A day before the GMAT

Question

Last 10 days before a major event, can give you goosebumps. GMAT is no different, after all the hardwork of 1 month or more (most spend more than 1 month) one starts to feel the heat. Tensions start to build-up on how the D-day would be I was no different. I followed advise of just doing practice tests in these 10 days and kept reviewing my performance. But I still need to work on my concentration levels in quant; bb has given me good advises, I hope they work with me. To keep me with the right tempo, I had planned to just relax on the last day. But I guess, its too difficul for me to do that. I'll spend some time on the GMAT

. I had my fare share of ups & downs with the confidence levels. MGMAT1 was bad and I had my worst performances in both verbal & quant, I just managed a 700. Although before I gave my first GMAT Prep, 700 seemed a decent score, but probably the GMAT Prep1 score of 740 raised my expectations. Which I believe now is completely futile

In total I gave 5 practice tests, 3 GMAT Preps and a MGMAT & a Kaptest. Now I am just awaiting for the final D-day. Everyone pls wish me luck!

Cornelius · Answer

Hi,
I am in the same boat as you. My exam is on October 30th. I am only going to take GMATPrep CATs this week during the time slot that my exam is in (8:00 am). You could do the same. Several forum members have suggested taking Mock CATs with AWA/AIA during the same time slot.
Best of luck to you!
Cornelius

sachininkar · Answer

Well you have company my GMAT is on 9th Nov. To make matters worse my boss is on block leave i am the only one handling the responsibilities. I Use to take 2-3 hrs from my stressful day.But now things will be lot more tough.
But yes if it was easy i would have not opted for it.
Good Luck do well

supereco87 · Answer

hey,
i guess the best thing is to stay calm. a bit of stress and pressure can be good for the concentration...but to much of it can be fatal...trust me i did this kind of experience, it was a disaster!!!
all the best

rajadi · Answer

Hi Cornelius, yes most of my friends also told me to take awa together, they say the longevity of the tests tend to drain you, especially since we aren't used to such long hours after college. i'll take your advice and give one or two CAT as per the real exam schedule.
All the best for your exam

Hey Sachininkar, all the best to you too.
Thanks supereco, sorry to hear about the disaster, but you still have a fairly good score. i hope such disasters don't happen with me or anybody else

rajadi · Answer

Gave GMATPrep 2 today in the day, 760 Q49 V44. final score is encouraging, but quant went down! can't really say if the questions were tough, now i have to review why a sudden drop in performance

Verbal was much better that I expected, although I could eliminate wrong choices in SC more easily now; I got 1  each  wrong each in CR & RC. The RC one was very close, it was the perfect second-best trap and I got trapped!

I plan to take 4 more tests, atleast one on MGMAT or Kaplan for a better comparision. Would it make more sense to take both MGMAT & Kaplan?

I am going to exercise daily till the exam in order to keep the stress levels in control, and remain physically fit. the last thing you want is an un-fit body right before the exam...

aimkp · Answer

Hi.. I am in same boat as my test on 2nd nov ..... took manhattan test and score was 650 (maths - 48 & verbal - 32). I wanna touch 700 + mark. I know my weaknesses CR nd RC and have to work on test. Need 2 feedbacks . is it possible to increase score in next 5 - 7 days in verbal by 5 points and quant 2-3 points.

Do reply back

Do reply back

rajadi · Answer

Manhattan scores are usually de-flated.. so a score of V32 should be around V36-V39 in actual GMAT, you can expect Q50, but in quant you can only go upto 51, even at 48 you can expect 700+ with V37-V39

ALL THE BEST!

rajadi · Answer

Just completed the 1st MGMAT test, got 700 Q48 V37!!

I didn't manage time effectively on Quant, and I wasn't in a good state of mind. I expected a low score in quant, as I didn't even finish the test. I need to find a good strategy that I don't overrun on time!

I was doing decent on the verbal, when in the last I committed many silly mistakes, and had six wrong in a row. I could realise my mistakes even while taking the exam. This cost heavily and a drastic decrease in score! I could have easily scored 40+ score. I need to improve my concentrations level.
Overall not so good experience after the MGMAT

PadawanOfTheGMAT · Answer

Always do AWAs during your CATs. On test day, AWAs are much more challenging because they are the first exercises and your body will be pumping a lot of adrenaline. So you have to be completely comfortable with them.

rajadi · Answer

Thanks Padawan for the advice, that surely helps. In fact, I tend to spend more than 30 mins. on AWA essays! So I started doing AWA during mock CATs. Any advices on how to be comfortable with AWAs and spend less time there?

rajadi · Answer

Gave GMAT Prep3 today. I started at actual test time and sat in an isolated room.

Got 760, Q50 & V44. Though the score is encouraging and is close to what I got earlier, I am still not able to break into Q51. This time I made 5 absolutely silly mistakes like small mis-calculation which impacted overall score. I got total 6 wrong, and I realised one mistake as soon as I reached the next question. I desperately need to improve on my concentration level in quant!

Also, AWAs tend to consume more time for me and so I am not able to make very good essays. Although AWAs don't affect my performance in rest of GMAT, but definitely AWA score would come out to be lower!

Verbal was consistent with a score of 44 and total 5 wrong. I just hope to repeat the same in actual GMAT

bb · Answer

That sounds like fantastic results. Try to check your work (5 secs) after each question, just look over. Also I found it helpful not to jump to calculations right away after reading the question but also give it a bit of time and then read the question the second time - try either of the strategies, may help (though I got only 49 on my Q).

rajadi · Answer

Thanks bb, that'll really help. Actually, I think both strategies would be helpful for me. I actually jump to calculations even before reading the complete Q, so I should control this habit! Thanks

Hope I do good in actual GMAT. Its day-after tomorrow...

nusmavrik · Answer

All the best rajadi !

bakfed · Answer

best of luck!

rajadi · Answer

Dear All, many thanks for the wishes! Hope to do well tomorrow
Fighting GMAT tomorrow morning

gurpreetsingh · Answer

Good luck !! have a blast !! Since your verbal score is quite good, I m sure you will score big tomorrow. Gmat gives more weightage to the verbal score.

Dreamy · Answer

Good luck. You will surely hit your target score. Keep us posted.

nusmavrik · Answer

rajadi
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