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whartonfan07
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VERY LET DOWN 13 Feb 2016, 19:39
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I have been studying off and on for GMAT for 2 years.

In Dec,2015 I wrote my GMAT and scored 550. My quant was low but surprisingly my verbal was 71%. I did not study much verbal at all.
I then studied 4 weeks and , did 1 CAT on Tuesday and 1 GMAT Prep the night before the exam and scored 530 ( on both) . Then today I wrote it and got 510 , I was shell shocked. My verbal was like 25% percentile.

I thought getting into this, getting a score of 650 would not be hard. But even cracking 600 is proving tough. Am I just stupid? I have 3.6 GPA in Finance.
I am just lost. I read so many stories of people on here scoring wonderful scores. Its incredibly demoralizing when you have scored 510.

Before I had dreams of getting 720 now scoring 600+. I do a lot of the questions on the forum. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I have about a month till I rewrite. My aim is to score in the early mid 600s still.

Also during the verbal section , I felt I was zoning out for some reason.


Any helpful suggestions would be really appreciated!!
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OptimusPrepJanielle
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VERY LET DOWN 14 Feb 2016, 04:04
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whartonfan07
I have been studying off and on for GMAT for 2 years.

In Dec,2015 I wrote my GMAT and scored 550. My quant was low but surprisingly my verbal was 71%. I did not study much verbal at all.
I then studied 4 weeks and , did 1 CAT on Tuesday and 1 GMAT Prep the night before the exam and scored 530 ( on both) . Then today I wrote it and got 510 , I was shell shocked. My verbal was like 25% percentile.

I thought getting into this, getting a score of 650 would not be hard. But even cracking 600 is proving tough. Am I just stupid? I have 3.6 GPA in Finance.
I am just lost. I read so many stories of people on here scoring wonderful scores. Its incredibly demoralizing when you have scored 510.

Before I had dreams of getting 720 now scoring 600+. I do a lot of the questions on the forum. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I have about a month till I rewrite. My aim is to score in the early mid 600s still.

Also during the verbal section , I felt I was zoning out for some reason.
Any helpful suggestions would be really appreciated!!
Show more

Hi whartonfan07,
Two years is a lot of time to study for the GMAT. You actually do not need that much time if you study in a planned manner.
I have some questions about your study so far:

1. What were your sectional scores on the GMAT?
2. Did you take the mock CATs including the AWA and IR?
3. Did you follow any preparatory course?
3. When do you plan to apply to the B-Schools?
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whartonfan07
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VERY LET DOWN 14 Feb 2016, 05:23
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OptimusPrepJanielle
whartonfan07
I have been studying off and on for GMAT for 2 years.

In Dec,2015 I wrote my GMAT and scored 550. My quant was low but surprisingly my verbal was 71%. I did not study much verbal at all.
I then studied 4 weeks and , did 1 CAT on Tuesday and 1 GMAT Prep the night before the exam and scored 530 ( on both) . Then today I wrote it and got 510 , I was shell shocked. My verbal was like 25% percentile.

I thought getting into this, getting a score of 650 would not be hard. But even cracking 600 is proving tough. Am I just stupid? I have 3.6 GPA in Finance.
I am just lost. I read so many stories of people on here scoring wonderful scores. Its incredibly demoralizing when you have scored 510.

Before I had dreams of getting 720 now scoring 600+. I do a lot of the questions on the forum. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I have about a month till I rewrite. My aim is to score in the early mid 600s still.

Also during the verbal section , I felt I was zoning out for some reason.
Any helpful suggestions would be really appreciated!!






`

Hi whartonfan07,
Two years is a lot of time to study for the GMAT. You actually do not need that much time if you study in a planned manner.
I have some questions about your study so far:

1. What were your sectional scores on the GMAT?
2. Did you take the mock CATs including the AWA and IR?
3. Did you follow any preparatory course?
3. When do you plan to apply to the B-Schools?
Show more




I studied off and on with gaps in between. Though the past month I had been studying a lot. I didnt spend much time on Verbal because I had scored 71%/34V
Yes I did take my CATs with AWA and IR. I did take a Veritas prep course in late 2014.

I had lofty ambitions. I wanted to go to a top business school. Also reading all the great stories you feel encouraged but when you don't achieve the same, you feel incredibly demoralized. I am currently applying to some Masters in Information systems programs, they require a score in the early 600s. So my aim now is just to get into the early mid 600s. I am taking my GMAT again next month.

