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28 Jun 2015, 14:48
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I've been wallowing and feeling defeated, but am trying to get back on the GMAT study horse/ am hoping someone here will be able to provide advice or just commiseration!
I began studying for the GMAT Feb '15 and used Kaplan's in-classroom course as my prep. A lot happened over the course of my studying that made staying on track difficult (my boyfriend proposed about two weeks into my course, I received a promotion at work that required longer hours than my normal 9-5, and I was hoping to PR in a spring half marathon <-- that goal was the first to get axed of course!), and it probably took a month to really hit my stride and realize the best way to study. I'm weak in Quant and strong in Verbal (history major). I found the most refreshing time to study was from 6:00am - 8:00am - my mind was sharpest, there were no distractions, and by the time I got to work my brain was already ready to go.
My practice tests (all Kaplan) went from 540 to 580 to 600 to 610 to 650. When taking my practice exams I made sure to simulate a test environment and never ate/drank during the tests and never allowed myself to go over on breaks. Being weak in Quant I've found I use every last second of that section. I'm hoping to get into a part time program at a good school (CMU's Tepper) and a decent school locally (U of Pittsburgh's Katz) as I will be taking over my family business and I want to continue working while I'm in school. So, 650 seemed like a good sign that I was on-track to get a competitive score. I felt confident, ready, and ALMOST excited to take the GMAT and knew I had the potential to break 650 on it as I'm usually a great test taker/thrive under pressure.
I took my test May 4th at 12:00pm. I got a great night's sleep the entire week prior, made sure to get some light exercise in the day of, and made a hearty breakfast. I got to the test center and brought Gatorade, water, a power bar, and a peanut butter banana sandwich (which are all things I had for breaks during practice exams).
I felt strong and breezed through the essay, the IR was a crap shoot but I spent the bare minimum prepping for that section so that didn't throw me. I raised my hand and took my first break. I ran to the bathroom, gulped down half my sandwich, and drank some Gatorade in what I thought was record time. However, my bathroom at my apartment is much closer to my desk/test area than the center bathroom was to the testing room, so I must've burned an extra minute there. Then, the proctor's computer was slow with reading my palm scan, and by the time I sat back down and was logged into the test again I was already 1.5 minutes into the math section. I panicked and lost all focus. I took a deep breath and tried to remember how strong I felt just ten minutes earlier, but I couldn't get my head back in the zone. I felt the questions getting easier and almost cried. I was so angry at myself - I had worked my butt off for months to own this moment, and I was letting it get away from me.
By the time the Quant was finished I wanted to just leave and not finish. I again tried to get it together while on break, and told myself I still could salvage my score via the Verbal section. But I was emotionally exhausted. I finished the Verbal way too quickly and when the final score report of "600" popped up on my screen it took all my energy to not scream.
I got a 6 on the AWA, 5 on IR, and 39Q followed by a disappointing 34V. 600 overall. I felt sick.
The next week I left for a two week vacation in France (planned back in November, way before I knew when I'd be taking the GMAT), and when I returned I did everything possible to avoid hitting the books again. I'm JUST NOW cracking open my quiz bank and putting my nose back to the grindstone (utilizing Kaplan's higher score guarantee and retaking my course). I'm giving myself two months to study again and plan to take the GMAT at the end of August or beginning of September.
My questions are:
- Has anyone been in this situation before/recommend the best way to mentally bounce back from a 600?
- Am I giving myself too much time with a 2 month plan? I don't want to burn out and do more harm than good.
- Any words of wisdom at all?
Thanks guys, and I hope none of you have a test day like mine!
I began studying for the GMAT Feb '15 and used Kaplan's in-classroom course as my prep. A lot happened over the course of my studying that made staying on track difficult (my boyfriend proposed about two weeks into my course, I received a promotion at work that required longer hours than my normal 9-5, and I was hoping to PR in a spring half marathon <-- that goal was the first to get axed of course!), and it probably took a month to really hit my stride and realize the best way to study. I'm weak in Quant and strong in Verbal (history major). I found the most refreshing time to study was from 6:00am - 8:00am - my mind was sharpest, there were no distractions, and by the time I got to work my brain was already ready to go.
My practice tests (all Kaplan) went from 540 to 580 to 600 to 610 to 650. When taking my practice exams I made sure to simulate a test environment and never ate/drank during the tests and never allowed myself to go over on breaks. Being weak in Quant I've found I use every last second of that section. I'm hoping to get into a part time program at a good school (CMU's Tepper) and a decent school locally (U of Pittsburgh's Katz) as I will be taking over my family business and I want to continue working while I'm in school. So, 650 seemed like a good sign that I was on-track to get a competitive score. I felt confident, ready, and ALMOST excited to take the GMAT and knew I had the potential to break 650 on it as I'm usually a great test taker/thrive under pressure.
I took my test May 4th at 12:00pm. I got a great night's sleep the entire week prior, made sure to get some light exercise in the day of, and made a hearty breakfast. I got to the test center and brought Gatorade, water, a power bar, and a peanut butter banana sandwich (which are all things I had for breaks during practice exams).
I felt strong and breezed through the essay, the IR was a crap shoot but I spent the bare minimum prepping for that section so that didn't throw me. I raised my hand and took my first break. I ran to the bathroom, gulped down half my sandwich, and drank some Gatorade in what I thought was record time. However, my bathroom at my apartment is much closer to my desk/test area than the center bathroom was to the testing room, so I must've burned an extra minute there. Then, the proctor's computer was slow with reading my palm scan, and by the time I sat back down and was logged into the test again I was already 1.5 minutes into the math section. I panicked and lost all focus. I took a deep breath and tried to remember how strong I felt just ten minutes earlier, but I couldn't get my head back in the zone. I felt the questions getting easier and almost cried. I was so angry at myself - I had worked my butt off for months to own this moment, and I was letting it get away from me.
