Hi friends!
I'm gearing up to take the GMAT a third time on June 29th in an attempt to break 700, and I'm terrified. I think my low-level fear is getting in the way too, as it did (I think) with my second test. I am only focusing on quant, as I consistently get mid 40's on verbal. Quant is very weak for me, and I had to learn everything again. I hadn't taken math since high school (I'm 25). I took the
Manhattan GMAT class and books, and then after four months of studying (with a little
OG at the end)...
First attempt (June 2014): 690: 42 Q, 42 Verbal.
I was really pleasantly surprised with my score, because I was treating this first attempt as a practice. I thought my "real" try would be in 1.5 months. I saw that I was so close to my goal so I really buckled down and did more
MGMAT and
OG questions, plus lots of flashcards.
Second attempt (Late July 2014): 630: I probably ripped up the paper so don't remember the split, but my quant went way down, and verbal just a tad.
I felt like I had panicked during the quant because I was so nervous, and that was part of the reason I did poorly. Ironically, the same thing happened to me when I took the SAT in high school. I got a quite good score the first time around, and then when I tried to improve, my score fell a lot.
Now, a year later, I'm giving it one last shot because a higher quant score will help a lot with my target schools. I've been using
Target Test Prep and private tutoring by Jeff.
TTP's materials are awesome. Super thorough, and I realize I had a lot of holes in what I had learned via
MGMAT. I basically started from the beginning of quant and learned everything again.
After three months of studying
TTP, I took a GMATPrep practice exam:
GMATPrep Practice Exam (Mar. 2015): 710 (43 Q, 44 V): I was super excited. First time breaking 700! I felt like finally, I could move forward linearly if I just kept studying.
And then....
GMATPrep Practice Exam (May 23, 2015): 640 (33 Q, 45 V) ...or something like that. Very low quant and verbal went up (with no review). UGH. I'm now scared that this isn't about my practicing, and it's about me just panicking and not being able to think clearly and catch the little tricks on the exam.
I plan to take my third official test on June 29, 2015.
I haven't cracked open the 2015
OG yet, so I plan to do that shortly. I've only been studying
TTP stuff this time around. My boyfriend thinks I should look into beta blockers, but I have super low blood pressure so I'm not sure that will work. Or he suggested kratom, an herb that calms you.
Any thoughts? Suggestions? Advice?