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20 Apr 2015, 10:58
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Hi everyone, first post here even if I used to read the forum for the last couple of months.
First of all I want to say that I don't care about an impressive score, all I need is an humble 600.
I have a bachelor in economics, with outstanding results in math based. My english was really bad until 2 years ago. I thought that the verbal part was my real problem and I wasn't really worried about the quant part.
The preparation
I start my GMAT preparation in January 2015. I went through all the OG13 Manhattan books and I did all the practice questions. After that I did all the questions on The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 13th Edition. After that I did all the questions on the Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review.
At first, I was trying to get a good understanding of the questions and solve them without worry about the timing. After a while I felt confident enough and I introduced the time constraint. I wasn't doing good as I expected when I tested my self with those two reviews. A lot of wrong answers but after looking at the explanations I could do the questions so I thought I was improving.
Big surprise, I was finding my self really good at the verbal questions. With really good I mean that I went through all the verbal questions (on the Official Guide Review) in sets of 41 questions and I was getting right something like 80-90%. I noticed that SC was my weakest area in verbal so I started working on it.
FIRST ATTEMPT GMAT
Trial Exams
2 weeks before my actual test, I started testing my self with GMATprep because I wanted to know what to expect about my score.
GMATprep1: 610 (q37v37).
GMATprep2: Only Quant q42
Actual Exam
12/03 550 (q35v31) ----> During the test I felt that the quant part didn't went well. I found the questions 'build' in a different way from the ones I practiced with so the quant score was expected. Also I rushed on the last 7 questions. But what happened to my verbal? I was doing really good on practice and then just a 31? I was confused.
SECOND ATTEMPT GMAT
Trial Exams
Bought 6 CATS exams from Manhattan for my second attempt.
CAT1: 540 (q35v30) Probably not a good idea take this test after my actual gmat but I was really disappointed with my score so I needed to do something.
CAT2: 600 (q36v36)
CAT3: 600 (q40v33)
CAT4: 630 (q40v32)
I was really confused with my verbal scores, I though I got really good at it but still I couldn't get anything impressive. Anyways I was hitting my target score so I booked another exam.
Actual Exam
13/04 540 (q27v38) ----> Tears. I was confused, I felt like quit everything. I felt dumb. I can't understand how the score was so different from the CATS. I can't understand how I could score an embarrassing 27 on the quant part. I was the guy helping out others doing their math homework in high school, same with math based exams at uni. I faced my limits and I had one of the worst week of my life after that.
Now I am here, looking for your help because it seems obvious to me that I can't do this alone.
I have my last shot on 15 may 2015. 3 weeks from now, I hope someone of you guys can help me out reaching my goal.
First of all I want to say that I don't care about an impressive score, all I need is an humble 600.
I have a bachelor in economics, with outstanding results in math based. My english was really bad until 2 years ago. I thought that the verbal part was my real problem and I wasn't really worried about the quant part.
The preparation
I start my GMAT preparation in January 2015. I went through all the OG13 Manhattan books and I did all the practice questions. After that I did all the questions on The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 13th Edition. After that I did all the questions on the Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review.
At first, I was trying to get a good understanding of the questions and solve them without worry about the timing. After a while I felt confident enough and I introduced the time constraint. I wasn't doing good as I expected when I tested my self with those two reviews. A lot of wrong answers but after looking at the explanations I could do the questions so I thought I was improving.
Big surprise, I was finding my self really good at the verbal questions. With really good I mean that I went through all the verbal questions (on the Official Guide Review) in sets of 41 questions and I was getting right something like 80-90%. I noticed that SC was my weakest area in verbal so I started working on it.
FIRST ATTEMPT GMAT
Trial Exams
2 weeks before my actual test, I started testing my self with GMATprep because I wanted to know what to expect about my score.
GMATprep1: 610 (q37v37).
GMATprep2: Only Quant q42
Actual Exam
12/03 550 (q35v31) ----> During the test I felt that the quant part didn't went well. I found the questions 'build' in a different way from the ones I practiced with so the quant score was expected. Also I rushed on the last 7 questions. But what happened to my verbal? I was doing really good on practice and then just a 31? I was confused.
SECOND ATTEMPT GMAT
Trial Exams
Bought 6 CATS exams from Manhattan for my second attempt.
CAT1: 540 (q35v30) Probably not a good idea take this test after my actual gmat but I was really disappointed with my score so I needed to do something.
