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Whether you are just beginning your MBA journey or fine-tuning your path to a 700+ score, GMAT Day is designed to give you a competitive edge.
18 Sep 2006, 14:12
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I know everyone prefers reading inspirational posts rather than depressing posts, but I just need to vent and have a little internet psychology session.
Background: I took the dreaded GMAT for the first time this past June, and walked into the test just wanting to score over 500. The business school I was planning on going to is a well-respected local program, but certainly not a top 50 caliber school, so they are a little lax when it comes to GMAT scores. I took one pretest (590) before I went to take the real thing, and ended up scoring 610 (39Q, 36V). It seems so silly now, but I had no idea you couldn't use a calculator on the real thing (I tried to bring mine in).
After getting my score, I started to search around on the internet to find out how my score compared with accepted rates at either schools. I found out that while my score of 610 wasn't high enough to be considered by top schools, I really wasn't that far off and maybe with some serious studying I could reach the 700 plateau. I decided to withdraw my application to the local business school, and take the plunge into studying for a high GMAT score.
I ordered OG 11, Kaplan Premier 07, and Kaplan 800 in late June/early July. All along I knew my weakness was quant, so I spent upwards of 80% of my study time on improving my math skills. I have a full-time job, but I was extremely diligent in my study sessions, studying approx. 3 hours on weekdays and 5-6 hours each weekend day. I would avoid going out with friends on the weekend so I could get in as much studying as possible (if you knew me, you would know this is out of character). I wanted to make sure I busted my a$$ as much as possible so, no matter what, I couldn't look back and say I didn't try my best. I even took a vacation day on the Friday before my test, and called in sick another day so I could squeeze in additional study time. By God, I was not going to let this test beat me. Here were my practice score with GMATPrep:
Prep1: 600 (42Q, 31V) (this one had me freaked...)
Prep2: 620 (41Q, 35V)
Prep3: 650 (42Q, 37V)
Prep4: 700 (48Q, 38V) (feeling great after this one, not many Q repeats)
Prep5: 720 (44Q, 44V) (worried about Q, but overall feeling positive)
Fast forward to today: I felt good going into the test center, and I just tried to stay positive and visualize success in my head. AWA was fine, and then came the beast - Quant. First few problems seemed to go fine, then some oddball questions started appearing that I had never seen before. A few more hard questions came after that, but I stayed calm hoping some of them were experimentals. At the end of Quant, I was a little worried, but I thought I did okay (honestly, I can never really tell if I did good or bad).
Verbal was up next, and it seemed to be going pretty smooth. I am a native speaker and have always been fairly good in English, so Verbal has never freaked me out much. I knew that if I did okay in Quant, my Verbal would be fine. Towards the end of verbal, I started to get some hard CR and SC questions, and I thought that was a good sign. Luckily I worked quickly earlier so I would have time for the hard questions later, which ended up being a solid strategy. Verbal ended, I went through the survey, said a quick prayer, and clicked next to find........
A 620!!?! A FREAKIN 620!!! WTF??? I busted my rear for the past three months to improve 10 f'n points? However, the overall score wasn't the worst part; I got a 34 on Quant!!! 3-4! That's dramatically worse than any practice test i've completed, and 5 points worse than my initial test where I didn't even practice beforehand!!! WHY ME??? And to top it off, I ended up with a 41 in Verbal, which would have been more than enough to offset just an average score in Quant......
So here I am, two hours after the test. Luckily I talked myself out of driving off the bridge, but I continue to be utterly disgusted by my performance.....I truly don't know what to do at this point. Am I just mentally handicapped when it comes to Quant? Or am I just a total failure that wilts under pressure? I built up going to a top business school as essentially the meaning of my life, and now I don't know what i'm going to do. I could always take it again, but what good is that going to do? Study Quant another three months and score a 29 next time....fantastic. I really don't want to go through the rest of my life knowing I failed at the GMAT, but I don't know if I have a choice at this point. Maybe i'm simply not intelligent enough for business school....not everyone can go, right? Let me tell you, it felt awful calling my girlfriend, who has been amazing through this whole experience, to tell her my score.....I almost cried when giving her the news.
