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25 Jul 2020, 07:23
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Hi all,
Just thought i'd post here off the back of a really terrible practice exam i've just finished, which is now making me doubt myself, my approach and my overall motivation towards the GMAT itself.
To give you a bit of context, I am an international French student, fluent in 4 languages, working in London (consulting), as you can imagine i have a heavy work schedule which leaves little time to study but i've tried to stick to a rigorous and consistent study plan. Let's go back to where it started, i started my GMAT journey on 1st of January 2020, with a goal to pass my GMAT around the summer and then hopefully apply to business schools around fall.
The timeline looked like this:
- 3 Months (Jan - Mar), I had to relearn most basic Maths, I used Kaplan (GMAT Prep Plus 2018 version), along with the Kaplan Math workbook which i thought was great to bring me back up to speed
- 4 Months (Apr - July), I bought the "Economist Course" for huge amounts of money (Now belongs to Bloomberg), and I thought this was really good, especially for Verbal - I got through about 80% of the course (which actually represents 100% of the Verbal and large majority of the Quant, maybe 88% completion on Quant)
Practice Exams:
These have been an incredibly stressful and depressing experience for me and you will see why below, here are all the practice exams I have taken (at regular intervals as suggested)
- Economist: 440 Q31 / V19 > 3rd of April - This exam was very hard to swallow after 4 months of studying...
- Kaplan's Diagnostic Test: 660 Q43 / V39 > Middle of May - This massively re-boosted me, especially knowing that most of my studying was going to plan, and that I was making progress! I remember thinking, I need to boost my verbal a little bit and also my Quant and i'll be golden
- Kaplan 2nd Test: 550 Q39 / V27 > 3rd of July - Wow, that one was a shock - My verbal had literally CRASHED like a led baloon to the bottom of the ocean, i felt horrible, and didn't know what to do, spent the next 2 weeks doing plenty of CR, RC (which where my 2 low points on the test), i was however acing the SC.
- Official GMAT Practice 1: 480 Q34 / V23 - This happened a second ago so i haven't yet been able to debrief, but it's safe to say i think time management caught me by surprise (i spent too long early on forcing me to guess a few in a row around the end - I know cardinal sin!), i seem to have failed a number of questions in a row (sometimes 6-7 at once), and i was extremely surprised by the questions on Quant, most questions were actually aligned to the stuff i was studying back in Feb-March on Kaplan (Percents, number properties etc... - EASY stuff tbh) and somehow i feel like i've forgotten how to do some of these because the Economist/Bloomberg prep is now getting me into "rarer"/"end-study" content like advanced geometry, probabilities, compound annual interest, etc... All this to say, highly disappointing score, no idea what to do at this point.
As you can see there is no consistency with my tests, except for a high variance in the scores! I'm really unable to determine what's good, whats not and where to prioritise.
My exam is about 10 days away. I have a week off work to focus my studying before my exam, but frankly i don't know if i should just reschedule and completely rethink my approach to the exam, despite having stuck to a 2h/day 8 months of intense study routine.
Here are my current initial thoughts:
- Maybe I should look into more materials but maybe more effective ones? I have seen Target Test Prep come up time and time again on this forum as one of the best Quant programmes out there. I'd like to think that I'm able to reach a Q45+ and I can't help but be inspired by the amount of positive reviews and feedback on it
- What should I do around Verbal? I really want a V40+ but i'm now completely lost around the approach, when i practice on my own i get most answers right, but i will admit i take time to carefully read/understand - probably more than a fully native speaker, but i'd like to think i'm actually quite advantaged with my background and my approach to English. I think my weaknesses are around CR and RC, especially getting to the answer quicker!
- Is it worth moving my exam date a month out? Should i move it out even more? Maybe December and give me a proper shot?
Any feedback, suggestions and advice highly welcome at this point!
Have a great weekend all.
The Integrator
Just thought i'd post here off the back of a really terrible practice exam i've just finished, which is now making me doubt myself, my approach and my overall motivation towards the GMAT itself.
To give you a bit of context, I am an international French student, fluent in 4 languages, working in London (consulting), as you can imagine i have a heavy work schedule which leaves little time to study but i've tried to stick to a rigorous and consistent study plan. Let's go back to where it started, i started my GMAT journey on 1st of January 2020, with a goal to pass my GMAT around the summer and then hopefully apply to business schools around fall.
The timeline looked like this:
- 3 Months (Jan - Mar), I had to relearn most basic Maths, I used Kaplan (GMAT Prep Plus 2018 version), along with the Kaplan Math workbook which i thought was great to bring me back up to speed
- 4 Months (Apr - July), I bought the "Economist Course" for huge amounts of money (Now belongs to Bloomberg), and I thought this was really good, especially for Verbal - I got through about 80% of the course (which actually represents 100% of the Verbal and large majority of the Quant, maybe 88% completion on Quant)
Practice Exams:
These have been an incredibly stressful and depressing experience for me and you will see why below, here are all the practice exams I have taken (at regular intervals as suggested)
- Economist: 440 Q31 / V19 > 3rd of April - This exam was very hard to swallow after 4 months of studying...
