Dear Guys,
I went for the actual exam on Dec 16th. I was although not very confident since I had not taken many timed tests but I knew that I had improved a lot from where I had started.
The first two essays went fine. I could finish within the time limit. I took a 5 mins break as suggested and then started off with Quantitative section. Guys believe it or not, I felt one or two questions which came on the test were quite different from what I had conceived. The questions are subtle not tough.... I lost my cool, that was the fall....I started spending immense amount of time on questions and slowly I could see the test closing on me. I had to guess 5-6 questions on Quant...
Still somehow keeping my cool I started off with the Verbal section. I didnt get RC until the 6th question. I was cool but suddenly I felt myself panicing. I was running out of time. I saw Critical reasoning questions which I couldnt solve confidently. I could feel that CR questions were much tougher than I had ever seen. I should say they were more like LSAT. Parallel the reasoning, drawing a conclusion to name a few....
I had by now decided that I have flunked and that I will simply cancel the test. In verbal I was left with 3 mins and 11 questions still to do ....miserable ehh... I know people who do well on the test usually get a near perfect score on Quant and around 40 on verbal. Now I wasnt even close to this so I feel that cancelling the test was the best I could have done.
I know doing this I have lost one full year because I dont want to apply in the 3rd round. Most experienced people say that the 3rd round in general is meant for superstars.
Guys here are some statistics:
My average accuracy on SC = 70% - From all sources. In fact I find Kaplan questions much easier than GMAT PLUS and
OG
My Average accuracy on CR= 70%- But questions which came on GMAT were very tough, I should one should be really quick in solving those properly. I feel LSAT questions are a really good source.
My average accuracy on RC = 50% - 60%. I improve dramatically if given more time than usually available. Now I know this is my weakest area and I can only improve by the following strategy.
If I do SC and CR faster with similar or higher accuracy then I can probably save more time for RC thereby increasing my overall score.
This test is a meant of people who can manage time very effectively. I see myself stumbling over and over again.
Having narrated all what I have gone through, I request some of you who probably can understand my problem to express your opinion.
I am also looking for someone who is in an around New York and will like to share questions and problems may be sometime discuss over the phone.
Thanks guys and I hope we all succeed.
Regards,
Mohit