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GMATY14
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540 >530 Another GMAT horror story !! Please Help 21 Dec 2013, 08:55
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Hi All

On sept 2013 I took my GMAT and got a mere 540 after 6 months of preparation .Today was another fateful day and I got less than 540 i.e 530.To my surprise I got 40 in Quants and 1 point increase in Verbal which is 23 so the split up is Q40 V23. This is the worst thing that can happen to anyone. Infact to someone in IT field in India, where we barely get time to study.I squeezed time out of my busy schedule and could not score well :(..Is there any way I can improve ? I feel so dumb right now..
The exam scenario:

In quants:
I found so many tough questions on number systems and almost all were DS related to modules, timing was also an issue but then I am not able to figure out from where to start ? Please help

In verbal:
I am again clueless where I go wrong and where to prepare from..OG 13 I have gone through 3 times and know the concepts thoroughly.

I need a good strategy :( Please help

Thanks

Sorry for the wierd post but I am just too much cried out :( :cry:
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540 >530 Another GMAT horror story !! Please Help 21 Dec 2013, 12:02
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I know how do you feel but you are not dumb. Honestly, yhe test is really difficult, so do not lose your faith and spirit.

Certainly is that you must reformulate your strategy.

first of all: could you tell me the material that you have used for your preparation ??

thanks
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GMATY14
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540 >530 Another GMAT horror story !! Please Help 22 Dec 2013, 02:29
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carcass
I know how do you feel but you are not dumb. Honestly, yhe test is really difficult, so do not lose your faith and spirit.

Certainly is that you must reformulate your strategy.

first of all: could you tell me the material that you have used for your preparation ??

thanks
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During the 540 Phase
I joined TPR followed everything they told and got the mock scores

1.520 (Diagnostic)
2.430
3.450
4.550
5.550
6.550
7.580
8.680
9.570

I did OG 13 too

Scored a 540 but in the exam :(

Second phase 530

I just did MGMAT Number properties as I was weak in this in DS

For SC I got MGMAT SC guide and solved it not thoroughly but did MGMAT CAT 1 - got 530 and MGMAT CAT 2 - 570

Then I started solving official questions and gave GMAT Prep - score 530 but that was because I skipped all the CR and RC. I wanted to check how am I doing in SC section..

On D day:
AWA went fine ..IR too was good ..Maths I could see as timings issues and I was struggling with simple questions also .As expected Number theory questions having modules and expressions like|x|>|y| ...screwed my case.
Verbal was all fine ...I do not know what happened but I get most of RCs wrong all the time

Thanks

Please help
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540 >530 Another GMAT horror story !! Please Help 22 Dec 2013, 04:42
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I could approach my answer in a specific way and in a more general way. So, I try to go straight to the point and to be schematic step by step.

The general way

Here on the board you can see for each section the best links and sources seeing the sticky post or announcements at the top of each section/subsection (i.e. verbal forum/critical reasoning forum)

Look at this and read very carefully. gmat-study-plan-how-to-start-your-gmat-prep-80727.html

Best books best-gmat-books-118706.html

Im suggesting just two of the most useful links (just to point out) but i do not want waste time providing you links on links that you can easily find on your own.

I want instead give you some advice.

The particular way

For quant part, in my personal opinion if you can afford the purchasing of a/more books I would advise you : TOTAL gmat math di sackman

Instead to buy several books MGMAT and kaplan and this and that .....buy one and you have all you need. Really, Believe me. then try to have the OG 13th and do all questions even several times and for EACH question try to learn how it works, the way: what is the area of content it tests, the strategy to tackle and so on.....

And this bunuel-signature-collection-all-in-one-with-solutions-146628.html#p1176711

As for verbal.

SC In my opinion avoid MGAMT SC too convoluted, instead use Aristotle SC 3th edition if you can or take a look at this meaning-clarity-sc-question-bank-by-carcass-souvik-145694.html#p1168341 and this ultimate-sentence-correction-encyclopedia-147357.html

For CR Yet use Aristotle guide or look at this critical-reasoning-megathread-145178.html

For RC. Perhaps this is the most diufficult section to improve, because you need time to rise your learning curve. RC is a sort of stratification to achive a really good point. Practice.

ultimate-reading-comprehension-encyclopedia-150022.html

Its all for now. Ask whatever you wanna. We are here to hel p you.

Regards
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540 >530 Another GMAT horror story !! Please Help 22 Dec 2013, 07:46
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GMATY14
Thanks for the help :)
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For Verbal, I tried going through MGMAT.

It just does not work. My score was not seeing any type of improvement!

I took eGMAT for SC and improved my score significantly. I recommend taking eGMAT if you are struggling with verbal, which seems like you are.

If you don't take eGMAT just take some other prep course for verbal. Books couldn't really make any difference for me, and I think my English is good.

Anyway, I went from V28->V37 in less than a week with eGMAT.

What I liked about eGMAT is the fact that they didn't only explain concepts like modifiers, and Subject/Verb agreement but also how to apply it quickly.

When I took my exam, I found myself magically identifying errors in all SCs and in less than a second having 1 or 2 choices to pick from with my final choice being usually correct!
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