CAT2: 600 (q36v36)
CAT3: 600 (q40v33)
CAT4: 630 (q40v32)
I was really confused with my verbal scores, I though I got really good at it but still I couldn't get anything impressive. Anyways I was hitting my target score so I booked another exam.
Actual Exam
13/04 540 (q27v38) ----> Tears. I was confused, I felt like quit everything. I felt dumb. I can't understand how the score was so different from the CATS. I can't understand how I could score an embarrassing 27 on the quant part. I was the guy helping out others doing their math homework in high school, same with math based exams at uni. I faced my limits and I had one of the worst week of my life after that.
Now I am here, looking for your help because it seems obvious to me that I can't do this alone.
I have my last shot on 15 may 2015. 3 weeks from now, I hope someone of you guys can help me out reaching my goal.
20 Apr 2015, 12:50
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi ineed600,
Yikes - sorry to hear that. Actually, your verbal was pretty good- but that drop in quant looks unexpected. How did you feel while you were taking the test? Quant comes first -- so it seems you were doing better towards the end of the exam. Did you feel unfocused towards the beginning?
Even so, throughout your practice tests, quant seems to consistently be your weaker area. I would recommend that you really focus on the easy/medium questions for quant. Things like algebra, fractions, geometry, exponents, and number properties. Generally speaking, they can only test you on these concepts in so many ways. Just understand the various angles that they can test you on - and you should be that much more prepared.
That is the approach we take -- we take a core question -- and explain our answer. Then we take that same question with a slight variation and we look at how that changes the question. You may have studied and looked at a lot of questions -- but that "a ha" moment hasn't quite appeared because sometimes you get the right answer -- perhaps because you are lucky -- without really understanding what's going on.
When you take another look at OG math questions, take a look at this sample video and compare with how you are approaching math questions: https://www.gmatpill.com/problemsolving/og/222/222.mp4
Good luck!
Yikes - sorry to hear that. Actually, your verbal was pretty good- but that drop in quant looks unexpected. How did you feel while you were taking the test? Quant comes first -- so it seems you were doing better towards the end of the exam. Did you feel unfocused towards the beginning?
Even so, throughout your practice tests, quant seems to consistently be your weaker area. I would recommend that you really focus on the easy/medium questions for quant. Things like algebra, fractions, geometry, exponents, and number properties. Generally speaking, they can only test you on these concepts in so many ways. Just understand the various angles that they can test you on - and you should be that much more prepared.
That is the approach we take -- we take a core question -- and explain our answer. Then we take that same question with a slight variation and we look at how that changes the question. You may have studied and looked at a lot of questions -- but that "a ha" moment hasn't quite appeared because sometimes you get the right answer -- perhaps because you are lucky -- without really understanding what's going on.
When you take another look at OG math questions, take a look at this sample video and compare with how you are approaching math questions: https://www.gmatpill.com/problemsolving/og/222/222.mp4
Good luck!
20 Apr 2015, 16:11
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi Ineed600,
When a Test Taker's scores drop significantly on Test Day, the likely "reason" is either that the practice was unrealistic or something about Test Day was so surprising as to throw off the Test Taker's performance.
I have a few questions about your practice CATs, since they offer the greatest point for comparison:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take the CATs at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
3) Did you take your CATs at home?
4) Did you do anything while you took your CATs that would be considered unrealistic (skipping sections, pausing the Test, listening to music, eating/drinking, etc.)?
5) How long was the ride to the Testing Center?
6) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
As it stands, you're relatively close to scoring 600+ right now. The GMAT gives you the score that you EARN though, so to hit your goals, you have to put in the necessary work to earn those points.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
When a Test Taker's scores drop significantly on Test Day, the likely "reason" is either that the practice was unrealistic or something about Test Day was so surprising as to throw off the Test Taker's performance.
I have a few questions about your practice CATs, since they offer the greatest point for comparison:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take the CATs at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
3) Did you take your CATs at home?
4) Did you do anything while you took your CATs that would be considered unrealistic (skipping sections, pausing the Test, listening to music, eating/drinking, etc.)?
5) How long was the ride to the Testing Center?
6) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
As it stands, you're relatively close to scoring 600+ right now. The GMAT gives you the score that you EARN though, so to hit your goals, you have to put in the necessary work to earn those points.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
