Bad setup for GMAT online 2nd attempt

Question

I have been not entirely lucky with GMAT online. 1st attempt I realized laptop with a monitor is not allowed and so realized my old PC has a Windows 7 which unfortunately does not work. Well did 1st attempt with a laptop.. not perfect. Got 640.. mainly on tough verbal..

2nd attempt...CPU upgraded, monitor set. I realized when quant started, I should have put my monitor slightly centered as whenever I started to tilt my head down a bit, the proctor started to lost sight of me (prompted me to keep my eyes on the camera). That caused abit of additional pressure and makes me work through quant in a slight uncomfortable position. Cant adjust my monitor quickly (as time goes by and under pressure and brain just focusing on exam..). Aftermath, felt so disappointed that I could just set my monitor at a better angle

felt sick to my gut now. What to do, next one just try in the center..

Kind of feel sick now.. i know may be these may not be the sole factors that may lead to less optimal performance. But yah in this type of exam, needs to really have all things in place..

Well..just trying to let go this tragedy..

Posted from my mobile device

felt sick to my gut now. What to do, next one just try in the center.. Kind of feel sick now.. i know may be these may not be the sole factors that may lead to less optimal performance. But yah in this type of exam, needs to really have all things in place.. Well..just trying to let go this tragedy.. Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi levin343,

I'm sorry to hear that your 2nd attempt did not turn out better. While you've pointed to one particular aspect of your 2nd attempt that was problematic, we have to be careful about assuming that that was the only reason why you may have underperformed (I assume that you're still waiting on your Score results for this Test). Before we discuss any of those potential other issues though, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) On what dates did you take your 2 Official GMATs?
2) How long have you studied in total? How many hours do you typically study each week?
3) What study materials have you used so far?
4) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
5) What is your overall goal score?
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

760+: What GMAT Assassins Do to Score at the Highest Levels

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi levin343,

I'm sorry to hear about how things went on your first two exams. I assume regarding a retake, you are waiting to find out your score from your second exam? If things did not turn out well then you'll plan to give the GMAT one more shot?

levin343 · Answer

Dear Scott and Rich

Details on my preps would be - so far mostly using the official prep as the main source supplemented by GMAT club for math drills and MGMAT as supplementary to CAT.

Breakdown of each CATs would be:
1. GMAT Off. Test 1 - 670
2. GMAT Off. Test 2 - 710 
3. GMAT Off. Test 3 - 730 
4. MGMAT - dont really recall but roughly 630-660 - highest should be 660
5. Official - GMAT 1st try - 640 - Q47 V30

One thing that bothers me is that my Q is in the range of 43-48 and Verbal can be as high as 41. Other than the fact my 1st try is good at Math but very bad performance on Verbal - a wrong strategy was applied on one hard single reading leading to rushing of 15 odds questions.

Though, the 2nd attempt seems to be good at Verbal but a bit of a mess in Quant - again not sure, but either way - I like to be balanced between both rather than a slanted score.

To be fair, blaming computer set up is probably a lame excuse. What I have done wrong in this 2nd attempt practice is that:

1. reviewing qns without time pressure 
2. reviewing per sectional - I feel I ended up slightly unprepared on manipulating equations and square-roots problems - due mainly to not reviewing this at all 2-3 weeks before the exam, focusing on other topics 
3. Focusing on some interesting topics but hardly ever tested - such as finding how to find a range of X in the absolute value or permutation and combinations (though have been warned from time to time - rarely tested anyway) - just a personal interest - as I was previously a quant finance major (personally love math but dont like to be tested at speed the way GMAT does it :<)

What I will do next is to perform: 
- sectional review on daily (with timing)
- 3 days of full test on a range of more topics at one go and test them with timing. 
- focus on 650+ qns and less so on super hard one - that is rarely tested

That is because it was silly that after the exam, all these questions are so basic - except 2 or 3 that may be slightly harder - and because of the jittery of time and slightly unprepared mental - things just go haywire. I also try to avoid practicing too much of harder questions - like 700+ type, I really feel that my key marked improvement is focusing on strategy and knowing how to handle the 650+ qns well - which is relatively challenging but remain quite basic. Also adding to this is mindset - thinking that this my last attempt of online GMAT - should just focus on the exam and not thinking of the missing chance - it is okay is a complete miss now.

Of course my aim is 690 - 720 - aiming for INSEAD, Kellog, Cornell, Columbia (for its J term) and NYU.

Thanks!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi levin343,

To properly plan out this next phase of your studies, we need to be really specific with the details about your prior studies. There are likely patterns in how you prepared for your two attempts - and if you developed any 'bad habits' during your prior studies, then we need to define those bad habits and fix them (meaning that we replace those bad habits with new 'good habits').

1) On what dates did you take your 2 Official GMATs? How did you score on each attempt (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each)?
2) How long have you studied in total? How many hours do you typically study each week?
3) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School? If it is sometime soon, then what specific application deadlines are you facing?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

levin343 · Answer

Hi Guys

thanks for replying to my grunting post - i think for some reasons this is a super under perfromance at 560 - I will just have to retake and try my best. not sure why it is that low.. definitely super unhappy but just move on and focus on the next one

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi levin343,

If you need any advice regarding your retake feel free to reach out. Also, here are two helpful articles to check out:

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