Hello Guys,
I just had a horribly bad day today. I got a 550 (49,16). Need some advice and direction.
Story up until now -
First GMAT (in Aug) - 600 (45,28) , IR - 7, AWA - 4.5
Study for first attempt - very less on Quant and was mostly verbal using
MGMAT SC,CR,RC. After the attempt, I understood I fell very short on practice and knew I can achieve a higher score by improving on Quant and understanding more on verbal concepts.
Second study -
MGMAT - 5 quant books (NP, Alg, FDR, WP, Geo)
CR - Powerscore CR Bible
SC - Powerscore SC Bible and
e-gmat SC
RC - just through practice
my practice scores were
Kaplan - 640, 670,
GMATPrep - 650 (50,28), 640 (49,28) -- both tests within last week from today.
I could see that I had improved on Quant (45 - 49/50) as I really had thought that I should be able to after my first attempt as at that time I had hardly studied Quant.
But my verbal didn't show any improvement. Now some facts - after second study, I am very clear on SC concepts and errors (thanks to PScr SC bible and
e-gmat), also I know what is to be done on CR question for each Q type (credit to PScr CR bible), so there is no lack of understanding, the issue seems to be in execution. Now the obvious solution is to practice and I practiced a lot - mainly
OG 13 and my accuracy did improve a lot on SC upto 85% (i could see why the wrong ans choices were wrong -- i should mention thanks to
e-gmat again). I had practiced CR too from
OG 13 after studying PScr CR bible (mainly Inference, Weaken, Strengthen, Assumption)
So with this preparation, I went for my today's attempt. I felt I should get 49/50 in Quant and any little push on Verbal to early-mid 30s would have been fine to get overall score to 650+ range.
Now today's day: Don't know why but right from the start, from essay and IR, didn't feel right about the exam, felt like if I could just stop the exam there and could leave. But I do not do that, I fight. I tried to concentrate but somehow - I was not able to use the thinking part of my brain effectively. On IR - I got caught up on whether I should skip a difficult multi-source in order to answer rest within 30 min. On verbal - I dont know what exactly did go wrong - I read Qs and was trying to answer them on understanding the information from question - but now I feel that in order to attempt more number of questions, I probably took chance on answer choices rather than being absolutely sure. This is what I feel now but I am not certain. All through this state during the test, I was still able to put up a decent show on Quant and hence my point, I am better than this but what should I do now..? Please advice.
I want to give one more attempt in a month's time but need some morale boost as well.
How should I prepare this time? What should I do from now?
OG 13 - CR Qs I am pretty much familiar with them and their answers now, what else shall I use to practice?
Also, with my current speed during exam, in Quant I reach upto 30-31 in 75 min and have to guess the remaining and similar in Verbal I can reach only upto 30 in 75 min. To practice tests, what tests would be good as I have used up GMATPrep and
MGMAT CATs.
Very much appreciate your reading and advice.
Thank you!