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I'm starting to get worried...

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highwyre237
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Joined: 13 Sep 2011
Status:Can't wait for August!
Posts: 985
Own Kudos [?]: 364 [0]
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Location: United States (MA)
Concentration: Marketing, Strategy
Schools: Johnson '15 (M) Tuck '15 (D) Duke '15 (WL)
GMAT 1: 660 Q44 V37
GMAT 2: 680 Q45 V38
GMAT 3: 710 Q45 V42
GPA: 3.32
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I'm starting to get worried... [#permalink] New post   24 Oct 2011, 07:05
I'm taking the gmat on wednesday. On sat I took the second official practice test, and only got a 660 (Q45 V35). Now, with Q I know I need to review a few things, as well as understand that 4^17 can also be expressed as 2^34... who knew, outside of those I just didnt read the problems clearly enough.

With Verbal... I'm a native speaker, and I'm decent enough at sentence correction, and almost flawless with critical reasoning... but when it comes to Reading comp, I do poorly during practice tests. I'd also like to add, I tend to end Verbal with around 10 mins to spare

My issue is, with practice problems on Reading Comp, I'm great, my strategy has been to just read, act interested, and focus, I dont take notes. It works well during practice problems and I feel I retain more info, and almost never have to look back, but I seem to get waaay too distracted under actual test pressure, and I psych myself out. I'm forced to re-read paragraphs multiple times, and it still doesnt sink in. I think its an endurance issue, but who knows. When I take notes, I get too focused on writing, and never fully understand the passage.

My goal is 700+ Q50 V40 (I know thats closer to a 730)... I'm thinking about postponing the test

Do you think, with the fact that I tend to end with extra time, should I think about changing my strategy for reading comp. I've been studying for about 10 weeks, and am successful with my strategy when its not during testing conditions.

Or, do you think I should take it anyway, and just see how it goes? I can think of it as a $250 practice test... :-(. I'm planning on taking a 5 hour energy or something right before the Verbal, to help me stay a bit more focused, testing out the effects after work today to make sure its a good idea... I'll do some reading comp after, which I know I'll do well on... So hopefully that gets my confidence up.

So... I guess I made up my mind, maybe this is more of a "Holy crap I cant believe the test is in 2 days" type of moment...

Sorry for all the ellipses, I guess its just that type of morning.
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highwyre237
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Location: United States (MA)
Concentration: Marketing, Strategy
Schools: Johnson '15 (M) Tuck '15 (D) Duke '15 (WL)
GMAT 1: 660 Q44 V37
GMAT 2: 680 Q45 V38
GMAT 3: 710 Q45 V42
GPA: 3.32
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Re: I'm starting to get worried... [#permalink] New post   26 Oct 2011, 10:18
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soooo the recent practice was an accurate indicator... I ended up with a 660 :-/ 44Q 37V

With Quant, I accidentally answered a question incorrectly, and noticed as I was pressing confirm. That almost shattered my confidence, I have a feeling I got the next one wrong because I was worrying about what happened before.

With verbal, I did alright... not great, but i could live with 37 if my Q was about 5 points higher.

So... there are many 660 to 700+ stories on here, lets hope I'm one of them. I'll take this thing again in December or Jan, and forget about R2 this year. Fall 2013 it is.

The goal will be the same, Q50 V40.
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tan
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Re: I'm starting to get worried... [#permalink] New post   25 Oct 2011, 06:52
hey highwyre237, since you have your test in two days, i would suggest that its best that you keep yourself as relaxed as possible. I face the same problem as you, mess up my exams just because i panic during them. however, don't let the panic ruin your exam. The more confident you are, the better you'll fare in your exam.
if you are doing well with your current RC strategy, i think you should be fine on your test day. formulating a new strategy and trying to implement it in two days is risky business. On the last day before the test, relax as much you can. if you want, just a light reading and revision of basic concepts should suffice. don't do anything intensive.

