I'm not able to beat the Gmat and motivation is low.

Question

I'm 21 and need a simple 550 gmat score to get into the master I want on the VU in Amsterdam.
I have been studying for 4-5 hours every day for 3 months while all my friends were having fun.

I finished my Gmat and I got 480. Which was about the same as what I got on my first practice quiz before studying.
Because of this I feel like I've wasted 3 months of my life without getting anything in return.
I usually get around 600 for practice exams so I really don't know what happened.
I want to retry the exam, but I really have no motivation to go through this again and being let down like the last time.

It's hard to stay motivated because of this and I wanted to ask what you think the best way to study is in this situation.
I seem to have problems with almost every quant part, verbal is okay for a non-native.
I'd prefer to study with free tools, since I don't have much money I can spend and the test itself is already 300,- euro.

Hope you have some tips or something because I really don't know what to do anymore.
Thanks.

gmatpro15 · Answer

Dont worry , congrats on attempting GMAT (Most of the ppl doesnt even think of taking it )

dont lose hope on uaself , if possible take sectional wise score breakup of your scores and concentrate on your weak areas

introspect yourself on your weak areas and even the confidence will be low during exams

try taking mocks as much as possible but never lose your hope

all the best for your next take

BLTN · Answer

Dear Miun, do not be worry; the three months is not the three years

The easiest way to get the necessitated score is to improve quant's. Q47 and V about 20 will give you a desirable upshot. I would suggest to take TTP because its well-structured study plan and unique approach already have helped me to ameliorate my Quant score. Weather you need to recall some concepts or practice weakness areas TTP study plan can guide you to do so. Do not practice questions from weaken areas until you learn/relearn some concepts.

Archit3110 · Answer

do not worry , an attempt given is a lesson learnt.. 
work on your weakness and introspect on what exactly went wrong.. did you give any official mocks ? how was your performance in those?

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Miun,

I'm sorry to hear about how things have been going with your GMAT. I have a few articles that I think you will find helpful. If you have any questions after reading them, feel free to reach out.

How to Find Your GMAT Motivation

How to Eliminate GMAT Test-Day Anxiety

How to Improve Your GMAT Score

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Miun,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. When these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day. Before we discuss any of those potential issues though, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals. As an aside, for your next attempt, it's worth noting that to hit a 550, you do NOT need to correctly answer any of the questions that you think are too hard or too weird (so it's important to not 'overcommit' to the tougher prompts on Test Day; it's better to quickly guess on those questions, so that you can spend your time nailing all of the 'gettable' ones).

1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
3) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
4) What application deadlines are you facing?

If you took your Official GMAT at a Test Center, then you might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

I finished my Gmat and I got 480.

For motivation, consider reading success stories on the Share GMAT Experience sub forum.  Here's someone who went from a 420 base to a balanced 730 score.

bb · Answer

Different methods work for different people. This means some people have to try variety of options and approaches but the part that makes the successful test taker stand out is that they regularly measure their progress. I would measure it every day as I would be going through my study books and I had to go to hit a certain number of questions out of each exercise. If I was not meeting my goal, I would either change my approach or study the same material again. I will not move and definitely would not spent three months doing some thing without measuring my progress.

Posted from my mobile device

Miun · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC

Hi Rich,

I studied about 4-5 hours a day for 3 months.
I have used the free official practice tests, tests found on Youtube and some on Magoosh.
Some tests I get around 500 and others 690, so it's not really balanced.
I don't know for sure, but I think I did a mock exam every week.
My application deadline is 31st of Januari, but I need to do the Gmat somewhere mid October.

Thanks.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Miun, I've sent you a PM with some notes and additional questions. GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made, Rich Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

Snehaaaaa · Answer

Have you considered working with a GMAT buddy? 
Sharing problems might help in bringing focus and motivation.

Miun · Answer

A Gmat buddy? No, but that's because I don't know anybody that is also studying for the Gmat.
Is finding a gmat buddy online useful? Since most people probably live in another timezone.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi  Miun

The key to scoring well on GMAT is to focusing on the right aspects. If your score doesn't improve even after months of prep, then that means that there's something wrong with the preparation strategy. First let us understand the right way to prepare for GMAT.

How to prepare for GMAT in the right way?  
Before you start preparing for any test, it's important to understand the structure of the test, what is tested on it and then prepare accordingly. In this case, GMAT is a test which focuses on your application skills along with the conceptual knowledge. So, just learning the concepts and practicing questions without focusing on the right methodology will not do any good. So, I suggest you to first focus on the methodology to solve questions of a particular topic and only then move to practicing questions of that topic.

So, the right way to prepare would be to first

learn the concepts of a topic,  
 learn the right methodology to solve questions of that topic 
 practice a few questions of that topic to solidify your learning and then move to the nest topic 
 Repeat the process for all the topics

And working on weak areas is equally important. You move to the next topic only if you get a decent accuracy in the previous topic. If not, you revisit the concepts, fill the conceptual gaps and then move to the next topic only when you are 100% confident. There are a couple of articles which you might find helpful.

How to effectively plan your studies for GMAT

How to score 700+ on GMAT

How to start preparing for GMAT

And you can go through the recording below to understand how to strategize your GMAT prep in an effective way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65n8_LIbPIM

Hope this helps!

Feel free to reach out in case of any queries!

Emily658446 · Answer

Looking back, I realize how tough my GMAT preparation journey was before finding Dumpsforsure. A good friend pointed me in the right direction, and today I passed with pride. Grateful for both the guidance and great material.

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I'm not able to beat the Gmat and motivation is low.

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