Veritas Prep GMAT Instructor
Joined: 11 Dec 2012
Posts: 310
Given Kudos: 66
Re: Cold Shower
[#permalink]
28 Jul 2013, 22:58
Hi woop, first off you've done your first diagnostic, so congratulations! A lot of people are intimidated by the idea of getting a quantifiable score for their efforts and resist taking the exam for some time. Now that you've dipped your toe in the water, at least you know what the GMAT is all about.
This brings me to my second point, a lot of people get discouraged from their first attempt. The score is low, they thought they'd do better, etc... but realistically, would you really expect to ace an exam you haven't prepared for, even if you're really smart? People study for months (or even longer) to get really high scores on this exam, so one lackluster score isn't worth getting worked up over. It's a baseline score. Statistically, if you devoted a month of your time to studying GMAT regularly, your score would jump by like 100 points. There are plenty of examples of people who jumped by triple digits from one test to the next, so if you want to take the GMAT challenge, you've only just begun. You're like a level 2 wizard in a role playing game, but if you want to beat the boss, you need to be at least level 10! You know what you need to do to level-up, so the only question is your motivation and reward for doing so. (yes I'm referencing video game progression to GMAT study... it's what a good geek would do!)
This is the third point, all your questions about whether a business degree is right for you. I know this will sound cheesy, but only you can answer those questions for yourself. There are a lot of really good resources available on this site, though, so I invite you to peruse them and you'll likely find some suggestions and strategies that have helped others. The GMAT is a really cool exam (I may be slightly biased here), and if you look into it a little more I think you'll find some pretty interesting methods to improve your score. No one is forcing you to do the GMAT or a business degree, so the motivation must come from you. If you decide to join our little online community here, I think you'll find it interesting, informative and rewarding.
Best of luck
-Ron