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11 Jan 2018, 10:14
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Hi there,
First of all, thanks to the gmatclub forum for offering such great advice to me all along my GMAT journey. Although this is my first post, but I've been lurking around and reading a lot of debriefs, question discussions, and GMAT strategies extensively.
I gave my GMAT this week and scored a 640 (Q47, V34, IR7) and was devastated seeing this score - I canceled it straight away after looking at it for 3 seconds. I am a European male, looking to start an MBA over the next 3-4 years and started studying for the GMAT six months ago. Since I work in strategy consulting, my learning took place mostly on the weekends and in an on-off mode.
In my initial diagnostic CAT (July 2017), I scored a 620 (Q37 V38) and I was planning to reach a 730+ on my final test. I first used all the MGMAT books, then switched to GMATClub Tests, eGMAT and also read through the Jeff Sackmann Total GMAT Math as well as the MGMAT Advanced Quant Book. I focused heavily on the quant part as I always believed that I was quite strong in verbal (and a V38 in my initial diagnostic CAT kinda reinforced this believe). After xmas 2017 I got the opportunity to take two weeks of vacation and I decided to seize the opportunity and use the entire two weeks to study for the GMAT and then write the test on my final day of "vacation".
In my last two weeks, I worked through the MGMAT Advanced Quant Book, my flashcards, my error log, some more GMATClub questions, some eGMAT questions and 5 GMATprep mocks. On these mocks I scored 710 (Q45 V40), 760 (Q49 V45), 750 (Q49 V44), 710 (Q47 V39) and 700 (Q47 V38). I also went through each mock in detail and checked the answers (to both right and wrong choices). I took the CATs at the same time of the day as my final exam time, in a public library, with the same break time. I did not do the essays knowing that I will take the order in which I will write the essay last. I did feel some exhaustion studying more than 10-14 hours a day and writing a lot of mocks in my last two weeks.
I took the GMAT this Tuesday with the above mentioned result. I started with the quant part and felt that it went quite well (in fact I would probably be satisfied with a Q47 - although it's not superb). When the Verbal part started, I had a complete blackout, starring at the screen for seconds and sometimes having to re-read entire sentences since they didnt make sense to me reading them the first time. Not sure if that was because I was very nervous or because the verbal part of the real GMAT felt a lot harder. I had the impression that I guessed on 50-70% of the verbal questions - a feeling which I did not have in any of the mock exams. For the verbal part, I ran out of time for the last 5 questions (I submitted my answer to question 40 thinking I was done with the verbal part and was shocked when I noticed that I had 5 seconds left to answer question nr 41 - I am not even sure if the computer got my response to the last question). With a bad feeling, I went on to complete the IR and essay part which both went quite well (in fact without any practice I scored IR 8 on all of the mocks).
Unsure whether it was really just a blackout or maybe an indiciation of some gaps in my verbal skills, I am thinking of retaking the GMAT in 2-4 weeks while going through some more quant questions and brushing up on my verbal skills. My target score is still a 730+.
After the long story, I believe my post boils down to three questions:
1. When do you believe would be the perfect time to retake the GMAT (asap as long as my knowledge is still fresh or giving it some time and wait a month or two)?
2. Is there anything in particular that I should focus on / study in further detail before retaking?
3. Is there anything that I need to change in my approach before retaking the GMAT?
Thank you in advance
First of all, thanks to the gmatclub forum for offering such great advice to me all along my GMAT journey. Although this is my first post, but I've been lurking around and reading a lot of debriefs, question discussions, and GMAT strategies extensively.
I gave my GMAT this week and scored a 640 (Q47, V34, IR7) and was devastated seeing this score - I canceled it straight away after looking at it for 3 seconds. I am a European male, looking to start an MBA over the next 3-4 years and started studying for the GMAT six months ago. Since I work in strategy consulting, my learning took place mostly on the weekends and in an on-off mode.
