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11 May 2017, 09:22
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Link to my first debrief: https://gmatclub.com/forum/so-i-didn-t- ... 37152.html
I started studying for the GMAT on Feb 1st and took the exam on March 25th. I score a 570 with a Q44 V24 AWA 5.5 and IR 6.
I was definitely disappointed by my first appearance. I needed to score at least 650 for the school that I needed to apply to and my goal was to get a 700.
Materials Used: The Economist and OG17.
CATs in the 600-640 Range.
There was another deadline coming up for a school which required a minimum of 600+ on the GMAT on the 15th of May. So after about 10 days after my exam, I began prepping again.
My Quant had been pretty consistent and a lot of my problems in Verbal came down to timing and Sentence Correction.
I decided it would probably be best to get some new materials so I signed up for the EmpowerGmat Course. I was very familiar with all SC and Quant rules so I put a lot of emphasis on doing more material from the OG and reviewing those mistakes. I went through most of the EmpowerGmat course and found a lot of its tactics helpful, mainly the ones regarding DS, RC, and SC.
I took Rich's recommendation and did full-length practice tests under real test conditions. I even went out and purchased the MGMAT Scratch Pad. All these small things definitely helped with my test day stamina.
Practice Cats:
MGMAT 1: 630 (Q40 v36)
GMAT Pack 1 Test 1: 600 (Q46 v27)
GMAT Prep 1 Retake: 660 (Q46 v35)
GMAT Prep 2 Retake: 620 (Q44 v31)
Economist 5: 680 (Q50 v35)
I took my last practice cat on Saturday and reviewed it on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday did very light practice from the OG mainly SC and CR and read my book during the evenings to keep my reading skills sharp.
Was very relaxed day before the test, went on a walk in the morning, and a little run in the afternoon. Briefly went over my flash cards, and got everything ready for test day.
Woke up at 5:30 a.m on a good 7 hours of sleep. Did my normal bathroom routine. Did a few light exercises in my room (pushups, squats, planks) and then went on a brisk jog for about 20 minutes. Was feeling pretty good at this point. Had a quick shower then ate my breakfast while doing a quick 10 question warm up from the GMAT only easy questions (Mix of CR, SC, DS,&, PS). Got 9/10 correct and left for my exam at 7:00. Arrived at 7:30 and probably began my test by 7:45.
Everything started pretty smooth. The essay went well, IR was decent. Took a quick break Bathroom, Snack, Check In. The first question in Quant through me off my game a little it was something I hadn't really seen before. About 2:00 into the question I realized that I could probably solve it but it wouldn't be worth the additional 2 minutes. So I made an educated guess and moved on. I kept up with time for the most part but I was never able to get into a rhythm. I felt that every 3-4 Questions something weird would come up. I had to guess on the last question of the test but I guess that's not to big a deal. At this point, I knew it wasn't my best Quant Performance. But I wasn't too worried.
Felt fine went through the same break ritual.
Verbal Started fine. Nothing was too hard and again, for the most part, I was able to keep a good pace. Towards the end, I had about 10 minutes left and 6 Questions. Three of them came from my fourth RC. It was a nice and easy finance topic so I was able to get out of it with 5 minutes for 3 questions. I saw two CR's and one SC. I triaged one of the CR's. Made an educated guess on the second, and solved the last SC question with about 10 seconds to spare.
Score Comes up 550 (Q36 V29 IR5), needless to say, I canceled my score. I feel defeated and definitely in a lot of self-doubt. I have never worked so hard at something and sucked this bad. Over the last few months, I have disconnected myself from almost everything in my life such as family, friends, and hobbies. My ultimate goal is still to get a 700+ but for right now it feels like a pipe dream.
I think I am going to take a few weeks off and restrategize for a longer 3-month study plan. Hopefully, third time's the charm.
I apologize for the long post, but detailing my thoughts is really helpful.
Best of luck to all test takers out there, Never Give Up!
TLDR of my First Debrief:
I started studying for the GMAT on Feb 1st and took the exam on March 25th. I score a 570 with a Q44 V24 AWA 5.5 and IR 6.
I was definitely disappointed by my first appearance. I needed to score at least 650 for the school that I needed to apply to and my goal was to get a 700.
Materials Used: The Economist and OG17.
CATs in the 600-640 Range.
From then till now
There was another deadline coming up for a school which required a minimum of 600+ on the GMAT on the 15th of May. So after about 10 days after my exam, I began prepping again.
My Quant had been pretty consistent and a lot of my problems in Verbal came down to timing and Sentence Correction.
I decided it would probably be best to get some new materials so I signed up for the EmpowerGmat Course. I was very familiar with all SC and Quant rules so I put a lot of emphasis on doing more material from the OG and reviewing those mistakes. I went through most of the EmpowerGmat course and found a lot of its tactics helpful, mainly the ones regarding DS, RC, and SC.
I took Rich's recommendation and did full-length practice tests under real test conditions. I even went out and purchased the MGMAT Scratch Pad. All these small things definitely helped with my test day stamina.
Practice Cats:
MGMAT 1: 630 (Q40 v36)
GMAT Pack 1 Test 1: 600 (Q46 v27)
GMAT Prep 1 Retake: 660 (Q46 v35)
GMAT Prep 2 Retake: 620 (Q44 v31)
Economist 5: 680 (Q50 v35)
I took my last practice cat on Saturday and reviewed it on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday did very light practice from the OG mainly SC and CR and read my book during the evenings to keep my reading skills sharp.
Was very relaxed day before the test, went on a walk in the morning, and a little run in the afternoon. Briefly went over my flash cards, and got everything ready for test day.
