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Magicien99
Joined: 01 Jun 2020
Last visit: 10 Dec 2021
Posts: 33
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 66
Location: Germany
Schools: Harvard '23 Kellogg '23 (WL) Sloan '23 (D) Stanford '23 (D) Booth '23 (D) INSEAD Jan 22 intake (A$)
Schools: Harvard '23 Kellogg '23 (WL) Sloan '23 (D) Stanford '23 (D) Booth '23 (D) INSEAD Jan 22 intake (A$)
Posts: 33
Kudos:
46
29 Oct 2020, 08:01
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Hello everybody,
I am writing this post while being sad and devastated. I really do not know what to do anymore at this point and would need some advice.
I decided in June to go for the MBA and started preparing for the GMAT. Months later, after getting a 740 (Q49, V42) in an official CAT (first try) in early september, I sat for my first GMAT (online) in end of the month. Unfortunately, a lot of drama happened with my proctor and it ended up make me lose every ounce of focus I had. I scored a 670 (Q47, V35), which is only 10 points higher than the baseline OG CAT that I did in June. I knew I was going to score this score because I was mentally out.
I went on with my preparation and sat for the second online GMAT couple weeks later. I had issues on timing in Verbal and I focused on improving this. Three or four days before the D-day, I scored a 750 (Q51, V40) in an OG CAT (2nd try). I thought I was ready this time. Unfortunately, the same verbal problems reappeared again. My mind wasn't sharp enough and I completely mismanaged my strategy. I endded up scoring, again, a 670 (Q48, V34).
Knowing what my problem was (timing in Verbal), I worked really hard for the following two weeks to fix this and took 2 OG CATs (2nd try). I scored a 740 (Q49, V41) and then a 760 (Q50, V42). Amazing scores. Feeling confident, but not cocky, I decided that I was ready, traveled to another city (no GMAT center here) and took the test. This time, no major timing problems with Verbal. I thought it should work out - probably not amazingly as in the CATs but at least something good. I ended up scoring 680 (V46, V36). Terrible performance in Quant and in Verbal (although no major time pressure in Verbal this time).
I have no idea what is wrong with me. What am I doing wrong? I understand the first two failures, but what happened this time?
It is already end of October, deadlines to submit applications are in January, and I haven't even started with that piece yet...
Any advice, similar experiences, and follow-up questions are very welcome.
Thank you...
I am writing this post while being sad and devastated. I really do not know what to do anymore at this point and would need some advice.
I decided in June to go for the MBA and started preparing for the GMAT. Months later, after getting a 740 (Q49, V42) in an official CAT (first try) in early september, I sat for my first GMAT (online) in end of the month. Unfortunately, a lot of drama happened with my proctor and it ended up make me lose every ounce of focus I had. I scored a 670 (Q47, V35), which is only 10 points higher than the baseline OG CAT that I did in June. I knew I was going to score this score because I was mentally out.
I went on with my preparation and sat for the second online GMAT couple weeks later. I had issues on timing in Verbal and I focused on improving this. Three or four days before the D-day, I scored a 750 (Q51, V40) in an OG CAT (2nd try). I thought I was ready this time. Unfortunately, the same verbal problems reappeared again. My mind wasn't sharp enough and I completely mismanaged my strategy. I endded up scoring, again, a 670 (Q48, V34).
Knowing what my problem was (timing in Verbal), I worked really hard for the following two weeks to fix this and took 2 OG CATs (2nd try). I scored a 740 (Q49, V41) and then a 760 (Q50, V42). Amazing scores. Feeling confident, but not cocky, I decided that I was ready, traveled to another city (no GMAT center here) and took the test. This time, no major timing problems with Verbal. I thought it should work out - probably not amazingly as in the CATs but at least something good. I ended up scoring 680 (V46, V36). Terrible performance in Quant and in Verbal (although no major time pressure in Verbal this time).
I have no idea what is wrong with me. What am I doing wrong? I understand the first two failures, but what happened this time?
It is already end of October, deadlines to submit applications are in January, and I haven't even started with that piece yet...
Any advice, similar experiences, and follow-up questions are very welcome.
Thank you...
29 Oct 2020, 09:11
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This may be border-line obvious to assume but just in case...were these Official Mocks that you took?
29 Oct 2020, 12:34
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Hi Magicien99,
I’m sorry to hear how things went with your GMAT. Assuming that you took your official practice exams under realistic testing conditions, the results show that, on a good day, you are capable of scoring higher than V37. Thus, it’s quite possible that nerves, stress, tiredness, or a combination of all three negatively affected your test-day performance. However, it’s also possible that you have some lingering weaknesses that were exposed on test day. Although I’m unsure of how you prepared, it’s possible that, in your preparation, particularly in verbal, you did not really learn to do what you have to do in order to score high on the actual GMAT. Rather, you picked up on some patterns that were effective in getting you relatively high scores on practice tests. So, for you to hit your score goal, your preparation, particularly for verbal, probably needs to be more complete, meaning that you have to go through the various types of GMAT questions carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills.
For verbal specifically, you have to become more skilled at clearly defining the differences between trap choices and correct answers. Otherwise, you will get stuck guessing between two choices or be surprised to find that you incorrectly answered questions that you thought you answered correctly. Becoming more skilled in this way takes carefully analyzing all of the answer choices to lots of verbal questions to develop an eye for the logical differences between the choices. In other words, you have to go beyond answering practice questions and reading explanations to doing deep analysis of questions to learn to see everything that is going on in them.
In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new quant and verbal materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant and verbal courses.
You also may find it helpful to read the following articles:
how to score a 700+ on the GMAT
Why Was My GMAT Score Lower Than My Practice Test Scores?
If you’d like more specific advice on how to improve your quant and verbal skills, feel free to reach back out. Good luck!
I’m sorry to hear how things went with your GMAT. Assuming that you took your official practice exams under realistic testing conditions, the results show that, on a good day, you are capable of scoring higher than V37. Thus, it’s quite possible that nerves, stress, tiredness, or a combination of all three negatively affected your test-day performance. However, it’s also possible that you have some lingering weaknesses that were exposed on test day. Although I’m unsure of how you prepared, it’s possible that, in your preparation, particularly in verbal, you did not really learn to do what you have to do in order to score high on the actual GMAT. Rather, you picked up on some patterns that were effective in getting you relatively high scores on practice tests. So, for you to hit your score goal, your preparation, particularly for verbal, probably needs to be more complete, meaning that you have to go through the various types of GMAT questions carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills.
For verbal specifically, you have to become more skilled at clearly defining the differences between trap choices and correct answers. Otherwise, you will get stuck guessing between two choices or be surprised to find that you incorrectly answered questions that you thought you answered correctly. Becoming more skilled in this way takes carefully analyzing all of the answer choices to lots of verbal questions to develop an eye for the logical differences between the choices. In other words, you have to go beyond answering practice questions and reading explanations to doing deep analysis of questions to learn to see everything that is going on in them.
In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new quant and verbal materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant and verbal courses.
You also may find it helpful to read the following articles:
how to score a 700+ on the GMAT
Why Was My GMAT Score Lower Than My Practice Test Scores?
If you’d like more specific advice on how to improve your quant and verbal skills, feel free to reach back out. Good luck!
