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Updated on: 31 Jan 2024, 12:05
Originally posted by Dying_Star on 13 Nov 2023, 05:43.
Last edited by Dying_Star on 31 Jan 2024, 12:05, edited 2 times in total.
Last edited by Dying_Star on 31 Jan 2024, 12:05, edited 2 times in total.
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Updated on 31st Jan, 2024:
Wow! What just happened! Still trying to process.
So, I have been preparing for GMAT for an year now. I took my third attempt at GMAT today (online) and scored 620. And now I am looking for a nice place to hang myself. Let me know if you can help with that.
I am mentioning the scores of the three attempts below:
UPDATE (31st Jan, 2024): Fourth attempt:
Score: 750
So what went wrong this time? Probably I should ask GMAT.
This time around, the difficulty level of the paper was over the roof. The questions, in either section, became extremely difficult as soon as I crossed first 2-3 questions. The entire time I was under the impression that I am doing extremely well, which could only explain such high difficulty level questions. But I was proved wrong as soon as my score flashed on the screen.
Quant:
"What the f.... !"
This is what I screamed after I went through first couple of questions. My proctor intervened to check if everything is okay.
Right from the first question, the difficulty level of questions was insane! Out of the 31 questions, around 17-18 were from DS. Questions were extremely lengthy and in most of the questions (definitely more than 50%) I had to make multiple cases to check the given conditions. In each of the earlier two attempts, I was left with 5 minutes at the end. But this time I had to skip one question at the end because I was out of time!
I think I can confidently say that even the easiest question this time was tougher than the toughest questions I encountered in any of the first two attempts.
So far, I used to think that I am good at quant. In 2 of my GMAT Prep mocks, I have scored Q51, while in the other two, I have scored Q50. Furthermore, besides 1-2 particular tests, I never scored less than Q50 in any of the around 35 mocks I have taken so far (from multiple test prep companies combined).
Verbal:
In SC, the first 3-4 questions were fine, then I started receiving really weird questions. None of the run of the mill concepts regarding SV, Pronoun, Modifiers etc came in handy. So far, I have trained myself to immediately spot these low hanging fruits. But every question here was testing either complicated modifier error or something that I never saw before. It is weird to realize that in test prep portals my SC accuracy goes up to 90-100% in moderate level questions and 80-90% in hard level questions! While giving this paper though, I felt as if I never prepared for anything. As if I am as good as someone appearing for the first time. There were no patterns that I could identify. I was mostly making guesses based on what sounds better.
In CR, again, first 2-3 questions were fine. Then the questions became really lengthy and weird. I was taking lot of time to understand the arguments. By the end, I started getting lot of assumptions questions with very close options.
RC was marginally better than the two. I got 2 lengthy and 2 short passages as you'd expect. But the 2 lengthy passages were from humanities. They consisted lot of tricky vocab and jargons and were very challenging to follow. I am usually good with RCs with average accuracy of 70-90%. But here I must have lost quite a few points following the passage.
IR:
Finally this section made me feel that I am appearing for an exam that I am familiar with. Questions were not too intimidating like the other two sections. I slouched, took some deep breaths, and leisurely solved questions as I knew I have already botched up my test. And it went just fine.
AWA:
Again an easy case about an airlines industry making some decisions to increase its profitability. It was easy to identify the challenges. I think I should get at least 5-6.
So, why I am posting this here? Because I am in desperate need of advice.
What the hell is going on? Is GMAT really throwing all the most difficult questions at the last moment of GMAT Classic? Or I just need a beer and good night sleep and then maybe one more attempt?
What I can do now? There is only 3 months left till I can appear again. Afterwards, I will have to start afresh for a new section. This could take another 6 months or an year to master DS and get used to new pattern. I am feeling very anxious and disheartened.
You all might be tempted to say, 'Oh, you had a bad day. Book another exam after a month'. But the problem is, if I again get a similar paper, I think I might not even score 600. This question paper was insane. I don't know how the difficulty level could vary so much in 4 months of span of the two attempts.
Have you heard of the same from any of the other test takers? Is there an advice you can give? Please suggest something.
Experts, please help: mcelroytutoring , AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , mikemcgarry , egmat , RonPurewal , DmitryFarber , MagooshExpert , ccooley , others
Wow! What just happened! Still trying to process.
So, I have been preparing for GMAT for an year now. I took my third attempt at GMAT today (online) and scored 620. And now I am looking for a nice place to hang myself. Let me know if you can help with that.
I am mentioning the scores of the three attempts below:
Quote:
UPDATE (31st Jan, 2024): Fourth attempt:
Score: 750
So what went wrong this time? Probably I should ask GMAT.
This time around, the difficulty level of the paper was over the roof. The questions, in either section, became extremely difficult as soon as I crossed first 2-3 questions. The entire time I was under the impression that I am doing extremely well, which could only explain such high difficulty level questions. But I was proved wrong as soon as my score flashed on the screen.
Quant:
"What the f.... !"
This is what I screamed after I went through first couple of questions. My proctor intervened to check if everything is okay.
Right from the first question, the difficulty level of questions was insane! Out of the 31 questions, around 17-18 were from DS. Questions were extremely lengthy and in most of the questions (definitely more than 50%) I had to make multiple cases to check the given conditions. In each of the earlier two attempts, I was left with 5 minutes at the end. But this time I had to skip one question at the end because I was out of time!
I think I can confidently say that even the easiest question this time was tougher than the toughest questions I encountered in any of the first two attempts.
