Hello everyone, I gave my Online GMAT today early morning and came out with a really disappointing score. It's the worst score that I had in my history of preparing for GMAT all these years, and I was completely heart-broken when I saw that score flash in front of my screen after the test. This might be a long note, but it's literally a cry for help. I don't know how to go ahead from here. It would be great if some of you can take some time out to go through this post and help me out in any way. Any sort of guidance would be really appreciated. I'm not able to move ahead in life since I've been stuck in this GMAT loop for years now, impacting my own mental health, and both personal and professional lives. I'm sharing a summary of my GMAT journey so far below. I've kept it as detailed as possible to give the present to you all the entire journey. All the tests (including mocks), except the test-center based test, were taken from home at around 5am in the morning. I am an early riser and that is the best time at home with least disturbance: I started studying for GMAT back in 2018. Wasn't too serious about it back then. I gave a couple of mocks back then, and decided to "give GMAT a shot" 1) July 2018 (Test-center GMAT): 620 (I don't remember the split as I had taken the test long ago and I had cancelled my score) Even though I was scoring in the similar range in official mocks (and in Veritas' and Manhattan Prep's), I was naïve enough to expect some miracle to happen and get a 700+ score. Clearly I was out of my mind and unrealistic! I walked out of the test center after canceling my score and was utterly disappointed with myself for taking this test so lightly. ***Took a break from GMAT to focus more at work*** Time went by - I got busy at work, and got a few promotions. Then I reached a point where I knew I needed an MBA to move ahead in career. GMAT enters into my life again. While work was still "eating up" a lot of time, I started my preparing again around mid-2019, with a lot of freely available sources in gmatclub, my brother's old Manhattan guides, official guides, and PowerScore CR Bible. It was a really slow prep since I was struggling to find time and I took around 6 months to work on my GMAT skills. While I had improved my scores in mocks, I wasn't still scoring 700+. Since I was studying for a while now and was frustrated with no progress, I decided to give GMAT again. 2) 24 February 2020 (Test-center GMAT): 670 (Q47; V35; IR 7; AWA 5.0/6.0) CR: 94 percentile RC: 78 percentile SC: 43 percentile I was shocked by this ESR results (detailed report attached), since I was stronger in SC than in RC. I decided to give GMAT again in a month or so but I couldn't continue with my prep, since the pandemic had broken out and India went into a lockdown (with no access to test centers and no Online GMAT in the scene). Working hours got more crazier due to WFHs and managing home as well left me with no time to study. ***Started studying again during Christmas-New Year break. Again initially with self-prep revising all the old topics*** 3) January 2021 (1st GMAT practice test): 660 (Q47; V34) I Understood that Verbal is what will boost my score a lot, since I was targeting a score of 730-740. So I focused a lot of time on Verbal to bring that score up (self-prep). Meanwhile, I also enrolled with TTP to work on my quant skills. One of the best decisions I made so far. Thank you TTP!! 4) 29 April 2021 (2nd GMAT practice test): 690 (Q47; V38) 14 incorrect answers in Quant 10 incorrect answers in Verbal: 5 in CR (of which 1 was guessed due to no time); 4 in SC (of which 1 was guessed due to no time); 1 in RC I was really happy with my progress in Verbal. Multiple silly mistakes in Quants but carefully analysed them and stayed focused on progressing my score. 5) 10 May 2021 (3nd GMAT practice test): I had to cancel my test and score I wasn't in the right frame of mind. I was really disturbed due to some issues at work. Poor choice to give the test in the first place. A Big mistake. Wasted a paid Official test! 6) 17 May 2021 (4th Official Practice Test): 700 (Q49, V36); IR 5 4 incorrect answers in Quant 11 incorrect answers in Verbal: 4 in RC; 3 in SC and 4 in CR Time management issues were sorted. I was super happy with my Quant score. My prep through TTP Quant efforts had started to show results. Verbal score reduced due to mistakes early on in the test. 7) 22 May 2021: 3rd Official Practice Test (retake after resetting the 3rd and 4th Official Practice Test): 680 (Q50, V31) 4 incorrect answers in Quant 11 incorrect answers in Verbal (5 in RC; 5 in SC and 1 in CR) Verbal score really impacted due to multiple silly mistakes. Decided to start using TTP Verbal, going through their concept chapters for SC. Got a better understanding of SC. Most of the answers that I gave in TTP were correct, boosting my confidence in Verbal. ***I agree that there were multiple repeat questions in quants (most of the repeats coming from 4th Official Practice Test) and this could have resulted in me scoring a Q50, from the previous high of Q49*** ***Decided to give Online GMAT since I was receiving pressure from work to wrap up my GMAT soon*** 8) 30 May 2021 (1st Online GMAT): 610 (Q49, V25) I really don't know what went wrong. I never got such a low score in Verbal. There were many technical issues with Examity, with the test starting almost 45 minutes late. I started with Verbal since that is my weaker area now, and was a bit unsettled at the start due to the delay. Time management was also not good. Ended up guessing the last several questions. During the Verbal test, I was fairly confident of selecting the answers, so I'm not able to pin point which section (SC, CR, RC) I messed up. Online GMAT does not provide an ESR as well, so I'm not able to do any diagnosis on my own. Summary: 1) TTP has been amazing for in Quant. I'm pretty happy with my Quant skills, although there is scope for improvement. 2) While I agree I might not have spent enough time on TTP Verbal, I need to sort out my Verbal skills especially in RC. My Verbal score has been oscillating, with the number of incorrect answers varying across CR, SC and RC in both practice tests and official exams. Can someone please guide me with best approach here. I need to get done with my prep soon since there is a lot of pressure from work to wrap it up soon, and moreover, I need to apply for MBA in this year's round 1 applications. 3) I just have 2 Official Practice Tests left. I don't want to waste them on diagnosis. Without ESR on Online GMAT, I'm not able to pin point my issues. What is the best way to diagnose my actual Verbal skills without using Official Practice test? I hear both Manhattan Prep and Veritas mocks are tougher than actual GMAT? Would this be further demotivating or helpful? 4) Is there anything else that is missing from my prep or something that I'm fundamentally going wrong with? 5) Any sort of personal tutoring/diagnosis would be really great since I'm running out of time for my applications. Apologies for such a long post. Any leads/suggestions would be really useful. Hope you all are staying safe! Best, Vaishnav ***Tagging some of the verbal experts that I'm aware of, for better reach. Suggestions are most welcome from others too!*** GMATNinja VeritasKarishma MartyTargetTestPrep ScottTargetTestPrep souvik101990 bb VeritasPrepHailey

