GMAT

Question

I have been preparing for GMAT since the past two months on my own. My last two GMAC mocks gave me a 740. However, on the actual GMAT I scored a 640(49Q,28V).

I am planning to re-take the exam in the first week of December. I can devote about 20 hours per week towards prepration.

A specific problem that popped during the exam in verbal section was time management. I started off very poorly by spending about five minutes on the first question in the verbal section(verbal was the second section). By the mid of the exam I was disheartened to see the level of questions dropping down, which further added fuel to my already dwindling concentration. I felt a lack of structured approach(which surprisingly was never the case when I gave the GMAC mocks).

I'm confused between going for an offline classroom setup such as, Edushastra, Pythagurus, jamboree,etc. and online platforms such as egmat. Given the time constraints what can be the best option to go for.

I am working professional who spends on average 10 hours in office on weekdays. 
Any help will be appreciated.

GGMU · Answer

You already seem to be good at quant. So you can just focus on verbal part and keep on practising quant simultaneously. As far as the classes are concerned, you can take a few demo classes from each of them and decide on your own. Since you don't have much time to prepare, you can opt for online courses which allows you to study at your own convenience.

pushpitkc · Answer

Hi Rahul01 , Welcome to GMATClub! First off, I don't see the point of joining an offline classroom. Since you are already at V28, all you are going to need is to fine-tune your skills and improve the timing. Your first step must be to order the ESR and find out what your problem areas are. After that, the experts on this forum will be able to give you ways to improve your score. This is a post which might help you improve your Verbal score: https://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-impro ... 42361.html Hope that helps you!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Rahul01,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. 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. If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out:

When you took your CATs:
1) How did you score on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
2) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
3) Did you take them at home?
4) Did you take them at the same time of day as when you took your Official GMAT?
5) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? 
6) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE?

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

Rahul01 · Answer

Thank you for the reply. Yes, I am thinking of opting for an online course. Any suggestions which one to go for?

Rahul01 · Answer

Welcome to GMATClub!

First off, I don't see the point of joining an offline classroom. 
Since you are already at V28, all you are going to need is 
to fine-tune your skills and improve the timing.
Your first step must be to order the ESR and find out
what your problem areas are. After that, the experts on this 
forum will be able to give you ways to improve your score.

This is a post which might help you improve your Verbal score:

Hope that helps you!

Thank you for your reply. The post you shared is very helpful. I can relate to a lot of mistakes I have done during my preparation. Since, I have about 1.5 months with me. What should be my strategy during these months? Should I revisit every question of OG? How many mocks should I target before the re-take?

Rahul01 · Answer

Hi Rich,

Thank you for your reply.

Please see my answers below:
1) How did you score on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?: Q50, V40 in both
2) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)? No, I skipped the Essay part each time. But, I opted for Quant, Verbal, IR and AWA in order
3) Did you take them at home? Yes
4) Did you take them at the same time of day as when you took your Official GMAT? No, not both of them. The first one was late in the evening, while the second was on the same time as when I took my GMAT exam
5) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? Yes, I paused in the verbal section two times. One after about 10 mins and second somewhere midway. I also took a little longer break (about 10 mins) between each section.
6) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE? No, I took them just once

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Rahul01,

From your prior post, there were a few 'red flags' in terms of how you took your practice CATs. Before we discuss those details though, I have a few additional questions about the lead-up to Test Day and Test Day itself:

1) What did you do in the 3 days before your GMAT?
2) How did you sleep the night before your Test?
3) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home?
4) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test?
5) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
6) Did you finish any sections early?
7) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)?

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

Rahul01 · Answer

Hi Rich,

1) I gave GMAT on Monday. Friday was a long day at work. On Saturday, I just quickly ran through all the techniques I 'noted' during my preparation, solved a few questions and on Sunday I gave another mock from GMAC's official resources.
2) I took a good 7 hour sleep
3) The test center was approximately an hour away. But, I chose not to drive and hired a cab instead
4) Yes, there was a distraction. Before the test began, the test administrator told that due to some construction nearby there might be some noise and the test might be suspended for a few minutes
5) I just relaxed. Used the restroom. Strolled around.
6) Yes, I finished the Quant section 5 mins before the stipulated time
7) Yes, in verbal section I ended up spending about five minutes in the first question (it was a SC). By the time I reached the 10th question, I had already spent around 30 mins

I got a 6/8 in IR and a 5/6 in AWA.

Best,
Rahul

jyamajala · Answer

Hi Rahul, did you get a response for the above?!

Sent from my Nexus 6P using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

jyothi123 · Answer

Hi Rich, can you please provide your analysis?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Rahul01,

I've sent you a PM with some notes/suggestions.

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

jyothi123 · Answer

Hi Rich, I had a similar experience however last 3 days I have been giving the exams and the day before the exam I scored 650 on veritas and I scored 650 on real GMAT as well. I couldn't apply the verbal strategies as I wasted first 25 mins to 30 mins on 9 questions. Also, i had my exam 10 in the morning and I had only 4 hrs of sleep the day before exam. I need your expert advise on when to write the mocks. I am planning to give the exam in December. This time I'm planning to practice 4-5 RCs daily (which I didn't do last time) and CR as well. I am good at SC but I couldn't apply the strategy I was using in the exam. Any help would be very helpful. 
Thanks
Jyothi

Sent from my Nexus 6P using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi jyothi123,

I'll be happy to answer your questions and offer the proper analysis, but I suggest that you start a new post thread and provide a bit more information about your situation (in that way, everyone can keep the conversation focused on your situation - instead of having several conversations happening in this one thread).

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

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