Taking the GMAT not twice but three times!!! 580/610/700!!!

[gloubiboulga]

Here is my story, for those who have been disappointed with their scores.
I spent two intensive weeks during Christmas and I sat for the GMAT first on January and obtained 580 (bad score!). My practice scores were around 690-700.
Then I decided to retake the test in February and obtained 610 (bad score!). At that time my practices score were around 700-710.
I was discouraged, in hell...etc But I decided to take the test again, and today I did it => 700!!! The big lesson that I learned from this experience is that the GMAT is 60% LUCK (I am sure since I did exactly the same preparation for the 3 tests!) and 40% on how you deal with pressure (The third time I decided to take the test for fun...and it worked!!!)

Good luck everybody... I will never pronounce the word GMAT again!!!

[isisalaska]

Congratulations! you are my hero
you are absolutely right, I am taking my exam again for the 3rd time (well the fisrt time actully I got the score I need but that was back in 1998) in June and this time I am going to go "just for fun" see what happens. I hope it works for me too!

So, any piece of advice in how did you do in terms of mentally getting ready for the exam?

[cooldude]

The big lesson that I learned from this experience is that the GMAT is 60% LUCK (I am sure since I did exactly the same preparation for the 3 tests!)

100% agree

[rdoshi10]

Thank you for sharing your story. I recently bombed the GMAT. Got a 540 even though my practice test scores were in the high 600's.

I felt prepared going into the test but I guess i just panicked during the actual exam.

I'm gonna give it another try in about a month, but i'm not sure if I need to alter my study habits in anyway. Any ideas?

[gloubiboulga]

I thing that the only part of the GMAT that you can improve significantly in a few days is the Sentence Correction part. You should review the Eric's Flashcards (they've been (still are!!!) extremely helpful...thanks mister Eric) and try to learn AS MANY idioms AS you can.
I did not review the Reading Comp at all, you just need to practice your reading skills but the questions are very straightforward.
For Critical Reasoning, you need to know by heart the different type of questions (assumption, inference, weaken...) and how to solve them (find the gap in the argument...) and then practice, practice...
The third time, I only spent 4 intensive days on Verbal (review grammar rules each day) and 1 day on Quant. I do believe that you should concentrate on the verbal part since it can significantly boost your score.
I already took many practice tests so the last time I only did one.

Hope this will help! GOOD LUCK!

[beatthegmat]

Glad to hear the flashcards helped you.