2nd disastrous gmat score of my life

Question

I am so highly disappointed

I had taken GMAT 3 years ago and had ended up getting 600 (Q-44,V-29). Again yesterday I took my GMAT (2nd attempt)and ended up with same score 600 (q-47,v-26) I have been consistently getting scores within the range of 680 to 740 during my last 3 months prep in all the GMATPrep and Manhattan tests. Yesterday when I saw my score I could not believe the numbers flashing on the screen. I am totally confused. Unfortunately i am an engineer+IT and belong to the very common pool of applicants and to get to any good school I need to make it to 700+ pool of applicants. After yesterday's experience I have lost confidence if I can do with the self study and can still take a100 points leap and in third attempt too I'l end up with the same score:( Plz suggest should I give it another shot, is it okey to have 3 scores? What should be my strategy? Please guide.

pinchharmonic · Answer

yashii, i just took mine and I didn't have the same experience you did. i got a bit higher than my best GMAT prep, and similarly, most people score around their best gmat prep score...there must be something fundamentally different (or wrong) about how you take the real test and how you take the practice tests. Are you seeing repeat problems during practice? are you taking them under the same circumstances, for instance, proper 75 min sections, 8 min breaks...etc? (i took all my practice tests without the essays so I don't think it really matters whether you do the essays.. i actually think the essays help you calm down before the real stuff).

also, you have to remember that the scope of the gmat is very large so you can easily get questions that you're great at on one test and questions you are absolutely horrible at in another -- happened to me all throughout my prep as evidenced by really odd fluctuations in my scores. By the way, I took far longer than 3 months to cover all the topics... that might be something you should consider.

yashii9 · Answer

Although I took all my tests properly without rushing through and yes skipped the AWA part. I am still under shock and unable to believe the score I saw at the end of my test

Here is what I did: I spent about 2 months learning verbal and did not focus at all on Quant (Considering it my strength- I would score around 49-50 in practice tests). My verbal score would vary between 32 to 38. After writing Manhattan and GmatPrep tests multiple times yes I did see few repeats, though the first test I wrote before starting my prep also gave a score of 650. I went through Manhattan verbal books one by one- as in completed the Manhattan strategy guide for CR and did all the CRs from OG 11,12 and practiced few questions from here and there. Same practice i repeated for other verbal sections. And for Quant I just did OG Questions. Please guide how did you go about your practice? Which books you followed and how much time you took for each book to complete? How often did you take the practice tests and in what sequence? I would highly appreciate your advice. Thanks Yashii

DataAce1701 · Answer

Hi Yashii9,

I am sorry to hear that things did not work out . However if you do plan to give the GMAT again know this "You can nail IT" . A few things i noticed in your prep.

"2 months learning verbal and did not focus at all on Quant" :

A very risky approach . I believe since GMAT DS can be very very tricky . I feel MGMAT quant guides will help you reach atleast 49 if you meticulously study these guides. I personally went throught the quant guides almost 3 times and was absolutely certain i would get all 600-700 level questions right.
Followed up with OG12 & Quant guide - twice . i ended up with 49 which for indian engineers i guess is OK

"verbal score would vary between 32 to 38."

Too much variation i guess but more analysis required on how your scores varied across your prep timelines. RC is all bout technique and practice . MGMAT RC is good for technique. For practice apart from OG & verbal guide the RC passages here on GMATclub are good. CR - I recommend Powerscore Bible. Use the CR tags on GMATclub for quality questions.And for SC i feel E-gmat is pretty good.You could use MGMAT as a reference book.

I feel its the intensity and not only the duration of prep that ultimately matters.Here on this forum we have guys studying 45 days and scoring 750s whereas guys like me only after 6 months of prep managed a 700+.

Remember dear friend that it is on days like these when all hope seems lost and there seems to be no way ahead that we need to persevere and forge our legacy . The Real champions are not those who never fall, but those who pick themselves everytime they fall and continue on the path to glory. I believe you can and you will suceed. Plan your prep well and analyze your weakness . You will surely emerge stronger and will eventually conquer the GMAT.