for quant, read the questions very very carefully. focus on what the question is asking you. The gmat makes questions trickier by twisting words. I always used to make silly mistakes because i didn't read what is asked. i made sure i didn't make the same mistake of misreading the question on the test day and ended up with a 49(the highest i had ever scored).

also, i ended up panicking during the real test(i've written about this in my debrief). i managed to pull myself together, but ended up losing valuable time. so make sure you don't let that happen.

and just forget the scores of the practice tests. they're not important. the actual score is all that matters! Use the tests to know what mistakes you're making and don't repeat the same mistakes in the exam.
Just go for the exam with a calm mind and take it as its just another mock exam that you're giving. With the right mindset, there is no stopping you. i'm sure you'll crack it!

best of luck!
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novanative
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GMAT 1: 640 Q43 V34
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Re: I'm starting to get worried... [#permalink] New post   25 Oct 2011, 07:09
I'd go for it and treat this like another practice exam.

Unlike the LSAT, where the testmakers can really skew logical reasoning questions (a little over 50% of the exam) and give people shockers (verbal sections will always have a bigger degree of uncertainty), we all should have a good idea of how much of this test is going to look like with the quant especially.

Like the guy above me wrote, in quant know what the question is and solve to answer the question. In verbal, make sure you understand what you're reading, and this goes for ALL question types.

*Yes, I did take the LSAT before.*
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highwyre237
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Joined: 13 Sep 2011
Status:Can't wait for August!
Posts: 985
Own Kudos [?]: 364 [0]
Given Kudos: 109
Location: United States (MA)
Concentration: Marketing, Strategy
Schools: Johnson '15 (M) Tuck '15 (D) Duke '15 (WL)
GMAT 1: 660 Q44 V37
GMAT 2: 680 Q45 V38
GMAT 3: 710 Q45 V42
GPA: 3.32
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Re: I'm starting to get worried... [#permalink] New post   27 Oct 2011, 07:57
Alright, this thread will now become my journey from 660 to, where ever I end up.

New Test Date : Dec 10th

I'll update once I decide on my study plan, and I'll try to update daily.
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highwyre237
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Director
Joined: 13 Sep 2011
Status:Can't wait for August!
Posts: 985
Own Kudos [?]: 364 [0]
Given Kudos: 109
Location: United States (MA)
Concentration: Marketing, Strategy
Schools: Johnson '15 (M) Tuck '15 (D) Duke '15 (WL)
GMAT 1: 660 Q44 V37
GMAT 2: 680 Q45 V38
GMAT 3: 710 Q45 V42
GPA: 3.32
WE:Information Technology (Retail)
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Re: I'm starting to get worried... [#permalink] New post   08 Dec 2011, 17:22
alright, since my test is coming up in a few days I'll update this thread.

Since my test I've been studying hard (mainly MGMAT SC, and Advanced Quant), and improving

Practice tests since my disappointing 660

MGMAT #2 - 11/07 - 680 q46 v36
MGMAT #3 - 11/16 - 690 q48 v36
MGMAT #4 - 11/20 - 700 q46 v39
GMAT Prep1 -11/27 - 720 q48 v40
MGMAT #5 - 12/03 - 770 q51 v44
GMAT Prep2 -12/06 - 740 q50 v40
MGMAT #6 - 12/08 - 740 q47 v44 (I hope I dont mess up on Q like this on test day)



So... My practice tests have been going well the past few weeks, feels a bit better this time, just need to make sure not to make stupid mistakes on quant. Seems like I know how to do every problem I get wrong, I just dont see it while taking the exams. Also, I do not expect a 44 on verbal, looks like my MGMAT practices are inflated in that regard. Still shooting for, and not expecting better then a 50/40 split

Wish me luck, I'll be debriefing one way or another in a few days
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tobbe89
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Re: I'm starting to get worried... [#permalink] New post   09 Dec 2011, 01:20
Nice improvement!

Good luck, I'll bet you will achieve 700+!
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gmatclubot
Re: I'm starting to get worried... [#permalink]
09 Dec 2011, 01:20

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