Need Advice!!! 650>630>620

Hi alphaseeker,

I have a couple of additional questions about your CATs (especially the ones in which you scored 750):

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (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?

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

Hi Rich,

Thank you for your respond. Answers of your questions;

1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
I've never written essays in my CATs, but mostly I've taken IR Sections

2) Did you take them at home?
I mostly took at home and rarely at library.

3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
Please see the attachments for that.

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.)?
I am a father of one. During my practice exams, I had to pause the exam and to take longer breaks. But it is not the case for all practice exams

5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once?
That's is hurting part. You may have seen a comprehensive pdf files that include all retired OG questions. For past few months, I focused on those documents and finished them several times. Total should be ~2000 questions. However, this documents also include most of the CAT practice questions. I thought that as I comprehend the logic of GMAT, it will not a matter if I see familiar questions. Almost every weekend I took an OG CAT. Thus, by the time, I have been familiar with most of the questions, even though I did not remember the answers of them. But I think that this gave me a wrong impression after I see the high scores. I was telling myself, It is ok to remember few questions. Even if I dont score 770, I will have something 730. Again I think I was wrong. And after finishing all OG materials and CATs, I really dont know what materials I should utilize, and more importantly I do not know how I will be able to measure my up-to-date level. Before I took the exam on Thursday, I took another CAT, I scored 760 (Q50 V42) (2 wrong for Quant and 4 wrong for verbal). For this particular CAT, I mostly familiared with CR questions, but not so much with SC and RC.

So this is my situation Rich, I went to work today after taking 4 days of to prepare GMAT. Yet, I was not sure how the day passed. I thought all day about GMAT. I and my wife postponing some of our social goals just because I have to go to Top Tier MBA School. For past several years, I planned my life based on this plan. I passed CFA level 2 exam, but did not take the final level just because GMAT.

Thats why I desperately need valuable advice.

Thank you so much again for responding.

Hi alphaseeker,

The extra information that you've provided is quite useful, as it helps to define why your Test Day results are lower than your CAT results. In real basic terms, you took your CATs in such a way that you were NOT properly training to face the Official GMAT - so you were not ready to face it on Test Day (on any of your attempts).

Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" your scores can become - and that's what happened here. By skipping sections, taking the CATs at home, taking longer breaks, seeing 'repeat' questions, etc., you weren't properly training for the FULL GMAT 'experience.'

Thankfully, this is a relatively easy set of problems to fix. The big question now is "how long will it take you to properly get 'used to' taking the full GMAT in a realistic way?" You'll certainly need a new set of practice CATs to work with and you have to put in the necessary time to train your brain (and body) for the FULL GMAT. You might also need to invest in some new GMAT training materials.

Have you scheduled your next Official GMAT yet?

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

Hi Rich,

As you pointed it out I need a new way of strategy to get used to real exam term conditions. I have been planning to apply for Round 1 of MBA schools, but it appears that it will will be highly unlikely to catch this period (Starts with Harvard Sept.9th thru Oct.1 for most of the top business programs). The earliest date I can take GMAT exam again is beginning of Sept. and I am not really sure that in this limited time I can make big difference. Also, since I took three GMAT exams in this year, I have only two options. So, they became valuable. What do you think?

So, I think that I should apply for the second round. Thus, I should leave my options for the end of Oct. and end of Nov., meanwhile I can study more thoroughly.

I am ok to invest more after making this much effort and dedicating time. In terms of study plan, I am ready to sleep less, spent more time on exam. I really want to nail this down. It is kind of a self-challenge. I really want to beat 750 threshold. I am gonna keep myself fresh for quant, and possibly increase to 51 (I know it is very diff. to get this score), but I need some advice on the verbal section. I attached my real exam performances.

Thank you again for you time and valuable advice

Hi alphaseeker,

I agree that the Round 2 application deadlines would give you a much better 'window' to achieve your overall goals.

Here are a couple of 'nitpick' pieces of information, but they do matter:

1) GMAC limits the number of attempts that you can take at the GMAT (in a rolling 12-month period) to 5; this means that you have 2 more attempts until NEXT February.
2) Sleeping less is NOT going to be part of the solution to your situation. Tired minds tend to make bad choices, so you need the right amount of sleep (not less).

Based on everything that you've described, I think that you would find the EMPOWERgmat Verbal Score Booster to be quite helpful. Most of our clients finish that Study Plan in under a month, so it would fit your schedule perfectly. During that time, you'll also be able to access any of the Quant resources that interest you. You'll have to put the necessary effort into learning and practicing some new tactics for the Verbal section, but that section of the Test is as predictable and standardized as the Quant section is, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

If you have any additional questions, then feel free to contact me directly.

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

Hi alphaseeker

Before you retake the GMAT, get the Enhanced Score Report of your last GMAT attempt [url](https://www.mba.com/india/store/store-ca ... eport.aspx)[/url] Once you get to know what specific areas you went wrong, you can prepare in a more focused manner.

Hope this helps.

All the best.