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Updated on: 23 Feb 2012, 02:36
Originally posted by FromScratch on 21 Feb 2012, 08:20.
Last edited by FromScratch on 23 Feb 2012, 02:36, edited 2 times in total.
Last edited by FromScratch on 23 Feb 2012, 02:36, edited 2 times in total.
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Dear all,
I had my first shot at the GMAT yesterday. It was a complete disaster; I ended up scoring 150 points below my best MGMAT CAT, and 110 points below my bets GMAT Prep.
My background: I am not a native speaker, and my previous career was as a chef in fine dining. I just finished a bachelor degree in hospitality management, and my dream was to apply for the Grand Ecole Program (pre- experience master) at HEC. I say "was" because with my GMAT score, my chances of getting in this year is roughly equivalent to a snowballs chance in hell (no time to retake before the application deadline.)
With my rather non- academic background, quant was a real challenge for me. At the time I started studying, my math skills were virtually non- existent. I had never heard about quadratic equations, and I could not even perform basic algebra, let alone algebraic translations. The last time I had math at school was at 16 (I am now 25), when I got a far below average grade for my secondary school exam. I was not poor in math per se, but I had no interest in the subject at the time.
In short, when I started out, I had to learn math from scratch (hence my profile name). This was far more difficult than I expected it to be, but for some reason, I had gotten it into my head that, despite having no experience with math, I belonged at an elite business school. In retrospect, I was way too optimistic about my own capabilities, but hey; being realistic was never really my forte. The critical reasoning questions were very intuitive to me, but math, you actually have to learn. Luckily I was OK with verbal, as I lived and studied in an international environment for most of my life, and I read difficult texts in English on a regular basis (The Economist, novels, Internet)
When I started out, I tried to do a GMAT prep to assess my level. When I tried the quant section, I was completely clueless, and exited the exam. Should I stand a chance in the competition, I realized that I would need to focus full time on learning maths. My ambition from the beginning was to score >700. I enrolled in some economics courses at my local university, while I spent the bulk of my time studying for the GMAT. After about six weeks learning maths, I did my first GMAT prep and scored 540. Not bad I thought. Verbal was relatively strong. I did not study for it whatsoever and scored 35. Quant was 35, decent for my level at the time. I started with quant basics by GMGAT and Cliffs notes GMAT book (great if you, as was the case for me, don`t know what the word "quadratic" means, or if you know no algebra whatsoever)
Anyways, scheduled my GMAT for three months later. Studied all 8 MGMAT books, including the guide to the official guide (great for the quantitatively challenged, like me). Did most of the questions in the OG 12, and a lot of practice tests. I was making great progress!
My test scores below:
Before the GMAT, I was very happy with my progress, and felt confident that I would score in the 650 - 700 range. I followed MGMAT`s advice and worked less the days before the exam to have lots of energy on test day. the day before the exam, I did not study at all. I had a great strategy that worked well for me during my prepping, and I got a eight hours of sleep the night before the exam.
Nevertheless, I screwed it up completely. At test day, I was slighly nervous, but not overly so. I am usually calm under pressure, and do not get nervous that easily. The Essays were going just fine. I took a break, ran in the stairs, had an iced coffee and ate a power bar. I was feeling in the zone! Quant started out well. Half way in, I was getting difficult questions ( a good sign) and I was on schedule. About two thirds in, I got some really hard questions, and since I had some spare time, I spent some extra time on those. BAD MISTAKE. Suddenly, I was behind on time, and I freaked out. Couldn`t remember a thing, and guessed several questions in a row.
When I started Verbal, I was feeling mentally strained. The poor performance at the end in quant had completely messed with my head. I was staring at the screen, couldn`t make sense of anything, or so it felt. Got in a rush in the end for verbal as well.
For the questionnaire in the end, I was so tired, I couldn`t even read any more. When I was asked whether to report scores, I knew I had messed up. However, as many people say that virtually everyone has a bad stomach feeling before reporting the scores, I was expecting it to be somewhere in the low 600`s. When I saw the score, I was completely shocked. 570, Q 32, V 36.
