630 (Q 40, V 36) AWA 5.0: What I won't be doing next time.

SCORE 630
VERBAL- 36
QUANT- 40
AWA - 5.0

I'm obviously quite disappointed considering that I spent 150 hours studying and I got this result. It took me quite some time to understand why I got this score. However I’m not here to talk about that but rather my experience in preparing for the GMAT

Background:

I’m South American but I learned to speak English when I was very young. I graduated from a Canadian high school and university and I have a degree in Finance. I work for one of the Big 4 Canadian banks in the area of Asset Management. I plan to stay in this division for at least three years before getting my MBA. I’ve been in it a little over 9 months.

Test Day:

I arrived early and did all the checkups. I wasn’t too nervous even going in and felt quite confident. I did the AWA and felt a little uneasy with the second one but I finished. I went to the washroom and drank some Gatorade and when I walked in I realized I had lost 42 seconds. I felt pretty well during quant (Maybe too well) and finished the last question with 30 seconds left. I took a shorter break and went right into verbal. I felt like I was getting very hard SC questions. I finished that section with 1:12m left.

I then went straight into the integrated reason I volunteered for. I really like the questions as they relate kind of like cutting parts of a business case, something I’ve done a lot before.

Getting the immediate score is devastating. Keeping composure is probably the hardest part (I’m assuming keeping the joy of a monster score must be just as hard)


Practice Tests:

Practice Test Scores:

MGMAT 1: 550 (Q33 V33) Oct 10
MGMAT 2: 600 (Q35 V36) Nov 26
MGMAT 3: 630 (Q37 V38) Dec 3
MGMAT 4: 660 (Q44 V36) Dec 17
MGMAT 5: 640 (Q44 V34) Dec 25 with AWA
MGMAT 6: DID NOT ATTEMPT
GMATPrep 1: 670 (Q47 V35) Dec 27 with AWA
GMATPrep 2: 700 (Q46 V40) Dec 31 with AWA

As you can see, my improvements were good. I expected a score between 680 and 710. The last two exacts I did them exactly like the real test. In fact, they were so similar, it gave me a boost of confidence during the real test, something that might have hurt me.

General Strategy:

My strategy was to go through the concepts first then do CATs + OG guide questions. I still think this is one of the best strategies and my lack of success was not because of it. My main reason for my score was not being able to finish all the material in front of me. The only section from the OG Guide I finished was the DS. I still had the verbal and quant review to go through. Now you might ask why I didn’t just move the test. Well this weekend I’m starting to study for the CFA Level II exam, something that is far more important to me than the GMAT. Like I mentioned above, I still got at least two years until I apply for Grad school, so this score is not the end of the world. This might have been another reason why I did so poorly.

Things I won’t do next time:

1. Not finish the material in front of me. I had some of the best material to prepare for the test out there. I didn’t finish it well….cause I couldn’t. With work, I had limited amount to study. Towards the end I was really regretting not finishing it.

2. Book the test right after holidays. I got that shiny and confidence booster 700 on December 31st. obviously my confidence and happiness went through the roof. I went out with friends that I haven’t seen because of the GMAT and went crazy. I got slightly sick for the next few days.

3. Not review my wrong answers. I should have done this more extensively, especially towards the end. Since I felt rushed I put less emphasis to do this.

4. Not Using GMAT Club enough. For some reason I didnt the GMATClub resources as much as I should have. I got the daily GMAT questions and didn't even do most of them. I only did one GMATClub test and got killed. I never asked a question in the forums. This was very dumb of me.

Final Thoughts:

I enjoyed this challenge. It was disappointed to not succeed but I have no regrets. It opened my eyes to take the test more seriously next time. GMAT Club was a great resource and I will be using it again. I hope to be more active the next time around. See you in about a year and a half GMATClub!

buddy, A wise person is one who learns from own mistakes...I am sure ur wise enough and will definitely get d score u want...N reading ur journey, i must say ur a focused guy...so wish u luck for d next time..

This may sound a bit idealistic but don't book a date untill you hit your target score twice in GMAT Prep.