Hello together,
this is my first post here. I'm really desperate right now:
I started learning for the GMAT on October 1st 2017.
To find a base level, I prepared for two days, solving all the GMATPrep Software Practice Questions and then did the “official”
GMATPrep Test 1. I scored a 660. However, my quant score was “cheated” because I sometimes paused the exam and checked for the correct solution. Accidentally, I also marked these answers as my answers in some cases, so the Quant Score (43 (84%)) is not indicative. But I scored a 38 (84%) in Verbal without “cheating”.
I continued learning, focusing mainly on Quant. To be honest, my methodology was rather inefficient, as I just used Wileys Online Platform, solving the official OG questions in sets of 5 in timed mode. Afterwards, I checked all the answers and tried to remember everything important. Obviously not the best way....
One month later, on November 5th 2017, I tried the “official”
GMATPrep Test 2 and got a score of 650 (Unfortunately I do not have the Verbal and Quant Scores, because I had to reinstall everything on my computer shortly after and forgot about the score). This score was OK, because I was aiming for 700+ and my exam was scheduled for December 21st 2017. Meaning: Almost 2 months left (Minus ca. 1 week for TOEFL preparation in between (I scored 111)).
Unfortunately, I continued to learn like before and did not write down anything….
Moving forward to mid December 2017, still focusing mainly on Quant, I did the Quant parts of
2 additional "offical" GMATPrep Tests:
A. 16th December 2017: “official” GMATPrep Test 3, scoring 47 (73%),
B. 17th December 2017: “official” GMATPrep Test 5, scoring again 47 (73%)
At this point I already knew that it could get very hard to score a 700+. Only a verbal score of 38 could safe me….
On December 21st 2017 I finally had my
real GMAT: I scored 670. I was disappointed, but ultimately realized that this was no surprise…. However, I was incredibly angry at myself for not preparing more carefully. For example:
A. In Verbal, I did not even write down “A,B,C,D,E”s on the sheets, in order to cross them off while solving a question.
B. I had to read every single SC answer multiple times, because I never learned to use similarities to cross off multiple choices
After taking a day off, I scheduled another GMAT for 29th January 2018 and restarted learning:
A. I downloaded a list of hundreds of 700-800 quant questions (but sometimes easier ones), sorted by topic. I went through them all, writing down every hack or useful tip. Hence, I even went through many topics a second time, only to be sure that I knew everything essential now.
B. I did the same as in A for Sentence Correction
C. I practiced RC and CR, one of my biggest weaknesses, forever.
The ultimate result:
Every time I do a timed set of hard OG Questions, with questions I have never seen before, I get mostly 80% to 100% right. This is new and feels great!
At the same time, I started doing the Manhattan CAT Tests (I want to keep the remaining “official” GMATPrep Tests until the very end) and the results are devastating:
1. 11th January 2018: CAT1: 580 (Q39, V31)
2. 15th January 2018: CAT2: 630 (Q42, V34)
3. 19th January 2018: CAT3: 610 (Q44, V31)
4. 23th January 2018: CAT4: 580 (Q42, V28)
Can somebody please tell me what the **** is going on?
I honestly do not understand why:
A. My CAT Scores are significantly worse than my real GMAT Score of 670?
B. How can it be, that I get almost all OG hard questions right, but my CAT Score is still **** ****?
Please give me some help or advise! Really desperate right now! I was top 2% in my Bachelor’s degree but still feel extremely stupid right now.
Thank you very much!
Best regards,
Alex