Again, I apologize for the sob story, I know this is the last thing anyone wants to read before they take their GMAT (I purposely avoided this section during my studying so I wouldn't get depressed hearing bad stories). Believe me, there is nothing I would have loved more than coming back and posting one of those "Done - 780" posts, but I promised myself I would share my experience, good or bad. This forum is AMAZING, as are the people on here, and I appreciate all the brilliant minds i've come into contact with.
I honestly don't know where I will go from here. I could just go back to my average job, do the 9-5 thing, and try to forget that I ever wanted to go to business school. Of course I could try and take the GMAT for a THIRD time (i'm sure adcomms would look highly on that......), but what good would that do? Honestly, if I put this much work into Quant in the past three months and still didn't improve, what would another two or three months do? Sigh.....why me.....
Anyways, I doubt anyone is still reading, but thanks again for this wonderful forum. I may or may not be here in the coming weeks and months, but this is truly a valuable website (my score notwithstanding) and I sincerely appreciate the brilliant minds on here for helping this slow kid out.
Background: I took the dreaded GMAT for the first time this past June, and walked into the test just wanting to score over 500. The business school I was planning on going to is a well-respected local program, but certainly not a top 50 caliber school, so they are a little lax when it comes to GMAT scores. I took one pretest (590) before I went to take the real thing, and ended up scoring 610 (39Q, 36V). It seems so silly now, but I had no idea you couldn't use a calculator on the real thing (I tried to bring mine in).
After getting my score, I started to search around on the internet to find out how my score compared with accepted rates at either schools. I found out that while my score of 610 wasn't high enough to be considered by top schools, I really wasn't that far off and maybe with some serious studying I could reach the 700 plateau. I decided to withdraw my application to the local business school, and take the plunge into studying for a high GMAT score.
I ordered OG 11, Kaplan Premier 07, and Kaplan 800 in late June/early July. All along I knew my weakness was quant, so I spent upwards of 80% of my study time on improving my math skills. I have a full-time job, but I was extremely diligent in my study sessions, studying approx. 3 hours on weekdays and 5-6 hours each weekend day. I would avoid going out with friends on the weekend so I could get in as much studying as possible (if you knew me, you would know this is out of character). I wanted to make sure I busted my a$$ as much as possible so, no matter what, I couldn't look back and say I didn't try my best. I even took a vacation day on the Friday before my test, and called in sick another day so I could squeeze in additional study time. By God, I was not going to let this test beat me. Here were my practice score with GMATPrep:
Prep1: 600 (42Q, 31V) (this one had me freaked...)
Prep2: 620 (41Q, 35V)
Prep3: 650 (42Q, 37V)
Prep4: 700 (48Q, 38V) (feeling great after this one, not many Q repeats)
Prep5: 720 (44Q, 44V) (worried about Q, but overall feeling positive)
Fast forward to today: I felt good going into the test center, and I just tried to stay positive and visualize success in my head. AWA was fine, and then came the beast - Quant. First few problems seemed to go fine, then some oddball questions started appearing that I had never seen before. A few more hard questions came after that, but I stayed calm hoping some of them were experimentals. At the end of Quant, I was a little worried, but I thought I did okay (honestly, I can never really tell if I did good or bad).
Verbal was up next, and it seemed to be going pretty smooth. I am a native speaker and have always been fairly good in English, so Verbal has never freaked me out much. I knew that if I did okay in Quant, my Verbal would be fine. Towards the end of verbal, I started to get some hard CR and SC questions, and I thought that was a good sign. Luckily I worked quickly earlier so I would have time for the hard questions later, which ended up being a solid strategy. Verbal ended, I went through the survey, said a quick prayer, and clicked next to find........
