major gmat disapointment, scored 420 :(

[lila921]

I don't even know where to start, probably a little background. Im a senior accounting analyst, pretty good with numbers, but english is not my primary language so the verbal section is not my strength at all. I've been preparing for the gmat since august. I took a prep test to see my overall level and scored a 420 (V 26 Q21) ouch! i used the MGMAT books for my preparation, read the books and did the practice questions of the OG13 and the verbal and quant review. Ive put in a lot of time and effort in this.
gmat prep 1 420 Q26 V21 august
CAT 1 580 Q37 V32 mid sptember
CAT 2 600 Q40 V32
CAT 3 620 Q42 V33

i knew i was not ready because i was aiming for the 700+ score,but i didn't want to push back my exam so i went to get a taste of the real test, I was expecting to score around the lower 600 for my firt attempt, i was stunned when i saw 420 on the screen!!! i just wasted 3 months styding night and day to have the same result as my prep test.

you can imagine my walk home after the exam, really questioned myself and it really touched my ego!

i probably did someting wrong, i was not stressed at all during the exam. I covered all the basics in quant and verbal but i am pretty sure i fell in all the traps during the exams.

i'm not giving up my dream of attending a top business school, and i'm just trying to figure out how i can recover from this major gmat fail.

i looked at the possibility of taking prep courses, i looked at veritas prep, they have pretty good reviews.I don't want to turn in circles, i am willing to give the exam an other shot but i want a course that is going to help me take the exam the right way.

any recommandations? is this kind of situation common for gmat test takers or is it just me? do i have a shot at a 700+ score?

[[email protected]]

Hi lila921,

First off, Business Schools don't care if you take the GMAT more than once, so that's not a big deal. There must have been some significant difference between your practice CATs and your Official GMAT though, since that type of score drop is not normal.

To that end, I'm hoping that you can answer a few questions:

1) What time of day did you take the practice CATs and the Official GMAT?

2) Did you take the ENTIRE practice CAT every time (including the Essay and IR) or did you ever skip a section? Did you ever 'pause' your practice CATs or do anything else that did NOT match how the Official GMAT was run?

3) Can you think of anything else that was different about Test Day? A long car ride? Spent the night at a hotel? Etc.

You had one bad day, so don't get too down on yourself (and keep your head up). You shouldn't give up on Business School just yet.

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

[David@VeritasPrep]

lila921 -

Thanks for thinking of Veritas! But before you sign up for our course or any course, you need to ask yourself, "what happened on test day to make my score so different from the practice tests?" Rich as listed several possibilities for why your score was so different. Take a couple of days to think about this and to recover from the shock.

It may be that you are indeed making progress and that something just happened that day. If you have moved from a 420 to a 620 then you are well on your way to a very good score. It may be that you do not need to take a course. But you have to figure out how that score occurred. And answering Rich's questions for us is a good start.

As for taking a course, there are a few things for you to consider. I have compiled the list below because I have been asked by so many people if they can self-study or if they need one of the top companies that are reviewed here on Beat the GMAT.

I generally give the following guidelines to people who have the same sort of question that you do - self-study or get some help.

1) How much time can you devote to your studies? To do it alone does take more time. If you can put in more time per week then you have a better chance of doing it on your own with books. If you are busier with work, then you may be a candidate for getting some help.

2) Are you the kind of person who generally looks at something and tries to figure out the best way of doing it? If you plan your errands so that you have no left turns in traffic or so that you drive the fewest miles then you are a better candidate for self study. If you are a person who uses a GPS device then you might be someone who does better with some expert guidance!

3) How disciplined are you? Some people can set a schedule and stick to it. Others do better when they have a class coming up and they know the homework will be reviewed.

4) When was the last time you had a math class? The more you need to review the help you may need.

5) Time or money? It costs more to take a course or tutoring, but it takes longer to do it yourself. And it does not require too many GMAT retakes before a course starts to seem less expensive!



