Horrible Gmat Prep Exam scores (GMAT in 10 days)

Question

Hi,

I have my GMAT scheduled next week (i have 10 days) and my GMAT Prep scores have been very disappointing. I am a corporate lawyer working in a startup.

1) July 9, Exam Pack 2 (Exam 5) - 620 (Q45, V 31)

2) July 10, GMAT Prep 1- 650 (Q 48 V 31)

3) July 16, GMAT Prep 2- 620 (Q47 V 28)

4) July 17, GMAT Exam Pack 2 (Exam 6)- 610!!!! (Q 48 V 27)

I did not pay attention to IR Sections at all and didn't attempt the AW section (which i plan to study for this weekend)

Now i don't wish to believe that my verbal is that bad but i have been made to believe so. The last test was actually taken when i was a bit tired after a long hectic day, but then that shouldn't be the major reason for such a bad score.

I have few queries:

1) I never practised RC thinking that it can only be practised through tests, therefore i avoided it. But now i plan to do OG for RC as well and finish in two days. Would it help? My SC in last test was 83% which wasn't bad. I think its the tough RC and CR questions which make me take a alot of time and therefore i rush through them and several of them later in the exam too. Would this practice help ? Also, is the scoring tougher for Verbal in GMAT Prep? i scored 14 incorrect in my last verbal exam 6.

2) I do want to know if the top 20 b schools (INSEAD, LBS and US schools and maybe ISB) have lower cut offs for lawyers since i assume that the competing pool should be smaller for them. would a score like 680 not get me into these colleges? I am a lawyer who has also graduated in economics. (work ex-3 years)

3) I wish to apply this year for batch 2017 (maybe 1st or 2nd round), can i apply even if i cancel and do not submit my scores and take the GMAT in November/December?

4) Now that i have exhausted these four exams, i have bought exam pack 1 as well. Should i retake earlier tests (which i took recently) or take the fresh ones. I am apprehensive since i may be left with no mocks just in case if i plan to take the gmat exam again (not looking forward to that as well).

Please help.

Regards,

Arjun

babushka84 · Answer

The only thing that worked during my 15 day cram sesh was EmpowerGMAT. The guys who do the videos are super engaging and not annoying (I think this is huge when it comes to video tutorials). Totally worth the money and the RC stuff will change the way you look at RC (of course you need to prep and yes my real exams essentially served as my mocks because I clearly hate my money).

lpetroski · Answer

Hi! From my experience, GMAT prep and any other practices you do are accurate predictors of your actual score, particularly GMATprep. Stop using up CATs trying to prove to yourself that you're better than your results, stop using the test algorithm as a scapegoat for not being prepared and hit the books! Absolutely reschedule your exam while you still can and try not to take it before you are performing over and above your target score. Don't forget that as much as you practice, test day will test your nerves as much as your knowledge so don't go in to actual test day hoping you'll do better than the average of your practices.

Good luck!

Good luck!

babushka84 · Answer

also please don't apply to the schools you mentioned with a 620 and that's assuming you're an Indian who works part-time in Bollywood while raising awareness for Goan dolphins on weekends and building orphanages in Somalia and Haiti during holidays and has been nominated for the Nobel Prize, preferably Peace.

TVF · Answer

Hi Arjun,

There is a very high probability that your score on test day would be very similar to the score on practice tests. If you target a 700+ score, I'd suggest you postpone your test by a month and focus on areas in verbal that you're weak at and pick out tools/ courses specific to those areas.

Ofcourse you might do really well on test day but that would be leaving too many things to chance!

Posted from my mobile device

rhine29388 · Answer

arjun110989 · Answer

Thank you so much. I plan to work hard during these 10 days and take it anyway.

In case, i score bad, i have an option to cancel the score and retake it after one or two months anyway. Please correct me if i am wrong. Is there any harm in doing that apart from the cost of booking another exam.

prabhakar09 · Answer

There is no harm other than cost and stress.

prabhakar09 · Answer

1. Practice as much as you can till 48 hours before the test. and in all sections. focusing more in Verbal. as that will give a bigger jump in your percentile. Quant you are already 47-48. max you can push it to 50. verbal there is a lot of scope for your

2. For European schools 700 +/- 20 should be fine. for ISB shoot for 720 +
You are on the lower edge of work ex. so you need to showcase your uniqueness. LAW background can be handy.

3. you have enough time to attempt GMAT several times. So just relax be your natural self. and give 100% effort.

4. retake earlier test unless you are hitting 720-740 consistently, then take a fresh one. there will be some repetition. 2-3 questions.

iccotdis · Answer

Hi Arjun, honestly, your scores are not that bad. But from the post, I assume a good score for you would be 700+. Also, for schools like INSEAD, they recommend around 70%ile in each of the sections. Your verbal scores are a tad on the lower side of things, I guess. So, to crack 700 and also to raise your %ile scores, I would say this - Don't appear for any more GMAT prep exams (one more is fine, though