Anyways, I got up this morning and decided that the time for self pity was over, and I booked a new GMAT in 8 weeks from now; just in time for my second- choice school deadline. I ordered the advanced Quant book from MGMAT, and Kaplan premier, to get access to more CATs.
My plans for the next 8 weeks are:
My key takeaways from this experience are:
1) I was to obsessed with scoring really high, and consequently, I screwed up for my self. The nest time, I will focus on technique and timing, rather than getting it perfect.
2) I should not have taken the day before completely off. I got my best score on practice test`s after I had studied hard for several days straight. With a full day off, I was a little out of the zone when I started.
3) Don`t focus on the past section (obvious, but difficult)
4) Man plans: God laughs
Anyways, that was a long post. Advice on how to do better the next time is welcome
I had my first shot at the GMAT yesterday. It was a complete disaster; I ended up scoring 150 points below my best MGMAT CAT, and 110 points below my bets GMAT Prep.
My background: I am not a native speaker, and my previous career was as a chef in fine dining. I just finished a bachelor degree in hospitality management, and my dream was to apply for the Grand Ecole Program (pre- experience master) at HEC. I say "was" because with my GMAT score, my chances of getting in this year is roughly equivalent to a snowballs chance in hell (no time to retake before the application deadline.)
With my rather non- academic background, quant was a real challenge for me. At the time I started studying, my math skills were virtually non- existent. I had never heard about quadratic equations, and I could not even perform basic algebra, let alone algebraic translations. The last time I had math at school was at 16 (I am now 25), when I got a far below average grade for my secondary school exam. I was not poor in math per se, but I had no interest in the subject at the time.
In short, when I started out, I had to learn math from scratch (hence my profile name). This was far more difficult than I expected it to be, but for some reason, I had gotten it into my head that, despite having no experience with math, I belonged at an elite business school. In retrospect, I was way too optimistic about my own capabilities, but hey; being realistic was never really my forte. The critical reasoning questions were very intuitive to me, but math, you actually have to learn. Luckily I was OK with verbal, as I lived and studied in an international environment for most of my life, and I read difficult texts in English on a regular basis (The Economist, novels, Internet)
When I started out, I tried to do a GMAT prep to assess my level. When I tried the quant section, I was completely clueless, and exited the exam. Should I stand a chance in the competition, I realized that I would need to focus full time on learning maths. My ambition from the beginning was to score >700. I enrolled in some economics courses at my local university, while I spent the bulk of my time studying for the GMAT. After about six weeks learning maths, I did my first GMAT prep and scored 540. Not bad I thought. Verbal was relatively strong. I did not study for it whatsoever and scored 35. Quant was 35, decent for my level at the time. I started with quant basics by GMGAT and Cliffs notes GMAT book (great if you, as was the case for me, don`t know what the word "quadratic" means, or if you know no algebra whatsoever)
Anyways, scheduled my GMAT for three months later. Studied all 8 MGMAT books, including the guide to the official guide (great for the quantitatively challenged, like me). Did most of the questions in the OG 12, and a lot of practice tests. I was making great progress!
My test scores below:
- GMAT prep 1 550 Q 31, V 35
- GMAT prep 2 640 Q39, V 39
- MGMAT 1 530 Q 28, V 35
- MGMAT 2 650 Q44 V 35
- MGMAT 3 620 Q34 V40
- MGMAT 4 580 Q32 V38
- MGMAT 5 720 Q 44 V 38
- MGMAT 6 680 Q42 V 40
Before the GMAT, I was very happy with my progress, and felt confident that I would score in the 650 - 700 range. I followed MGMAT`s advice and worked less the days before the exam to have lots of energy on test day. the day before the exam, I did not study at all. I had a great strategy that worked well for me during my prepping, and I got a eight hours of sleep the night before the exam.
