DEMOTIVATED

Question

This is my first post on this forum. Unfortunately, there is so much noise around GMAT that you don't know what to do. I am sure different things work for different people. I am really demotivated after my third horrible attempt at GMAT. I will not really count the first two since I wasnt able to study much and due to some reason didnt even reschedule it which was a mistake. But anyway, this time I had decided that no matter what I will not take a date till I score at least a 700 on my mocks. So I studied properly for 2 months (Jul-Aug) from various sources - mostly e-gmat for quant and Manhattan for verbal. I solved all OG questions at least twice. Then I finally started taking mocks every weekend and here's how much score were:

26th August Manhattan mock 580
2nd September GMAT Prep 610(Q42, V31)
3rd September GMAT Prep 680 (Q46,V38)
8th September GMAT Prep 690 (Q45,V39)

Since I was nearly touching 700 this is when I finally took the date for September 21st (today). I took a few more GMAT prep mocks and got a 640 (Q45, V33) and 710 (Q49, V38). I was calm and my confidence level was up. I took the exam today and something surprising happened. I got a dismal 570!! with Q44 and V25. I am feeling so demotivated and don't know how to plan ahead and when to retake. I am sure something went terribly wrong in Verbal. Mostly CR I am assuming but I was not expecting such a bad score. Please help! I don't want to give up on GMAT because I know I can but I have started doubting that now.

Thanks!

Thanks!

sahilvijay · Answer

seems like -> you need to touch Q50 atleast to reach 700 level since verbal score is also not at that level.
scoring Q50 is comparatively easy as compared to scoring same percentile in verbal
so lock Q50
and then start focusing on verbal and try to get V35 => 
make a planned approach.

First make sure Quants 50 is going no where so that you are bit relaxed and can only concentrate on Verbal to achieve V35 => about 710 score.

ADVICE FROM MY SIDE => NEVER EVER GIVE UP.....

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi MotivatedSK,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. When these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day. If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as when you plan to take your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? 
5) Since you took the GMAT twice before, did you ever take any of these CATs more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE?

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

AjiteshArun · Answer

Treat this as your first attempt, and keep in mind that (at least in my opinion) most people need to take the GMAT more than once (typically 2-3 times) before they get a score that accurately reflects their ability level. As for your GMATPrep scores, if the questions you saw on those tests were "fresh", then you can be very sure that you are capable of getting those scores on the actual GMAT as well.

rever08 · Answer

Bro! Doubting yourself is the last thing you would want to do. 
If you want to study together, I will be more than happy to be your gmat MATE! If you were planning for Jan'18 applications, I would suggest schedule gmat for last week of November and get the ball rolling!

And yes do read the debrief! I am sure you are going to write one soon, and be the inspiration for others!

https://gmatclub.com/forum/600-to-770-gmat-debrief-770-q50-v45-attention-deficiency-str-227223.html#p1748177

pushpitkc · Answer

Hi MotivatedSK , Before you resume your preparation, I would definitely suggest you to buy the ESR for this attempt(which will be available on mba.com). This report will help you understand exactly what your weak areas are? Once, you have this understanding the experts on the forum will help you with a strategy to improve your scores. My best bet will be increase the Quant score from the current level to Q50 (which in my opinion is not going to be very difficult) This is a post(from our forum) which might help you on how to make this jump : https://gmatclub.com/forum/quant-strate ... 37078.html For Verbal improvement(though it make take longer), please read this post and follow the steps given here diligently. https://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-impro ... 42361.html This should definitely help you improve you score to your target range(700+) Hope that helps you!

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