After studying for several months, I scored a 690 on the GMAT (47Q, 38V). Overall I felt ok about the test, but there were a couple Quant and Verbal questions (mostly CR) that I had no idea how to do so I guessed. I was frustrated at not breaking 700, so I registered to take the test again 5 weeks later.
I spent 1 month studying very hard, 3-4 hours a day. Used
MGMAT, Powerscore, some other prep company materials, Thurdays with Ron. Reviewed all my weak areas, particularly around inequalities and permutations re: Quant, and CR re: Verbal. I learned a lot of new tricks and definitely felt that my fundamentals were much stronger.
I took 3 tests during the last month, meticulously reviewing both right and wrong answers in each test (used GMATclub to review answers too). Here's the breakdown:
-About a week after my 690, I took a GMATprep (Exam pack 1) test to gauge where I really was. Lo and behold, got a 690, same exact split. All new questions.
-Two weeks in, I took a
MGMAT. Scored a 720. This time my split was weighted more towards verbal, as I think
MGMAT verbal is easier but their quant is harder than the actual GMAT
-Last week before exam, I took the second GMATprep test in the exam pack. I scored a 720 (48Q / 41V). There were no repeats on quant and 2 repeats on verbal. For each verbal repeat, I waited about 1 min 50 sec and answered them wrong, so as to get a more accurate score.
So at this point, I feel pretty good. My quant improved a bit, and I'm confident about my verbal. Every problem set I do (includes both med + hard problems), I get 9/10 on my SCs and 8/10 on my CRs.
Anyway.. this may have been my undoing - I went out really hard two nights before the test (had a very close friend in town who I never get to see). Got wasted and didn't get much sleep. The next day (T-2 until GMAT) I slept half of the day, did a few problems. The day before the test I didn't do much and tried to sleep early.. ended up getting 6 hours of sleep.
Test day: Despite the lack of sleep, I actually felt pretty good.. wasn't tired at all. Watched some TV and chilled until my test in the afternoon.
-Essay: wasn't too bad, got a 6 my last time
-IR: really easy (got an 8)
-Quant: first 5 questions seemed pretty easy. Toward the middle to end, started getting some hard questions, i.e. probability and multi-shape geometry questions. Answered to the best of my ability. Overall, felt way better this time than my last GMAT attempt.
-Verbal: Starts off with mostly SCs and a few CRs. Then I get really convoluted RC, takes me longer to answer than usual, but I'm pretty sure I know at least 2/3 of them. Continue to get what seems to be like pretty hard, but solvable problems. There were a couple CR's / RC's that were challenging, but other than that, felt good.
Finish the verbal and click on my show score. I almost felt out of my chair. I somehow scored a 630...
I don't even want to talk about my breakdown but my verbal was a 30! I haven't gotten a 30 on my verbal ever, even in my first practice test. At first, I contemplated asking GMAT for a rescore, because I was so shocked.. but I realized that GMAT is 99.9% never wrong and I don't think they can do a rescore anyway.
So seeking some advice on what to do next. Do you think my brain got fried and I just crapped the bed? I honestly felt ok during the test. Had a snack in the break.
I plan to take the test again in a month or so.
-Am I doing anything fundamentally wrong?
-I've used up a ton of practice tests, including all the GMATprep ones I think... what practice tests should I try now - Veritas?
-Should I hire a tutor?
Sorry for the long story, but appreciate any feedback!