Hopefully that helps you to think about the issues

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

I just wasted 3 months styding night and day to have the same result as my prep test.

As David pointed out, your practice tests indicate that you did improve. It just sounds like you had a bad day.

You say that you didn't feel stressed on test day, so we may be able to rule out test anxiety. What about time management? Do you use some kind of Milestone Chart to keep you on track? If not, you might want to watch our free time management video: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1244

Cheers,
Brent

[lila921]

to answer some of your questions:

[email protected]

1) What time of day did you take the practice CATs and the Official GMAT? I took the practice CATs at noon usually, my official exams was in the morning (and yes i'm not a morning person

2) Did you take the ENTIRE practice CAT every time (including the Essay and IR) or did you ever skip a section? Did you ever 'pause' your practice CATs or do anything else that did NOT match how the Official GMAT was run? i only took the last practice test with the IR section

3) Can you think of anything else that was different about Test Day? A long car ride? Spent the night at a hotel? Etc. nothing special i could think of.

i did take a lot of time on the first 10-12 questions in the verbal and quant section and rushed the last 10 questions.

David@VeritasPrep

1) How much time can you devote to your studies? I already put in a lot of time (14 to 20 hours a week for 3 months) i want a fast and effective way to reach the 700+ score

2) Are you the kind of person who generally looks at something and tries to figure out the best way of doing it? don't know how to answer this question, i'll say both

3) How disciplined are you? i didn't stick to my work schedule 100%, it's hard for me to study after work sometimes, classes and homework will possibly help.

4) When was the last time you had a math class? don't know if my finance and accounting classes count, but the basic gmat math was about 7-8 years

5) Time or money? i'm willing to invest money in gmat courses if it eventually pays off, i don't want to take the exam 3-4 time, i want my next attempt to be the last one!



thank you for your help!

[[email protected]]

Hi lila921,

Based on what you've described, your practice CATs were NOT taken in a realistic fashion and thus were NOT accurate representations of your score. Since you took the GMAT at a different time of day (and you claim to NOT be a morning person), THAT change could have had a significant impact on your performance. In addition, you hadn't developed the proper "endurance" to handle the full length of the exam, which factored heavily into the guessing that you had to do at the end and the much-lower Verbal Scaled Score. Unfortunately, this was not just about a "bad day" - this was the result of a number of less-than-ideal decisions.

Now, all that having been said, there IS some good news. First, Business Schools don't care if you take the GMAT more than once, so there's no downside to retesting. Second, you've learned some things from this experience that you can use as you continue to study and on your next GMAT. Third, the GMAT is a standardized, predictable exam, so you CAN properly train to beat it.

To hit your goal, you're probably going to need to invest a significant amount of additional time though. I'd suspect that another 2 months minimum will be required (but it might be more time than that).

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

[David@VeritasPrep]

I certainly agree with Rich. You can make sure to schedule your exam not in the morning (as an aside I will never take the test in the morning, not because I am not a morning person but because I know I will not sleep if I have something like that in the morning. I can set three alarms but I will still dream that I am late and keep waking up!) Anyway, you can schedule you exam for later in the day, but that is not going to get you to your goal.

I would say that you have likely made progress, but you have much more left to do to get where you want to be!

It seems like you are saying that you might need some help. You might want to start taking advantage of some of the free resources available here on Beat the GMAT. For example, as you can see in my signature line Veritas has a free event on November 18th (2013). I am excited about this event because it is giving you some great things that we have learned from over 1.5 million responses to questions in the Veritas test bank. The event is called "Statistically Speaking: The Errors the GMAT Knows You'll Make" and you can sign up using the link below.

If you go to this page you will find a number of free resources from Veritas like a free trial. https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/partners ... ing-center

Other providers also have free resources that you can try! Often these are found in the signature line. I know Rich has some free resources there that you can find right there in his signature line. You might find that those really suit you. Why not try out some of the free resources and see if they help and then you can decide how to proceed?

We all just want to help you succeed in a way that works for you.