I have been a silent member of this forum for last many years, though I started actively visiting this place only a few months back. REASON: I had been planning to take or rather retake my GMAT. My first shot at it was way back in 2008 and I ended up scoring merely 630 (Q 43 and V 34 and 5.0 for Essays). I was a lot disheartened and planned to study thoroughly and trying once more.
My work commitments took most of my time and I couldn't put a consistent effort, though I kept studying for it on and off. Then finally, I booked again for May 19, 2012 (as you can well guess, I was afraid of IR and I rushed into it). Along with the on and off preparation, I took about two weeks off and those were the only two weeks I would like to credit with getting me a score of 680 (Q47 and V 35). I am not a morning person and I could only get a morning slot-that was a big drawback because my body was still in the sleep-mode when I was writing my essays. I could merely score a 4.5 for essays. I am a non native speakers but I have always been good at essay writing so 4.5 was quite discouraging. In all other standardized tests I had taken my score had been a consistent 5.0. Later, I somehow took little longer in wash room and lost some minutes in the Q portion, though I feel I was able to catch up but somehow I could never get over the shock and then could never gain composure for the rest of the exam. I didn't like that after putting so many efforts in verbal, I still could improve by only one point. I was definitely not prepared to see anything lower than a 7 in the hundreds place. So, I again thought of taking another shot (by now, you might have gotten the fact that I have gone crazy- yeah, I too feel so),
I stopped my life-this is something I always do. I didn't go out, stopped interactions with even my family and everything else that I feel was draining off my energy- I went in a cocoon. I know people always suggest not to do so but I don't know how I can otherwise concentrate and put more efforts. I used
MGMAT's SC and RC and powerscore for CR. In my previous attempt, I used to think that all these are vague and I was not able to get much out of them. This time, I felt I was able to understand their techniques better and it, kind of, improved my accuracy when I practised on OGs-I really saw good improvement, at least, that is what I felt. I took
GmatClub tests for math practice, though my main Quant guide has always been M Tyra's Magical Book on Quicker math that you find in Indian book-stores easily. I took my exam today on Nov. 17, 2012 and I thought, I attacked the essay very well and I am sure I can get back to at least my 5.0 bracket. IR started with a probability question and I spent 5 minutes on it and still couldn't figure how to solve it. So, I made a guess and moved on. I picked up the pace but went out of time around problems # 11 & 12, where I again made quick guesses. I can't say how I did on IR but I still feel I might not have done bad. I started my quant and I believed I did my first question correct but somehow, the second question seemed to be ridiculously easier and I had a feeling that I missed my first question. I still kept myself motivated and I didn't feel any problem with time and even the difficulty of the question for the remaining portion. Questions seemed to be in my grip but I wanted to see probability questions to know how I was doing and I got two probability questions in DS-that gave me the idea that I was not doing badly. Though I made some guesses in 20s to gain time, but it seems, almost all 30s went correct. I finished math on a happier note and I thought of giving my best efforts on verbal and here was where the shocker came. I started with verbal but somehow, I felt time was slipping out and none of the things I learned were working. I couldn't imagine that I was at 20th question when I just had 15 minutes left. I knew that I have done well in one section only to badly lose in the other. Never, in my wild dreams I had thought that I could do so bad. I had to run and make random guesses to complete the exam. Well, I ended up with a 620 (Q 50 and V 24). I am just not able to understand how I can do this.
Anyway, I would like to say that I couldn't sleep very well over the night (some personal problem happened just 2 days before the exam and I had been thinking about it while taking the exam). I don't mean to exaggerate but I never felt I had been so bad in verbal-neither in real life nor in practice. Right now, my mind is numb but I thought of coming out of closet and asking for HELP and guidance about what I should do. I am looking for some top schools in non-profit management. More than the admission, my GMAT score hurts me-I can't get over it.
In the first GMATPrep I had scored 710 and second was 660. In second GMATPrep, I faced the same problem that had happened in my real test. I lost pace in verbal but I never imagined it could happen again. I felt I had been able to do ok on my previous attempts so even if I don't improve, I won't do worse than my previous scores (though I was hoping to see good improvement after what I felt about my verbal preparation). However, it fell flat and here I am asking for anybody to show me the path!!!
Here, i would like to add that I took
GMATClub tests for math and Platinum GMAT tests for both math and verbal ad my pace was ok. Other than this I didn't take any other practice exams and that may have been my problem
I am sorry, if my thoughts don't sound coherent-I am just out of my senses and numb.