Hello,
Hope this message finds you well. I am a silent member of the GMATCLUB and this is the first post/message. I have been studying for GMAT since September 2015 (2.5 hrs weekdays and 6-8 hrs weekends) but my practice and actual GMAT results are terrible. I have no choice but to score high on GMAT (High school Valedictorian, Struggled in College due to some issues , still managed to pull 3.3 CGPA. I need a decent GMAT due to not so good GPA). I am aiming for 650 [nothing crazy i guess]
On practice
MGMAT CAT I cant seem to improve from [530(Q36-V26)-540[Q37-V26)] range. Took the first one, practiced
MGMAT Quant Guide twice and did some verbal from
OG for a month and then took the other one. I scored similar in my GMATPREP Exam 1. On my actual GMAT exam I failed terribly and scored 410 with [Q9, forgot how much I scored in V but I think it was close to mid 20's - not sure though].
I am desperate to score high but I am burnt. I go back to studying everyday after work mainly because of the desire to score higher but I get fed up much quicker now and my brain just stops absorbing more information now. I am working 9am-6pm (not too much stress at work) and studying GMAT 8:30pm-11:00pm
The other thing I noticed is when I spend 2 mins on SC questions and around 2.5 mins on CR question my accuracy jumps remarkably. Same thing with Quant
MGMAT Questions, I take 4 mins but end up with the right answer most of the time. On
OG Quant question, I can do easy question in under 2 mins but on medium and hard difficulty question I take 3 to 4 mins to get it right.
I also dont know what happened to me in the actual exam. But two things I can say for sure that I realized during the exam, 1. I had previously seen and practiced concepts and question similar to the ones I was getting tested on...I would look at the question and immediately say "Oh! this is that question..they jut changed the situation bla bla..", 2. I noted I was struggling with recalling basic concepts like "Even*Even=Even". 3. I was drained by the time I reached half of verbal portion.
Note: This was my first computer based test I ever took. Never took TOEFL/IELTS or SAT whatsoever. Took 2
MGMAT CAT (1 month gap between them) and 1 GMAT PREP CAT. I was freaking out earlier but when I noted that I am actually doing good in verbal if I spend more time on the question, I feel a bit relaxed as the basics are not the issue. Please advice. I am aiming to retake(second attempt) in 1st weekend of march and also planning to take 1 week off from work during mid February to grind and grind all the
OG questions again.
I used the following materials:
Quant:
Magoosh: for Basic Foundation
MGMAT Guides: Practiced Twice
OG16: Once, skipped very easy questions
Verbal:
SC: Started using
MGMAT after the exam. I only practiced from
OG Verbal prior to the exam. I think I have strong basic foundation in this area and the issue is with timing
CR:
Official Guide and
OG Verbal - Except for Bold Face, I am good with most question if I can have 3 mins to solve the question. I realized I go into panic mode If I have to do it under a certain time limit lower than my average time.
RC:
Official Guide and
OG Verbal - Did a few
OG questions prior to the exam
Any constructive input is highly appreciated.
Thanks