mikemcgarry wrote:
saket2160 wrote:
Hello,
After 3 months of prep i took the GMAT today and got a score of 630 Q49 V 26. I am unable to accept my verbal score as i am very confident that i had done well in the same and even finished in time.I want to know if there are any other members who have faced this kind of issue after taking their GMAT where there was a staggering difference between their expected and reported score. My quants score was in the 79th percentile and and verbal score was in the 43rd percentile!!
Just to give you a brief background of my prep stats, i had taken
MGMAT tests,GMAT Prep and GMATPrepExamPack Tests.My scores in the
MGMAT tests were in the range of 680 to 730 and my last two GMAT Prep scores were 720 and 750(Q 50 V 40).
I am finding it very difficult to accept this score because i know i couldn't have performed so bad as to get a V 26.I was able to maintain my timing and could see some tough CR questions hinting that i must be on the right track(Even got a boldface which people consider an indicator of good performance).
I have written to the Pearson GMAT support as well as GMAC regarding my situation .Lets see if they can do something for me, but more than that i am really hoping to get some kind of explanation/insights on this from you guys.
P.S: I am in Kuala Lumpur and strangely i was the only one taking the GMAT at my centre today.
Dear
saket2160,
I'm happy to respond.
My friend, I am going to give you some hard advice. Unfortunately, it's much more common than people expect to have a real GMAT performance that is 50 or even 100 points below the level of practice GMATs. This is very common for a variety of reasons. You seem to think that GMAC did something wrong or made a mistake. I realize this may be hard to accept, but I believe the very best way for you to move forward is to take
full personal responsibility for this outcome. For whatever reason, you were not able to perform at your maximum potential when it really mattered. That's it. Placing blame on anyone else is not going to help you one iota. Accept this outcome fully, accept it as entirely due to you, and resolve to do better next time. I realize this may not be easy to accept, but I really believe it is the route that will lead most quickly to improvement for you.
I don't know whether English is your first language, but if it is a second language, keep in mind that stress can significantly impact one's command of and comfort with a second language. Stress, that is to say, the activity of Sympathetic Nervous System, operates at several levels, and even when we don't consciously "feel" stressed, it still can impact our behavior, especially as regards complex skills, such as command of a second language.
I assume a retake is in your future. I have a few pieces of advice. First of all, to boost your Verbal, you need to develop a habit of reading. Read every day. Read at least an hour a day, over and above any GMAT preparations. Read hard, challenging, sophisticated material in English. I assume, since you are taking the GMAT, that you intend to get an MBA. If that is the case, you already should be reading the
Wall Street Journal every day and the
Economist magazine from cover to cover every week. If you don't have a background in the natural sciences, you should read
Scientific American from cover to cover every month. Here are some more suggestions:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-reading-list/A habit of reading is the only way to pick up all the subtleties of sophisticated writing, those aspects of English that are so core and yet so hard to formulate as explicit rules. That kind of sense of English is invaluable on the GMAT.
Here's a free set of GMAT Idiom flashcards, which you can use on the web or download on a mobile device:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/flashcards/idiomsHere's a 3-month study plan for improving Verbal:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-gm ... l-focused/Finally, I am going to guess that, in preparing for the GMAT, you spend a great deal of time learning content and study strategies, but spent virtually no significant effort on stress management skills. Here is a series of articles that addresses this concern:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/overcome-g ... y-breathe/https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/beating-gmat-stress/https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/the-gmat-b ... g-picture/https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/zen-boot-c ... -the-gmat/https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/curiosity- ... n-success/My friend, one characteristic of the great human beings in all times and places is their willingness to take full responsibility for the consequences of their actions, both intention and unintentional. My wish for you is nothing less than greatness.
Mike
Hi Mike,
Thank you very much for taking the time to analyze my case. Deeply appreciate your advice on me taking responsibility of the outcome.It has been almost a week since the test now and i still find it very difficult to accept the result completely.However, as you have mentioned it is time to move on and prepare with a more robust strategy for my retake which i plan to take within a month.
No, English is not my first language but i never had to struggle with it.You have a very valid point about managing "Stress" and now that i am in the process of introspection i think stress along with anxiety might have unknowingly inhibited my performance levels on D Day.As for reading,unfortunately no i hadn't taken up reading journals such as The Economist or WSJ.I do read from time to time and the last book i was reading was East of Eden,but it went back on the shelf as my prep for GMAT gained momentum.Nevertheless, i have made a note of this along with all the other suggestions made by you for boosting my verbal score.
I have also gone through a lot of retake success stories on this forum and made note of the various techniques that people adopted to improve their score.Till now i have the following action items for the next one month of prep:
> Read more articles online from journals to prep for RC
> Practice SC questions from
OG and thoroughly read the answer explanations for each question.
> Purchase the GMATPrep Question Pack to get some more practice on the official questions.(This is based on recommendations from a few people on this forum)
> Go through all the questions i had answered incorrectly during all my mock/prep tests.
> Practice a few old pen paper tests as they are much more time crunched than the current GMAT format.This would help me with managing time better.
> Take atleast 4 full length GMAT mock tests in the last 10 days.
> I have not planned much for Quants as i am fairly confident of the same and will just keep practicing some tests to maintain the momentum.
> Most important is that i need to train my mind to keep calm and not let anxiety get the best of me. I am sure if i am able take the test whilst keeping my cool i will be able to get a score in the same range as my mock tests.
Please feel free to add to this list.Once again thank you very much for your honest suggestions. Your comments truly helped me face and accept the reality.
Regards,
Shashank