Hi everyone,
I would like to thank the founders of the site and the moderators of this excellent forum! It is a very organized and well-kept forum! thank you.
I have tried the GMAT twice now, and I am still doing very poorly! I have hit a dead-end and I desperately need help. Here is a summary.
1st TryTime: 2 weeks of prep (50-60 hours)
Learning Material: Read and solved all
MGMAT questions (I do realize that the difficulty level is no where near that of the actual test)
Questions: 100 questions from
OG (verbal and Quant.)
Lessons learnt: The GMAT is a lot harder than I thought
Score: 440
2nd TryTime: 1 month @ 30hrs/week (total=120 hrs)
Learning Material: read
MGMAT SC book, watched all verbal videos on
Magoosh, watched videos on all weak area in Quant (e.g. geometry & number properties)
Questions: ~500 Quant and ~300 verbal questions from
Magoosh. ~50 Quant and ~75 verbal (mostly SC) questions from
OG.
Lessons learnt: -halfway through my studying, I realized I need to analyze every solution and understand every single question thoroughly. I took a lot of time to learn concepts and find the fastest way of doing questions in Quant and Verbal.
-Even though I know all the SC rules inside out when I don't see easy splits I freeze. The SC questions on the GMAT were way different than those I had seen during practice.
-During the GMAT, I felt that number property composed a majority of the test, I only had 1 probability question, one combination question, and 2 geometry questions.
-I found the passages not difficult, but clearly my score thinks otherwise
Timing: I was short about 10 minutes on Verbal, but only about 2-4 min short on the Quant.
Score: 540 (44Q, 21V). CAT#1(
MGMAT) 590(Q43 V29) (2 weeks before GMAT). CAT#2(
magoosh): 560 (Q42 V25) (3 days before GMAT)
Background
-Engineering background from a top school with 4.0 average (but apparently no one cares not that I have a low GMAT score.
-Great analytical skills
-I do read books regularly and listen to podcasts regularly
-English is my first language
Test day
-I was not nervous
-I was able to think clearly
Please help me! I have really done all I can on my own, but I don't easy much improvement.
Quant: I know the theory inside out, I just haven't had too much practice with 700 level questions, which I am certain I can improve on
Verbal:
RC: I do read the passages in about 5-7 minutes, I understand them very well, and I feel like I am selecting the right answers 70% of the time
CR: I feel like I am very good at this. I am able to take quick notes and I feel like I go the right answer 80% of the time.
SC: during practice, I got 90% of the right, even the
OG 2016 questions, but on the official GMAT I did very poorly.
I would greatly appreciate any advice. I am planning on retaking the test in about a month.