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Struggling with GMAT for years. A journey from 620 to 700 to 610

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EMPOWERgmatRichC

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GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V49 Verified score

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06 Jul 2021, 20:53

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Hi Vaishnav,

I've sent you a PM with some additional notes.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

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06 Jul 2021, 23:03

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EMPOWERgmatRichC

Hi Vaishnav,

I've sent you a PM with some additional notes.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Hello Rich,

Thank you for getting back to me. I've responded to your PM.

Please do let me know your thoughts.

Regards,
Vaishnav

ScottTargetTestPrep

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09 Jul 2021, 18:48

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vaishnavmohanan

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Hi vaishnavmohanan,

How are things coming along? Are you still working through TTP verbal?

Hey Scott, I'm sorry I missed this post. I just saw this now when I came to share an update. But to answer your question, yes, I did use TTP for quant and SC, and found it really useful.

I just gave GMAT online today morning. My last one. I got a 680 (q47 v35).

I repeatedly lost my wifi during quant section. I had to randomly mark answers for the last 5-6 questions all of which I knew how to solve. I used to score q49-50 in mocks. I got a q49 in my previous gmat online as mentioned in initial post. I even got a Q50 once in gmatclub quant practice test.

I really don't know what to do now. I'm targeting to apply in Round 1. I'll be applying to European schools mostly (insead, hec, lbs, iese), and haven't started my application process yet. The only way for me to give Gmat again is to go to a test centre 300+kms away. I haven't been vaccinated yet, so traveling is risky. All these thoughts are playing in my head and I'm not able to come to a decision.

Any tips would be really appreciated from anyone VeritasKarishma MartyTargetTestPrep ScottTargetTestPrep bb EMPOWERgmatRichC

If I send both my Gmat Online scores (680 q47 v35; 610 q49 v25) to the schools and explain to them in optional essays that I did face issues during the test, do you guys think they would consider?

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Did you end up completing 100 percent of TTP? Can you send me a screenshot of your TTP analytics page?

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09 Jul 2021, 20:07

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ScottTargetTestPrep

Did you end up completing 100 percent of TTP? Can you send me a screenshot of your TTP analytics page?

Hey Scott,

I didn't go through all the quant topics/questions. I started with TTP quant, but just focused only on my weak areas. I was seeing results immediately (getting around Q49-50 in official practice tests and Q48-50 in gmatclub practice tests), so I moved on to TTP verbal. I did 100% of TTP SC. Covered all concepts (really amazing stuff!) and all SC questions. Didn't use TTP much for CR.

I haven't renewed my TTP subscription yet, so I don't have access to the analytics page anymore.

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