Need help.. terrible test experience

Thanks for your response.

1) overall, I did around 12 practice tests - initially in verbal, I scored around 35, but weirdly, it's been going down ever since with a 31 towards the end, and 25 in the actual. Math was initially a 44, and towards the end I got it up to 49 in practice tests, ended up with a 43 in the actual. Overall, I maintained a 650 during practice.

2) only for the last 4 tests I took the entire exams. For the retake, I will be doing all together to increase my stamina.

3) Test time would usually be at 9-10am. My actual test was at 10am.

4) Mostly in my office over the weekends, as it was pretty empty.

5) I did pause in between the sections, to use the restroom. However, in the exam I had no issues being focused or sitting that long. It comes automatically.

6) Definitely a 700+. I can work as hard as I need to, but I just need to know what can I do to improve.

Posted from GMAT ToolKit

Thanks for your response.

I haven't received the official score report yet as I just gave it yesterday - I presume that report should provide me some details?

Yes the Quant part set me off initially, but in the break between Quant and Verbal, I recovered mentally from that and I didn't think about it in the Verbal section. I was quite focused on getting the Verbal right, but evidently something went wrong - I don't know what.

How does one improve in Verbal according to you? I know I have issues with CR and RC, and I dedicated a few days to each of these to really dig in and fix the issues - I thought I fixed them because when I do questions individually, I get them right. However when it's in a test, or as a complete section, I seem to get it wrong.

When I figured a pattern of getting a string of 5 qs wrong (beginning, middle and end of the section - experienced it all!), I thought it might be a test taking issue, so I focused on fixing my stamina etc. Still doesn't seem to have worked!

Posted from GMAT ToolKit

For verbal, it seems you really need a push if you scores are in a downwards trend.

General tips are the same that you'll find in great topics in the forum such as:
1. Verbal GMAT forum: Offers great insightshttps://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-verbal-section-11/
2. GMATPrep software question banks help you a lot in each type of question and you should try and do loads of questions

For me personally, CR is the tricky one. This requires you to be able to differentiate between evidence and argument, which is usually the last sentence in the passage, and find the best possible answer that strengthens or weakens this sentence.

Example: "Market researches have shown that blue products are 30% more likely to be purchased by our target demographics and that blue products are normally 10% more expensive than red ones. Changing our product color to blue would increase our profitability."

The argument talks about changing the product color and profitability, the possible answer should be related to those. Even if the evidence cited mentions price, and volume, it talks about revenues and not profits. A possible answer that mentions that the revenue increase is not that high would not weaken the argument, but one answer mentioning increased costs in blue ink would.

SC is about noticing parallelism patterns and trying to make complicated sentences simpler. This comes only with practice and attention to detail.

Maybe you should save your CATs for later and do a lot of question bank questions for verbal. It seems that doing more CATs would not help you a lot at the moment, as you should focus your efforts.

Yes, CR is the tricky one for me as well. I have heard that CR bible and LSAT practice questions are very helpful - would you suggest the same?

I have done like 1000 qs already for my first attempt, but that was probably the wrong way to go as I've heard gmat is not about the number of questions you work on. Don't know what I'm doing wrong and how to rectify ....

Posted from GMAT ToolKit

It is important to try and find patterns between the questions. Exercising a lot is very helpful, I would disagree with anyone who believes it is not important. But you should start at one point to understand the inner workings of each question type.

Hi divs173,

The Official GMAT is a specific "event" that you can train for, but the more your practice CATs differ from Test Day, the more "off" your scores are likely to be (and often those practice scores are "inflated"). From what you described, you were only taking the FULL CAT on your last few attempts, so I'd like to know those exact scores.

1) What were the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores and the Overall score on each of THOSE CATs?

From what you've described, you did lots of practice questions from print/book sources. That's another 'issue' with your studies - many Test Takers who use a 'book heavy' study approach end up getting 'stuck' at a certain scoring level. Instead of focusing on doing lots of questions, you should focus on learning and practicing tactics so that you can learn to handle GMAT questions in the most efficient ways possible.

To score 700+, you're going to have to make some significant improvements to BOTH your Quant and Verbal scores and that is going to take some time.

2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Hi Rich,

GMAT Prep 3 - 600 Q45 V28
GMAT Prep 4 - 650 Q49 V30
MGMAT 3 - 610 Q44 V31
Kaplan free test - 650 Q49 V30

I will apply to bschools this year: I understand I need to put in more work and I can work as much required, but what I don't know is how to get there.

What do I need to do to get there? Can you please elucidate on the step-wise review? I have heard earlier as well that GMAT is not about doing 1000 questions, however, this was just one of the many things I tried and didn't work. Apart from this I bought the MGMAT Quant books for content improvement, but I found them too basic.

Is it also possible, in your opinion, that my actual test score does not reflect my current position and the nervousness and tension could have lowered my score significantly?

Lastly, how do you suggest I improve on verbal? I've been told the CR bible book is quite helpful, and MGMAT SC book as well. Please advise.

Thank you.

Hi divs173,

Since it sounds like you took your last few practice CATs in a realistic way, I have a few questions about Test Day itself:

1) How did you sleep the night before your GMAT?
2) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home?
3) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test?
4) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
5) Did you finish any sections early?
6) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)?

It's possible that you just had a "bad day", but the V25 means that you were losing points in all 3 Verbal areas (SC, RC and CR), so you really need to become consistent with the tactical approaches you use on these questions.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich