Feeling totally lost

Question

Hi everyone,

I've been studying for the GMAT for almost a year now, I did my exam in June and got 620 (Q43, V33) I kept practicing and took the exam a second time which was horrible, I was too nervous and didn't sleep I got 560. 
I pulled myself together worked with a tutor and my mock exams were good (reached 690), I retook the exam end of Sep and got 580, I just did really bad in time management.

I feel so unmotivated at this point and the deadlines are coming up, I'm planning to retake the exam next week and mid November and I feel totally lost.

Any tips or helpful advice ? I really appreciate any guidance at this point

Archit3110 · Answer

What mock did you give and what course material you used ?

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MeXo · Answer

I first started using TTP to get the basics, then used Kaplan for a while before my first exam.

For the 2nd and 3rd attempts I was mainly using the official question packs and the official mock exams

bb · Answer

Hi. Welcome to GMAT Club. I’m sorry to hear about your current location both mentally and the terms of your progress.

First of all, don’t be discouraged, because trying to do anything for a year will be discouraging. My recommendation is always to try to rush and flood and overwhelm you and GMAT prep. Instead of taking nine months or 12 months, I suggest three or four months. My reasoning, is that any advantage that you may gain from working on some thing for a long time, is negated by forgetting what you have learned earlier on in the process. Between your memory and learning new material, it’s like caring water in a bucket with holes. Some of us have better memory and have fewer holes and some of us have a lot more holes in our buckets so what you need to figure out is, how can you find the balance between losing water and caring it. In my experience, That balance is about 3 to 4 months

I know you will not feel prepared for the GMAT but no one ever goes to the GMAT feeling comfortable. No one is ever comfortable during the gym at because it’s an adaptive test and it’ll always throw something at you little stump you that is totally fine and you can make mistakes and still get a great score. Another trick is to make it less overwhelming and to split the big task into small subtasks. That way, instead of studying for a year which will feel insanely demotivating, you can study for one day and cover, one chapter or one week and cover one bigger topic. She was great to get something accomplished.

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi MeXo,

I'm sorry to hear that your 2 re-attempts did not turn out better. When these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day. Before we discuss any of those potential issues though, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

1) On what dates did you take your 3 Official GMATs and how did you score on each (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
2) Over the last 3 months, how many hours did 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) What is your overall goal score?
5) What Schools are you planning to apply to and what specific application deadlines are you facing?

If you took any of your Official GMATs at a Test Center, then you might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

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

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi MeXo.

It appears that you have been making progress, both in terms of your practice test scores and in terms of your actual GMAT score, which has increased even if you haven't achieved your score goal yet.

I think you can take heart from the fact that, in both cases, when you took the GMAT, you were a bit off your game and therefore scored lower than you could have had you just been more on point on test day.

So, you're not as far from your score goal as your GMAT scores may seem to indicate.

Clearly, you need to work on timing and on handling the test in general. So, you should take more practice tests, including some of the better third-party tests, to get accustomed to the test experience and more skilled in handling it.

Also, you could keep practicing with individual questions to continue to strengthen your skills.

For some tips on how to practice for the GMAT for best results, see this post.

The Best GMAT Practice Methods

MeXo · Answer

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the reply, about the questions: 
1) On what dates did you take your 3 Official GMATs and how did you score on each (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

June 11 - 620 (Q43, V33)
August 20 - 560 (don't remember the details) 
September 29: 580 (Q42,V28)

2) Over the last 3 months, how many hours did you typically study each week?

I try to do one hour per day and maybe 2-3 hours on the weekends, so around 10 hrs

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)?

For the third attempts these were my mocks: 
- 24 Sept - 690 (Q48, V36)
- 10 Sept - 520 (Q38 , V23) - this was an outlier 
- 2 Sept - 650 (Q44, V35) 
- 23 Aug - 650 (Q44, V35)

4) What is your overall goal score?

I'm aiming to get 700+

5) What Schools are you planning to apply to and what specific application deadlines are you facing?

T10, most of the round 2 deadlines are in January

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

For time management, consider using time markers to help keep things on point. It may be good to take another Official Mock before your exam: another 690, for example, may be a good confidence booster to take into an exam. You also mention nerves and a lack of sleep before your 560. Try to work on a sleep schedule and think of the exam in a positive way. For motivation, reading success stories on the Share GMAT Experience sub-forum may be helpful as well.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi MeXo, I've sent you a PM with some notes and additional questions. GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made, Rich Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Did you complete all of TTP?

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