G2

pinchharmonic · Answer

yashi,

i echo what the previous guy said. one overarching impression of the gmat test was that the math is much harder than i would have thought. The verbal was actually much easier than GMAT prep, but who knows, it may have been just my particular test that day.

my last gmat prep score was q49, v 41 740. I spent the next 3 weeks almost exclusively on math. Why? Because I wanted to get 49 again or possibly even a 50 on the real thing. The verbal ability, particularly the ability of CR and RC is not something easy to improve in a short period of time, and not something I think you "lose" easily either. So basically the last 3 weeks I'd say 95% math, 5% SC. Not that doing verbal is useless, but if you are strong in math getting a 50 or 51 really catapults your score.

I HIGHLY suggest you find the GMAT PREP 1 and GMAT PREP 2 DS and PS problems (i got them on this forum) -- every single last one of them. Some guy hacked the software and outputted every problem and these are gold.. In fact, I also did all the problems for SC, and CR as well (SC and CR have like 200 questions total and won't take that long to complete). However, you're looking at 800 problems for GMAT PREP 1 and 2 DS and PS combined.

So anyway, since I only had 3 weeks, I was only able to complete the entire GMAT PREP 1 DS/PS problems. I didn't do a single GMAT PREP 2 problem aside from taking the test itself. I also was still going through OG/quantitative review problems i recorded that i either got wrong, thought were good problems, or were overall tough. all that emphasis on quant and my final score was

750 q49 v44

so as you can see, all that work on quant and i basically got the same score I got on the real thing so either i learned nothing those 3 weeks (not true) or the real quant is just that much harder (probably the case). moreover, my verbal score goes to 44 from 41 with very little preparation between my last prep test and the real thing.

if i had more time i would have done both GMAT prep 1 and GMAT prep 2 math questions. Yea it would take over a month, but you can finish all the OG stuff, manhattan stuff, etc. and then see stuff completely unrecognizable when you do the GMAT prep software.

if you aren't already, make sure you log every problem you get wrong OR you feel you want to try again. I just did it in a google spreadsheet. the list started with over 100 problems, and each pass through the list i'd remove problems i mastered. some problems i never mastered, but this process was how i learned.

yashii9 · Answer

Thank you both for your great suggestions. I hope this time I'l do better.

I have one more question: How did you take the practice tests? 1.How often? 2.Which all and in what sequence? 3.Did you re-take a test few times (I mean Did you see too many repeats) ? Thanks Yashii

pinchharmonic · Answer

I started with GMAT PREP 1 (saving GMAT PREP 2 for 3 weeks before the real thing), then did all except one of the manhattan tests -- this happened over the course of a few months. I was doing a practice test every week, but then quickly realized it should be more like a test every 2-3 weeks. I'm not sure if the manhattan tests are that useful as far as the content. Although I reviewed the ones I got wrong immediately after the test, i never logged those problems in my main data sheets to go over again. I only cared for material that was official since that is the most representative of the test.

I think the advantage of manhattan tests are:

1.) there are so many of them so you can take tests without repeats
2.) since there are no repeats you can become familiar taking these 75 + 75 minute tests, working on your timing and learning to give up on problems.

the biggest advantage for manhattan stuff is the forum and the guides. When it comes to verbal related stuff, if you have doubts, go to the manhattan forum. trying to get answers to sentence correction on this forum or any other generic gmat forum is honestly a complete waste of time (unless an instructor responded).

DataAce1701 · Answer

Hi,

1.How often?
I gave 8 tests in a space of 3 weeks

2.Which all and in what sequence?
a-rollercoaster-to-134589.html

3.Did you re-take a test few times (I mean Did you see too many repeats) ?
Nope

Cheers
DataAce1701

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2nd disastrous gmat score of my life

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