gmatjediii wrote:
I have been studying for 1 week with a total of 9-10 hours of studying and i took my first
manhattan gmat class last saturday. My class ends july 7th, and i plan on taking the gmat july 27th. My goal is to score above 650, really hungry for a 700. I have been reading up on the gmat and after seeing in places that you dont generally score higher than 100-150 points more than from your first diagnostic test I was really dreading taking my first cat. And i scored a 400 =( not gonna lie im really really really down about it, i actually just stared at my screen score for about 45 minutes after i finished because i was fml. So guys im working full time now just started a job 9-6 m-f and i can dedicate about 8- 10 hours a week worth of studying. is my goal possible? im not one to quit and getting this 400 has really got me going right now. But is it possible to go from 400 cat to 650-700 on the gmat? if so what can i do to attain it. i have all 15 books that come with the manhattan course. i decided to join this forum because i literally know not one other person who is taking or has taken the gmat please some words of wisdom!
Dear gmatjedii,
Dont be disheartened after just the first attempt, infact after any attempt. These diagnostic tests are in place to tell one his/her weaknesses so that one does not commit the same errors on the day it matters. There is always speculation surrounding the difficulty levels/ scoring patterns of all such tests wrt the actual GMAT. To beat this, I recommend that as a start you first take the mock GMAT test (1 of the 2 freely downloadable from gmat site). That is an exact replica, at a difficulty level, of the actual GMAT. Then I would recommend that you analyse the results hard to determine the weak sections and sub-sections. Then go about tackling them accordingly.
Inspite of your work schedule, there is adequate time for you to practice and improve in a scientific manner. Keep working on it and dont forget to analyse each test very thoroughly irrespective of the score. After all, as I said earlier, it is important for you to not repeat any of the mistakes on D-day!
All the best.