Events & Promotions
|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Apr 2808:00 AM PDT
-11:00 AM PDT
Whether you are just beginning your MBA journey or fine-tuning your path to a 700+ score, GMAT Day is designed to give you a competitive edge.
Apr 2711:00 AM EDT
-12:00 PM EDT
Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors
13 Oct 2022, 07:08
Kudos
Bookmarks
Last year I gave the Indian MBA test CAT and got 95 percentiles. During that time I also thought about giving gmat so after a month of gmat prep following CAT I gave offline gmat and got 550. Later I realised I could do better on either of the exam so this year I planned to take the test again, starting with GMAT. I wanted to get into MiM program in europe and was aiming for a 700+ score. For the past 4 months I’ve been extensively studying for GMAT
I started my prep with magoosh self-paced course. I went through the basics, referred Manhattan yt videos and books for more tips, I solved almost the entire magoosh question bank. 1100+qs. And yes, I did all level question, I know it’s about answering easy and med qs. I had 80+ accuracy in them and about 50% in hard and Vhard. Later I started with OG and gmatclub test. Initially gmatclub test were difficult but then I got conformable with them and did good on quant. Always hitting q40 or q40+ and in case of verbal I sticked more to OG. Initially I had issues with SC. So, I focus on that. Picked up some great lessons from Manhattan free prep hour on SC and saw great result. It was still not perfect but I was able to get easy and medium qs at 75% accuracy. About RC and CR, I never had issue with them, and results too backed these claims. Only in CR I was struggling a bit on hard, weak and assumption type. With RC as well I was getting great result. Only missed hard question most of the time. I took 5 mocks In total. At the start of my prep, I had Kaplan mocks, scored 600, 670 and 690 the first three months of prep. Later a month before the test took OG mock got 650. Realised need better strategy. 2 weeks later took Manhattan mock got 650, and a week later took OG mock 2 got 700. I knew it could have been an outlier but I was confident that my base is 650. I was fine with that. Last week I only worked on proper strategy and approach. Since in quant I was getting v45+ in most mocks. And knew it’s only a matter of few errors and Verbal was hovering around v35. I realised to get in the range of 650-700 I need to aim the easy & medium questions so I did the same. Every practice session I solved around 30-40 easy & medium question and 10-20 hard questions. I felt I had hit a plateau, I was certain that my base line score is 650, not my desired score but still OK for few colleges. Last 3 days left for the exam, so I thought ill just improve on my strategy and just keep practising, keeping myself in the zone. I booked the online Gmat. on 11 October. The result came in. 450!! v19 and q32.
I didn't expect such results. The biggest shock is that in my first actual attempt I didn't study much and only leverage my CAT knowledge for the exam and still got 550. And IR 5. But with more prep both my sections dipped as well as IR to 3. While this time I did practice IR. Although I agree i was tired in that section. But didn't feel any tiredness in Verbal or quant section. During the exam I felt the quant to be easy, but I thought that was because I have practised 700+ qs and felt many qs to be similar. Only In the end after 16 qs or so I got hard qs. Verbal felt steady throughout. Some were hard some were straight forward. although I was rushed by time in the last 2 question because I got a difficult RC in the end. Most questions seem straight forward but options were difficult to infer, very close to each other. One thing I observed in CR is that I got a good variety, from boldface to complete sentence I think I answered every type of CR, contrary to most people thinking assumption family questions is common.
What surprise me the most my score dropped by 100 points. I would have understood my score not improving but a Drop?? even my IR score dropped from 6 to 3. And the biggest irony in this was my AWA scores. that was the last section and felt pretty tired, I must have written only about 300 words, although I did follow the Gmatclub awa 6.0 strategy, I personally felt the essay was not up to the mark. Result 5! Right now, I’m just scratching my head as to WTF happened. After giving multiple mocks in exam scenario, giving the exam in my bedroom, where I’m most comfortable, since the pandemic as this my work space, study place, play space everything and yet such a low score??? I am certain that my ability is between 650 to 700.
Now I want to decide whether to give again or not. Deadline for R2 is in Jan 5 and ill be able to give retest again December. So potentially I have 2 months to prepare again. And these two months are busy as heck, job, festivals and my sister’s marriage. Currently I’m not sure should I start from basics or work on strategy and for either of those what should I refer to. I have magoosh plan, but I have gone through almost all of it material. I don’t want to spend more of my time and money just to be disappointed again. This time if I’m giving the exam, I want a 700+ for sure, else might loose on scholarships as well. I was planning to take e-gmat course or TTP but don’t want to spend money to learn the things I already know. I feel I want to just work on my strategy and advance level practice. So, should I just buy mocks? Need some guidance on how to move forward.
