GMAT: 1, Me: 0 - Now it just got personal

Question

After 6 longs months of preparation, I took my first whack at the GMAT this past Saturday. The two essays went fine, still waiting for the official report to see how I actually did on them. Quant has been my biggest obstacle to overcome and I knew I was doing badly as I was taking the test. I take full responsibility for my score, but I really did have just some rotten luck question-wise. I've learned that that needs to be anticpated and you really can't go into the exam with too many gray areas.

My score was a 580 - Q35, V36.

I had been scoring in the 670-700 range on my past 4 practice tests, so I KNOW that my official score is not an accurate reflection of my ability. And frankly, I feel like I've invested too much time & energy to accept such a score. I just purchased Manhattan Advanced Quant (I already went through the 8 guide set... very thoroughly).

My retake is scheduled for June 9th - does anyone have a good strategy on how to change my approach? I have most of the OG problems memorized at this point. I THOUGHT I had their strategies memorized as well, but I was obviously wrong. Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated.

The GMAT may have beat me once, but I am determined to not let it beat me again!

GMATLA · Answer

Sorry to hear about your score

But the good news is that you know you are capable of higher! It hard to know what strategy to change not knowing what ur previous strategy was (books used, amount of time studying, all practice test scores, etc...) but it should be noted that by the time you are taking your retake test the new Integrated Reasoning (IR) section will be implemented. You will definitely need to dedicate some serious time to this new question type. I would almost recommend that you cancel that appointment, and set your test date before they change the test on June 3rd (95% sure on this date). This way you don't have to learn this new section. Strategy: new-to-the-gmat-club-start-here-130870.html (you fall into catagory 1) IR Section: the-next-generation-gmat-gmat-integrated-reasoning-130224-20.html Good luck!

actressinpink · Answer

I actually tried to schedule my appointment for before the IR section was implimented, but there were no available slots in my area for before June 3rd (also consider that I had to wait 31 days from April 28th, my first test date.) I'm okay with taking the IR portion - from what I have seen on the new GMATPrep, it is a lot of graph reading and interpreting data. Also, this score does not factor in to your total score - it is a seperate score, correct?

My previous study plan had been as follows:

Started the last week of November through this past Friday.

Mon-Fri: Wake up at 5am & spend an hour studying. Get ready for work, go to work, study (on average) 3-4 hours at work.
Saturday: Practice Exam. 
Sunday: Off.

I used all 8 Manhattan GMAT Guides, Kaplan 2012, and the OG 12. I went through the 8 Manhattan books cover to cover, completing all practice problems. I also kept an Error Log of both Manhattan problems missed, which I went over about twice, as well as OG problems missed, which I went over 3 or 4 times.... and by that point, I had most of the problems memorized, so I don't know how much good it did me.

My practice test scores were as follows:

GMATPrep 1 (before ANY studying): 420
MGMAT 1: 530, Q28, V35
MGMAT 2: 610, Q33, V40
MGMAT 3: 600, Q43, V30
MGMAT 4: 680, Q46, V37
GMATPrep 2: 700 Q45, V37

GMAT Prep 1 (2nd Try): 670 (unsure of breakdown)
GMAT Prep 2 (2nd Try) 680

Note - I did all 6 MGMAT Tests, but on 2 of them I evidently only did the Quant portion and skipped Verbal as that is really my weakest area. Verbal has been pretty consistent since day 1.

Two64 · Answer

That is completely correct. Especially in the first few rounds, the IR score may not hold much weight at all. Verbal and Quant will remain in the same format.

With regards to your progress, CONGRATS! I did notice you mentioning how you skipped Verbal on a couple exams. This isn't very wise especially after you've admitted it being your weakness. While it is something that we dread, let's not make it a habit. Good luck and I hope you keep us in the loop!!

AbhiJ · Answer

actressinpink,
What's your target score ? I guess its around 680.
At Q35 - Q40, you have lot of space to improve your score. Unfortunately MGMAT books will not help you to improve from Q35. They assume a lot of stuff. MGMAT books are best if you are at Q38 before starting your prep.
MGMAT Advanced Quant would not be the best investment of time at this point as the authors themselves recommend you to be at least at 70%ile level before starting that book.
Do you know where you tend to make more mistakes in Quant?

My suggestion would be to use an Online Question Bank like Grockit/Kaplan Quiz Bank, solve a few hundred problems of all the types and see where you are making most of your mistakes. After that get the specific topic set from Jeff Sacksman.

actressinpink · Answer

Thanks, jxatrillion. My wording was a little confusing - but I meant that I skipped Verbal because Quant is my weakest area, not the other way around. So I was trying to practice more of what I was doing poorly on. But I am relieved to hear that IR is, in fact, a seperate score!

AbhiJ - I would take a 680 in a heartbeat, but my target is actually a 700 (or higher). On my MGMAT 3 I scored a Q43, and my Quant had continued to stay in that 40-45 range on the subsequent 4 practice exams before the real thing... which I then tanked. I already ordered the book, so I feel like I might as well put it to some use. Those first few Quant scores were from about 4 months ago, so I do think I have improved since then. Most of the errors in Quant have been silly errors, but word problems actually do tend to throw me for a loop because I always fudge up when trying to create the equations. To be honest, I have looked at Jeff Sacksman materials, but after already spending upwards of $650 or so (including paying for the actual exam itself) - I can really only invest so much money. I know that also limits my options...

Zynga · Answer

actressinpink,
how do you plan to study for the IR section ?

actressinpink · Answer

Well, right now the plan is to use the GMATPrep sections to gauge my starting point... and work from there. I'm not too worried because the only two math classes I took in college happened to be Statistics, which heavily incorporated graph reading, so I am hoping GMATPrep will be sufficient.

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