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19 Sep 2015, 17:03
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Hi all,
I have been following and lurking around these forums for a while, and have enjoyed it immensely. I decided to post about my situation as I feel like I am running into a wall and am not sure what to do.
I have been studying for a little over 5 weeks now. I took an accelerated Manhattan Online Course, and closely followed their syllabus for the past few weeks. The course just finished so I now I am just going through the OG and doing questions and carefully reading through the answer explanations. Whenever I feel I don't fully understand a concept, I try and go back to the MGMAT strategy guides to read up on it. I feel my study plan has been pretty effective so far, I have a much better understanding of many concepts and questions....
So here's the problem. I took a MGMAT CAT before I ever looked at a GMAT question and scored a dismal 530. Pretty awful, but I figured it was just a starting point considering I hadn't done a math problem in 5 years, let alone an entire exam. That was before I started studying about 5 weeks ago. Since then, I have been sticking to my study plan and have taken 2 subsequent CATs. The second one showed considerable improvement on verbal, but my quant score stayed exactly the same! (37Q, 34V 590). I continued studying, ramping up the hours I put into it each day, and took my third CAT exactly 2 weeks after my second CAT. Again, I saw a bit of improvement on my verbal, but my quant score stayed EXACTLY THE SAME!!!! (37Q, 36V 610)
I was so frustrated afterwards, honestly I couldn't believe that my score could be exactly the same as when I took the CAT without ever even seeing a GMAT question!! It doesn't make sense, simply because just by doing GMAT questions and understanding concepts better, I felt I should have been able to see significant improvement, which my verbal score reflected. I reviewed the questions and answers carefully, and re-did every single question I did wrong (before looking at the correct answer) and I found that I could solve almost every single problem without a problem once I was no longer timing myself and under test conditions!
I definitely know that timing is probably the biggest issue. My second CAT I guessed on the last 8 problems due to running out of time, which is what I attributed the same low score to. The third CAT, I made sure to keep my eye on the time, and was able to finish all the questions, but did feel rushed through the entire exam. Apparently, even though I finished the questions it was no better than running out of time and guessing!!
I am frustrated and stuck and am not sure how I am going to be able to fix this issue. Whenever I practice, I generally don't time myself because I feel I need to understand the concept before rushing through it. This helps me understand how to solve problems, but when it comes down to doing the problem in two minutes, I just can't seem to handle it. I get nervous and anxious, and not to mention using the marker and laminated scratch pad make it incredibly difficult for me to write. I was surprised at how much harder everything seemed just from using the marker.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I am sure the answer I am going to hear is "start timing every problem you do." I will be sure to do that from here on out, but still feel at a loss with my score being stuck on 37.
I have been following and lurking around these forums for a while, and have enjoyed it immensely. I decided to post about my situation as I feel like I am running into a wall and am not sure what to do.
I have been studying for a little over 5 weeks now. I took an accelerated Manhattan Online Course, and closely followed their syllabus for the past few weeks. The course just finished so I now I am just going through the OG and doing questions and carefully reading through the answer explanations. Whenever I feel I don't fully understand a concept, I try and go back to the MGMAT strategy guides to read up on it. I feel my study plan has been pretty effective so far, I have a much better understanding of many concepts and questions....
So here's the problem. I took a MGMAT CAT before I ever looked at a GMAT question and scored a dismal 530. Pretty awful, but I figured it was just a starting point considering I hadn't done a math problem in 5 years, let alone an entire exam. That was before I started studying about 5 weeks ago. Since then, I have been sticking to my study plan and have taken 2 subsequent CATs. The second one showed considerable improvement on verbal, but my quant score stayed exactly the same! (37Q, 34V 590). I continued studying, ramping up the hours I put into it each day, and took my third CAT exactly 2 weeks after my second CAT. Again, I saw a bit of improvement on my verbal, but my quant score stayed EXACTLY THE SAME!!!! (37Q, 36V 610)
I was so frustrated afterwards, honestly I couldn't believe that my score could be exactly the same as when I took the CAT without ever even seeing a GMAT question!! It doesn't make sense, simply because just by doing GMAT questions and understanding concepts better, I felt I should have been able to see significant improvement, which my verbal score reflected. I reviewed the questions and answers carefully, and re-did every single question I did wrong (before looking at the correct answer) and I found that I could solve almost every single problem without a problem once I was no longer timing myself and under test conditions!
I definitely know that timing is probably the biggest issue. My second CAT I guessed on the last 8 problems due to running out of time, which is what I attributed the same low score to. The third CAT, I made sure to keep my eye on the time, and was able to finish all the questions, but did feel rushed through the entire exam. Apparently, even though I finished the questions it was no better than running out of time and guessing!!
I am frustrated and stuck and am not sure how I am going to be able to fix this issue. Whenever I practice, I generally don't time myself because I feel I need to understand the concept before rushing through it. This helps me understand how to solve problems, but when it comes down to doing the problem in two minutes, I just can't seem to handle it. I get nervous and anxious, and not to mention using the marker and laminated scratch pad make it incredibly difficult for me to write. I was surprised at how much harder everything seemed just from using the marker.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I am sure the answer I am going to hear is "start timing every problem you do." I will be sure to do that from here on out, but still feel at a loss with my score being stuck on 37.
deerhunter
Joined: 12 Jun 2014
Last visit: 30 Nov 2017
Posts: 58
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Given Kudos: 6
Concentration: Strategy
Schools: CBS '18 (M) HBS '18 Stanford '18
GMAT 1: 770 Q50 V45
GPA: 3.65
WE:Law (Non-Profit and Government)
19 Sep 2015, 18:07
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For me, the timing improved as I improved so while I wouldn't recommend forgetting about it altogether, don't feel that you have to time every practice problem you do. Why don't you try doing a test untimed and see how you do. A good one to use for that is the paper (non-CAT) diagnostic test that comes with the official guide.
20 Sep 2015, 10:09
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Hey pyoo323
When it comes to psychological aspects of the test and stress management - make sure you think extreme positivity and pay attention to this critical element of the test.
We highly recommend that you read through the psychological tips that we put together for you on this blog post: https://www.gmatpill.com/about/studying- ... trategies/
Also, in case you haven't seen, the GMAT Timer is just one of many features we already have in the Practice Pill Platform: https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-test/
You can time yourself for each question, get a video explanation explained the GMAT PILL way, and post questions / get answers to your questions.
Best of luck - and we are here to help.
When it comes to psychological aspects of the test and stress management - make sure you think extreme positivity and pay attention to this critical element of the test.
We highly recommend that you read through the psychological tips that we put together for you on this blog post: https://www.gmatpill.com/about/studying- ... trategies/
Also, in case you haven't seen, the GMAT Timer is just one of many features we already have in the Practice Pill Platform: https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-test/
You can time yourself for each question, get a video explanation explained the GMAT PILL way, and post questions / get answers to your questions.
Best of luck - and we are here to help.
