380 on exam today, disheartened.

[1broknrado]

So i took my first GMAT today and my application to grad school is due by April 1st. I have already rescheduled to take exam on march 12th 2013.

I took the GMAT practice exam through the downloadable content when you register for the test and got a 560 and a 530 on both practice exams. Minimum for me to get accepted would be around a 520.

i had studied for about a month before taking the exam today. i knew the math would hurt me becuase im very bad at doing it in my head...

my scores were Q20 V22....very disappointing. I felt like i knew all the answers to everything going through the test. The reading was never usually a problem for me even in the practice exams.

Not sure of how to study or what to do from here but i need to get into grad school in order to defer my student loan payments! $1100 a month is killing me.

Thanks for any advice,
Tim

[hutch27]

well theres not 1 right answer to this question because the gmat is a difficult test and its not like a college exam where u can just cram the night before and expect to do well. however the good news is that the gmat tests only specific things! As long as this test has been around it has been testing the same concepts over and over again. only difference are the questions which are worded differently. so the good news is that you can study for this test by focusing on ONLY gmat-specific stuff. Since u want to take the test in a month i would recommend studying with only official GMAT questions such as the 13th edition official guide by GMAC. Reason being is that the GMAT has its own unique style of wording questions that some private companies don't replicate well enough.

so now to answer ur question.I should note that i'll give u a few suggestions that u could do depending on what ur study strengths are.
1.) I would first try and assess your weaknesses (not this mentality though: i suck at the whole test so i should cover everything) and go from there. think about what area's you could work on and take it from there.

2.) Another approach could be to focus on time management. u said that u got a 560 on the GMATPREP software so there's obviously some reason for this discrepancy. I think it could be time management &/or nervousness. theres some good time strategies out there so check em out.

3.) assess the feasibility of ur goal. If it's a longshot u are looking for, consider taking the test at a later date. i know u said $$ is a problem but taking the test in a month again could also put u into the hole even more. What if u dont get that 520+? then you are down another $300 and u will have to pay out your student loans anyways. a solution perhaps would be to take some time off and really study for this exam so that when you do take it again you feel much much more confident is reaching your target score.

[romeopapa]

Not really in the scope of this question I know, but should you really be doubling down on your existing loans at this point? If they're killing you I'm assuming you're not going to buy this graduate degree in cash.

[1broknrado]

Well the plan is to graduate with my master's degree in order to make more money...currently barely making enough to pay my bills. Most of which i believe is from the location i live in. If i lived elsewere i could be making around 50k doing what i currently do.

[Jim@StratusPrep]

This is not an exam that can be conquered overnight... Take your time and study the fundamentals.

[tisrar02]

Your practice tests suggest that you should be scoring slightly higher but it does take some time to get used to the fundamentals. Also another key ingredient to beating the GMAT is confidence in yourself when writing the test. Scoring your goal score on at least 3 mock tests would help with the confidence factor. At least that's the case for many success stories on this forum. I would highly recommend either Manhattan GMAT exams or GMATPrep exams for the final 3 exams before writing the real thing.

Good luck on the exam!! Hope you get what you need to lift the burdens of everyday life off your shoulders!

[1broknrado]

Well i retook my exam today and got a 510. I guess its a push in the right direction, not to mention there was construction work going on INSIDE the building. Nothing like listening to a Jack hammer on concrete for 2 hours while your doing the Quant section.

Wont be able to get into grad school this year, hopefully next. Totally disheartened with all my studying and efforts to waste.

Tim

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

A 130-point increase is fantastic. You're on the right track, Tim.
12 months isn't that long.


Cheers,
Brent

[AbhiJ]

Dude you want to make money, then grow up, pull yourself up and kill the GMAT beast once for and all.
I would even suggest you to target not 520 but target 650 so that you can get into a Top 50 US B School and make good money. With 520 you will land into not so good B School which you may regret later.

No one ever said being successful was gone be easy. I am going to tell you one thing-- it is sure as hell is worth it.

[josephc30]

In regards to your student loans, you should consider the IBR program. As for the GMAT, video tutorials have helped me a lot with the quantitative problem solving. It helps to see problems being worked out in a video, as compared to just reading explanations in a book. You should check out some of the tutorial videos on Youtube. Khan Academy has math videos specifically for the GMAT. Good luck on the exam and grad school!

Joey B.