HELP; Need to reduce my performance gap on GMAT exam

Question

Hey All,

I need a little bit of advice and I hope you might be able to help.

On my last particle exam before test day I got 610...with 45% in Quant and 80% in the verbal.
On test day (28th November) I got 510 with 29% in Quant and 60% in verbal. This is exactly the same score I got when I sat the test in June 2013, but with a different performance break down.
To add a bit of context to the results; when I sat the GMAT in June, I struggled with the Quant as I got a pretty bad case of exam anxiety and my brain stopped working. This did not happen on Thursday, I was not stressed, but I still performed poorly on test day. I'm also dyslexic and have accommodations.

My strategy for the 2nd Test was to keep my knowledge current and really focus on reducing my stress. However this does not seem to have worked.
I used a variety of materials including Magoosh, MGMAT word problems and number property book and their integrated reasoning online course. I also used extra extra questions you can purchase with GMAT prep software and the exam prep 1 pack.

I have no idea have to sort the performance gap. To apply for schools in round 2, I need to resit the exam by beginning of January.
Is there any tips or suggestions on how to reduce my 100 point performance gap?

GMATPill · Answer

In terms of addressing the psychological aspects, follow our tips on  extreme positivity and confidence .

Of course, in order to get the confidence, you need to be well aware of where your weaknesses are and you need to take steps to make improvements in those areas.

Your 45% in Quant can certainly be improved further - so really hone done on the fundamental concepts and booby traps for math questions. Remember, concepts are not enough - you need to know how to apply them to actual test questions.

Devon · Answer

What areas have you been weak in? Is it problems containing a specific type of math, like combinatorics? Is it a problem type, like Data Sufficiency? You should be able to answer these questions by reviewing your error log. If you don't have an error log, you'll need to create one and do a ton of OG problems. If you don't have all three OG books I recommend you pick them up.

Also, where are you weakest in verbal? SC, CR or RC?

Also, where are you weakest in verbal? SC, CR or RC?

sarahrs · Answer

I'm weak in problem solving, mainly word problems, particulary around setting up the equations correctly. my main challenge is basic computation rather than advanced maths logic. I can a take the long way round to answer a question.
In verbal I'm weak in sentance correction-subject verb agreement is my main issue.

KarishmaB · Answer

Your first concern should be basic computation. You need to be good at that to score well in Quant - there is no running away from it. No matter how well we master the concepts, if we cannot use them to arrive at the final answer (for which we need to do computation), we can never prove that we know our concepts well. For that, figure out where you get stuck in the questions and practice that from purplemath.com or khanacademy.org or your high school books. khanacademy also has tutorials on setting up the equation in case of word problems. Once these things are done, come back to GMAT quant.

Also, if you are facing particular problems in some SC topics, refer a standard grammar book. Once your basics of that topic are clear, work on them in GMAT SC questions.

HELP; Need to reduce my performance gap on GMAT exam

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