So far, I used to think that I am good at quant. In 2 of my GMAT Prep mocks, I have scored Q51, while in the other two, I have scored Q50. Furthermore, besides 1-2 particular tests, I never scored less than Q50 in any of the around 35 mocks I have taken so far (from multiple test prep companies combined).
Verbal:
In SC, the first 3-4 questions were fine, then I started receiving really weird questions. None of the run of the mill concepts regarding SV, Pronoun, Modifiers etc came in handy. So far, I have trained myself to immediately spot these low hanging fruits. But every question here was testing either complicated modifier error or something that I never saw before. It is weird to realize that in test prep portals my SC accuracy goes up to 90-100% in moderate level questions and 80-90% in hard level questions! While giving this paper though, I felt as if I never prepared for anything. As if I am as good as someone appearing for the first time. There were no patterns that I could identify. I was mostly making guesses based on what sounds better.
In CR, again, first 2-3 questions were fine. Then the questions became really lengthy and weird. I was taking lot of time to understand the arguments. By the end, I started getting lot of assumptions questions with very close options.
RC was marginally better than the two. I got 2 lengthy and 2 short passages as you'd expect. But the 2 lengthy passages were from humanities. They consisted lot of tricky vocab and jargons and were very challenging to follow. I am usually good with RCs with average accuracy of 70-90%. But here I must have lost quite a few points following the passage.
IR:
Finally this section made me feel that I am appearing for an exam that I am familiar with. Questions were not too intimidating like the other two sections. I slouched, took some deep breaths, and leisurely solved questions as I knew I have already botched up my test. And it went just fine.
AWA:
Again an easy case about an airlines industry making some decisions to increase its profitability. It was easy to identify the challenges. I think I should get at least 5-6.
So, why I am posting this here? Because I am in desperate need of advice.
What the hell is going on? Is GMAT really throwing all the most difficult questions at the last moment of GMAT Classic? Or I just need a beer and good night sleep and then maybe one more attempt?
Quote:
What I can do now? There is only 3 months left till I can appear again. Afterwards, I will have to start afresh for a new section. This could take another 6 months or an year to master DS and get used to new pattern. I am feeling very anxious and disheartened.
You all might be tempted to say, 'Oh, you had a bad day. Book another exam after a month'. But the problem is, if I again get a similar paper, I think I might not even score 600. This question paper was insane. I don't know how the difficulty level could vary so much in 4 months of span of the two attempts.
Have you heard of the same from any of the other test takers? Is there an advice you can give? Please suggest something.
Experts, please help: mcelroytutoring , AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , mikemcgarry , egmat , RonPurewal , DmitryFarber , MagooshExpert , ccooley , others
13 Nov 2023, 07:09
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Okay, I can tell this from my own experience. I 100% agree with you and have had a very similar experience as well.
I normally ace Quants (50/51 in the past), however in my recent attempt I got one crazy QA Qn right at the start (took me 5 mins) I was still confident I will be able to sail through the section and cut down on time later. I recovered the time till the 3rd/4th Qn and then another crazy one (took me 4 mins to solve). Never have I been in a position where 2 Qns at up 9 mins. I ended up blazing through rest of it (I may have messed up later bcoz of the timing issue). Close to Qn 20 another super long one and 4 mins gone. Towards the end I got a Q49 (or Q48, I was too shocked to remember what it was).
Verbal - again similar. I have seen some crazy CR Qns on GMAT Club but what I saw in the exam had no head or tail. Prethinking didnt work, POE didnt work, nothing worked for about 3 Qns. The options had nothing remotely close to the stem/ conclusion. SC too very similar to you, I faced Qns with Noun Mods (something you would expect on the higher side, right from my 3rd SC) and RCs (which are my time savers) killed me. I dont know what went wrong with the exam. I ended up with a V35.
So yes, all in, I did face very similar situation and got destroyed. Talk about a blow to my confidence. The reason I am penning all this down is to tell you that- dont worry you are not alone in this (we suffer together, we sail together) .
I am sure there may be others like us, who will acknowledge facing something similar to the above. So lets hope it was just a 1 off only
I normally ace Quants (50/51 in the past), however in my recent attempt I got one crazy QA Qn right at the start (took me 5 mins) I was still confident I will be able to sail through the section and cut down on time later. I recovered the time till the 3rd/4th Qn and then another crazy one (took me 4 mins to solve). Never have I been in a position where 2 Qns at up 9 mins. I ended up blazing through rest of it (I may have messed up later bcoz of the timing issue). Close to Qn 20 another super long one and 4 mins gone. Towards the end I got a Q49 (or Q48, I was too shocked to remember what it was).
Verbal - again similar. I have seen some crazy CR Qns on GMAT Club but what I saw in the exam had no head or tail. Prethinking didnt work, POE didnt work, nothing worked for about 3 Qns. The options had nothing remotely close to the stem/ conclusion. SC too very similar to you, I faced Qns with Noun Mods (something you would expect on the higher side, right from my 3rd SC) and RCs (which are my time savers) killed me. I dont know what went wrong with the exam. I ended up with a V35.
So yes, all in, I did face very similar situation and got destroyed. Talk about a blow to my confidence. The reason I am penning all this down is to tell you that- dont worry you are not alone in this (we suffer together, we sail together) .
I am sure there may be others like us, who will acknowledge facing something similar to the above. So lets hope it was just a 1 off only
13 Nov 2023, 13:38
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Damn, you've really got me sweating here. I have my GMAT scheduled for next month and I'm really hoping your experience was a fluke. Were your previous two attempts also online or at a test centre?
What do you need? A rope and what else? 