- Kaplan's Diagnostic Test: 660 Q43 / V39 > Middle of May - This massively re-boosted me, especially knowing that most of my studying was going to plan, and that I was making progress! I remember thinking, I need to boost my verbal a little bit and also my Quant and i'll be golden
- Kaplan 2nd Test: 550 Q39 / V27 > 3rd of July - Wow, that one was a shock - My verbal had literally CRASHED like a led baloon to the bottom of the ocean, i felt horrible, and didn't know what to do, spent the next 2 weeks doing plenty of CR, RC (which where my 2 low points on the test), i was however acing the SC.
- Official GMAT Practice 1: 480 Q34 / V23 - This happened a second ago so i haven't yet been able to debrief, but it's safe to say i think time management caught me by surprise (i spent too long early on forcing me to guess a few in a row around the end - I know cardinal sin!), i seem to have failed a number of questions in a row (sometimes 6-7 at once), and i was extremely surprised by the questions on Quant, most questions were actually aligned to the stuff i was studying back in Feb-March on Kaplan (Percents, number properties etc... - EASY stuff tbh) and somehow i feel like i've forgotten how to do some of these because the Economist/Bloomberg prep is now getting me into "rarer"/"end-study" content like advanced geometry, probabilities, compound annual interest, etc... All this to say, highly disappointing score, no idea what to do at this point.
As you can see there is no consistency with my tests, except for a high variance in the scores! I'm really unable to determine what's good, whats not and where to prioritise.
My exam is about 10 days away. I have a week off work to focus my studying before my exam, but frankly i don't know if i should just reschedule and completely rethink my approach to the exam, despite having stuck to a 2h/day 8 months of intense study routine.
Here are my current initial thoughts:
- Maybe I should look into more materials but maybe more effective ones? I have seen Target Test Prep come up time and time again on this forum as one of the best Quant programmes out there. I'd like to think that I'm able to reach a Q45+ and I can't help but be inspired by the amount of positive reviews and feedback on it
- What should I do around Verbal? I really want a V40+ but i'm now completely lost around the approach, when i practice on my own i get most answers right, but i will admit i take time to carefully read/understand - probably more than a fully native speaker, but i'd like to think i'm actually quite advantaged with my background and my approach to English. I think my weaknesses are around CR and RC, especially getting to the answer quicker!
- Is it worth moving my exam date a month out? Should i move it out even more? Maybe December and give me a proper shot?
Any feedback, suggestions and advice highly welcome at this point!
Have a great weekend all.
The Integrator
26 Jul 2020, 16:15
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi TheIntegrator,
The immediate issue is whether you should push back your Test Date or not. Based on the big 'swings' in your practice CAT/mock Scores, it's not clear what your actual 'ability level' is right now, but if your goal is to score in the high-600s or 700s, then you will likely need more than 10 days to get to the point that you can consistently score at that higher level. Thus, you should consider pushing back your Test Date. There are a variety of different factors that can help to explain your CAT Scores, including the number of little mistakes that you make on any given test, the number of times you 'narrow the answers down to 2 choices and "guess" (especially in the Verbal section and on DS questions in the Quant), the time of day that you begin your CATs, how well-rested you are, etc.
We'll clearly need to define all of this in more detail, but before I can offer you any additional advice for your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on your timeline and your goals:
1) What is your overall goal score?
2) Are you currently scheduled to take the At-home GMAT or are you taking your Exam at a Test Facility?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
The immediate issue is whether you should push back your Test Date or not. Based on the big 'swings' in your practice CAT/mock Scores, it's not clear what your actual 'ability level' is right now, but if your goal is to score in the high-600s or 700s, then you will likely need more than 10 days to get to the point that you can consistently score at that higher level. Thus, you should consider pushing back your Test Date. There are a variety of different factors that can help to explain your CAT Scores, including the number of little mistakes that you make on any given test, the number of times you 'narrow the answers down to 2 choices and "guess" (especially in the Verbal section and on DS questions in the Quant), the time of day that you begin your CATs, how well-rested you are, etc.
We'll clearly need to define all of this in more detail, but before I can offer you any additional advice for your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on your timeline and your goals:
1) What is your overall goal score?
2) Are you currently scheduled to take the At-home GMAT or are you taking your Exam at a Test Facility?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
27 Jul 2020, 08:56
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi TheIntegrator,
I’m sorry to hear about how things went with your GMAT. Regarding your plan forward, I think that TTP would be perfect for you. What’s even better is that we now offer SC and CR for verbal, so we have you covered for both sides of the exam. We also offer a full-access 5-day trial, so feel free to give the course a shot. If you have any questions about TTP, feel free to reach out to me directly.
I’m sorry to hear about how things went with your GMAT. Regarding your plan forward, I think that TTP would be perfect for you. What’s even better is that we now offer SC and CR for verbal, so we have you covered for both sides of the exam. We also offer a full-access 5-day trial, so feel free to give the course a shot. If you have any questions about TTP, feel free to reach out to me directly.
