Dissapointed! scored 550 AGAIN (Q41 V25)

Question

Guys, i've been studying for 6 months! i really don't know what i need to do anymore. i don't know for some reason, i felt that the math went quite ok. i had 2 combination and permutation questions, so i got the impression that i was doing well. however, due to the lack of time, i had to guess 7 questions. maybe i could have gotton a better math score if I had managed to complete the remaining questions.

as for verbal?? wow, if only you guys have the slightest clue how much effort i've given to this section. i studied way too hard for this. why is it not going up is really frustrating me. i used the manhattan sc, i used the power score cr bible, etc. in all of my practice CATs, i was having a verbal score between 32-36, but a 25 is a big slap in the face. any good private tutors out there that you guys recommend? or something cause maybe self study is not for me.

fawreel902 · Answer

Hey don't give up. I'm in the same boat. As they say, sometimes its better to be lucky then good. I think you just have to translate your abilities into actually using them on the test, which imo is a whole different ball game.

eschn3am · Answer

Hey Tarek, don't sweat it! from what I've seen of you in the quant section of this forum you know your math. It sounds like all need to work on is your timing. maybe you can keep studying quant with more of a focus on solving each problem in the allotted time.

and your verbal score today seems to be more of an outlier than an indicator of your abilities. keep practicing verbal and hope that next time your score is more in line with how much you know.

tarek99 · Answer

thanks guys. and eschn3am, you're right. time seems to be an issue. when i look back to how I was practicing, i was more focused on getting the questions right rather than on getting the questions right QUICKLY. I have to go and buy myself a stop watch and keep timing myself with every question i practice. it's soo easy to blame on your accuracy when the real problem could have been answering efficiently.

I just had a look at the manhattan gmat's website for their online seminar about time management in the exam; it showed an example of 2 students with same testing abilities, only that 1 one them was more effcient with his answering. the result showed that the efficient student scored a +75 percentile on his test, while the other student scored a 60 percentile because he had to guess only 5 questions in order to finish the exam. I had to guess 7-8 questions in order to complete my test. I guessed through questions that I could have answered correctly.

i'll focus on improving my knowledge when i'm reviewing the questions that I had already timed myself on. However, when I first work on the problems, they have to be timed. I think that is the best strategy to work on for now.

GK_Gmat · Answer

Hey Tarek. Don't give up dude. This is just a test of your test taking ability , which can always be improved

I have been struggling w/ time management myself, especially on Quant. As soon as I started making a conscious effort to improve my pacing, my pacing started to improve

The MGMAT document that you mentioned has a timing breakdown that tells you where you should be after every 15 mins into the exam. I have found this very helpful. Also, download the GMAT Timer put on this forum by Walker. While doing each quant question (on the forum) start the watch. The most important thing is developing a sense of when 2 minutes is over and moving on soon after 2 mins is over whether you get the solution or not. The alarm in the timer will surely help you do this.

Beyond700 · Answer

Cheer up Buddy.

You are not alone. I had the same experience when I took my GMAT last time and I belive there are many more who are on the same boat as we are.

There is always a second chance of course it is not cheap and is going to cost a lot. But we don't have a choice. For some people every thing clicks at their first go but for some it doesn't, it is a mix and match that is how I see it.

Guys who had made it in the past have done a wonderful job by posting their strategies in GMATCLUB. That kind of stuff is really useful, atleast to me.

Therefore, buck up buddy and don't give up. It is only a start and not the end.. :idea:

tarek99 · Answer

Starting from tomorrow, these are the things I will start doing:

1) The moment I wake up, the FIRST thing i'll do when i'm having my morning coffee is to read opinion editorial articles from the new york times website. I have to keep reading everyday in order to improve my reading speed with complete comprehension. 

2) As for practicing with questions, whenever i encounter a question that takes me more than 2 minutes to solve, i'll consider it as a question that I didn't know to solve, even if they are questions that I could answer with extra time. I'll review those concepts AGAIN until they become second nature to me. It's like seeking fluency. I have to reach to the level where I know immediately what I need to do the moment I finish reading the question rather than trying to figure out what do after reading the question. that is the weakness that I have to break.

We'll see how that will go. thanks guys

uphillclimb · Answer

Sounds like a good plan, Tarek. I was suffering from the same issue - getting so caught up on a problem that I thought I MIGHT be able to solve - just need another 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes! - that I was having to rush through questions at the end, questions that I probably could've gotten correct. Force yourself to take practice exams with a timer, and if you can't figure out exactly what the answer is in 2 minutes, make your best guess and move on! I think you will be amazed at how much your score will go up, just by following this rule. Obviously in the verbal section, it's a little different. RC and CR take longer than SC - or at least, they should, for the most part. But again, practice with a timer, for each and EVERY question, no matter what. I bet that will help you a great deal.
And DON'T give up!!! You absolutely CAN do this!!

bmwhype2 · Answer

in my opinion i think powerscore CR bible sucks. i have not jumped into CR that deeply yet, but I have read the OGVerbal and the stuff is fairly intuitive.

walker · Answer

DON'T GIVE UP!!! Think of mistakes and go ahead!

tarek99 · Answer

for those who could be interested, reading the opinion editorial articles from the new york times is really helpful! why? because not only do you practice reading complicated text but you can also improve your vacabulary. as i was reading one of the articles, i realised that whenever i encounter a word that i didn't know its meaning, I could just double click on the word and a pop up window will appear, showing the definition of the word! isn't that cool? no need to go through the hassle of manually looking up the word through the dictionary. try it!