Also I noticed my score when I first took my CAT did not change at all even after studying. So I don't understand why thats happening.
But one issue perhaps in Quant is I didnt get any of the type of questions I was doing before.
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whartonfan07
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VERY LET DOWN 14 Feb 2016, 05:23
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OptimusPrepJanielle
whartonfan07
I have been studying off and on for GMAT for 2 years.

In Dec,2015 I wrote my GMAT and scored 550. My quant was low but surprisingly my verbal was 71%. I did not study much verbal at all.
I then studied 4 weeks and , did 1 CAT on Tuesday and 1 GMAT Prep the night before the exam and scored 530 ( on both) . Then today I wrote it and got 510 , I was shell shocked. My verbal was like 25% percentile.

I thought getting into this, getting a score of 650 would not be hard. But even cracking 600 is proving tough. Am I just stupid? I have 3.6 GPA in Finance.
I am just lost. I read so many stories of people on here scoring wonderful scores. Its incredibly demoralizing when you have scored 510.

Before I had dreams of getting 720 now scoring 600+. I do a lot of the questions on the forum. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I have about a month till I rewrite. My aim is to score in the early mid 600s still.

Also during the verbal section , I felt I was zoning out for some reason.
Any helpful suggestions would be really appreciated!!






`

Hi whartonfan07,
Two years is a lot of time to study for the GMAT. You actually do not need that much time if you study in a planned manner.
I have some questions about your study so far:

1. What were your sectional scores on the GMAT?
2. Did you take the mock CATs including the AWA and IR?
3. Did you follow any preparatory course?
3. When do you plan to apply to the B-Schools?
Show more




I studied off and on with gaps in between. Though the past month I had been studying a lot. I didnt spend much time on Verbal because I had scored 71%/34V
Yes I did take my CATs with AWA and IR. I did take a Veritas prep course in late 2014.

I had lofty ambitions. I wanted to go to a top business school. Also reading all the great stories you feel encouraged but when you don't achieve the same, you feel incredibly demoralized. I am currently applying to some Masters in Information systems programs, they require a score in the early 600s. So my aim now is just to get into the early mid 600s. I am taking my GMAT again next month.

Also I noticed my score when I first took my CAT did not change at all even after studying. So I don't understand why thats happening.
But one issue perhaps in Quant is I didnt get any of the type of questions I was doing before.
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EMPOWERgmatRichC
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VERY LET DOWN 14 Feb 2016, 12:19
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Hi whartonfan07,

Based on what you've described, continuing to work through random practice questions is NOT what you need right now. Before I can offer the specific advice that you're looking for, I'd like to know more about how you've studied so far:

1) What were the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores on each of your Official GMATs?
2) What practice materials did you use before each of your attempts?
3) What is your exact Test Date?
4) What application deadlines are you currently facing?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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whartonfan07
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VERY LET DOWN 14 Feb 2016, 15:52
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I scored the same on GMATprep and MGMAT CAT. 530

GMAT prep 1 Q37 V25, I did it under test conditions.
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whartonfan07
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I scored the same on GMATprep and MGMAT CAT. 530

GMAT prep 1 Q37 V25, I did it under test conditions.
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whartonfan07
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VERY LET DOWN 14 Feb 2016, 15:56
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Practice Materials

MGMAT guides, GMATprep question bank, E-gmat Quant which I purchased 2 weeks back.
Books MGMAT guides, OG , Quant and Verbal Review.

I went through all the questions in the OG several months ago, I didnt bother reviewing those. I just reviewed the ones on the powerprep and the ones on my GMAT Cats.

My friend just did practice tests for 5 weeks, he scored 720. I applied his strategy in some ways but it obviously did not work out.
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VERY LET DOWN 14 Feb 2016, 20:48
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whartonfan07
Practice Materials

MGMAT guides, GMATprep question bank, E-gmat Quant which I purchased 2 weeks back.
Books MGMAT guides, OG , Quant and Verbal Review.

I went through all the questions in the OG several months ago, I didnt bother reviewing those. I just reviewed the ones on the powerprep and the ones on my GMAT Cats.

My friend just did practice tests for 5 weeks, he scored 720. I applied his strategy in some ways but it obviously did not work out.
Show more

Your scoring level shows a lack of understanding of the concepts. You need to go through the fundamentals once again before moving on to problem solving.
While the strategy of just doing practice tests might have worked for your friend, it is not a good strategy.

