The unthinkable happened to me at the GMAT!!!

[bsandhyav]

Hi friends

Gave my GMAT a week back and blanked out completely at the test. So much so that i had to cancel my scores.I never thought of cancelling my score even in my dreams but trust me i could not even give 10 % of my potential to the test. Cancelling the score was the only option available to me.
I would like to share with u my story and experience at the GMAT so that none of you repeat the mistakes that i did. I did not have a very early start studying for the exam(Thats ok for some people but only if u can put in exceptional amount of effort in that time period). Booked my exam 2.5 months in advance. But the real good effort that i put into my exam was 3 weeks before my test date when i took a leave from work. These 3 weeks i gave it my all,especially the last week,especially the last day(MY BIGGEST MISTAKE). I studied for almost 10-12 hrs on the last day.I forced myself to bed at 10 pm my exam being at 9 am. I thought to myself 8 hrs sleep was more than enough,but could not sleep all nite. I lay in my bed all nite trying hard to sleep but sleep just refused to come. The maximum i must've slept the nite before my exam might have been 2 hrs. I did read on the forums that one should not study much in the last week. But i thought to myself that everybody is different and i follow my normal method of study i.e Study till the last day. Actually i tried to refrain myself from studying on the last day but there was a greed in me to finish as much as i can. Cover as many strategies/notes/books as i can. GUYZ PLZZZ DNT DO THAT!!! Just leave your books far away on the Last 2 days.I knw its easier said than done but i've experienced the burn 1st hand.
I really dont know what to do now. I was planning to send my applications by the 15th of November. But now i cant give my GMAT and get a score until 15th NOV. I feel really dejected and disheartened. I am totally confused as to what to do. Should i give my GMAT again?I dont want to apply beyond the 2nd round of applications as i think it will really affect my chances of getting into a decent university.

[bsandhyav]

Hey People

This is wot my preparation was like before my test on 14th Oct.

OG11-Almost the entire SC,CR,RC. Except 1st 20 and last 10 Q's of each section
OG11-PS:Last 30 Q's;DS:Last 30 Q's
OG Verbal review- Solved the entire book but could not find to analyse my mistakes in this book
Manhattan SC-Thorough study of this book. The strategies were on the tip of my tongue
Manhattan CR-Read through
Spidey's Notes and Sahil's Grammar Notes-Did these on the last day. I thought while i was going through the verbal section the relevant tricks/catches that i read in these notes surfaced on to my mind as soon as i read the Q.
Math Fundabooks- Read through the math fundabooks for CAT(An entrance exam for entry into the IIM's).These books are supposed to have a quant level much higher than G-MAT.

GMAT Prep1:590 Q45 V27::3 weeks before the GMAT(This was my 1st test)
GMAT Prep2:640 Q47 V30::2 weeks before the GMAT
GMAT Prep3:630 Q47 V30::3 days before the GMAT

Kaplan CAT1:570 Q38 V31
Kaplan CAT2:560 Q38 V28

MGMAT Free Online Test:590 Q41 V31 (1week before the test)

I want to score a 700+ without any mistakes, this time i give my GMAT. Please advice me on the strategy i should follow to reach my goal in a limited time frame such that i can send my applications for the 2nd round. Please suggest an ideal course of action for me.

[mikart0708]

My target was between 650 to 700 to get closer to 700. I got a 700 in my second attempt (Q50 / V34). The first time I gave GMAT I got a 610 and I was pretty disappointed. By then I gave a lot of practice tests including some from Kaplan, Crack GMAT and 800 score. In those tests I scored close to 650 - 670 and I thought I was close to my target. 3 days before giving the actual GMAT I used the actual prep software and gave the GMAT Prep tests and very disappointingly got a 620 and a 600 and as the prep tests proved I got a 610 in my first attempt(Q47 / V28).

I knew if I get close to 33 / 34 in verbal - I can get closer to 700. I went thru the Sentence correction and started preparing flash cards - 3 to 4 flash cards for each of the chapter. It took a week for me to learn all of the details in the Sentence correction. Then I started practicing the OG - 11 Sentence correction - started doing 30 to 40 questions per day. I completed them - I got 72 % correct out of the 130 or 140 that were there. Incrementally I started learning new topics each week - critical reasoning, reading comprehension. Also I did the quant in parallel. I came to a stage, as some one suggested in this forum, where I was practicing some SC, RC and CR each day. By the time I did Verbal Review I got 82 % SC correct, 75 % CR correct. After completing all of the Manhattan GMAT CATs, I went to the MBA.COM and purchased their paper tests - which comprises of approximately 55 verbal questions and 50 quant questions per test. There were 9 of them. I did 7 Quant papers and 9 Verbal papers. Between Kaplan, Crack GMAT, 800 Score, Manhattan GMAT and GMAC official site I must have done over 3500 - 4000 practice questions. The best were from GMAC web site - obviously closest to the GMAT exam and next best were Manhattan GMAT. I would recommed those two would be sufficient.

[bsandhyav]

Thanx a lot mikart0708. I will definitely use your advice. But i would like to knw wot was the gap between the 2 exams u gave? Is 20-25 days of prep (2hrs/day) sufficient? I dont think i will be able to give more than that on weekdays and abt 5-6 hrs on weekends!!

[mikart0708]

my suggestion - don't fous on the number of hours u study on the weekdays / weekend. I had a busy schedule - working in Verizon as a manager with a very hectic schedule and 2 young kids - both less than 24 months - didn't mean to give personal info but the point is focus on how u resolve a problem

The way I did was when I practiced - I 'clocked' myself but never to do the question in a hurry but to focus on the question and on an average of 10 questions to note how long I took - Between the OG-11, Verbal Review and the 9 test papers from MBA.Com I finally ended up doing SC @ 90 seconds speed (this is after a lot of practice - not the first intial 100 or so questions). CR and RC almost @ 2 mins per question.

But really what is important is understanding the question. Like for SC - the biggest thing is identifying the mistake, in CR understanding the question type and then checking for the answers and RC going thru those passaged and forming a skeleton sketch / headline list - whichever.

Bottom line focus on getting the answers correct with the right strategy and because of the number of questions u have between the OG - 11, Verbal Review, Quant Review and the 9 test papers - you would automatically improve ur pace.....