Test Day Experience
Woke up at 5:30 a.m on a good 7 hours of sleep. Did my normal bathroom routine. Did a few light exercises in my room (pushups, squats, planks) and then went on a brisk jog for about 20 minutes. Was feeling pretty good at this point. Had a quick shower then ate my breakfast while doing a quick 10 question warm up from the GMAT only easy questions (Mix of CR, SC, DS,&, PS). Got 9/10 correct and left for my exam at 7:00. Arrived at 7:30 and probably began my test by 7:45.
Everything started pretty smooth. The essay went well, IR was decent. Took a quick break Bathroom, Snack, Check In. The first question in Quant through me off my game a little it was something I hadn't really seen before. About 2:00 into the question I realized that I could probably solve it but it wouldn't be worth the additional 2 minutes. So I made an educated guess and moved on. I kept up with time for the most part but I was never able to get into a rhythm. I felt that every 3-4 Questions something weird would come up. I had to guess on the last question of the test but I guess that's not to big a deal. At this point, I knew it wasn't my best Quant Performance. But I wasn't too worried.
Felt fine went through the same break ritual.
Verbal Started fine. Nothing was too hard and again, for the most part, I was able to keep a good pace. Towards the end, I had about 10 minutes left and 6 Questions. Three of them came from my fourth RC. It was a nice and easy finance topic so I was able to get out of it with 5 minutes for 3 questions. I saw two CR's and one SC. I triaged one of the CR's. Made an educated guess on the second, and solved the last SC question with about 10 seconds to spare.
Score Comes up 550 (Q36 V29 IR5), needless to say, I canceled my score. I feel defeated and definitely in a lot of self-doubt. I have never worked so hard at something and sucked this bad. Over the last few months, I have disconnected myself from almost everything in my life such as family, friends, and hobbies. My ultimate goal is still to get a 700+ but for right now it feels like a pipe dream.
I think I am going to take a few weeks off and restrategize for a longer 3-month study plan. Hopefully, third time's the charm.
I apologize for the long post, but detailing my thoughts is really helpful.
Best of luck to all test takers out there, Never Give Up!
11 May 2017, 12:48
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi Navski,
Your descriptions of your 2 Official GMATs have a lot in common - and they certainly make it appear that you had the right mindset and "game plan" to score higher. Your 'routine' on both Test Days (and in the days leading up to those Test Days) also sound well-thought-out. This is all meant to say that you're properly handling certain aspects of this process. That having been said, since your Test Day Scores are again lower than your CAT scores, there are clearly some aspects to Test Day that were not accounted for during your studies. To start, you appear to have made some similar errors in terms of how you took your CATs this time around - at least 2 of your CATs were 'retakes' of CATs that you had already used (and those results are almost certainly 'inflated' and cannot be considered realistic). Your final CAT score also seems like a big 'outlier' (so I have to assume that the Q50 is also unrealistic).
Given the overall similarities in both of these experiences, and similar score results, I'm wondering if there's anything 'external' to Test Day that might have impacted your performance. Did you do anything "new"/different in the last 3 days before your Exam (or did you stop doing things that you would normally do?)? Did you travel, change medications, sleep in a different bed, cut back on smoking, etc?
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Your descriptions of your 2 Official GMATs have a lot in common - and they certainly make it appear that you had the right mindset and "game plan" to score higher. Your 'routine' on both Test Days (and in the days leading up to those Test Days) also sound well-thought-out. This is all meant to say that you're properly handling certain aspects of this process. That having been said, since your Test Day Scores are again lower than your CAT scores, there are clearly some aspects to Test Day that were not accounted for during your studies. To start, you appear to have made some similar errors in terms of how you took your CATs this time around - at least 2 of your CATs were 'retakes' of CATs that you had already used (and those results are almost certainly 'inflated' and cannot be considered realistic). Your final CAT score also seems like a big 'outlier' (so I have to assume that the Q50 is also unrealistic).
Given the overall similarities in both of these experiences, and similar score results, I'm wondering if there's anything 'external' to Test Day that might have impacted your performance. Did you do anything "new"/different in the last 3 days before your Exam (or did you stop doing things that you would normally do?)? Did you travel, change medications, sleep in a different bed, cut back on smoking, etc?
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
11 May 2017, 14:26
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi Rich,
My retakes were definitely inflated, but not by much. I went from (650-660) and from (610-620). Q50 is definitely an outlier a lot of the questions in that CAT played to my strengths.
The only reason I didn't do the other 3 GMAT Prep exams, is because I noted that my realistic range is probably between a 600-640. I didn't want to waste Official Material when I knew the results would be similar.
I didn't really do anything different, I used to play a lot of sports so I know how to get myself mentally prepared for an exam. I used Redbull and Snickers while studying, and cut it out 3 days before the exam, and then used it on Test Day. At no point during the exam was I phased or bothered by the clock. Ironically enough midway through Verbal Section, I thought this is my day, I am going to get an awesome score. I guess I was never able to pick up a Hot Streak of consecutive questions.
Any Ideas on what I should do next?
My retakes were definitely inflated, but not by much. I went from (650-660) and from (610-620). Q50 is definitely an outlier a lot of the questions in that CAT played to my strengths.
The only reason I didn't do the other 3 GMAT Prep exams, is because I noted that my realistic range is probably between a 600-640. I didn't want to waste Official Material when I knew the results would be similar.
I didn't really do anything different, I used to play a lot of sports so I know how to get myself mentally prepared for an exam. I used Redbull and Snickers while studying, and cut it out 3 days before the exam, and then used it on Test Day. At no point during the exam was I phased or bothered by the clock. Ironically enough midway through Verbal Section, I thought this is my day, I am going to get an awesome score. I guess I was never able to pick up a Hot Streak of consecutive questions.
Any Ideas on what I should do next?