In your case, you need to dig deep and understand your problem areas first:
SC: The questions test various concepts such as S-V agreement, modifiers, parallelism etc. Find out what troubles you.

CR: There might be certain types of questions that are troubling you. May be Assumption, may be conclusion, inference etc.
You need to find that out and then practice them

RC: This again can be drilled down into different types of questions and also different topics. See what questions and topics trouble you the most and then practice accordingly.

Quants: PS and DS - Identify the topics that trouble you. Ex: Algebra, Geometry, Number System etc.
Go to the study material that you have and revisit the theory. Just pick the one which you are more comfortable with.

As an addition, start preparing an error log and keep a note of all the mistakes you made and the lessons you learnt from the problems. This will ensure you do not make the same mistake again.

Once you are done revising the fundamentals, sit for a mock CAT. Try to give it at the same time at which you have your GMAT scheduled.
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VERY LET DOWN 14 Feb 2016, 23:12
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Hi whartonfan07,

You did not actually answer 3 of the 4 questions that I asked. Before I can offer the specific advice that you're looking for, I need to know specific details about how you studied:

1) What were the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores on each of your Official GMATs (when you scored 550 and 510)?
2) What is your exact Test Date?
3) What application deadlines are you currently facing?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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WayneHam
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VERY LET DOWN 15 Feb 2016, 16:54
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I'm curious why after the first GMAT you decided to rewrite only 4 weeks after. Did you create a thread on here after the 1st attempt? Sounds like you have a long way to go but if you have the time and you're willing to put in the effort there's no question you can improve your score.
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whartonfan07
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VERY LET DOWN 16 Feb 2016, 07:04
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EMPOWERgmatRichC
Hi whartonfan07,

You did not actually answer 3 of the 4 questions that I asked. Before I can offer the specific advice that you're looking for, I need to know specific details about how you studied:

1) What were the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores on each of your Official GMATs (when you scored 550 and 510)?
2) What is your exact Test Date?
3) What application deadlines are you currently facing?

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


The school I am applying to has rolling admissions till end of April.

My next test date, I have not booked it but around mid March.


Scores Q36 V 34 (550)

Q37 V25
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VERY LET DOWN 16 Feb 2016, 18:11
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Hi whartonfan07,

Considering the length of time that you've been studying, and your 2 Official GMAT Scores, you've likely developed some 'bad habits' that will take time to fix (and replace with new 'good habits'). As such, you probably need to push back your planned Test Date back (since it will likely take MORE than 1 month to get you trained to score at a consistently higher level).

1) When you say the Programs you're interested in 'require' a score in the 'early 600s', what does that mean EXACTLY? Is there a minimum score requirement? A percentile requirement in the Quant section? Anything else?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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whartonfan07
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VERY LET DOWN 16 Feb 2016, 21:21
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OptimusPrepJanielle
whartonfan07
Practice Materials

MGMAT guides, GMATprep question bank, E-gmat Quant which I purchased 2 weeks back.
Books MGMAT guides, OG , Quant and Verbal Review.

I went through all the questions in the OG several months ago, I didnt bother reviewing those. I just reviewed the ones on the powerprep and the ones on my GMAT Cats.

My friend just did practice tests for 5 weeks, he scored 720. I applied his strategy in some ways but it obviously did not work out.

Your scoring level shows a lack of understanding of the concepts. You need to go through the fundamentals once again before moving on to problem solving.
While the strategy of just doing practice tests might have worked for your friend, it is not a good strategy.

In your case, you need to dig deep and understand your problem areas first:
SC: The questions test various concepts such as S-V agreement, modifiers, parallelism etc. Find out what troubles you.

CR: There might be certain types of questions that are troubling you. May be Assumption, may be conclusion, inference etc.
You need to find that out and then practice them

RC: This again can be drilled down into different types of questions and also different topics. See what questions and topics trouble you the most and then practice accordingly.

Quants: PS and DS - Identify the topics that trouble you. Ex: Algebra, Geometry, Number System etc.
Go to the study material that you have and revisit the theory. Just pick the one which you are more comfortable with.

As an addition, start preparing an error log and keep a note of all the mistakes you made and the lessons you learnt from the problems. This will ensure you do not make the same mistake again.

Once you are done revising the fundamentals, sit for a mock CAT. Try to give it at the same time at which you have your GMAT scheduled.
Show more


Thanks for the advice. I will update you with my results.
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