I was scoring 620-640 on
MGMAT CAT's the week before the test, and on the real thing I got a 540. I know there is supposed to be around a 50 point standard deviation but not 100. I also scored 620 on both the GMAT prep CAT's. I think what really hurt me was the verbal section. I was scoring in the 60-75% range on practice tests, but got a V28 47% on the real thing. There are a few factors that played into me being distracted: the guy next to me was typing throughout my the entire verbal section, and a girl a few seats down from me started CRYING. No joke.
I think it is much easier to score high in verbal on practice tests. Since I was getting scores that I was happy with on the verbal section I did not spend a whole lot of time studying on RC and CR. I think this hurt me in the actual test because when I got nervous or distracted I did not have rules and guidelines to fall back on.
Anyways I need to make a new study plan, and I need advice from people who have had to retake the GMAT in order to get a higher score. I have all 8
MGMAT books that I was planning on going back over, and I just ordered the Power Score CR bible. I also have the Total GMAT Math book from gmathacks.com I was planning on going through that whole books also. Any advice for RC? I will go through the
MGMAT RC guide. I also went through almost every question in OG12 and the Quant/Verbal reviews. Would I get any new GMAC question if I got the GMAT focus or paper tests? I want more GMAC questions, but I don't know if there are any out there.
Also I would appreciate any advice for the actual test taking process. I used the 50-30-10 for Q11, 21, 31 for Quant and 55-35-15 for Q11, 21, 31 on Verbal. Is there a better system out there? I know that a 540 is well below my actual ability. One factor is that I took some adderall before the actual test. I took adderall while studying and taking practice tests, but I think with the pressure of the actual tests the adderall made me nervous and made it even harder to concentrate.
I would appreciate any advice. I want to get my score above 600 and hopefully in the 650 range. I can study around 40 hours a week. What is the best pan for bringing up your score, and/or working out test anxiety?