A 620!!?! A FREAKIN 620!!! WTF??? I busted my rear for the past three months to improve 10 f'n points? However, the overall score wasn't the worst part; I got a 34 on Quant!!! 3-4! That's dramatically worse than any practice test i've completed, and 5 points worse than my initial test where I didn't even practice beforehand!!! WHY ME??? And to top it off, I ended up with a 41 in Verbal, which would have been more than enough to offset just an average score in Quant......
So here I am, two hours after the test. Luckily I talked myself out of driving off the bridge, but I continue to be utterly disgusted by my performance.....I truly don't know what to do at this point. Am I just mentally handicapped when it comes to Quant? Or am I just a total failure that wilts under pressure? I built up going to a top business school as essentially the meaning of my life, and now I don't know what i'm going to do. I could always take it again, but what good is that going to do? Study Quant another three months and score a 29 next time....fantastic. I really don't want to go through the rest of my life knowing I failed at the GMAT, but I don't know if I have a choice at this point. Maybe i'm simply not intelligent enough for business school....not everyone can go, right? Let me tell you, it felt awful calling my girlfriend, who has been amazing through this whole experience, to tell her my score.....I almost cried when giving her the news.
Again, I apologize for the sob story, I know this is the last thing anyone wants to read before they take their GMAT (I purposely avoided this section during my studying so I wouldn't get depressed hearing bad stories). Believe me, there is nothing I would have loved more than coming back and posting one of those "Done - 780" posts, but I promised myself I would share my experience, good or bad. This forum is AMAZING, as are the people on here, and I appreciate all the brilliant minds i've come into contact with.
I honestly don't know where I will go from here. I could just go back to my average job, do the 9-5 thing, and try to forget that I ever wanted to go to business school. Of course I could try and take the GMAT for a THIRD time (i'm sure adcomms would look highly on that......), but what good would that do? Honestly, if I put this much work into Quant in the past three months and still didn't improve, what would another two or three months do? Sigh.....why me.....
Anyways, I doubt anyone is still reading, but thanks again for this wonderful forum. I may or may not be here in the coming weeks and months, but this is truly a valuable website (my score notwithstanding) and I sincerely appreciate the brilliant minds on here for helping this slow kid out.
18 Sep 2006, 14:30
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hey buddy,
I know how you feel, believe me dude I've been there and so have many other GMAT club members. I know it hurts big time. I am in the same boat. I have taken this beast twice and had pretty much the same score of 540. I think there is something with the GMAT that it tries to throw questions from a particular bin and pretty much try to bring you close to your previous score, and it wants to prove how smart the GMAT is and that it beat you. But you know what, don't let this beast beat you and show this damn GMAT that you are BETTTERRRRR!
Since you are weak in quant, I would say get your basics clear. Thats what I realised and I am really looking to work on those in both verbal and math. Another thing is once you have your basics locked down, start practicing the problems in the forum and also do GMATPREP as many times as you can........
Good luck feel better and get back in the game.
I know how you feel, believe me dude I've been there and so have many other GMAT club members. I know it hurts big time. I am in the same boat. I have taken this beast twice
and had pretty much the same score of 540. I think there is something with the GMAT that it tries to throw questions from a particular bin and pretty much try to bring you close to your previous score, and it wants to prove how smart the GMAT is and that it beat you. But you know what, don't let this beast beat you and show this damn GMAT that you are BETTTERRRRR!
Since you are weak in quant, I would say get your basics clear. Thats what I realised and I am really looking to work on those in both verbal and math. Another thing is once you have your basics locked down, start practicing the problems in the forum and also do GMATPREP as many times as you can........
Good luck feel better and get back in the game.
18 Sep 2006, 14:50
Kudos
Bookmarks
I hope you are embellishing a bit with the suicide things, therapy would be more appropriate than an MBA.
Simply don't give up :D
