My GMAT experience was probably very different from the practice tests that I had taken. I had mostly done well in the verbal section and the quant section varied. Towards the end of each section I would always get a feel of how I had done and knew that the next section had to done with much more concentration. My max score in verbal was 40 and that of quant was 38. So i walked into the exam room with a idea that I had to push myself just a little harder for the 680 threshold and if I get anything above that, well, then I would consider it my good luck!
During the week before the test I took a couple Kaplan Premier CAT's that came along with the book. In hindsight that was a very bad idea, for some reason my quant peaked in those CAT's and I consistently ended up with a section score between 42-44, but my verbal score went spiraling down from 39 to 26. I did identify my weak areas [RC and CR] and I would usually answer only 60% of these question types correctly. I would review my errors after the test and would understand that I got confused after zeroing down on the last two choices, I tried to tackle this by doing a lot more CR and RC, but now I think that the problem is more fundamental. So I'm now looking at options of doing CR and RC from scratch, any suggestions??
Quant has been the proverbial monkey on my back since highschool, so when i started with my gmat preparations, I was haunted by looking at the quant section. Predictably so, I did pathetically bad on my first CAT, a Kaplan online test, ended up with a score of 570 Q32 V36 (another mistake,i was later told that Kaplan's are counted amongst the toughest). I was dejected for a week after giving the test and trying to come to terms that math is back to haunt me. However, I did a lot of practice in quant and seems like i have managed to get the better of quant.
Test Day
- I had some nerves before reaching the testing center but overcame them by the time I actually got to the center. Registration was just a small formality and I was at my terminal in 10 minutes. AWA went almost fine, I had some problem with managing my time but managed to finish the essays just in time. This was the probably the 4th or 5th time I was doing AWA, so I will get to know in my score report how good or bad my essays were. Then I took the optional break and used the restroom,had a glass of water and stretched a bit. I told myself that this one demon i need to kick out of my head and went in to start with my quant section. The section started well and I wasn't guessing on a lot of questions and ones that I had to guess on were actually the really tough ones. I got the odd ridiculously easy ones in between but I managed to keep my cool. I finished the section with about 10 mins to spare and took my second break. After having finished quant, I came out with a very blank feeling, I had no idea about how I had done, and this got me thinking very very hard(a blunder i realized later). I soon stepped in to start with my verbal section. The section started off with a SC question, an easy one and then followed by a CR question. I seemed very blank while attempting the section and the next I remember seeing the timer, it said 27 minutes and 11 questions left. After that, i took my own sweet time attempting the remaining questions. I finished the verbal section about 5 minutes ahead of time. I was eager to see my score, but I had to go through the profile questionnaire which seemed to take forever. I was shell shocked when I saw my score and only remember the testing center guy smiling and saying good bye when I was leaving. I was at odds with myself and couldn't muster enough strength to tell myself that I have sent 4 months and $250 down the drain.
I'm now thinking of retaking the gmat in a month, although I haven't completely sold the idea to myself. My main concern is - how do I improve my verbal from 28 and get it at par with my quant......
One question - when the retake policy says one month, does that apply to the calendar month or 31 days from the last test date of the individual??
Resources Used:
-
OG 10,11 and 12
- Kaplan Premier
- Misc. problem sets posted by fellow GMAT clubbers.
Looking for some advice on the retake time and also on how to get my verbal score at par with my quant score.
Best,
Roy