Depressed :( 420(Q:29;V20)

Question

Hi All,

I have been studying for the GMAT for the last 4 months and I took the test on monday 11/06 and scored miserably low in it. I only managed to get 420!. 

I was not able to finish either section (Verbal & Quant.) on time and was left with about 10-12 unanswered questions in each section. 

The AWA was not that difficult for me and managed to finish it on time with 5 minutes left for reviewing.

The books I used for my preperation were:

Gmat OG 11th edition
Kaplan Comprehensive review 2007
Gmat prep. software.

I also took at prep. course to further improve my skills.

Can someone guide/help me in increasing my score to a respectable level. I am planning to retake the test in January 2007. The only thing which is stopping me from applying to the elite Business schools is this darn Gmat. I am aiming for atleast a 700+ score which seems very difficult at the moment. I heard lot of great stories about this forum and hope some one can mentor me too. 

greatly appreciate any reply.

Thanks.

u2lover · Answer

I won't try to become a mentor, but no need to be depressed... everything is possible!!! Just come up with your own plan, post it and let others critique it... you will get a much better feedback that way!

here is some recent inspiration in case you haven't read it:
https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=35919

good luck and don't be negative -> that's the attitude one must have when s/he attacks the GMAT :!:

lonesome307 · Answer

Thanks for your reply Bono. Before I come up with a plan, can you let me know if the books I listed are enough to prepare for the Gmat? What about Sentence correction books by Manhattan Gmat? Should I also use it?

Thanks

johnnyx9 · Answer

Lonesome,

How did you prepare with the materials you listed? And you said you took a prep course, what was it? Did you make it to all the classes?

You really have to knuckle down and put your social life on hold if you want to raise your score. If all you have is the official guide then even that should be sufficient to boost your score. Work your way through the ENTIRE official guide, and then take as many CATs as you can.

u2lover · Answer

I suggest you leave Kaplan alone and work with OG and here is how you work with it:

1) first of all... it's your responsibility to understand the basics in quant... I mean the simple formulas for geometry, basic concepts on percents, ratios, etc... very important before you even touch OG. For this you can try Kaplan Math Review for GMAT and GRE, Manhattan quant books or anything else you desire... the books might be organized differently, but formulas are the same.

2) Go through each single question and read the explanations. Doesn't matter whether it's quant or verbal... you learn from the writers themselves, so that's a bonus!!!

3) Keep an error log of what questions you get wrong or spend too much time on... and keep coming back to those every time!!!

4) YES, if your SC is weak, get out and get yourself a MGMAT SC, but don't waste time on their RC & CR book... their system isn't perfect in those areas. Read the MGMAT SC over and over again and master everything that's in that book... apply it to practice and make sure to justify each and every answer choice (why it is wrong or correct... and I mean each and every ABCDE answer -> there should be no room for doubt in SC because it's all about the rules)

5) finally, yes... put a cross on your social life... you won't believe how much I gave up preparing for this test and I am quite sure I am not alone... sure parties and dinners sound good, but smack yourself in the face to get real... parties won't get you closer to your dream... the stupid GMAT will!!!

Good luck and stay positive.
u2lovergirl

lonesome307 · Answer

Let me be honest with you. I did almost all the questions in the OG 11th edition for the verbal part. For the quantitative, I did all of the questions in the DS but not all in the PS. I did keep the log of the questions I did on a piece of paper and did reviewed them. 

For the Kaplan comprehensive guide, I did not do many questions from it except using it a reference for verbal. Yes I did take a prep. course at a local non-profit gmat prep club. Their strategies did not help that much in regard to increasing my score. I did not miss any class in the prep. course. 

You are right that I should cut down my social activities and stick to my gmat study plan. As far as taking CAT's are concerned, I have only taken CAT's from Gmat prep software. Do you recommend me to take kaplan tests and also the MGMAT tests?

Thanks for your response.

lonesome307 · Answer

Hi uslovergirl,

First of all, I would like to thank you for writing such a detailed response. Please see my comments below in line...

1) I have reviewed the quantitative concepts from the OG 11th edtion review section. Is it good enough or I should also refer to Kaplan books as you mentioned above?

2) Yes I am going through each of and every questions again. What do you think how much time should I spend on doing the verbal and quantitative questions per day? I really want to dedicate my weekends for the CAT's. Whatever questions I don't comprehend, I am posting them on the GMAT club for answers.

3) I am keeping the error log of the questions I am getting wrong on the OG. Do you want me to review the questions I got wrong everytime I sit to do a new set of problems?

4)Thanks I got your point. I have already bought the book and have started to read through on it and doing the SC in OG based on each chapter in MGMAT.

5)Yes, I have to work on this part. I need to nail myself to the chair when I am not working. Btw my work is crazy working like 70-80 hrs/week.

Thanks.

xixtrays · Answer

It sounds like you are just running out of time, not that you don't understand the material. The GMAT is as much about knowing when to just guess (after eliminating some answers) and move on as it is a test of knowledge. 

Take the CATs and when you run out, buy more online. Don't EVER leave any questions unanswered - you score will be f***ed.

You can do it!! Good luck.

mbaaspirant · Answer

Just got way below what I was expecting too ...and so you can learn from my experience ..
1) what were you getting in Gmatprep? if it is a lot better than what you got currently then it could be that your nerves played against you at exam time too
2) did you leave some answers in gmatprep too? if not, then you also got a little more relaxed than normal.
What I am going to do is - I am going to first make sure that I solve the problems I know quicker than the others and then brush up those that i do not understand.

