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02 Jul 2016, 17:51
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I apologize in advance for the very long post and I am wholeheartedly grateful to ANYONE who reads this.
Me: Just graduated from college and starting my full-time job in about 1 week. Would like to go back to grad school in 2 years so I am taking the GMAT ahead of time.
Prep: Took an online Manhattan Prep course for 2 months starting in December. Took a diagnostic exam with about 2 weeks left in the course and scored a 620. My goal is simply to break 700. The course ended mid-February and I began studying by myself. I had one class from 2:00-3:15 and another from 3:30-4:45 Mon-Thurs. I would grab dinner after class and start doing OG problem sets from 6:00/7:00 to 10:00/11:00pm. On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays I would study 4-8 hours each day. My study sessions consisted of doing problems, reviewing, creating an error log and revisiting the problems I got wrong. This went on from end of February to mid-May. I took MGMAT diagnostic exams periodically and kept scoring in the same realm of 600-620-- I felt like I was genuinely learning more and more but there was ZERO improvement to my score.
Exam 1: I took my first exam on May 28 definitely not expecting a 700, but to my dismay I scored lower than I ever had on any practice test: a 590 (31Q/40V). Took a diagnostic exam on MGMAT 1 week later and scored a 600 (37Q/35V).
Post-exam assessment: I realized I kept studying for the GMAT like an academic test. Didn't realize I should have been skipping questions too hard for me, which really messed up my pacing each time I took the exam. I did well in Verbal but that was largely due to me skipping every CR question because I can't solve them on test day to save my life--this bought me time to spend on other questions like SC and RC.
Restart Studying: Having finished school, I had about 1 month of complete free time left to study before I start my job and got GREAT instruction in a Post-Exam assessment that Manhattan Prep provides and came up with a target (42Q/44V) to pull me to a 700. I scheduled to retake the exam July 2 ahead of starting work.
1 week into June I started studying the foundations, diagnosing problem areas, learning fundamentals, moving up to OG 16 and Quantitative Review problems and felt that I improved in my ability to tackle questions. Took a CAT exam using GMATPrep software (for the first time ever) after two weeks of revising my study strategy and scored a 640 (42Q/35V) on June 24. Took another GMATPrep CAT exam two days later and got a 650 (42Q/38V) on June 26. I knew I was improving on quant!! Scored at my target 42 twice! Took another CAT exam on June 29 scored a 620 (39Q/35V)-- I was devastated. Took another CAT exam the next day on June 30 and scored a 600 (38Q/35V)-- I was completely destroyed. I realized I would have to take the exam a 3rd time.
Exam 2: I took the day off on July 1st. Just reviewed flash cards. Got a good night's sleep, ate a big breakfast. Took the exam July 2nd. Quant: caught all my mistakes before submitting answers, identified the tricks, saw several problems I had practiced plenty of times and had no issues with pacing. Verbal: Pacing needed work as this time I actually did attempt CR questions, I knew I had to have been doing well on RC because the last two passages they gave me were the hardest I have ever seen, was happy that I was seeing SC that tested on grammar rules I actually knew. Clearly I was wrong because my result: 590 (38Q/33V)-- I've never felt more demoralized in my life. My score went up 7 points in quant only to come down 7 points in verbal.
Currently: Now here I am, I start work July 11 as investment banking analyst in NYC, which affords me VERY little time to dedicate to this test on weekdays given my BRUTALLY long work hours. I am at a loss for words. I am clearly doing something really wrong but can't seem to pinpoint what it is. Everything was going so well. I raised my score to a 650 for crying out loud! How could I go in and screw everything up AGAIN. Especially after I felt that I had done so much better this time?
Background: I took all exams under official test conditions. I didn't feel mental or physical fatigue on test day AT ALL. I was way less nervous than I was when I took the exam the first time. I have done every single problem in OG 16-- some of them two to three times because of my error log, I have read and done every problem in every MGMAT strategy guide. I took the MGMAT online course. I reviewed every single problem I got wrong on the GMATPrep CAT exams (and learned so many new things by reviewing answer explanations on this website btw). I am a native speaker of English.
Issues: I got a 42 twice less than a week before the test and feel that I should be able to replicate this. I completely admit I didn't spend nearly as much time studying verbal as I did quant. I get a max of 2 RC wrong on all 4 passages in Verbal and find it to be my strongest area. Sentence correction needs improvement, but I'm not sure how to go about learning every grammar rule in the English language. And finally, no matter what I do, or how hard I try CR is the bane of my existence. I can't crack these problems in the middle of an exam at all. I can do them in an OG book, in the Verbal Review book, and in online practice questions through GMATPrep software with roughly 70% accuracy, but on CAT exams my accuracy is always at 45-50% and I take an average of 3 minutes on each question. And yes, I have created the excel spreadsheet that breaks down each problem type and subtype and identifies what I should be looking for.
