TheNona wrote:
Totally depressed and heart broken !!!! Took the GMAT on Feb the 13th and scored 540 , realised I was studying wrong depending mainly on memorization like school days . Booked another appointment for today , took one week free then worked for 5 weeks using a better approach of analyzing problems and writing down takeaways from them . I relied in both times on official material ,
Manhattan books , and GMAT Club forums .Also covered most posts in blogs by Manhattan , Veritas , and Kaplan , in addition to most of Ron's videos and the free GMATPrepNow videos . This time I scored in my first GMATPrep a 570 and my first Manhattan CAT a 560 , then scored from 600-650 in ALL the rest of these (4 Manhattans and 2 GMATPreps ) , taking into consideration that the repeated questions in GMATPreps I used to intendedly answer them wrong to be as honest as possible with myself . I trained myself to review my timing every 5 questions and created a list of weaknesses to throw away when running out of time , and kept an
error log which I regularly reviewed . Finally , I took yesterday off and went today high spirited and optimistic ... and here came the worst surprise I have ever had ... !!!! First I was pleased when I found myself facing difficult questions , then noticed I am a bit behind time so started to skip questions but still faced difficult questions , and thus skipped many questions ... a situation I NEVER faced before !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In quant I managed with difficulty to finish , but in Verbal I missed the last question (SC) , ended up with a 550 39Q 27V !!!!!!!! Left the test center frustrated , and will book for my last opportunity after one month to catch the deadline . What do you advise me to do everybody ???? I will make use of this opportunity to practice a bit more to increase my ability level , and meanwhile will take tests on alternate days to practice timing more , although I really never had this problem in my mocks during my preparation for the second attempt after the first two 500s .Any further advice , please ? Really upset
Hi TheNona,
You shouldn't feel bad, it happens. If you would have had around 4-5 months for your deadline then like most other folks, I would also have suggested you to take a chill pill for a while and start afresh. But, as you have one month to go, you need to start again. Probably chill for a day and then start you prep. A short break is important, even for a day.
You really need to ponder on your weakness once again and work on it. As mentioned above, 39 to 45 in quant is really achievable and will give you a score of 600+. You are at 39 , this means that you still need to work on fundamentals (same with verbal). Try the
MGMAT foundations in GMAT quant and try to finish it at the earliest. You may also want to go through the
MGMAT foundations for GMAT verbal. First do this then take a practice test,
DO NOT take tests on alternate days. You have already taken the actual GMAT, analyze it, find out what went wrong. I know you faced timing issues, but why you faced that. Probably you took more time than required in some questions. If yes then which were these, were these from Geometry, Number Properties or something else. Same goes with verbal.
I would suggest that you study foundations for then next 10 days. Again analyze your previous practice tests and again work on you weak areas, re-do the good
OG questions (from what you found during your practice). Then take your first practice test after the next 10 days. Be conscious about the timing in this test. 4 - 5 test will be enough for your prep; if you take more then you will get less time to analyze them. You should also redo the GMAT prep test in the last two weeks; I am sure you will find a couple of new questions there.
Above all, be optimistic; you will achieve your target score. All the best !!!
Vercules
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