4th GMAT attempt and truely disappointing.....

Question

Hey All

So i have taken the GMAT as of today for the 4th time and came out truly disheartened when the score came up on screen got a 480 again. So at the moment I am stuck scratching my head wondering what I am doing wrong, as when I do practice tests I am scoring around the 650 mark.

Has anybody got any advice as to what I should do next in terms of study strategy? 
should I consider a retake in the next month? as there are school deadlines approaching or take a longer view?

any tips would be helpful

Thanks!

cedric7 · Answer

@ bgpower - thanks for the advice appreciate it.

So I did a CAT last night, not that it was my best performance, but it pretty much might be fall over from the acutal test. I have attached all the breakdowns, if any one would like to have a look?

rajeevrks27 · Answer

Hey Cedric7, i thought i would mention the comments here. After going through your detailed diagnostic score, I seriously think that you must go through the foundation books as suggested by bgpower. Those books are really good to prepare a much needed base for you. The reason why these books are required is that since your performance has not improved with so many retakes, you probably have gaps in your understanding of basics. Once you will have a strong foundation with mgmat foundation books, then it will be advisable to move to next level,which is set of 8 books by mgmat. You may like to skip mgmat CR and read powerscore instead.
lemme know if i can help you in anything.

wallstreetbarbie · Answer

Having been at 490 myself I can tell you that with a good diligent study and attacking your weaknesses there will be improvement!

i would suggest you buy the MGMAT Sentence correction book... with it you get access to their cat exams. The reason their CATS are awesome is because their analytics really show you where you are weak. That is step one. From there you can choose where to focus and what you have already mastered.

The way I read your debrief it appears as though you were taking paper tests? If I read that wrong my appologies. If this is the case then you may have scored a 650 by luck... and paper exams are not really representative of a CAT. Maybe this is your issue?

01dynamic · Answer

If this was your 4th attempt then you might have already tried self study......... i will say look into some of the GMAT prep courses which will help you understanding basics. I am also in the same boat for Verbal section....Manhattan GMAT course is good for both the Quant and Verbal....worth taking a look at ....most of these Gmat prep courses will let you attend their first class for free.....

cedric7 · Answer

@wallstreetbarbie - I have access to 6 MGMAT tests now and I agree their diagnostic break down in good. Well I used scored 800.com, GMATlife, and some paper tests that I got through a friend of mine which are the official paper ones.

I also have access to the 8 MGMAT books so will be using those as well in combination with the strategies discussed before.

@01dynamic - I did do a months intensive course with Veritas and I have their books as well, I think i can still go to any of their classes for free as well as see a personal tutor if necessary.

gmatyro · Answer

Hi,
Many of them have given excellent advise but here's my two cents. I'm also in the same boat but have not taken the GMAT yet. Have been studying for a few mo's now and took the Kaplan GMAT course which has helped me with my fundamentals. My practice CAT's (3 of them) with kaplan have scored 560 but have taken a 2 week breather and want to work on the final stretch to see whether i can hit the 700 barrier. I've scheduled my GMAT last week of May and am going to go full force for the next 2 mo's. 
My advice: Don't lose hope and practice will make you perfect. Good Luck!!!

wallstreetbarbie · Answer

I guess I posted without finishing the whole thread.

Took a quick look at your MGMAT diagnostic. While I am no expert I will share with you what I know. Any area where you are scoring below 50% is considered a weakness. You should revisit those chapters of the MGMAT books (or whatever source you are using). Your goal should be to be able to answer all the 300-500 level questions with 100% accuracy.

SC looks pretty good and for the time being is a strength... Spend time getting through the CR and RC books. Skip the foundations of verbal book as that is mostly grammar focused from what I have seen. However, for quant make sure you go through it. I found it helpful. I would read the foundations chapter first, do their in action problems and then move on the same chapter on their strategy guide. The fundamentals allowed me to build upon what the strategy guide was teaching.

cedric7 · Answer

@wallstreetbarbie - thanks for having a look through, I have started like you say and the strategy by bgpower to go through RC and CR for a couple weeks intensively. Will then look at the quant foundations its seems like number properties and FDP seem to be my main weaknesses based on the report on the CAT.

Is there anything I can do like on the way to work and at work?

Is there anything I can do like on the way to work and at work?

rajeevrks27 · Answer

You may download the i-phone application by gmatclub gmat-toolkit-iphone-ipod-ipad-application-82830.html or you may prepare your own flashcards or download them from gmatclub or btg.

wallstreetbarbie · Answer

I second the gmat club app... Unfortunately on the subway I am unable to pull out a book and read or solve problems so I play around with the gmat club flashcards as well as the decks i have already made.

Also, when I first started prepping I found that I made tons of silly arithmetic mistakes. I have not done mental math in ages so I guess its to be expected. So I went online and downloaded 3rd grade math sheets with multiplication, addition, subtraction, division. Each sheet had like 40 problems each and I would work on them if I got a seat on the subway lol... yes i got many weird stared but who cares! Did this for about 3 months and it has helped me tremendously.

cedric7 · Answer

ok will get that app as well as it probably be better that people watching and listening to music! I have the MGMAT app as well which has flashcards also good?

agreed on the silly mistakes on the math maybe i should do the same as you and do more arthimetic type questions. I noticed that when i did a bit of fraction/decimal type prep it was definitely apparent.

AbhiJ · Answer

At 450 and 4 GMAT attempts, you need to reinvent your strategies, both in verbal and quant.

I would suggest you to get a local tutor or if you can afford try to get in touch with Grockit Tutors ( 50$/hour). Do not take a tutor for learning concepts: rather tell them about your time constraints and study sources and ask them to schedule weekly goals for you. Communicate your progress with them on a weekly basis.

For Math Basics:
Try this book
https://www.amazon.com/GRE-GMAT-Math-Sys ... 1453633987

Then move to MGMAT/Veritas Books.

cedric7 · Answer

@AbhiJ - I had a tutor from Veritas but at the moment he is booked up, are there any Grockit tutors in London? how would I arrange a session with them?

cedric7 · Answer

hi

so been working on RC most of this week and all, and I seem to be getting stumped on inference questions a lot, is there any tips for this? I seem to read a few strategies that all same roughly the same thing, that statements must be true from information provided and to look out for extreme language.

is there another way?

cedric7 · Answer

hi all

so its been 3 weeks now and have worked through RC and now on to quant number properties and equations. Just had a question about topics that are completed would it be advisable to contine doing questions on those areas while doing the new topics? so in this case continue with RC questions?

thanks

rajeevrks27 · Answer

Highly recommended to do some prac of the previously learned topic(RC in ur case, must do atleast 3 RCs a day), otherwise you will unlearn whatever you have learned so far.
All the best.

cedric7 · Answer

just thought I would come back on here, done all the RC questions in the GMAT verbal review 2nd is there any other sources I could use to get more practice questions? or should I purchase the question pack from the new GMAT software?

Also was wondering have worked through the number properties and still feel I need more practice on these where is a good place to get more questions?

thanks

rajeevrks27 · Answer

Hey Cedric, straight way dive into the RC and Quant sections of GMATCLUB forums, there is plethora of valuable resourses out there. BB has already sorted out the questions level wise and topic wise.
good luck buddy.

cedric7 · Answer

Hi again all

so its about 2 weeks or so before the 5th June Gmat change over, and I think I have come to the realisation that I dont think I will be prepared enough to take the exam before then...which kind of sucks as I thought I wouldnt need to study for this new section of integrated reasoning. Feel as though this is another set back, any thoughts??

Thanks

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4th GMAT attempt and truely disappointing.....

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