Disability: I also want to note that I have pretty bad ADD and received extended testing time in college for all of my exams, but can't afford the fees I would have to pay doctors/professionals for the kind of documentation GMAC requires in order to receive extended testing time on the real exam. I feel that I am able to overcome my ADD with regard to pacing on Quant but now that I actually attempt CR questions in Verbal my ADD is definitely a problem as it is VERY difficult to read and keep track of everything going on in the argument/not get confused on answer choices. But I am not sure if this is something I need extra time for, or just additional practice.
If there is any one out there at all who has any input to offer on how I may be able to turn things around and get any closer to a 42Q/44V I would be eternally grateful. At this point I am looking into private tutors to sit down and break down what exactly it is I am doing wrong/need to improve on because I am so dumbfounded by this test. But I would really like to hear other insight first. Although I sincerely appreciate any recommendations out there, please bear in mind my severely limited time to study on weekdays due to the demanding nature of my job. I should expect to leave the office at around 11:00pm each night (Mon-Thurs), 5:00pm on Fridays and have Saturday/Sunday off.
I just don't know what to do anymore. I'm so so lost, but I don't want to give up. I know I am capable of breaking 700... I just need guidance on how.
Me: Just graduated from college and starting my full-time job in about 1 week. Would like to go back to grad school in 2 years so I am taking the GMAT ahead of time.
Prep: Took an online Manhattan Prep course for 2 months starting in December. Took a diagnostic exam with about 2 weeks left in the course and scored a 620. My goal is simply to break 700. The course ended mid-February and I began studying by myself. I had one class from 2:00-3:15 and another from 3:30-4:45 Mon-Thurs. I would grab dinner after class and start doing OG problem sets from 6:00/7:00 to 10:00/11:00pm. On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays I would study 4-8 hours each day. My study sessions consisted of doing problems, reviewing, creating an error log and revisiting the problems I got wrong. This went on from end of February to mid-May. I took MGMAT diagnostic exams periodically and kept scoring in the same realm of 600-620-- I felt like I was genuinely learning more and more but there was ZERO improvement to my score.
Exam 1: I took my first exam on May 28 definitely not expecting a 700, but to my dismay I scored lower than I ever had on any practice test: a 590 (31Q/40V). Took a diagnostic exam on MGMAT 1 week later and scored a 600 (37Q/35V).
Post-exam assessment: I realized I kept studying for the GMAT like an academic test. Didn't realize I should have been skipping questions too hard for me, which really messed up my pacing each time I took the exam. I did well in Verbal but that was largely due to me skipping every CR question because I can't solve them on test day to save my life--this bought me time to spend on other questions like SC and RC.
Restart Studying: Having finished school, I had about 1 month of complete free time left to study before I start my job and got GREAT instruction in a Post-Exam assessment that Manhattan Prep provides and came up with a target (42Q/44V) to pull me to a 700. I scheduled to retake the exam July 2 ahead of starting work.
1 week into June I started studying the foundations, diagnosing problem areas, learning fundamentals, moving up to OG 16 and Quantitative Review problems and felt that I improved in my ability to tackle questions. Took a CAT exam using GMATPrep software (for the first time ever) after two weeks of revising my study strategy and scored a 640 (42Q/35V) on June 24. Took another GMATPrep CAT exam two days later and got a 650 (42Q/38V) on June 26. I knew I was improving on quant!! Scored at my target 42 twice! Took another CAT exam on June 29 scored a 620 (39Q/35V)-- I was devastated. Took another CAT exam the next day on June 30 and scored a 600 (38Q/35V)-- I was completely destroyed. I realized I would have to take the exam a 3rd time.
Exam 2: I took the day off on July 1st. Just reviewed flash cards. Got a good night's sleep, ate a big breakfast. Took the exam July 2nd. Quant: caught all my mistakes before submitting answers, identified the tricks, saw several problems I had practiced plenty of times and had no issues with pacing. Verbal: Pacing needed work as this time I actually did attempt CR questions, I knew I had to have been doing well on RC because the last two passages they gave me were the hardest I have ever seen, was happy that I was seeing SC that tested on grammar rules I actually knew. Clearly I was wrong because my result: 590 (38Q/33V)-- I've never felt more demoralized in my life. My score went up 7 points in quant only to come down 7 points in verbal.
Currently: Now here I am, I start work July 11 as investment banking analyst in NYC, which affords me VERY little time to dedicate to this test on weekdays given my BRUTALLY long work hours. I am at a loss for words. I am clearly doing something really wrong but can't seem to pinpoint what it is. Everything was going so well. I raised my score to a 650 for crying out loud! How could I go in and screw everything up AGAIN. Especially after I felt that I had done so much better this time?
Background: I took all exams under official test conditions. I didn't feel mental or physical fatigue on test day AT ALL. I was way less nervous than I was when I took the exam the first time. I have done every single problem in OG 16-- some of them two to three times because of my error log, I have read and done every problem in every MGMAT strategy guide. I took the MGMAT online course. I reviewed every single problem I got wrong on the GMATPrep CAT exams (and learned so many new things by reviewing answer explanations on this website btw). I am a native speaker of English.
