GMAT 1st attempt- blew it!

[sansulee]

Hi everybody,

I am new to this community. But I have been a passive surfer for quite some time now and I know that there are many people who have been in my situation.
So, here's my story- first attempt at GMAT- blew it completely- Quant 44, Verbal 28, 590 over all.
I am from the pharma industry and not having studied math for more than 3 years, freaked me out. So I put in at least 2 months of effort and started math from scratch. My efforts in verbal were mediocre. (my score definitely shows that).

But I think what actually went wrong during the test- I thought I had done really badly on my quant and when I started off with my verbal, I remember not being able to comprehend most of the first 15 questions. I was just blank. And by the end of it,I tanked the test entirely.

So, I have one month to go before I retake the test.
My aim is to score a 700.
I am not sure on how to plan my study that will help me reach my aim. I am not sure on how to start. I basically don't feel very inspired right now.

I hope some of you who have been in this situation before, will probably help me in figuring out what I can do to get better and guide me through this. I really need help!

[[email protected]]

Hi sansulee,

How did you score on your practice CATs? It sounds like you had more of a psychological issue on Test Day than a mental one, but we need to know how your Official Score compares to your CATs before we can say for sure. If 590 is the highest that you've ever scored, then a 110+ point increase in one month might not be realistic. If necessary, can you push your Test Date back?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[sansulee]

Hi Rich,

Firstly- I really like the quote in your signature.

Secondly, my CAT scores were as follows:
CAT 1- 510
CAT 2- 590
CAT 3- 620
CAT 4- 530

My personal analysis of what went wrong:

- I got psyched up about math. May have ignored working on my verbal as much as I should have.
- Did not practice the OG completely (solved all the verbal questions but not the quant ones). Did not pay too much attention to why I got a particular answer wrong.
- I just worked on the basics of math mainly. Did concepts from school text books and a pool of GMAT style questions provided to me by a friend who had put them all together from various blogs and communities (no particular known source).
- My habit of studying is such that I pile up my work till the last couple of months and go full gear in those days. I guess, this approach is not quite suitable for GMAT. Because, I took the 4-5 CATs with a gap of 1-3 days max. and by the end of it, I was completely exhausted.

So, I definitely need to change my strategy here. That goes without saying.

I am not sure if it is wrong for me to believe that in spite of my score ranging in the 500-600s, I actually had a chance of doing better (650-ish) on the real GMAT had I not done so badly on the verbal section. What do you have to say about that, Rich?

I am planning to apply to Canadian B-schools mainly and I believe, if not a 110 point increase, then at least a 60-70 point increase should suffice. I am targeting McGill's Desautels, Schulich and Sauder's. Rotman is on my list of aspirational schools.

But, any expert opinions will be very insightful regarding my situation, I look forward to them.

Currently, I have a copy of Manhattan GMAT's Sentence correction strategy guide.
Popular belief is that it is the best book for grammar.
My weak areas are Critical reasoning and Reading comp. I find it very exhausting to comprehend dense material and thus struggle a lot. Especially when I am put on a clock.
My sentence correction is decent. Not great. But I find it easier to improve on SC as against RC and CR.
About pushing the date, I could. I will have to check the availability of dates.

Most of my deadlines are in the first week of January. So, I could work it out. But, I'd prefer to just take the test on the 4th of December as I am at home right now, dedicating all the time I have for GMAT prep.

Look forward to your reply.
Thanks!

[[email protected]]

Hi sansulee,

It appears that your GMAT score is comparable to your practice CAT scores, so your performance shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. Based on what you've described, I'm going to point out some flaws in your process and confirm some of your suspicions:

1) Calm Test Takers tend to perform better than people who panic (or get overly psyched, etc.). The GMAT is a standardized Test, so keep that in mind as you continue to study. The concepts will be the same on Test Day; it's just the "packaging" that changes.

