So I'm a little disappointed w/ my score.
My prep:
I used OG11, and
OG Quant review. I also purchased Kaplan 800 about 2 weeks ago, but only used it for the reate/ratio stuff. had the Kaplan CD and used it in the beginning, but i didn't like it - seemed like the questions were testing different stuff than the
OG. After i finished the
OG, i went back over every problem i got wrong, in depth. I also really used these forums a lot. From the time I finished the guide until now, i was really going deep - trying to learn everything, fundamentals, - memorizing formulas, geometric properties, etc.
My practice tests:
GMATPrep 1: (sometime in feb - without any studying):
Q37 V41 630
GMATPrep 1: 3/18 (after finishing OG11 Quant. did not recognize ANY questions):
Q46 V41 710
GMATPrep 2: 5/03
Q48 V44 740
GMATPrep 1: 5/12 (reinstall, saw about 3-4 Quant q's that i recognized from the
OG & forums - but didn't immediately know the answer - still had to solve them)
Q50 V
38 730
GMATPrep 2: 5/20 (same as above)
Q49 V44 750
5/22 (real thing) Q45 V39 690
I understand that my last few quant scores might have been inflated slightly because i recognized a few questions, but to score lower than I ever have in any of the practice tests? very frustrating.
I'm a native speaker, so i didn't put as much effort into studying verbal. I barely even use the forums for verbal. I did the hardest 50-75% in OG11 of each verbal type, and my hit rate was consistently over 90% in each. I never saw a repeat question in any of the V44's i scored on the gmat prep. I can't understand how i could bomb the verbal like that (i was equally surprised when i bombed it the one time in gmatprep w/ a 38 - looks like that was a bad omen).
About the test:
Quant
I definitely saw more "tricky" type questions than straightforward problems. Maybe it's just the way I remember it, but it seemed like a lot of complex statistics - lots of mean/median, and overlapping sets. The rest were very tricky number properties (factors, remainders, etc)
I'm guessing I maybe came out of the box real strong, and that's why the questions were so difficult? then i started to tank it? who knows...
Only got 2 geometry q's. Bricked on a real easy one. It took me all of about 12 seconds when i got home to realize that i couldn't get the answer to this easy problem b/c i was thinkng the area of a trapezoid is sum of bases * altitude. totally forgot to divide by 2. I think this was a sign of me being totally rattled. I know that like the back of my hand. I even got the "hard" part of the problem right.
Verbal
Dunno what to tell you. Seemed like a normal verbal section. Got 2 boldface q's. don't know what that means - never got them in gmatprep. I did start to see some SC's that seemed too easy, but I got that in gmatprep, too..
Summary
I don't know- I felt very groggy yesterday - that could have something to do w/ it. But also- i feel like I was in the "zone" about a month ago. Although I know more properties, rules, etc now than I did then - I feel like I'm making more errors now. I don't "get" word problems as easy as I used to. I think may have been better at solving them by twsiting & bending them in my head than trying to write out the correct equations. Maybe I'm "overthinking" now. Plus, I think I mught just be burned out.
Well, I'm trying to get into a top program - and I have a sub-par undergrad GPA, so this score just won't so. I've rescheduled for the end of july - at 5:30PM to avoid any possiblity of grogginess (none of the test centers around here have any mid-day appts. wtf???)
Anybody with any advice on hitting a wall, burn-out, or prepping after you've finished
OG, I'd love to hear it!
Think I'm going to take a week or so break, then back at it!
Thanks to everyone for their help. This forum rocks!
PS- does anyone know if there's any way you can call & get a different appt. than what's available online? I find it hard to beleive that all the test centers around me only have 8:30AM & 9:00AM appointements!