Adam6378 · Answer

For reading comprehension, I find academic journals to be better practice than news editorials. The information is much more dense and the material resembles reading comprehension moreso than the New York Times (IMO). The New York Times is more entertaining and interesting to read than the vast majority of reading comp text (unless you get lucky and get a passage on a topic in your field). I have been incorporating academic journals in areas I am not interested in as practice for the reading comp section. You can find academic journals in any subject area; the sciences, history and humanities.

A majority of the reading comp text on standardized tests is quite boring. 
Half of the battle is forcing your mind to stay focused in order to actively read the text. Without the pressure of time and the general dullness of the material anyone with moderate reading skills could complete the reading comp section with a high percentage of accuracy. So, the issue is not one of intelligence, but rather staying within the confines of the test structure. My general strategy has been to save time in sentence correction and teach myself to actively read dull, information-dense material.

walker · Answer

Wow...Thanks a lot! I guess it will be really useful for me.

tarek99 · Answer

can somebody provide me with a list of number of questions with the remaining time next to it? I need to know how much time should remain when I complete a certain number of questions. anybody know where I can have access to such information? will highly appreciate it!

GK_Gmat · Answer

Following is what I've started to follow and what has really helped me. 

Time let - Question you should be on

Math:
75 - 1 
60 - 7-8
45 - 14-15
30 - 21-22
15 - 28-29

Verbal:
60 - 8-10
45 - 16-18
30 - 24-26
15 - 32-34

tarek99 · Answer

thanks man! really appreciate it!

Amardeep Sharma · Answer

Remember Tarek, your higher speed should not cost you accuracy. I agree with the GK_Gmat model, but would like to suggest you to follow the pace only after having your basics right. I dont think fundamentals are issue with you in quant, as you got decent score after guessing 7-8 questions.

Once you feel confident on your fundamentals, you should go for the speed. After practising for sometime, you may realize that you are on top of everything. Best of luck

Amar

Double · Answer

I have the same problems. That's why I started to coming to the board and look for support.

rw6183 · Answer

dude, let me say for one you've been nothing but contributing and helping everyone out here at this forum, I am still a part time lurker and I could honestly tell you I am going to bomb this exam. 

However, you need to stay focused and there's a scoop for you. Rumour HAS IT that the gmat exam has itself a "timer" for every question. e.g. if you get the 1st q right in 2 mins, but spend the next 10 mins on the 2nd q and eventually getting it right. your mark would still go down! why? because the exam thinks u guessed the 1st Q and the 2nd is a true reflection of ur quant ability. My advice is spend about 2-3 mins on each question. That's it. move on. Who cares, according to PR, it might even be an "experimental" q. 

For Verbal, I am opting for the same rule come dday, but I am going to approach it very systematically. i.e. 3.5 mins for harder Qs and 2 mins for easier ones, even if I knew the answer after 40 secs (on a RC purpose Q), i'll be doing the map thing as suggested by manhattan/PR/Random ppl. 

I seriously don't think the gmat is an exam which assesses of intellectual ability as much as assesses on how well you allocate your time and how critically you could make rational decisions given the limited time you've been provided. After all, its NOT a math and verbal test, its a so-called "managerial ability critical thinking test". For me, there's no right answer on the gmat, only the answer that bears the least amt of risk and that, at the end of the day, is what managers are tought to do or a manager's intuition in a global economy. that given, there was another rumour that a professor at HBS took it last year for fun and got 550 as well. There you go. 

Having said that, READ this forum like its ur bible! there's some seriously valuable tips from forum ppl here. Jingchan is a farkin inspiration, especially with his 100 q a day routine in which i am following closely and there's some seriously talented people out there on this forum. I think you are in good hands my friend.

tarek99 · Answer

rw6183, thanks man. but dude, are you serious? so getting the difficult questions correctly is not enough to earn a high score? are you trying to tell me that if i manage to answer such questions correctly in less time or at least within the expected average time per question, then my score could be higher? if that's true, then dude you've just opened up my eyes to something that I was completely unaware and I thank you for that. i haven't been focusing on allocating certain amount of time per question, but i really felt frustrated because I know so much math and verbal, yet i don't see my score going up at all....if what you're saying is a fact, then certainly that must have been where i went wrong. at least i hope so because i hate it when i don't see my score improve and then can't really pinpoint exactly where i went wrong.

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Dissapointed! scored 550 AGAIN (Q41 V25)

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