). By doing that you will only frustrate yourself. Instead, in the next 10 days, try learning the tricks that will give you instant boost. In my opinion, you definitely need the shortcuts to get to the 730+ level. Brute force problem solving might not be enough. (At least it was not for me.) Learn the following and practice questions using these. 1. POE - process of elimination. This will greatly help you in zeroing in on the correct answers. Very important for PS questions. 2. Estimation - you dont need the exact answers for the DS type questions. This is essential for Consulting interviews as well, btw. 3. Pre-thinking - extremely important for the CR and RC questions. Before reading what the questions ACTUALLY are, you need to think about what the questions COULD be based on the passage. 4. Time management - make sure you are on the right track. i.e. have an idea of which question number you should be on when you have, let's say half the time on the clock. This will allow you to pace your test. Otherwise, you might have to guess the last 10 questions, which will definitely bring down your score. One last thing, if the score is somewhere around 650, don't cancel it. Next time when you score 750+, you can use this as an example of a time when you put in a great effort and managed to overcome the GMAT monster. Good Luck!!

prabhakar09 · Answer

Great Tips mate.

arjun110989 · Answer

Hi,

Thank you so much. Your words really make me feel better since i can totally relate to them. When i have time, like in practice, i get almost all my questions right in verbal as well. It's only during the mock time, i really take time on few CR and RC questions which make me rush and almost guess on later questions (happens in quant too but my percentile still seems to be not as bad). So i'll practice and take the exam. If it doesn't go well, i'll take it again in a month or two. Maybe try during the second round of applications.

Thanks again.

LL01 · Answer

Hi arjun110989,

Don't forget that you can only take the GMAT 5 times in a year, a month apart each time. I rushed through my first two attempts at the GMAT too and now wish I didn't waste my time and money doing that. I wasn't sufficiently prepared to get 700+ and a lot of it was down to mindset. Also, it's soul-crushing to not do as well as you should, repeatedly. A friend of mine who was going through the same process held out just 2 months longer than I did, and got a respectable score first time. Patience is a virtue, especially when it comes to the GMAT! There're some geniuses and natural exam-takers out there but I think most of us will need to go over the basics and do official GMAT questions till we're dreaming GMAT and almost bored by it. For me, that state of mind eliminated the test-day nerves and stress.

I echo others' sentiments above and think you need to go back and revisit your basics, because your GMATPrep mock results will usually be a very close indicator of test day performance. After my first two attempts, that's what I did, as tedious as it seemed at the time. Then, I went over both OG books I had, again. When I was certain that my basics were solid and I was used to GMAT-style questions, I did a ton of GMATPrep exams and questions (both exam packs, GMAT Focus- you probably don't need this and Question Pack 1) *repeatedly* to condition myself in terms of timing and mental endurance. I rarely skipped AWA or IR, for the record, because my strength (I'm an in-house lawyer too) lay in verbal and that comes right at the end of the exam, when mental fatigue can cost me (5-point difference in my verbal score!).

As for starting an application with INSEAD (batch 2017), you can certainly do so. If you don't get a 700+ score in time, just start a new application for the following year and the new form should repopulate most, if not all, of your profile info (that's what I did). Or, if you get something like 690 and you want to submit your application, you can choose to do so, then retake the GMAT quickly and update the adcom with your improved GMAT score in good time before the interview decisions are taken. This option is fairly risky, so it's an individual decision.

arjun110989 · Answer

Hi,

So I did postpone my GMAT by one month. Can some one tell me good verbal material to practice from. I tried e-GMAT trial videos. Looked good. But I don't know where all I should practice from considering that I only have a month. I'm essentially weak at RC and CR. And I don't like the idea of doing too many different kinds of books too. I'll buy MGMAT 6 tests for weekend practice to see my progress but during the week I need to read and practise good stuff on verbal.

Thanks in advance

Arjun Tanwar

Posted from my mobile device

prabhakar09 · Answer

All the best mate, good decision.

1. I would recommend, using different technique .. go to "https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat-reading-comprehension" go through 1-2 videos. see if it's better to grasp. 
2. make your own strategy. for each type of RC and CR. 
3. Always attempt questions with a timer. it will give you a sense of which areas to work on.
4. Make an error log.

nigushto · Answer

I think you already have some brilliant pieces of advice. I just want to highlight one thing though - not all things work for everyone and make sure that you spend your time on things that you believe will help you. For instance, after appearing for 2 MGMAT tests, I stopped doing more because I believe MGMAT quant questions were tougher than the usual GMAT quant. I could have spent time to grasp the concepts to increase my quant score from 50 to 51 but I thought it would be better to spend that time to study Verbal as that was what I wanted to improve. Similarly, an error log helped me for idioms but not much for RC. So, I think you are the best judge of your own strategy and I am sure you'll do well. Just have faith in yourself as that is the most important thing that helps on test day. The moment fear gets in, you start loosing focus and that can be disastrous. In my case, there was a constant hammering from a construction site besides my test center and normally I don't loose focus to noise but on the test day, just the thought of loosing focus actually resulted in a loss of 20-30 points for me.

Give it your best shot and all will go well. Hope my 2 cents help. Good luck!

Cheers!

Give it your best shot and all will go well. Hope my 2 cents help. Good luck!

Cheers!

VeritasPrepEdison · Answer

Great that you are doing well on the RC and CR questions. With repetitions and practicing with time constraints, I believe you will get used to the time pressure and getting them right in the mock/actual GMAT exam setting.

All the best and look forward to your updates!

All the best and look forward to your updates!

bb · Answer

Horrible Gmat Prep Exam scores (GMAT in 10 days)

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards