoCubs]

3gmater:

I just finished my second attempt last Friday (5/30), and received a 760. My first attempt was on 4/21 (5 weeks prior to my second attempt) and was a 620.

It sounds like you are scoring better on your practice exams than you are on the real thing (as I was in the first case). The last two practice exams I took (princeton review and GMAC downloadable one) resulted in a 760 and 730, respectively. Like you, when I saw the 620, my stomach dropped (although nerves were getting to me during my first exam and I found it very difficult to concentrate, as I kept on looking at the clock and becoming flustered).

I felt I knew the concepts well enough, so just focused on the mental aspect and reviewed for 2 weeks prior to my second attempt.

Below are a few tips (of course, just because they worked for me, doesn't mean they will work for you):

-I improved my verbal score significantly by changing the way I approached problems. For all CR questions, I broke down the conclusion and premise and found the gap, whereas in my first attempt I was just looking for the answer that made the most sense). For all SC questions, I looked at the differences among the answer choices, and based on the differences, knew what rule it was testing me on, and based on what I knew about that rule, would select the choice that made the most sense. RC, I would spend a couple minutes reading the passage carefully, and spent about a minute on each question, only referring back to the passage for detailed questions.

-My math score improved simply because I was calm, and not constantly looking at the clock, so I methodically went through each problem and solved it, instead of getting nervous when there was a concept I hadn't studied.

Overall, it sounds like nerves are affecting you. I think your mental state when taking the exam is almost as important as what you have studied. Be confident in what you know, and as long as you're solving most math problems within 2 minutes (on average), I wouldn't look at the clock except for at every 10 question interval. It made a huge difference, as I just focused on doing the problems quick and carefully. Same tip goes for verbal (I divided the total minutes by the number of questions and every 10 questions, I would make sure I wasn't off track). Most test prep experts say (and I think it's true) that the early questions are the most important, and thus the ones you should spend the most time on. This is fine, if you're not aiming for a 700+ score, but if you are (and you're capable of it), then you need to be sure that you don't spend too much time on the earlier questions (a little extra is fine, but not 3 minutes a question on math or 2 1/2 on verbal), otherwise you will need to make up lost time on the latter portion, and if you're prone to getting flustered, trying to make up time by solving questions faster may do you more harm than good.

I wore earplugs during my second attempt, as during the first one I had people sniffling next to me (must have been a cold), but it broke my concentration. I definitely recommend the earplugs.

Also, I recommend doing nothing the day before (it may feel silly that you prep for 2 months, and on what you believe to be the day that you should really buckle down and make sure you haven't missed anything, and on that day you don't do anything.) However, I feel it really helps you maintain your stamina throughout the exam.

The day before my first attempt (which was a Monday), I spent about 4 hours on Sunday just reviewing properties of numbers, basic skills on verbal, etc. but halfway through the exam on Monday morning, I didn't feel like doing any more. This past attempt, I worked all week (including Thursday), and didn't look at anything GMAT related on Thursday night (or at work Thursday). My mind felt very fresh in the morning, and I had the stamina to actively take the exam without becoming fatigued. It seems counter-intuitive, but this last point was a big help to me.

Finally, try to get into your GMAT day routine at least a few days before your attempt (i.e. wake up at the same time, eat similar foods). That way, at least physiologically your body isn't confused. Be confident in your skills, and if you have been doing well on practice exams (I only took princeton review practice tests that came with the "cracking the gmat book", and the ones I downloaded off mba.com), you have nothing to worry about. My last 4 practice exams were 760,730,730, and 760 before I took the real thing and got a 760. I really think those exams were a good indicator of how I would do under circumstances where I control my nerves, and am confident in my abilities.

Anyway, hope that helps, and if you have other questions, let me know.

Good luck!

[3gmater]

Go Cubs:

First of all CONGRATULATIONS....for a fantastic 760!!

Secondly, thanks a lot for sharing your strategy. This will surely help me.

For this attempt, I have decided to be frugal in terms of timing....for both the sections, until I have a good reason not to do so.

I reviewed the SC and CR stuff.....and felt that I did not learn anything new this time, compared to my previous attempt. (I will start the RC stuff tommorow).

Your de-brief is a reply to my query/concern. Hence, I would suggest you to also put this debrief in the main "I beat the Gmat" thread, so that others can also make use of your strategy and insights.

Thank You.