Issues: I got a 42 twice less than a week before the test and feel that I should be able to replicate this. I completely admit I didn't spend nearly as much time studying verbal as I did quant. I get a max of 2 RC wrong on all 4 passages in Verbal and find it to be my strongest area. Sentence correction needs improvement, but I'm not sure how to go about learning every grammar rule in the English language. And finally, no matter what I do, or how hard I try CR is the bane of my existence. I can't crack these problems in the middle of an exam at all. I can do them in an OG book, in the Verbal Review book, and in online practice questions through GMATPrep software with roughly 70% accuracy, but on CAT exams my accuracy is always at 45-50% and I take an average of 3 minutes on each question. And yes, I have created the excel spreadsheet that breaks down each problem type and subtype and identifies what I should be looking for.
Disability: I also want to note that I have pretty bad ADD and received extended testing time in college for all of my exams, but can't afford the fees I would have to pay doctors/professionals for the kind of documentation GMAC requires in order to receive extended testing time on the real exam. I feel that I am able to overcome my ADD with regard to pacing on Quant but now that I actually attempt CR questions in Verbal my ADD is definitely a problem as it is VERY difficult to read and keep track of everything going on in the argument/not get confused on answer choices. But I am not sure if this is something I need extra time for, or just additional practice.
If there is any one out there at all who has any input to offer on how I may be able to turn things around and get any closer to a 42Q/44V I would be eternally grateful. At this point I am looking into private tutors to sit down and break down what exactly it is I am doing wrong/need to improve on because I am so dumbfounded by this test. But I would really like to hear other insight first. Although I sincerely appreciate any recommendations out there, please bear in mind my severely limited time to study on weekdays due to the demanding nature of my job. I should expect to leave the office at around 11:00pm each night (Mon-Thurs), 5:00pm on Fridays and have Saturday/Sunday off.
I just don't know what to do anymore. I'm so so lost, but I don't want to give up. I know I am capable of breaking 700... I just need guidance on how.
02 Jul 2016, 19:27
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Investment banking analyst ... You must be at least decent at math.
Have you ordered an enhanced score report by chance? It would reveal helpful insights into your actual performance. Since you'll be short on time, knowing exactly where your trouble spots are is extremely important.
Posted from my mobile device
Have you ordered an enhanced score report by chance? It would reveal helpful insights into your actual performance. Since you'll be short on time, knowing exactly where your trouble spots are is extremely important.
Posted from my mobile device
02 Jul 2016, 20:21
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Hey! I just looked at my ESR for my first exam since my second exam isn't reportable yet as I just took it. Turns out all of the CR I picked a random letter for put me in the 78th percentile. My SC was in the 91st percentile and my RC was in the 84th percentile. I feel like my 40 was a fluke given my CR score having literally picked a random letter for every single CR question after the first 3 or so.
The score report also noted for Verbal that I got 100% of the first 10 questions correct, 43% of the second 10 questions correct, 100% of the third 10 questions correct and 62% of the last 11 questions correct.
No wonder I was never able to see a 40 again for my verbal score in all my practice exams. My first 40 on verbal was just luck over critical reasoning and getting sentence correction questions that test on grammar I actually know. I recently scored in the 96th percentile on SC in a CAT exam before. But I can't seem to replicate this consistently. I seem to score high in SC only when I get lucky enough on the questions they decide to throw at me.
I've never been particularly gifted at math at all. I've always been more talented at reading and writing. That being said, I majored in Finance at a top 5 undergraduate business school so I'm not shy with numbers (certainly not great but not shy at all). I'm also "only" trying to replicate a 42. Verbal seems to be killing me, specifically CR and SC. Thats what I guess I'll have to focus on with my minimal time, but I'm still not sure the best way to do that..... Thanks for the advice to look at my ESR though!
The score report also noted for Verbal that I got 100% of the first 10 questions correct, 43% of the second 10 questions correct, 100% of the third 10 questions correct and 62% of the last 11 questions correct.
No wonder I was never able to see a 40 again for my verbal score in all my practice exams. My first 40 on verbal was just luck over critical reasoning and getting sentence correction questions that test on grammar I actually know. I recently scored in the 96th percentile on SC in a CAT exam before. But I can't seem to replicate this consistently. I seem to score high in SC only when I get lucky enough on the questions they decide to throw at me.
I've never been particularly gifted at math at all. I've always been more talented at reading and writing. That being said, I majored in Finance at a top 5 undergraduate business school so I'm not shy with numbers (certainly not great but not shy at all). I'm also "only" trying to replicate a 42. Verbal seems to be killing me, specifically CR and SC. Thats what I guess I'll have to focus on with my minimal time, but I'm still not sure the best way to do that..... Thanks for the advice to look at my ESR though!
