Got crushed with 640 :-(

Paul, Vivek,
Thanks for your words/replies. I will be around...that's for sure......I will take a few days off to replenish my energy and get my biological clock working properly.

I thought I'd share some other stuff about the exam for the benefit for others.
Sice I got good marks in Maths , I think people might want to hear about it.....its been a long time since someone posted their GMAT experience.

I have got good background in maths since it was my fave subject in high school. But I had always ignored P&C and Probability , and used to selectively study other topics. I hated P&C and Probability. ( Frankly I was too lazy to learn it, and I knew that I could get good marks without learning it ! I used to get really good marks

But I knew that in GMAT one can't do this, so the first thing I did was revise the concepts and do all the problems I got hold off. GMAT gives very simple problems on both these topics ( and on SD too ).

This forum has the best questions, so if you can solve the ones coming on the forum ( and the previous problems), I believe you have covered these 3 topics. The basics can be learned from the tutorial from the download site.

I got a Combi problem on my 3Q and made sure I got it right. The quality of tough questions is comparable to the toughest in OG. I find Number theory more intriguing than Probability or P&C. I feel these questions are trickier than other topics.( at least on the GMAT )

SD questions are very standard, and if you know just the basics of SD its enough. I think Stoylar has mentioned in one of his posts that GMAT doesnt expect you to calculate the SD but to use your head and solve the problem. But you should know both ways, just in case you are expected to calculate one.
Correct me if I am wrong.

As for the verbal, I had practiced a lot of SC's. The mega bank is really worth doing it, "only if you have the time".
Finishing 885 SC's with analysis is NO joke. I managed to cover 350 with a one time analysis. I didn't have time to revise the mistakes.

I didnt really do good at all in verbal section so I can't say much about that. Except that I am not giving up. I will give gmat again and kill the damn thing

If you have any specific questions you can ask !

Hi Ash,
Definately you are a 700 potential.That was awsome core in quant.

I have similar problem with the sleep as you have. I dont get sleep well on the day before any big event. I keep thinking in the night and go into that loop and finally hardly sleep.

But I figured a solution and it works for me,and have been using it past few years.

What I do is, I sleep only for couple of hours,two days before the event. Meaning, if I have an event on Thursday, then I sleep for only two hours on Tuesday night. Then wednesday I wont be at my best because of less sleep.But then again,due to hte tiredness from the less sleep, I get sleep well on Wednesday night. I sleep very early on Wednesday to compensate the less sleep on Tuesday.

So on Thursday, I wake up fresh, goto gym for a light workout, take a fresh shower. I read very light from my inspiration material and do a small meditation. I feel very fresh in body and in mind and ready to go with lot of energy.

What I feel from others' experiences here is, GMAT requires tremendous mental stamina.It requires lot of concetration,focus and quickness for longer hours. I think one should take this very seriously and should make it part of the preperation process.If a person works 1-2years on preparing for GAMT and does not take care of the test day, what is the use?

I think it is about time GMAT club members give more importnace to this topic. I think we should have some kind of sticky thread on how differrent people approach and have a good discussion on it.

Ash,
Thanks for sharing your experience and it will be very useful as I have 10 days left! What you mentioned is dead right! Even I am sleeping an average of 4-6 hrs these days
With my manager out of station things have got worse and I can only sit with my GMAT prep after 10pm!!! But your experience will help me to make sure I stay cool and get back to the 8hr sleep cycle atleast 3 days before the Test.
I think you should take the Test again (you deserve more) and I am sure you will do better!!!
Could you elaborate a bit more on the Verbal section:
1. Were the SC CR standard same as OG?
2. How were the RCs (This is my weakest point!)

Sorry about that ashkg. just a bad day. We are all here if you should need help. As you might have read from Linda and Game Plan's posts, taking GMAT again will not make a difference to your prospects.

It is a tough situation. Please read vicky's post in this forum. I have made it a sticky post in the "share your gmat experience forum" (this forum). If he can go from a 590 to a 730 , anyone can and i mean anyone can.

I would ask that you do not take a long break from your prep. Keep concentrating on Math and Verbal the way you did before today.

Goalstanford, you can go ahead and start the thread. I will make it a sticky post. thank you for the idea

take care, rest for three or four days and then come back and visit us. We will be waiting

Regards
Praetorian

agree with Preat's comments. Ash you got an awesome quant score, now keep quant in the background and concentrate on your (ah! GMAT) verbal skills. It is just the matter of time that you come up with flying 700+

Don't get bogged down by this score, concentrate on where you need to improve. This might be just another bad day or improper rest before the exam.

Get down and come up with an inspiring story on "How I reached 700+"

All the best...DJ

I would consider 640 a good score, though by all means you are a 7** person. Keep up the quant and nail the verbal next time. You know what it was the first time so half of your anxiety will go like that. You just have to make sure that GMAT is just mental game. Go next time with full confidence knowing what you have to do.

--Bhai

You are 700+ material dude. You can do it. All the best.
Thank you for giving us those words of wisdom.

Srijay,
Here are my answers to your questions.

The verbal is as same standard as OG, but one silly problem is that you get to see OG problems EVERYWHERE !! So everytime you see a seen question, it seems easy and more easier the next time you see it.

