GMAT Fail

Question

Took the GMAT today and received a 670

My timing on the verbal part was what screwed me over. I had about 15 minutes to do 13 questions. Taking a 2 week break and hitting the books, again.

heygirl · Answer

First of all, Congrats! 670 is a good score in itself. Not sure of what your target was though. If you must retake, then it is a good idea to take a 2/3 week break and get back to the books. Good Luck

ibbys · Answer

My target was around 720-740. Just disappointed with my timing in verbal. Usually, I am better at verbal that quant. I felt myself crashing and burning towards the end and just sort of gave up.

heygirl · Answer

ok, so you are like 50 points away from your target. Do you have target schools in mind? If you do then check the school's GMAT average. In my opinion, if we are just 20-30 points away from the school's average GMAT score then it is a waste of time and money to pursue the GMAT again. Ofcourse, the decision is upto you

. By the way, I had a reverse experience in my actual GMAT. I used to always finish Verbal bang on time, and on very few ocassions did I have Verbal minutes to spare, but in the test I had 3-4 minutes to spare on Verbal and ran out of time on the quant part(never happened with me till date though)

Wishbone · Answer

what was your breakdown? i assume verbal wore you out? just wondering, best of luck mate

ibbys · Answer

670 (84%)
Q: 47 (77%)
V: 35 (73%)

I was pretty alert during the verbal section. I think a few (actually, looking at the score, more than a few) questions went right over my head. I realized I didn't utilize any of the strategies I practiced (BIG MISTAKE)! I didn't look for splits in SC and I didn't even identify the conclusion in CR on certain questions. My eyes just rolled over the choices. My accuracy on the OG was around 95% across all the verbal sections so this score is disappointing.

Do you think 5 weeks of verbal-centric study is sufficient for a boost of 5 points? I had all the right materials last time (MGMAT SC, PowerScore Bible, RC99). I am just thinking of revising them and focusing more on the answer explanations this time.

AmrithS · Answer

Plan your strategy after taking a small break!

AN225 · Answer

What verbal materials did you use? What does it mean "Usually, I am better at verbal that quant" - how do know this? If that statement is based on your results solving OG questions, then rephrase it. From my own experience (Read my debrief) the real verbal questions are not even close to their lame relatives found in OG/V2 books.

therock · Answer

Your thread title is really dramatic, a lot of people would be very happy with a 670

I don't think going through the same material would be of much help. As they say 'if you keep doing the same things, you'll keep getting the same results'. Since verbal is what you are looking at improving, I would suggest you analyze the last few practice tests that you took and see which areas you are facing the most problems in. If it is SC you could maybe refer to something like the SC Grail which is very concise and will act as a refresher for you. You could then do some practice questions from egmat or mastergmat. If it is CR, you could practice using LSAT questions and maybe refer to the Manhattan CR book as it might give you some new insights. If it is RC, and if you haven't completed all the RC passages from RC99, then I'd suggest you complete these. 99 passages of that difficulty should be more than enough practice in my opinion. Cheer up, I'm sure you'll cross 700 in your next attempt. Good luck :-D

windofchange · Answer

Hey hey, 670 is a decent score! You should be proud of yourself! Don't be so upset!
If you are planning to retake, I think you should spend about 2 months: 4-5 weeks to focus on Verbal, 3-4 weeks to practice full-length tests. Don't rush!

ibbys · Answer

Good point. My verbal scores on GMAT Prep (without repeats) have been 44-46.
I did find the sentence correction to be a little trickier on the real test. Ultimately, I think it was the timing aspect that threw off my focus.

ibbys · Answer

Thank you. You are right, it's a decent score. It's just that my practice scores have been above 720 so I was expecting something along the lines of that. Also, I need my GMAT score to be high because my undergrad GPA is so low. I know one can not necessarily counteract the other, but I would like to use the GMAT as an opportunity to prove my skills (especially, in quant).

ibbys · Answer

Thank you for your tips and encouragement. Unfortunately, I don't think it was a specific section that was lacking but all three (RC, CR and SC). I realized I did not utilize any of the strategies I practiced (because of bad timing and ultimately, panicking). I am going to consciously apply these strategies as I practice and internalize them as much as I can.

menacel · Answer

Enjoy the break and hit verbal hard when you get back! I had trouble with verbal on the actual exam too, my slowest point was RC. Look back over your tests and see which parts of verbal you were slowest on and work on those first.

micka · Answer

hi guys i just finished taking my gmat for the second try, and once again i failed. I could not even reach the 500 points that i needed. Any thoughts or comments..This is very depresing I took the GMAT for the first time about a year ago before I received my bachelor’s degree. I was going to graduate with a 3.6 GPA and had always scored relatively well on standardized tests so I was generally unconcerned with the GMAT and saw it as a minor, and expensive, annoyance on my road to graduate school. Then I sat for the test, I scored a 400 (50 points bellow what even a Public school with low expectations would accept) and I was devastated. I’ve always been sort of charmed when it came to academics, never studying (ever, really) but always doing well. The GMAT was the first test that meant anything at all that I hadn’t done well on (and certainly the first that I’d ‘failed’).

menacel · Answer

You should really create your own thread and not hijack one owned by someone else. Not to trying to be mean to you, but be respectful of the OP. In addition, you will get a ton of responses dedicated to you if you create your own thread.

But to give you some feedback, we have to know some background information on you. How long did you study before you sat for the test? What did you study? GMAT isn't a test that you can conquer in a day or two -- at least for most people. How well did you do in practice? and did you go to the answers and learn why you were right and the other chances were wrong?

There could be a number of components that could have brought you down. So let us know what you did to prepare (preferably in a different thread). Remember a high GPA doesn't necessarily mean you will get a high GMAT score.

brandy96 · Answer

yes, 670 is not bad at all. But if you were getting 44-45 in practice tests, i think you got a good scope. Best of Luck!

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