550 to 750 - How YOU can be just as successful

Hi Risy82! Great debrief...very encouraging since I too am planning to retake the GMAT after scoring a disappointing 670 on my first attempt. I say disappointing since I was mostly getting 700+ on my practice tests. But I have to admit that even then my Verbal score would waver. On good days, I would get 41/42 and on bad days 36. I reckon, the test day was one of the bad days since I scored a 36 on my Verbal. I have major timing issues here. I really don't know what to do differently on my verbal. But one thing I do remember from my exam day experience is that I was totally dazed when the verbal section started. I guess, lack of stamina got the better of me. This is indeed surprising because i took 6-7 prep tests under exam conditions.

Please help!

risys82,

Great story! Right now I can use some motivation. I'm into the 3rd month of my 2nd attempt at the GMAT. During this second attempt I took the Knewton online course, which was good but, it got me to about 65% ready I figured. After finishing the online course I was scored 530 on a Knewton GMAT CAT (Q35/V29), but that was a month ago now. I felt like I needed to take a few steps back in order to get a few steps forward. I bought the MGMAT series, and i'm currently on the 3rd guide. After the 2nd MGMAT guide I tried writing one of the MGMAT Cat's and didn't even get half way through the quant with out stopping it and telling my self that I need to study more quant before going back.

So right now i'm doing the advanced section on the MGMAT guide #3, i'm finding the questions pretty difficult and discouraging at the same time. In fact discouraging to the point that this week I haven't been able to study for more than 2 hours per day.

So enough about me and my story. I guess what I liked to know is how did you study for 6 months straight? Right now i'm having trouble finding motivation in the 3rd month. Also on average it's taking me about 1.5 - 2 weeks to get through an MGMAT series book, this includes doing all the problems in both the MGMAT and the OG 12 questions listed. How long did it take you on average, and did you start going back and reviewing the MGMAT texts that you already finished or did you finish all of them and than start reviewing them again?

All in all, right now i'm trying not to burn out, especially given the fact that during my first attempt at the GMAT I psyched my self out, and scored way below what I was getting on my practice GMAT's, which was around 600's.

One thing I know is that I'M UP FOR THE CHALLENGE!

risys82, thank you for your post, I look forward to hearing from you.

Congrats risys82, what a great post it was !! Very helpful...

This post is really inspirational! Congratulations, risys82!!

I surely will get back to this post countless times before I write my GMAT (even after).

Thank you for the kind words. I have applied to PhD programs and was accepted into one of my top choices, so I'm happy. For the sake of anonymity, I will leave out the name of the program (Unlike MBA programs, PhD programs only take a small handful of students)

A post that I printed as soon as I read it. Most helpful. Thank you!

Congrats on a good score. I am experiencing a similar situation where I got a low score in diag test and then in practice started getting 650 but i haven't met my goal of 700+ in my practice yet. This is the reason why i am delaying to give my final GMAT exam. I have tried MGMAT and OG all this time. Any more hints to help me get better? I am at the limit for Q 47 but my verbal is weak and stays around 35.

Thanks for a nice story.

fantastic story, hats off, regards

Wow! such a great story that you shared here. After I read it, it totally cheers me up. Thank you so much

Congrats! Seems like you were really thorough!

Congratulations on your result!

great post man! awesome progress

+1 awesome post. It helped me a lot to get motivation.

inspiring and honest!

Thank you for sharing your GMAT experience and I have found your post to be profoundly useful and encouraging. I have adopted it as part of my strategy.

Congratualtions! You Deserve It!+1

Congratulations...you have really inspired me...thank you soooo much for your post....thank you