So ,the result is that one ends up doing the same questions for verbal part.
For SC and Maths, repetition is the key. But I feel that doing the same questions for CR and RC is not a good idea at all. Don't do the CR and RC questions again ever if you have not got it wrong. (Or unless you want to revise a key concept)

The GMAT will throw new questions at you for RC and CR. Its as if each passage is a new story in itself. So the familiarity factor is no longer there. That's why we need to see new questions during the practice session.
For SC and Maths, many times the same concept is tested so repetition does a lot good in these cases.

I got 3 or 4 RC's . I dont remember exactly how many (3 at least). But I am sure I got a 75 line one and a 45 one at least. The first RC had come at the 3 question. Speed matters and so does a "a very clear mind".
The first two SC were tough. Towards the middle and end I got easier ones. I practically got most of my marks from SC's.

I wish you the best, you have enough time to polish up your strategy and learn from my experience. If its possible take full tests to get used to the 4 hour grill.
But, if you realize that you might risk losing your confidence with any of the results of the practice test, then only ditch it.
Otherwise practice tests are a good idea.

take care,
ash.

P.S. I hope I am not breaching the confidentiality agreement by my post above. If anyone feels so, let me know I'll edit it.

HY ASH...


I just say that was a brave effort pal... cheeer...

everyone has talked about ur potential and I m very much sure U only fit their expectations...well thanks for the feed back and that will help most of us guys who are on line now...

few qeuries... how did U feel hwhen U were going about the math: any time U felt for sure U were doing real well ...did U have an idea as to what ur performance leveL was... were U getting the feeling like U were getting the tougher questions and which question number were U aware like the 20+ or around the 25...

verbal : what do U feel went wrong most with U apart from ur tiredness...and how was the question pattern was it at the level of our discussions here on the club...I mean the Sc's and the CR and the RC's..

any more thoughts that would be back to U as U retrospect..take ur time and just have some great time first and then get back with a bang! Remember we are here to challenge and win will be waiting to beat U ....

take care ...

HAVE FUN

ashkg,
you definately have the talent to go 750+. Quant is superb!! On verbal, Follow Praet's advice - "Error logs" follow it religiously and minimize errors.
You still have the time advantage of taking a second shot.

Answer to your queries here :

Frankly,
Maths wasnt tough, it was the computer adaptiveness that I tried to get over.
Easy Hard Easy Hard......mixed patterns ,this can confuse you and cause you to make mistakes.
One must stop thinking about how well you are doing and concentrate on getting the right answer in the right amount of time. This is of utmost importance. After the first 1-2 questions you are bound to get a slightly tougher question on the third. You have to solve it if you want good marks. The toughness keeps varying so you dont actually know what pool you are swimming in.
After 25 questions I got a few easy ones......so the fact is that at that time one is actually swimming either in the high pool or in the low pool.

My advice is that forget about how well you are doing ( because you won't know). Concentrate on finishing the paper with the right answers.

The questions on the forum are of a really good standard.Just try to solve the questions in a short time. Kaplan maths is good.

I got 1 combi, 1 SD and 1 probability. Each was very easy. Believe me. You won't even take 30-90 seconds to solve those on your own if you have got the basics right. But during gmat you might want to be careful and check your answers.
Make sure you get the first 15-20 right. I had 15 questions and 15 mins left. Luckily a few easy questions came along and I bought some time.
I had 11 secs left after i finished the last problem using backsolving. Doing the last one gave me the most satisfaction. It was a PS. I really doubted my answer, but on my way back from the restroom I realized that I was right.

In maths one must get used to solving questions in a minute. Because you are bound to face times when you won't have more than a minute for some question or the other.

Verbal :
Apart from tiredness I think I needed more practice with pacing myself in the verbal section. I was just too scared of getting questions wrong in the first 15 questions. I was thinking too much for each question.
The level of SC's and CR's and RCs discussed in the club are >= GMAT level.
Make sure you get used to solving new sets of verbal questions in your practice session each time.
I wrote some comments on the verbal section in my previous post. I think you might want to look at it ( in case you haven't already

I hope I have answered your questions.

- ash

Thanks a lot for your advise Ash! They are really helpful.
Meanwhile I am just keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best

Thank you Ash - you are a great contributor. We are proud to have you as a member. I am sorry to hear you did not get beyond 700 - it is really not representative of your personality and potential.

Get some rest and then you can concentrate on verbal - no excuses, remmber?

-GOOD LUCK! and we'll see you soon.
Thank you again for sharing.

Sincerely,

Good Luck Ashish!

Hi Ash,

Great effort dude! I am sure, next time you will nail it.

A small question, did the verbal Q's that you saw during test, were the once you faced in OG or some other place. Or they were completely new......

All questions were new. Of course you might find a few SC's and maths problems similar to what you have practiced but they won't be identical. The wording would be changed slightly.

Also, ETS clearly mentions that the questions it gives out to the public for practice are "retired" and they don't use them anymore.

-ash

hy Ash...

U did answer my queries and more... thankx

good wishes...

take care,


HAVE FUN