I started my prep with magoosh self-paced course. I went through the basics, referred Manhattan yt videos and books for more tips, I solved almost the entire magoosh question bank. 1100+qs. And yes, I did all level question, I know it’s about answering easy and med qs. I had 80+ accuracy in them and about 50% in hard and Vhard. Later I started with OG and gmatclub test. Initially gmatclub test were difficult but then I got conformable with them and did good on quant. Always hitting q40 or q40+ and in case of verbal I sticked more to OG. Initially I had issues with SC. So, I focus on that. Picked up some great lessons from Manhattan free prep hour on SC and saw great result. It was still not perfect but I was able to get easy and medium qs at 75% accuracy. About RC and CR, I never had issue with them, and results too backed these claims. Only in CR I was struggling a bit on hard, weak and assumption type. With RC as well I was getting great result. Only missed hard question most of the time. I took 5 mocks In total. At the start of my prep, I had Kaplan mocks, scored 600, 670 and 690 the first three months of prep. Later a month before the test took OG mock got 650. Realised need better strategy. 2 weeks later took Manhattan mock got 650, and a week later took OG mock 2 got 700. I knew it could have been an outlier but I was confident that my base is 650. I was fine with that. Last week I only worked on proper strategy and approach. Since in quant I was getting v45+ in most mocks. And knew it’s only a matter of few errors and Verbal was hovering around v35. I realised to get in the range of 650-700 I need to aim the easy & medium questions so I did the same. Every practice session I solved around 30-40 easy & medium question and 10-20 hard questions. I felt I had hit a plateau, I was certain that my base line score is 650, not my desired score but still OK for few colleges. Last 3 days left for the exam, so I thought ill just improve on my strategy and just keep practising, keeping myself in the zone. I booked the online Gmat. on 11 October. The result came in. 450!! v19 and q32.
I didn't expect such results. The biggest shock is that in my first actual attempt I didn't study much and only leverage my CAT knowledge for the exam and still got 550. And IR 5. But with more prep both my sections dipped as well as IR to 3. While this time I did practice IR. Although I agree i was tired in that section. But didn't feel any tiredness in Verbal or quant section. During the exam I felt the quant to be easy, but I thought that was because I have practised 700+ qs and felt many qs to be similar. Only In the end after 16 qs or so I got hard qs. Verbal felt steady throughout. Some were hard some were straight forward. although I was rushed by time in the last 2 question because I got a difficult RC in the end. Most questions seem straight forward but options were difficult to infer, very close to each other. One thing I observed in CR is that I got a good variety, from boldface to complete sentence I think I answered every type of CR, contrary to most people thinking assumption family questions is common.
What surprise me the most my score dropped by 100 points. I would have understood my score not improving but a Drop?? even my IR score dropped from 6 to 3. And the biggest irony in this was my AWA scores. that was the last section and felt pretty tired, I must have written only about 300 words, although I did follow the Gmatclub awa 6.0 strategy, I personally felt the essay was not up to the mark. Result 5! Right now, I’m just scratching my head as to WTF happened. After giving multiple mocks in exam scenario, giving the exam in my bedroom, where I’m most comfortable, since the pandemic as this my work space, study place, play space everything and yet such a low score??? I am certain that my ability is between 650 to 700.
Now I want to decide whether to give again or not. Deadline for R2 is in Jan 5 and ill be able to give retest again December. So potentially I have 2 months to prepare again. And these two months are busy as heck, job, festivals and my sister’s marriage. Currently I’m not sure should I start from basics or work on strategy and for either of those what should I refer to. I have magoosh plan, but I have gone through almost all of it material. I don’t want to spend more of my time and money just to be disappointed again. This time if I’m giving the exam, I want a 700+ for sure, else might loose on scholarships as well. I was planning to take e-gmat course or TTP but don’t want to spend money to learn the things I already know. I feel I want to just work on my strategy and advance level practice. So, should I just buy mocks? Need some guidance on how to move forward.
13 Oct 2022, 11:47
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi raju1212.
Given that you have put in a fair amount of work without achieving a score increase, it appears that that way you've been preparing hasn't worked. So, to achieve your score goal, you have to make significant changes to the way you prepare.
A new course could, and very likely would, teach you many things you don't know, and anything you see in the course that you already know, you could skim or skip.
For quant, ideally, you'd get your accuracy to the following levels before taking another practice test: Easy 90%, Medium 80%, Hard 60%.
For verbal, ideally, you'd get your accuracy (at least your untimed accuracy) to the following levels before taking another practice test: Easy 90%, Medium 90%, Hard 70%.
For some insights into how to practice for the GMAT for best results, see this post.
The Best GMAT Practice Methods
Given that you have put in a fair amount of work without achieving a score increase, it appears that that way you've been preparing hasn't worked. So, to achieve your score goal, you have to make significant changes to the way you prepare.
raju1212
I totally get this stance, and at the same time, given your score level, it's likely that there are many things you don't know that you could learn to score higher next time you take the GMAT.
A new course could, and very likely would, teach you many things you don't know, and anything you see in the course that you already know, you could skim or skip.
Quote:
Before you take any more practice tests, you need to increase your practice question accuracy. So, you should practice both quant and verbal, untimed at first and then timed, until you are achieving much higher accuracy in both.
For quant, ideally, you'd get your accuracy to the following levels before taking another practice test: Easy 90%, Medium 80%, Hard 60%.
For verbal, ideally, you'd get your accuracy (at least your untimed accuracy) to the following levels before taking another practice test: Easy 90%, Medium 90%, Hard 70%.
For some insights into how to practice for the GMAT for best results, see this post.
The Best GMAT Practice Methods
13 Oct 2022, 15:06
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi raju1212,
I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. When these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day. Before we discuss any of those potential issues though, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:
1) How long have you studied in total? How many hours did you typically study each week?
2) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
3) What Schools are you planning to apply to?
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at: [email protected]
I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. When these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day. Before we discuss any of those potential issues though, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:
1) How long have you studied in total? How many hours did you typically study each week?
2) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
3) What Schools are you planning to apply to?
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at: [email protected]
