Hi Everyone - I've been a lurker now for about 2 weeks and after sitting for the GMAT real-time today, I thought I'd come out of the woods to say hello as it seems I'll be sticking around for awhile since I have to retake!

I think I found this forum too late for the first go but thankfully you get a second a chance with these things and look forward to it (does that sound sick!? looking forward to it?!)

My story:

Took a Kaplan class a few months back and was getting a 570-590 on my practice exams but I had heard they scored a little off so I was hoping to get around a 650 on the real thing. Studied the OG but I don't think enough based on what people here say, I only used it now and again. I dabbled with the 800Kaplan book but again, not as much as I could/should have.

The test center was great - clean, friendly and efficient. I showed up 30 minutes early and they let me start anyway. The GMAT test takers get their own separate side of the room so I was all by myself and it was pretty quiet. We got headphones and earplugs. The wire-bound scrap board wasn't as bad as I thought though the grids in it kind of threw me at first so I would reccomend getting grid paper to practice. The marker was fine though it was all over me when I finished!

The AWA seemed straighforward and I was glad for it - I needed something to calm my nerves. Didn't take all of my first break - only quickly went to the toilet and didn't bother eating. I was anxious to get th emath going. First 2 questions were geometry - ugh, not my strong point. First one was on coordinate geometry and figuring out slope. The math was not as challenging as I thought though I am not in love with my score. I got one probability, one arrangement, a few averages, ratios, etc. I got at least 3 sequence questions, which I thought was a lot but they were actually okay. Again, I'm not in love with my score but I'm surprised I didn't feel as awful about the section at the end. I had felt far worse on practice exams. Weird.

What I did feel absolutely terrible about, which bummed me out because I thought I was going to kick *ss in was the bloody VERBAL section. By question three it had already sucked the life out of me, especially since I was scoring practially perfect SC and CR on my final practices. The first Verbal question was a SC question that, for the first time in a very long time, didn't just jump out at me. In fact, on question number one, I HAD TO GUESS. I honestly didn't know. Grr, and SC has been, from day 1, my secret weapon. And the rest was just downhill. The third Q was RC and it was easy so I knew I messed up the first 2 SC and then it went from bad to worse. I got psychied if you will and the mental game did not go in my favor. Q 42, V 30.

I went in there thinking this was a trial run because after a few reads here I realized a lot more work has to go in to a 700 or above. So I think that is why I'm not as upset as I am shocked: I can't believe the verbal was so bad.

So, that's my story. Chapter 2 begins today as I regroup and start for round 2 of this test - going for gold, nothing less than a 700 now. Not applying for another year so have some time. Will hope to retake over the next 2-3 months.

Looking forward to learning from you and sharing experiences.

Welcome. Get the MGAT series and i bet you will take your score to the 700 level. Try the challenges for improvement in quant.

This forum will be a great help to your preparation. Good luck.

In the same boat, so hopefully will see you in the forums!

I did find the actual exam alot harder than the GMATPrep but it may just have been me. I actually got a couple of probability and sequence questions which were super easy. You basically could just figure them out using the pen and pad and didn't need any complex formulas. But I found the number property questions to be very difficult...