Tsikvina wrote:
I have started to prepare GMAT on June 2012. I am not a native speaker but have an US undergrad degree. I have done all 9
MGMAT strategy guides and have actively been reading Gmatclub and Manhattan forums. My GMAT score goal is from 680 to 700. After I have finished all
MGMAT guides, 12th
official guide, verbal and quant supplements, and additional official 400 questions, which I have bought for USD 25, I started doing tests, at the beginning I got as low as 540, however after a lot of practice (I did Kaplan, Knewton, 800 score, along with official ones), I even got 760 in official test, however it is biased because some of the questions repeated. After that I started doing
MGMAT CATS, as I knew they were the hardest. I got 610 on
MGMAT CAT1, 640
MGMAT CAT 2 and 700 on official test 2. I knew that my biggest weakness was SC so I started watching videos Thursdays with Ron , that helped me a lot. I decided to register on September 15. There is no testing center in my home country so I had to travel to the nearest country where they have one. However this first attempt was disaster. I scored 550 V27/Q38. I was shocked devastated and angry on myself, but I was sure I had to try second time. However I have know clue what went wrong.
After two weeks I started to practice again. I have read 8 GMAT strategy guides once again. Did 13th edition of
official guide, verbal and quant supplements, starting exploring forums more aggressively and analyzed every single mistake I did, even more than before. Now I have my exam on December 19th. I got 690 on Official test 1, 760 on official test 2, (I think I did not remember questions a lot, because it was more than 2 months ago I did them) 680 on
MGMAT CAT 3. Can please somebody advice me as I have 5 days left and I do not know what to do. 690 is fine score for me, but I guess exam situation is stressing me a lot and I am under performing.
Thanks in advance to everybody.
5 days is not a lot of time to make drastic improvements in your approach. Saying that, you may do these:
1.) Be confident that you can achieve a >700 score. You've done that in the past on your practice test and you can do it again. and don't think about your score while taking the exam. Just switch back to the question at hand asap if that is happening to you.
2.) be spot on with your timing strategy. you cannot perform to your potential without attempting all the questions. If you are stuck, guess and move on! there is no harm in guessing. even after guessing a few questions people end up getting >750 scores.
3.) Review your mistakes, revisit them, and read the official explanations
thoroughly. (even for questions you got right)
4.) attempt a couple of CATs with AWA and IR.
5.) If possible, stay close to your center the night before the test. This will sooth your nerves and you will have fewer things to worry about on the test day.
Good luck with your retake.