I NEED ADVICE

Question

hello guys.
i started my gmat journey two months ago. in the first month i studied 4 hours a day and in the second i studied for about 6 hours a day. I was improving steadily from 530, in my first attempt, to 660 in my last attempt. However, things went south on the exam day. I did very well in the AWA and IR section(7 on the IR). i did also well in the quant section i scored 49, which was pretty much my average in my last attempts. I DO NOT KNOW WHY but on the exam day i panicked and lost focus . facing a very difficult reading at the very beginning of the verbal part, i became really nervous and lost track of time. i ended up having 10 questions answered randomly. i decided to cancel my score(510) and I'm planning to retake the exam. nevertheless, since i've done the OG tests 3 times (at least) and i know the correct answers without thinking about the tests, i do not know how to start again. i need to face this stress problem and solve it immediately. this time i'm setting my goal on 700+. any advice ? 
+what resources should i buy ?(since the OG has lost its function)
+i need to change my approach to score much higher than my peak .. i don't know how ..

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi houtanmodaresi,

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. If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? 
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE?

Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

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

JeffTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi houtanmodaresi,

I’m sorry to hear about your recent GMAT. Since you showed solid scoring progression from your previous two attempts, the score drop from your most recent GMAT was more than likely due to nerves/fatigue.

I am happy to provide some further advice, but first I would like to learn some more about your GMAT experience and MBA goals. So I have a few questions:

1) Did you get your enhanced score report? If not, could you do so and share the score breakdown from your most recent GMAT?
 
2) Did you take any official MBA.com practice exams prior to your GMAT? If so, can you provide us with the dates and score breakdowns from those practice exams?

3) Describe your study routine. What resources have you been using for your prep?
 
4) For how many hours a day and for how many months can you study for your retake?

5) To what programs do you plan to apply, and what deadlines are you targeting?

GMATPILLBILL · Answer

Hi houtanmodaresi,

When it comes to psychological aspects of the test and stress management - make sure you think extreme positivity and pay attention to this critical element of the test. We highly recommend that you read through the psychological tips that we put together for you on this blog post:

https://www.gmatpill.com/about/studying- ... trategies/

The fact that you have studied for so long, and have seen fluctuations in your scores might indicate a problem with your study habits.

As you study, we recommend that you focus on quality over quantity.

Doing hundreds of hundreds of more questions without really understanding the concepts or the booby traps that you’re falling into will not necessarily get you where you want to be.

Try going back to previous questions and seeing if you can answer them with ease. The more you can answer correctly, the more likely it is that you understand the material.

As you study, we recommend that you focus on one particular subsection for multiple consecutive days before moving onto the next. You can see this in our study plan where we recommend 5 days on nothing but SC -- before moving onto CR and then RC.

Here is a customized 2-3 month study plan that can help boost your score: https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-t ... study-plan

Here is a sample SC video to help you start your journey: https://www.gmatpill.com/sentencecorrect ... ythons.mp4

houtanmodaresi · Answer

thank u for your help and support.

well dear sir i did not take any CAT exams. i bought the 2 official exam packs and took them.
out of 6 practice exams my scores were :
on aug 8th : 530 (q 45 v 18)
on aug 16 : 570 (q47 v 21)
on aug 20 : 640 (q 49 v 23)
on aug 25 : 610 (q 45 v 32)
on aug 30 : 660 (49 v 31)
well i bought the manhattan books for the verbal parts. i studied the SC and CR sections but i did not study the RC section.(because i was quite good in it but apparently i wasn't)
my study routine : i did the OG questions (2015) and i also had 2016 verbal book and 2016 quant book (the orange and green).
i did a few questions and then came back to them, reviewing every choice. my plan was to solve at least 20 problems in every section (PS, DS, SC, RC, CR) each day.
i have less than two months to study for the retake.
i have less than 4 hours to study during this time.
i am not approaching for an MBA. I am a new graduate. I Studied hardware engineering and I'm planning to study general management or finance or HR (i LOVE all of em) as my masters degree. deadlines are quite different, but i have got two months for almost all of em.

since deadlines are close and i have lots of things to do besides studying for the gmat, i only have this one shot ! if i fail this one i cannot take another gmat .

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi houtanmodaresi,

My earlier question were about the 6 practice tests that you took, so I'm hoping that you can provide more information on those exams:

When you took your practice Tests:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE test each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your tests that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? 
5) Did you ever take a test more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE?

You clearly have strong Quant skills, so focusing on the Verbal section will be a must as you continue to study (although you will have to do some occasional Quant practice to keep those skills strong). However, raising a 510 to a 700+ in two months will be challenging, so it would help if you could better define your plans (so that we can can determine the type of GMAT score that you would actually "need"):

1) What Schools are you planning to apply to?
2) What is the exact deadline for each?

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

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