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Apr 2808:00 AM PDT
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19 Jul 2020, 08:45
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Hi everyone,
First of all, this forum has been immensely helpful, so I'd like to thank everyone for their quality inputs during my preparation!
Here's my timeline:
I started preparing for the GMAT on April 1, 2020. I am a native English speaker and come from an engineering background, but am traditionally not the best tester, and even worse at standardized testing. Anyway, I took 11 practice CATs leading up to my first test date of June 2nd, with my scores increasing from 580 (blind) to 720, and even 760 (after an OG reset). That included MGMAT, Kaplan, and OG tests. They were all done under testing conditions except for the essay, which I didn't write. If you'd like to see detail on my score progression through the 11 CATs, I can attach the spreadsheet later, but its basically a linear progression of improvement.
On June 2nd, I took the test at a center, and got a 720 (V41, Q48). I was quite happy, but my target is 740+, so it was a bit frustrating and I decided to re-attempt to try and improve. Additionally, I had some "mishaps" at the center - the screen brightness was a bit high for my liking so I could barely concentrate when reading RC passages, and the proctors took a while to get me palm-scanned back in during my break, so I started my Quant section around a minute late (and stressed out because of it).
I scheduled the next test for July 13th. In the month and a half, I prepared really hard and got my accuracy up. I mainly did the OG question bank from Wiley and was getting 90% correct rates in Quant and Verbal. I also took 4 tests in that time - MGMAT (710, Quant untimed), Veritas (680, Q46, V37) and Princeton Review (680, Q49, V35). Then I took an OG reset test a couple of days before the real exam (barely recalled any repeat questions) and got a 760 (Q49, V47, with only 2 wrong in Verbal). At that point I was confident of a score improvement.
At the center on July 13th, I was able to reduce the screen brightness to my comfort, changed up the order (did Quant first this time), and didn't start any section late. Ended up with a shocking 670 (Q45, V36), which I cancelled. I honestly felt like the test went well up until the end - Quant was hard which I perceived as a good sign, and on Verbal I felt like I identified the traps and avoided them (although SC was hard, which again, I thought was a good thing)
My personal feelings? I stress out about Quant - I am bad at primes, divisibility, combinatorics and some long word problems. And Verbal? I love it. I have almost perfect accuracy on SC and RC in practice, and I'm not amazing at CR, but I honestly enjoy solving those puzzles, and feel like I've gotten better at avoiding traps (as evidenced by that last V47 I got on a practice). But obviously something went wrong on this last exam on July 13th.
I have my next test scheduled for August 11th, and that will be my last try. Anybody have a similar experience, or any explanation for my score drop, or any advice to better prepare? Thank you and best of luck to all my fellow GMATers!
First of all, this forum has been immensely helpful, so I'd like to thank everyone for their quality inputs during my preparation!
Here's my timeline:
I started preparing for the GMAT on April 1, 2020. I am a native English speaker and come from an engineering background, but am traditionally not the best tester, and even worse at standardized testing. Anyway, I took 11 practice CATs leading up to my first test date of June 2nd, with my scores increasing from 580 (blind) to 720, and even 760 (after an OG reset). That included MGMAT, Kaplan, and OG tests. They were all done under testing conditions except for the essay, which I didn't write. If you'd like to see detail on my score progression through the 11 CATs, I can attach the spreadsheet later, but its basically a linear progression of improvement.
On June 2nd, I took the test at a center, and got a 720 (V41, Q48). I was quite happy, but my target is 740+, so it was a bit frustrating and I decided to re-attempt to try and improve. Additionally, I had some "mishaps" at the center - the screen brightness was a bit high for my liking so I could barely concentrate when reading RC passages, and the proctors took a while to get me palm-scanned back in during my break, so I started my Quant section around a minute late (and stressed out because of it).
I scheduled the next test for July 13th. In the month and a half, I prepared really hard and got my accuracy up. I mainly did the OG question bank from Wiley and was getting 90% correct rates in Quant and Verbal. I also took 4 tests in that time - MGMAT (710, Quant untimed), Veritas (680, Q46, V37) and Princeton Review (680, Q49, V35). Then I took an OG reset test a couple of days before the real exam (barely recalled any repeat questions) and got a 760 (Q49, V47, with only 2 wrong in Verbal). At that point I was confident of a score improvement.
At the center on July 13th, I was able to reduce the screen brightness to my comfort, changed up the order (did Quant first this time), and didn't start any section late. Ended up with a shocking 670 (Q45, V36), which I cancelled. I honestly felt like the test went well up until the end - Quant was hard which I perceived as a good sign, and on Verbal I felt like I identified the traps and avoided them (although SC was hard, which again, I thought was a good thing)
My personal feelings? I stress out about Quant - I am bad at primes, divisibility, combinatorics and some long word problems. And Verbal? I love it. I have almost perfect accuracy on SC and RC in practice, and I'm not amazing at CR, but I honestly enjoy solving those puzzles, and feel like I've gotten better at avoiding traps (as evidenced by that last V47 I got on a practice). But obviously something went wrong on this last exam on July 13th.
I have my next test scheduled for August 11th, and that will be my last try. Anybody have a similar experience, or any explanation for my score drop, or any advice to better prepare? Thank you and best of luck to all my fellow GMATers!
19 Jul 2020, 09:57
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hey,
From your debrief I would definitely put this down to a 'cascade effect'. It seems like the performance on Quant was playing on back of your head, leading to a poor Verbal performance. If you are better at Verbal, why don't you hit that out of the park first? That way you will come into your 1st break with much more relaxed and confident state of mind. I also recommend that you follow same order as your mock tests on D-day. Don't experiment. I also recommend you solve questions from the weak topic areas for next couple of weeks. All the best!
Please hit kudos if helpful.
From your debrief I would definitely put this down to a 'cascade effect'. It seems like the performance on Quant was playing on back of your head, leading to a poor Verbal performance. If you are better at Verbal, why don't you hit that out of the park first? That way you will come into your 1st break with much more relaxed and confident state of mind. I also recommend that you follow same order as your mock tests on D-day. Don't experiment. I also recommend you solve questions from the weak topic areas for next couple of weeks. All the best!
Please hit kudos if helpful.
19 Jul 2020, 10:04
Kudos
Bookmarks
Did you study considerable hours in your second attempt? I think you need to consult with experts, such as IanStewart, and GMATNinja for a structured plan. Good luck with your next attempt!