In my initial diagnostic CAT (July 2017), I scored a 620 (Q37 V38) and I was planning to reach a 730+ on my final test. I first used all the MGMAT books, then switched to GMATClub Tests, eGMAT and also read through the Jeff Sackmann Total GMAT Math as well as the MGMAT Advanced Quant Book. I focused heavily on the quant part as I always believed that I was quite strong in verbal (and a V38 in my initial diagnostic CAT kinda reinforced this believe). After xmas 2017 I got the opportunity to take two weeks of vacation and I decided to seize the opportunity and use the entire two weeks to study for the GMAT and then write the test on my final day of "vacation".
In my last two weeks, I worked through the MGMAT Advanced Quant Book, my flashcards, my error log, some more GMATClub questions, some eGMAT questions and 5 GMATprep mocks. On these mocks I scored 710 (Q45 V40), 760 (Q49 V45), 750 (Q49 V44), 710 (Q47 V39) and 700 (Q47 V38). I also went through each mock in detail and checked the answers (to both right and wrong choices). I took the CATs at the same time of the day as my final exam time, in a public library, with the same break time. I did not do the essays knowing that I will take the order in which I will write the essay last. I did feel some exhaustion studying more than 10-14 hours a day and writing a lot of mocks in my last two weeks.
I took the GMAT this Tuesday with the above mentioned result. I started with the quant part and felt that it went quite well (in fact I would probably be satisfied with a Q47 - although it's not superb). When the Verbal part started, I had a complete blackout, starring at the screen for seconds and sometimes having to re-read entire sentences since they didnt make sense to me reading them the first time. Not sure if that was because I was very nervous or because the verbal part of the real GMAT felt a lot harder. I had the impression that I guessed on 50-70% of the verbal questions - a feeling which I did not have in any of the mock exams. For the verbal part, I ran out of time for the last 5 questions (I submitted my answer to question 40 thinking I was done with the verbal part and was shocked when I noticed that I had 5 seconds left to answer question nr 41 - I am not even sure if the computer got my response to the last question). With a bad feeling, I went on to complete the IR and essay part which both went quite well (in fact without any practice I scored IR 8 on all of the mocks).
Unsure whether it was really just a blackout or maybe an indiciation of some gaps in my verbal skills, I am thinking of retaking the GMAT in 2-4 weeks while going through some more quant questions and brushing up on my verbal skills. My target score is still a 730+.
After the long story, I believe my post boils down to three questions:
1. When do you believe would be the perfect time to retake the GMAT (asap as long as my knowledge is still fresh or giving it some time and wait a month or two)?
2. Is there anything in particular that I should focus on / study in further detail before retaking?
3. Is there anything that I need to change in my approach before retaking the GMAT?
Thank you in advance
11 Jan 2018, 22:44
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Bookmarks
Daveforpresident
Hi,
May be its exam anxiety or lack of practice under time condition. Candidates usually do a lot of practice but not under time condition. Have you ordered your ESR because that will help you more. I will suggest that for next 2 weeks practice 6 RC's daily. Try to do 3 medium level and 3 hard RC's. Practice 30 questions of CR and SC each. But make sure your average time for SC should not be more than 1 minute and 15 seconds, for CR it should be 1 minute and 30 seconds. After practicing two weeks try a new mock and check your performance.
13 Jan 2018, 09:12
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Daveforpresident
I'm pretty sure that when someone just blanks out, he or she knows what happened (later). And it is very unlikely that someone who can get V40, V45, and V44 in the GMATPreps has major gaps in verbal. I think that if the 40s you got were representative (you were not already familiar with the questions), you can do much better on the actual GMAT.
1. Take some time to relax. I don't know why your score dropped after a few practice tests, but maybe "it" was due to the sheer number of tests you were taking. If I were you, I'd work on my quant a bit, and then take the exam after 3-4 weeks.
2. Hard to say. Broadly, getting to a consistent Q49 would be really good.
3. Don't do too much as you get closer to your retake. It's very important to keep your energy levels up. Studying 10-14 hours a day (!) just before the actual exam is more likely to hurt your score than it is to help you do well.