Hope it helps

lonesome307 · Answer

Yes, you are right about not leaving ay questions unanswered on the real Gmat exam. I am also planning to take 2 CAT's every weekend in order to improve my timing. I was running short of timing in the practice CAT's too.

u2lover · Answer

necromonger · Answer

Lonesome,

The bad news is that 420 is low. The good news is that you have a lot of room to improve. One of the things I tend to stress on is the ability to identify weaknesses. Just saying "I suck at quant and I scr*wed up" is practically useless from a planning perspective. Even for realistically good scores like 700, it is possible to make priorities on what you want to focus on and what not. For e.g. if you scored badly in quant, it's often because you spend 8 minutes on certain types of questions which hurt you elsewhere. The key is figuring out what they are and how to improve them. You may have heard of the 80-20 rule, similarly - often 20% of the harder questions will suck 80% of your available testing bandwidth.

Before you blindly start writing sample tests and logs and what not, partition work areas and find out what your weakest points are and decide your trade-off (for e.g. I decided not to worry too much about permutations or combinations. If I got a tough one, I would decide quickly if I would solve it or just make an intelligent guess and move along). Then study parts that give the best "return on investment" - for e.g. number properties in quant and SC in verbal. You would rather spend 60 hours studying number properties than study arcane statistics.

On my blog I've captured many tips and things that worked for me - maybe you'll find it helpful - it's too boring for me dig all my old posts on this forum and point the right one. The blog (see post signature below) has consolidated info, so see if it helps.

-n
(oh, BTW, from your prep material list - I would add MGMAT series)

lonesome307 · Answer

Hi All,

Thanks for your kind feedback. Btw just wanted to let everyone know that I took another CAT yesterday(Gmat prep.) and scored 520. I feel a bit happy that I improved slightly from 420 to 520. Still a long way to go but I strongly believe it can be done!.

Btw: Some good news, I got my official score report back for Gmat and I scored 5/6 on the AWA. Is it good enough?

Thanks

necromonger · Answer

lonesome - from all I've heard and read - AWA is barely a factor. It appears that anything > 4 is OK. Adcoms may view very low scores with concern because it may point out that the applicant is *really* poor at english.

Bottomline -5 or 6 doesn't really matter a lot. Keep your eyes firmly on the quant and verbal sections.

positive soul · Answer

Hi lonesome!

I don't think there is much I can add. However, I would like to stress the need to review each question carefully. It is ok to "invest" 5 minutes understanding a question. Make sure you understand the question and the logic to solve the problem. Find ways to solve the problem faster. Ask yourself why did you miss the question? How can I make sure I don't fall for the same trap again?
In my opinion, this is the way to become faster and faster. 

One exercise that help me to become faster was to try to solve each problem in 1:30 minutes. If I could not solve it, I guessed and moved on. The idea is not to guess but to :
1) Increase your mental speed.
2) Learn to move on and avoid running out of time.
3) Improve your guessing techniques or what I call your "GMAT" reflexes.
Practice with this and you will improve. However, don't forget to review the questions afterwards. Otherwise, you will find guessing all the time and that is NOT the idea.

gmatperson · Answer

After 2 months of preparation, I took the GMAT exam last week and scored only 420. I was getting 410 to 480 in the few practice tests that I took from Princeton Review. I used the Priceton Review study materials and the OG 11th edition. 

I was not preparing consistently everyday and I was putting 4 to 6 hours of preparation per week.

I was not feeling confident on the test day and I went ahead with the exam anyway.

I need to score at least 600 for the part-time MBA that I am trying to get into.

It gives me great confidence after seeing the success story of positive soul. 

Here are my problems with GMAT:
1) I have pacing problem. I was not able to solve any quant problem within 2 minutes
2) I have pacing problem with verbal as well.
3) I always have to click through the last 10 questions of quant and verbal section to finish the section in the last 2 remaining minutes
4) Even though I know the concepts of quant and verbal, I am not able to apply them properly under time pressure in the real exam
5) I scored 31 in Quant and 13 in Verbal. You can see how poor I am in the verbal

I am planning to give the GMAT again only after I can score 600+ consistently in the practice tests.

I am not a native english speaker and I would like to know what the best strategy would be to prepare for the Verbal questions.

I have study materials from Kaplan and PricetonReview.

Please help.

rhyme · Answer

Agreed, but will jump in to say that GSB this year apparently said they will read AWAs.

lonesome307 · Answer

I have already went through the whole OG 11th edtion and additional Verbal and Quatative review books. I have taking the CAT's lately and have been not scoring more the 550. Can someone tell me what to do study exactly besides these listed prep. books? 

Thanks

SimaQ · Answer

Have you tried Manhattan books? Each of the books concentrates on specific areas, i find those books vey helpfull...

Fig · Answer

Nice advices given by everyone

To me, one of the most important aspect is to plan your weekdays. U need to be sure of how much time u can give to the GMAT. A realistic planning is requiered here

.... Be honest on what u can give and respect your planning.

. Also, it's crucial to work on sets of questions on both V & Q sections. At the end of each set, u should spend almost the same, if not even more (2 > 5 min), time to revise/correct every single question/answer. In my case: > I applied the 15-15-15 rule on verbal and I did 30 question of Q on a same day > I preserved the Sunday for a full GMAT Test (including AWA) > I used the Sathurday to check back my errorLogs. Progressively, with such a strict weekday planning, u will feel more and more confortable and u will feel that your skills are keened.

Finally, keep comming here and use the wonderfull ressource that is the GMATClub. Participate in debate over questions in both V & Q. Do not feel reticent for any reasons to post your question

Good Luck !

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Depressed :( 420(Q:29;V20)

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