By the time the Quant was finished I wanted to just leave and not finish. I again tried to get it together while on break, and told myself I still could salvage my score via the Verbal section. But I was emotionally exhausted. I finished the Verbal way too quickly and when the final score report of "600" popped up on my screen it took all my energy to not scream.
I got a 6 on the AWA, 5 on IR, and 39Q followed by a disappointing 34V. 600 overall. I felt sick.
The next week I left for a two week vacation in France (planned back in November, way before I knew when I'd be taking the GMAT), and when I returned I did everything possible to avoid hitting the books again. I'm JUST NOW cracking open my quiz bank and putting my nose back to the grindstone (utilizing Kaplan's higher score guarantee and retaking my course). I'm giving myself two months to study again and plan to take the GMAT at the end of August or beginning of September.
My questions are:
- Has anyone been in this situation before/recommend the best way to mentally bounce back from a 600?
- Am I giving myself too much time with a 2 month plan? I don't want to burn out and do more harm than good.
- Any words of wisdom at all?
Thanks guys, and I hope none of you have a test day like mine!
21 Jul 2015, 08:19
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Bookmarks
lilucemj
I feel your pain, but don´t you think that perhaps your emotional in the beginning of the test put you down?
I don´t think you should give up - for math do try GMATClub tests, they will show you exactly what you need to improve.
In terms of Verbal, I´ve heard good stuff about e-Gmat, but I have no idea how they are.
I do tell you one thing though - you haven´t failed until you quit trying.
I feel your pain, but don´t you think that perhaps your emotional in the beginning of the test put you down?
I don´t think you should give up - for math do try GMATClub tests, they will show you exactly what you need to improve.
In terms of Verbal, I´ve heard good stuff about e-Gmat, but I have no idea how they are.
I do tell you one thing though - you haven´t failed until you quit trying.
21 Jul 2015, 10:26
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Bookmarks
From another sub 650 scorer, my condolences on the disappointing score.
In reading your story (and comparing it to my own) I suppose I would have two things to say; the first is a bit of reality that I learned myself and the other is some encouragement you could probably use.
If your practice scores were 510, 580, 600, 610, and 650, then 600 on the actual test was probably a realistic score. In my case, I took a number of practice exams and my score varied from 580-680 with an average of 630. My actual score on the rest: 630.
Do I wish I had caught fire on test day and put in a once-in-a-lifetime performance that would have lifted me to an improbably 700 score? No doubt! But when I took the time to process my score, I was OK with it since it reflected my abilities on the test and my practice scores up until that time and was within range of the schools I am targeting. The bigger issue for me was my Quant/Verbal split (see thread in this same forum) but that's another story...
Now for the more encouraging part: in looking at your target schools, you are already within range for both PT programs so you could feasibly apply to either without retaking. From my quick research your score is about 50 pts below CMU PT and about 25 below Pitt (FT and PT) so if you,re heart is set on CMU you might want to retake but if you're aiming for Pitt, you could probably consider applying now. Your score isn't that far off.
On an even more positive note, I'm pretty sure you can hit the books in a more focused capacity and get your score up to 650 consistently without much of an issue. In your case, it seems as though you left a lot of points on the table in verbal (your stated strength) and just getting your verbal score up into the high 80s could let you hit the 650 mark.
As a fellow 600-650 scorer it can be demoralizing to study hard and feel like you are making minimal process, then take the exam and receive a respectable but not spectacular score (which a 600-650 score is) and then log on to Gmatclub and see a parade of "Just scored 770: should I retake?" posts. But your stated goals and target schools are well within reach and I think attaining your target GMAT is just a matter of focusing on a few key quant areas and making sure you hit verbal out of the park.
In reading your story (and comparing it to my own) I suppose I would have two things to say; the first is a bit of reality that I learned myself and the other is some encouragement you could probably use.
If your practice scores were 510, 580, 600, 610, and 650, then 600 on the actual test was probably a realistic score. In my case, I took a number of practice exams and my score varied from 580-680 with an average of 630. My actual score on the rest: 630.
Do I wish I had caught fire on test day and put in a once-in-a-lifetime performance that would have lifted me to an improbably 700 score? No doubt! But when I took the time to process my score, I was OK with it since it reflected my abilities on the test and my practice scores up until that time and was within range of the schools I am targeting. The bigger issue for me was my Quant/Verbal split (see thread in this same forum) but that's another story...
Now for the more encouraging part: in looking at your target schools, you are already within range for both PT programs so you could feasibly apply to either without retaking. From my quick research your score is about 50 pts below CMU PT and about 25 below Pitt (FT and PT) so if you,re heart is set on CMU you might want to retake but if you're aiming for Pitt, you could probably consider applying now. Your score isn't that far off.
On an even more positive note, I'm pretty sure you can hit the books in a more focused capacity and get your score up to 650 consistently without much of an issue. In your case, it seems as though you left a lot of points on the table in verbal (your stated strength) and just getting your verbal score up into the high 80s could let you hit the 650 mark.
As a fellow 600-650 scorer it can be demoralizing to study hard and feel like you are making minimal process, then take the exam and receive a respectable but not spectacular score (which a 600-650 score is) and then log on to Gmatclub and see a parade of "Just scored 770: should I retake?" posts. But your stated goals and target schools are well within reach and I think attaining your target GMAT is just a matter of focusing on a few key quant areas and making sure you hit verbal out of the park.
