Advice urgently needed, very depressed

Question

1st MGMAT-590 ( was happy to see my work was paying off )
2nd GMAT Prep-520 ( very depressed, shocked didn't know what to do or say)
3rd MGMAT-550 
4th MGMAT- 520 
Disclaimer, I have been studying for almost two months now, on an average of 2 hour a day atleast. I have not reviewed thoroughly any of my tests to go over and see what's right and what's wrong. I've finished 6 of the GMAT strategy guides all but geometry and sentence correction. I just don't know what to do.

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bb · Answer

Would you mind posting your raw scores? How does the section score differ?

scbguy · Answer

18/6/2011 520 Q 35/ V 27
17/6/2011 550 Q 39 / V 28
24/5/2011 590 Q 39 / V 33

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scbguy · Answer

Would be grateful if other people would also comment.

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walker · Answer

Here is my 2 cents. CATs help to get familiar with GMAT but they do not improve your score! (maybe a little bit at the begining). What you should do now is to dive into your mistakes. Mistakes is the main source of your improvement. So, try to understand why you did a mistake: lack of concept? silly mistake? tricky answer options? unknown words? lack of concentration? not enough time? slow reading? I see you have GMAT ToolKit, use Bookmarks and Review there. It's better to solve less questions but really get why you did some of them wrong and be sure you will not repeat the same mistake next time. If you see you answer the same question wrong again, that should ring a bell - you not working enough with mistakes.

Post here specific types of mistakes you make and I could give more specific advice. Sometimes it can be not so obvious. For example, if you spend too much time on RC questions, you may decrease time per SC question under 1 min to have more time for RC.

Post here specific types of mistakes you make and I could give more specific advice. Sometimes it can be not so obvious. For example, if you spend too much time on RC questions, you may decrease time per SC question under 1 min to have more time for RC.

chandu4gmat · Answer

scbguy,

The answer to the problem lies in your post. You have acknowledged that you have not reviewed your strengths and weaknesses. You are not tracking your progress. You would also accept that merely taking another gmat, without reviewing,would not serve the purpose. I would suggest you to first identify your weak areas and study specialised books which will help you thoroughly understand the fundamentals and once you are done with that, then take a gmat say once a week and do a careful analysis.Keep doing and I am sure you will hit Bull's Eye! All the best!

l0rrie · Answer

Hmmm I am in the same situation.. Probably even worse.. Right now all I'm doing is trying to understand my mistakes and really learn from them.. at the mometn i feel that taking more tests is deprsesing me even more.. Try to take them again once you feel comfortable with the mistakes you made..

donald1 · Answer

you dont need to be worried ..only do your level best..you will get success 100%

Womiwom · Answer

Don't feel bad. I've been studying for what seems like an eternity now, and I'm yet to cross the 600 mark. I've finished with the MGMAT Quant books and am now working on the OG12 questions. I just finished all of the sentence correction questions with 70% accuracy. Over the next few days I'll do CR and finish up with RC. As far as the math questions go, I've finished 150 PS and haven't touched the DS yet. I was able to get a hit percentage of 69%, so I'll finish those and see where I went wrong. I've got an error log that I've finally decided to keep updated. I guess my advice would be to keep working and analyzing what areas you need work on. All the best!!!

OldMinolta · Answer

Cats can cause stress and compel you to to focus on the time instead of learning how to get the answer. Pick an area where you tend to miss answers and study the problems until you understand them. Then pick another. Don't worry about timing for a while. There is no reason to hurry your study time. Worry about test timing more when you are getting more of the problems correct. You have managed to find out where you stand with what you know. Now you have to focus on learning more. You might really benefit from one of the formal classes and/or a tutor to keep you focused.

akhileshgupta05 · Answer

You shouldn't have taken any CAT without finishing the strategy guides. You're wasting the exams and I know seeing low scores has a terrible impact on your morale. First Finish the Guides along with OG (untimed) and grasp the underlying concepts. Strengthen your basics as much as possible.

If your Quant Basics are rusty try MGMAT Math Foundations. If Verbal bothers you try Verbal Foundations. Having strong basics is very important on the GMAT.

whiplash2411 · Answer

There is no need to feel depressed. Don't let the GMAT take over your life. Studying 2 hours every day for 2 months shows that you have the determination and dedication required to accomplish any GMAT score you want. It's just a matter of allocating your time and energy in a productive manner. Firstly, it looks like you'll need to bring your score up in both the sections. So why don't you start by reviewing ALL the topics of the GMAT. Since you have MGMAT, check out their assessment tool for the CATs. It'll give you a really good idea of what topics you're good at and so on. Use that as a baseline for a point to start, but make sure you're not doing only one topic or one section or one sub-section. That is vital. And don't take the practice CATs again until you've completely exhausted all your "studying" time/resources. Check out the debriefs in this section for comprehensive study patterns that other people followed in order to get the scores they wanted. More importantly, don't give up

Good luck!

scbguy · Answer

Thank you all for your feedback and help, I am in the midst of trying to solve all those problems that I've gotten wrong in the tests

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scbguy · Answer

In everyone's view if I am comfortable with all the OG quant and verbal questions. Does that put me in a good place for the exam ?

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walker · Answer

It depends on what your target score is. If it's 700+, OG books doesn't have enough 700+ questions. If it's 600-650, OG is good.
Good luck!

gmat1011 · Answer

don't take it the wrong way and there may be more qualified people out here but searching for external support here will not help. Only YOU can turn that 590 into a 750. When you are in the gym lifting weights and you just can't add that additional weight and you feel like your arms are going to give way.. what do you do? you can ask the physical trainer and the people in the gym around you all you want for technique and inspiration but when you finally get it it is coz you discover something yourself as you plug away. you keep trying and at the end of the week or next it'll just happen. Just keep at it diligently and you will surprise yourself. Try increasing the amount of time you study or study at a different time or in a different setting, study with some other material if you feel the existing material you have exhausted, start writing down stuff in an organized way, start revising stuff more often. You will finally find something that will work for you and will give you a bump.

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Advice urgently needed, very depressed

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