Nevertheless, I screwed it up completely. At test day, I was slighly nervous, but not overly so. I am usually calm under pressure, and do not get nervous that easily. The Essays were going just fine. I took a break, ran in the stairs, had an iced coffee and ate a power bar. I was feeling in the zone! Quant started out well. Half way in, I was getting difficult questions ( a good sign) and I was on schedule. About two thirds in, I got some really hard questions, and since I had some spare time, I spent some extra time on those. BAD MISTAKE. Suddenly, I was behind on time, and I freaked out. Couldn`t remember a thing, and guessed several questions in a row.
When I started Verbal, I was feeling mentally strained. The poor performance at the end in quant had completely messed with my head. I was staring at the screen, couldn`t make sense of anything, or so it felt. Got in a rush in the end for verbal as well.
For the questionnaire in the end, I was so tired, I couldn`t even read any more. When I was asked whether to report scores, I knew I had messed up. However, as many people say that virtually everyone has a bad stomach feeling before reporting the scores, I was expecting it to be somewhere in the low 600`s. When I saw the score, I was completely shocked. 570, Q 32, V 36.
Anyways, I got up this morning and decided that the time for self pity was over, and I booked a new GMAT in 8 weeks from now; just in time for my second- choice school deadline. I ordered the advanced Quant book from MGMAT, and Kaplan premier, to get access to more CATs.
My plans for the next 8 weeks are:
- Go through all the MGMAT quant books one more time, to get the basics right
- Do all the GMAT Club tests
- work on my error log
- Go on vacation for a few days
My key takeaways from this experience are:
1) I was to obsessed with scoring really high, and consequently, I screwed up for my self. The nest time, I will focus on technique and timing, rather than getting it perfect.
2) I should not have taken the day before completely off. I got my best score on practice test`s after I had studied hard for several days straight. With a full day off, I was a little out of the zone when I started.
3) Don`t focus on the past section (obvious, but difficult)
4) Man plans: God laughs
Anyways, that was a long post. Advice on how to do better the next time is welcome
21 Feb 2012, 10:09
Kudos
Bookmarks
Sry to hear about your score 
. But the good news is that it sounds to me like you have a better score in you! I want you to read my post: 10-tips-to-improve-your-score-app-with-no-extra-studying-124393-20.html and take it all to heart. With a stronger score inside your brain, it is up to you to do everything to allow yourself to achieve that on test day.
Concentrate your fundamentals, and making sure that you get every problem RIGHT that you have the ability to. Just look at every problem as another opportunity to increase your score, but remember that you have to do it in the right amount of time so that it doesn't hurt you on other questions.
PS. Some schools will let you turn in the GMAT a few days/weeks after the actual deadline for application passes. So I would call you #1 choice, and ask them if there is any way they'd allow a slightly late GMAT. It can't hurt to ask. Maybe you can take the GMAT in 4 weeks, nail it, and get your top choice.
Good luck to you, and let us know how round 2 goes! I'm sure you will make a large improvement if you keep all the lessons you've learned in mind.
. But the good news is that it sounds to me like you have a better score in you! I want you to read my post: 10-tips-to-improve-your-score-app-with-no-extra-studying-124393-20.html and take it all to heart. With a stronger score inside your brain, it is up to you to do everything to allow yourself to achieve that on test day. Concentrate your fundamentals, and making sure that you get every problem RIGHT that you have the ability to. Just look at every problem as another opportunity to increase your score, but remember that you have to do it in the right amount of time so that it doesn't hurt you on other questions.
PS. Some schools will let you turn in the GMAT a few days/weeks after the actual deadline for application passes. So I would call you #1 choice, and ask them if there is any way they'd allow a slightly late GMAT. It can't hurt to ask. Maybe you can take the GMAT in 4 weeks, nail it, and get your top choice.
Good luck to you, and let us know how round 2 goes! I'm sure you will make a large improvement if you keep all the lessons you've learned in mind.
21 Feb 2012, 11:21
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Bookmarks
Hang in there...what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger, right?