2) There's no way to know if the "material" provided by your friend was realistic, up-to-date, or representative of the makeup of the actual GMAT. I'm sure that he/she was trying to be helpful, but your goal score requires a bit more expert guidance.

3) "Cramming" is not the best way to study for the GMAT. While it may be difficult to schedule, GMAT studying is best done is small chunks spread throughout the week, as opposed to doing lots of studying all on one day.

4) You should really only take 1 CAT/week. Each CAT is a "measuring device" - it doesn't make you a better Test Taker, but it does give you an approximate measure of your ability at that moment AND points out all the mistakes/problems that you still have to fix. Taking lots of CATs so frequently was a bad idea AND likely tired you out.

5) You could have improved your GMAT score in a number of ways, although you did have more of an opportunity in the Verbal section.

In addition to the Manhattan GMAT SC book, I'd suggest that you plan on working through the entire OG13. Since you've now redefined your goal (650 as opposed to 700), then you might be able to improve enough in a month to hit THAT goal.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[sansulee]

Hi Rich,

Thank you, again.
Well, I have started working my way through the OG '13 and the extra supplement of verbal questions that comes along with the OG.

I will take your advice and take the mock tests one per week.
I will be taking one tomorrow.
Is there any way I could get some guidance on how to work on my weaknesses based on the review of my mock test?

Could you be able to help out or could you lead me to someone who can, on this community?

Thanks a ton, Rich!

[[email protected]]

Hi sansulee,

I'd suggest that you take your CAT (as planned) and then do a full review of the entire Test. Define WHY you got questions wrong AND define WHY you got certain questions correct. You're looking to repeat the tactics that "work" and replace the mistakes/errors with better/faster/easier approaches. You should report back with your scores, then we can go from there.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[sansulee]

Hi Rich,

So, I took two CATs (Manhattan GMAT).
My scores are as below:

CAT 1: 530 over all(40th %ile)
Quant- 39 (49th %ile)
Verbal-25 (36th %ile)

It was a very upsetting score, yes.

So, I took the 2nd CAT.

CAT 2: 590 over all (59th %ile)
Quant- 38 (48th %ile)
Verbal- 33(67th%ile)

My observations, combining the two test reports:

QUANT:

- Out of every 37 questions, I had a minimum of 8 silly mistakes. I just happened to overlook what was actually asked in the question and ended up marking the answer for what I "thought" was asked. Or, I made some calculation mistake in a hurry to keep up with the timing per question.

- Out of every 37 questions, there were at least 3-4 concept based errors that I made. My weak areas seem to be number properties, 600-700 level questions on coordinate geometry, Combinatorics, 700-800 level questions on solid geometry. DS questions on Inequalities confound me.

- Questions particularly on standard deviation and Sequences & series always put me into trouble, so I end up guessing on most of such questions.

VERBAL:

- My score depends on my focus. I have also observed that, just before taking a full-length test, if I have worked on my verbal section, then I tend to better on the verbal and my score on the quant goes down. And so is the case when I have worked on quant, just before taking the test. So that just gives me a fluctuating score. I donot understand what could be the possible reason for this to happen. And what should I do to avoid this situation before the final test?
(I have a feeling that this was one of the reasons I did very poorly on verbal on my 1st attempt. I had worked on my quant mistakes one day prior to the actual first attempt.)

- My weak areas are- inference, conclusion or suggestion based questions on RC- I completely blow it off, every time I have to solve this type! I think I can improve my SC by using the MGMAT SC guide and by working on more difficult questions. But, my RC is the poorest. I don't know how to think while solving RC. I also find myself blacking out some times while solving RC. I need help on this section the most.

-CR, I think I can get better by understanding how to think when I have to solve 600-800 level questions. So, I have decided to just understand the solutions of questions belonging to this level (I have a collection of difficult CR questions from various sources).

Look forward to your comments and advice.


Thanks, Rich!

[[email protected]]

Hi sansulee,

I sent you a personal message with some suggestions.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich