Math anxiety = brutal score on exam day

Hi NathalieMathalie,

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 when you took 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 (re: in an online forum or in a practice set)?

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

Thanks Rich, I took the tests at home and did have to pause occasionally to attend to the toddler and baby. I also found the scratch pad to be totally disconcerting and couldn't get the pen to write properly for the first 3 questions. I ordered one to practice with at home. I'm going to work on my speed and make sure that I have a high accuracy on the basic questions, so that I can get through the first ten on the test and hopefully make it to the theoretical/probability questions that I seem to be good at for some reason.

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NathalieMathalie

Since you have given a valid exam, you must get an ESR.
This is will show how you manaaged accuracy vs timing in actual exam.

You may post the same here for experts' reviews too.

Hope this helps.

I will share one more thing. I used to randomly do practice questions and only read other people solutions. Didn't help much. Now I am focusing on quality. I have divided quant into topics and I read articles online, turns out there are plenty, and then do practice questions and write down good questions. And keep a note. It has helped to improve quality.


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Try using Target Test Prep (TTP) free 5-day trial and see if it suits your preparation needs. TTP helps to build foundation, all possible concepts topic wise and has Quizzes - Easy, Average, Difficult. Most of the Questions are patterned on the OG and GMAT Prep Questions, so it helps to build acquaintance. I have used the same and scored a Q50 on mock GMAT Prep CAT1, will be giving real GMAT in a few months. Once you done with TTP, complete the OG-16/17/18. Finally, you may practice from the 26 GMAT Club Tests, they have good Quant Q's which are tougher than the real GMAT but helps to fill logical loopholes,if any. Good Luck

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I'm going to look into the Target Test Prep today. Thank you. I've also been solving the math questions on this site that are organized by topic so that I have a really thorough understanding before moving on.

I seem to have a fairly unconventional background (from what I've seen on this site): Fine art degree (majored in oil painting, got a 4.0 GPA and it is the University I am hoping to get the MBA from), advanced diploma in graphic design, 1 year corporate branding in a design agency and 7 years of marketing and research in an advertising agency. (and I'm a mom of a 3 year old and a 10 month old!)

I know that I need a decent quant score to prove that I can handle the math in the program and I know that I can do it, I just need a strategy to beat the nerves on exam day). I really appreciate all of your help.

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Hi NathalieMathalie,

Having to integrate your studies around taking care of a toddler and a baby (and anything else that's going on) must be something of a challenge. That having been said, 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 practice scores can become - and that's what happened here. Based on what you described, your CAT-taking-process involved at least 2 aspects that you can't do on Test Day: taking the CATs at home and pausing the Exam. If there's anything else about how you took these CATs that didn't match up with Test Day (such as skipping sections, taking longer breaks, taking the CATs at different times of day, etc.), then the scores become less and less accurate.

The Quant section of the GMAT is NOT a 'math test' - it's a 'critical thinking test' that requires lots of little calculations as you work through it. At this point, it's not clear whether you need to focus more on 'math practice' or 'Quant Training.' To score at a much higher level in the Quant section though, you will need to become more of a 'strategist' and less of a 'mathematician' though.

With a March 26th Test Date, you have just 3 weeks of study time. Raising a 600 to a 650 in that time IS certainly possible though. Regardless of how you choose to proceed with your studies, with a Score Goal of 650+, you should know that you do not need to correctly answer ANY Quant questions that you think are too hard or too weird - so you need to be mentally comfortable 'dumping' those questions if the situation arises (so that you can spend more time on the 'gettable' questions).

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

Thanks Rich, I tried the free trial for Empower GMAT and it seems to be exactly what I need (I'm a visual learner so I'm sure the videos will help immensely). I'm going to do the one month option and focus heavily on Quant. Cross your fingers! If you can help an oil painter/designer get a high quant score then anything is possible [GRINNING FACE WITH SMILING EYES].

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Hi NathalieMathalie,

Given what you described in your initial post - and considering your timeframe - I think that you would find the Quant Score Booster Study Plan to be the best 'fit' for your needs. You'll have access to the ENTIRE EMPOWERgmat Course though, so you can work through any of the Verbal Modules too (if you have the time or the desire).

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

Hey Rich, I have been religiously going through the Quant Syllabus. I realize that the Test-It tactic is exactly what I need to master for test day (It will keep me from making variable soup, which seems to be my signature dish on test day!) . I've gone through that module with the questions twice. Do you have any more questions that I can use? I've gone through the OG 2018 so many times that I think I've just memorized everything at this point.

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Nathalie , Hi ! Did you book your test date again ? I've also started my Quant preparation . Focusing only to leave independent chapters , if I'm getting at least 75% correct. However bb says to leave a particular quant topic only if we're getting 80%+ accuracy.
. Would love to know if this thread is still active .

Hey! Yes, Im literally surrounded by math books as I type this. I have the test booked for March 26th, so not much time. Over the past 6 months I have studied all of the Manhattan prep Quant books, have gone through the official guide about 3 times and was getting Q47, 48, 49 on practice tests....and then bombed on the real test. I realized that I was focusing on the really hard questions, thinking they would get me the most points, but that was definitely the wrong move. I am now doing a 180 and have changed how I approach the easy, variable based questions (but old habits die hard!). Empower GMAT will get me through this. I have faith . Good luck with your studies, (I also really recommend Empower GMAT to help with your Quant study strategy. I'm impressed so far.)

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Nathalie
Sounds great . Thanks a lot . Do let us know , how you end up . And also do share more stories about your Quant Journey .

NathalieMathalie

Actually, guess the super hard question and move on to the other question helped me achieve Q50! I feel like the GMAT punish you more severe for wrong in easier question than wrong in harder question, so make sure your accuracy on easier ones is as high as possible. That would definitely help you alot. And also, if you decide to guess a question that you have no idea what it's about, just take a deep breath and do it, don't try to think logically to deduce any wrong answer (it's most likely wrong anyway)

Studying my ESR, i feel like that they definitely put some harder than usual question in the middle part to put the pressure into you, if you're doing well, they will put even more brutal ones near the end. Don't fall for them and no matter what, don't panic because of any hard question or series of hard question, even if it's 3,4 or 5 question in a row you need to guess. If you panic, you already lose the game. Training your mind for the GMAT is as important as training your raw skills, be prepared and be confident can even boost your score to an unexpected level.

Good luck and tell us how things go for you! All the best

hi loserunderachiever

It depends alot on the level of questions you did. consistently got 75% accuracy in 700+ level question is significant harder than 600-700 question. However, i believe that you can leave a section once you're confident that you can consistently achieve 70-80% accuracy with its 600-700 level questions. However, after achieve such thing, don't immediately move on to other sections, you should consider tackle some 700+ questions, as they can yield certain useful concept that you can use in similar questions. Use any prep material as basic theory, but make sure that you check out GMAT mathbook, the book is completely free and discussed concept that are not mentioned elsewhere

Great tactic! I think I will definitely be more strategic on test day. (although anything is more strategic than panicking!)
I'm amazed at the level of support on this thread. I was terrified to post this because I genuinely thought that people would have responses like: "Why are you trying to get into business school if you aren't good at math?" etc.) I swear I have other skills that can be applied to a business setting, but math is not at the top of the list. (My background is in marketing and sales)

This is a great community. Thanks Everyone!

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Everyone says that GMAT isn't a maths test, but a lot of them have quant or engineering backgrounds. Sure, it's not a maths test if you have a certain level of mathematical fluidity to begin with, but if you don't... Well it's still partly a maths test.
My background wasn't totally dissimilar to yours in that I'm older (31). Despite having a STEM background, a lot of the math in the gmat was very new to me because the math I'd done in school was extremely pure and heavily focused on calculus and alegbra. Many of the concepts in the gmat were entirely new and if not, extremely rusty.
The problem with lack of fluidity in maths is that when faced with a type of problem you've not seen before, you don't know how to solve it, and freeze. For me the only way around this was just slogging my way through a lot of quant problems. I like the gmatclub test bank problems.
Two weeks make a big difference for me - I was able to bump from Q47 to Q49 but what's not reflected in that score was how much less stressful I found the exam. The first time I freaked and had to guess loads. The second time there was only one question I truly was stumped on - the second question in the exam! (I realised the answer later, and I definitely got it wrong).
As well as gmatclub, math revolution system for DS is also useful.
However, it's important to know when you're reaching the point of diminishing returns in quant. IMO it takes LOT of work for people of our profile to raise our quant scores. I probably put 10x the hours into quant than a did verbal and had to do a lot of extra work to get from Q47 to Q49.
As an arts major, I would try and improve your verbal. For me it didn't take many hours extra study and a lot more calm to go from v41 to v47 and a few points up in verbal will have a massive impact on your overall score. Do you know what your verbal weaknesses are?

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