Intern
Joined: 09 Mar 2013
Posts: 8
Given Kudos: 2
Concentration: Accounting
GMAT Date: 05-01-2013
GPA: 3.57
720 in 2.5 months - don't rely on practice test scores!
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01 May 2013, 13:45
So I realize for many of you, 720 is not great, but I am over the moon excited about it. I decided to take the GMAT at the beginning of February sometime. Mostly just studying on weekends, devoting 12+ hours on Saturdays to fill my brain with more GMAT than any normal human could possibly tolerate. In April, I studied a bit during the week and a bit on weekends. I was getting burnt out. The last 2 weeks before my test date, I barely got any significant studying in. I was starting to resent the GMAT because despite studying so much, my practice test scores were all over the place and my timing was terrible.
Here are my practice tests scores:
1. Kaplan #1 - March 9th - 640 (Q44, V36)
2. GMAT Prep #1 - March 23rd - 710 (Q47, V41)
3. Kaplan #2 - March 30th - 600 (Q38, V34)
4. Manhattan #1 - April 20th - 690 (Q44, V39)
5. Manhattan #2 - April 23rd - 630 (Q45, V32)
6. GMAT Prep #2 - April 27th - 680 (Q44, V39)
So, as you can see, I had NO IDEA what to expect based on my practice test scores. Not sure why there was such a huge fluctuation. But i decided my goal would be 650.
Today was test day and I woke up extreeeeeeemely nervous. Felt really nauseous and awful but managed to eat a banana and a couple almonds.
I arrived about 45 minutes before my appt and was surprised that I was able to start my test right away (after the sign-in process). The ladies were very nice and that helped reduce my stress a bit.
Essay - I did not prepare for this at all, except for reviewing the template used by someone who got a 6. My prompt was not too difficult. My essay was probably a bit sloppy but it was lengthly and I finished in time and I am expecting at least a 4, hopefully a 5 or a 6.
IR - Some were simple, some I had absolutely no idea. Some i just didn't feel like reading and trying to figure out the charts. Most were not that time consuming, but a couple were extremely involved. I didn't worry about this section too much in preparation since it is so new. I made my best guesses on ones i didn't know and moved on.
Quant - kinda a blur. I felt like there were so many more DS than PS questions. lots of number properties (my worst subject) so i ended up guessing a lot because i realized i had spent 6 minutes on one PS question and had to make up time. There seemed to be a lot of estimating needed (values of roots) for PS problems. but overall, i did wayyy less math than i did in practice exams. i think i only used up one side of one page in the laminated notebook. there were some questions where i had NO IDEA how to even begin, which made me feel like i was doing well since they were so hard. other than that, i wasn't feeling too confident about this section. either i guessed right or the hard questions were experimental or high difficulty since i ended up with a Q48.
Verbal - also a blur. i think i had 2 short RC passages and 1 long one. they were all pretty easy to understand surprisingly. the questions were kind of difficult though. the CR and SC were both a mix of easy and hard. i had 1 boldface question. the CR were longer than i expected as were the answer choices. was running low on time towards the end so i started rushing a bit. did not feel confident at all, very surprised with my V41 score.
i had NO idea what to expect when i got to the end of the exam. When I saw 720, Q48, V41, my jaw dropped. i just stared at it. looked away, then looked back to make sure i wasn't imagining it. i honestly felt like i wasn't even thinking clearly during the entire test and was just selecting answers randomly. i can't believe i did better than i did in any practice test. I got almost identical scores on GMAT Prep #1 (710, q47 v41) as i did on the actual. So, take that for what you will. Sorry that this review is not very enlightening. I just wanted to share my experience of all-over-the-place practice test scores. Don't beat yourself up if you're not performing consistently well on practice tests. Good luck!!