Hi,
I am writing to ask for help in analysing what might have gone wrong with my preparation.

I wrote my first GMAT in Aug 2009 and scored a 640. I had used OG and not much else. I was discouraged then and was disappointed because I couldnt complete the Quant section. Timing was my biggest problem then. I took a break from the GMAT and work kept me busy for the next few years.

I decided to restart my GMAT preparation and took the help of a private tutor from Dec 2011 - April 2012 and have been practicing using the following materials:

1. OG 13
2. Manhattan guides
3 e-GMAT SC

My preparation wasnt continuous because of personal issues. I was scoring between 640 - 700 in the MGMAT tests which was also around the time I came across "Thursdays with Ron". I went through most of his videos and learnt many new things. I believed I was learning things better, seeing things differently. I scored: GMAT Prep1 - 680 and GMAT Prep2 - 640. I reviewed the incorrect and most of the correct questions by going through the forums.

I then identified SC as my weak area and concentrated on that heavily by purchasing e-GMAT. After a few months of practice and going through the guides again, I retook GMAT Prep1 and scored 740 two weeks ago. I was aware that it was an inflated score but I hoped to get a score around that number in the actual GMAT.

To my utter shock, I took my GMAT today to score a 570. I havent seen a score as low as this even in my initial diagnostic tests.

I took a caffeine tablet, Red bull and Gatorade to keep myself alert through the exam. But, I am not sure if this caused me to feel nauseous and heady during the test or the subconscious feel that the test was just not going right.

I am not ready to give up on this exam yet. I was wondering if any one of you have any advice on how I can understand what went wrong with my exam. I finished my verbal section with 15 minutes to spare.

A mistake I know I made is that I didnt take the exam under official conditions. Always skipped the argument and the IR section to concentrate on the Quant and Verbal section. A mistake that I will now correct.

Thanks in advance.

SS

Hi AbhiJ,
I m not sure about the timing grid. I know that we have an average of approx 2 min per question. Is that what you were talking about?


~SS

Thank you soo much dentobizz. These articles of Stacey are really helpful.

~SS