A 4 times GMAT taker and still struggling...

[Pinkynagpaloberoi]

I have been giving GMAT since 2010 and every year after that.

my scores have been -

640 - 48,28
660 - 45, 36
640 - 48, 28
620 - 50, 25


Clearly I should stop trying now. I guess GMAT was never for me.

[Pinkynagpaloberoi]

seriously someone suggest what shud i do.

[shreerajp99]

Hi Pinky,

I am no expert here,I have got just 630(Q39,V37).Sad that ur verbal score isn't increasing but ur quant seems to be stellar!
For verbal here are my two cents:
Develop a reading habit:read economist,WSJ,becker posner blog,this will help to strengthen ur foundation.
Also,try thinking in english(this tip has helped me a lot).
Finally,practice from official questions as much as u can.
Also,Ron and Stacey's explanations in gmatprep forum are unparalleled;read them properly.
Be a part of beatthegmat/gmatclub community and subscribe to their daily question if possible.
That's it from me,Stacey will also give her priceless advice here,hope she agrees with whatever i have said above :)

Thanks and best luck,
Shreeraj

[StaceyKoprince]

Thanks for weighing in Shreeraj. Pinky, please remember to read the forum guidelines before posting. Please don't "bump" your own post. We respond to all posts in order, oldest first, and the date of your post is based on the date of the last post in the thread, not the first. If you bump your own post to a later date, you will wait longer for a response.

Please also note that it is common to wait 3-5 business days for a response on the forums. If you ever have a truly urgent issue, call the office directly.

Now, on to your question. I don't necessarily think that you should give up or that the GMAT isn't for you - I'd like to know more details about your "case." :)

Your scores are fluctuating quite a bit. I don't know which one is the most recent (the one at the top or the one at the bottom?). I can see that your best quant score is paired with your lowest verbal score, though, and vice versa.

Why do you think that your quant dropped on the 660 test? And why do you think that your verbal dropped on the 620 test? If we can figure that out, then we might be able to figure out how to get you to perform at your peak on both sections at once.

The major issues causing score fluctation are typically:
(1) Timing
(2) Holes in your foundation (you know some things well but others not very well at all)
(3) Mental stamina

Read this - which of the above apply in your case?
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ent-wrong/

Next, you can diagnose your timing issues, along with other strengths and weaknesses using this article with your most recent MGMAT CAT:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Everybody has timing issues - the question is just what specific timing issues you have.

Then come back here and tell us the results of your CAT analysis and what you think you should do based on that analysis. We'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)

[Pinkynagpaloberoi]

Thanks a lot Stacey for the response.

The test scores are listed in order that they were taken in the last 2 years, 620 being the most recent.

I have no idea why I did not score good in quant in my highest s far - 660. A 49/50 would have easily made it a nice 700 which i have been trying like for ever now.

Also, regarding stamina, i seriously felt completely at calm and at a good pace while doing verbal in the last test. In the previous exams, I did sometimes found myself getting panicky about time and everything or found a losing focus and concentration.

My last test surprisingly gave me a good feeling about verbal since everything from the timing to my concentration seemed controlled and smooth. I was shocked when i saw a 620 and a 25 in verbal.

I understand that you advise students to take full length tests in test environment. I kind of never did that - never wrote the essays in my mgmat tests and always skipped the IR tests.
I could have practised more of english though but I got 680 and 670 in gmatpreps and was hoping i might improve by 20 points atleast in the finals.

Tough to say what goes wrong every time, one or the other sections gets screwed up.

Clearly I could work a little more on my foundation and develop stamina too. Thats the only thing i see. My timing has been mostly in case 4 and 5 mentioned in the article you posted.

[StaceyKoprince]

Okay, so now we've got some ideas. Don't assume that you're going to get better on the real test - assume that you're going to score whatever you're scoring in practice.

Next, if you don't take the practice CATs under official conditions, then assume that you've given yourself an artificial advantage and your practice scores are inflated. Skipping essay or IR, for example, makes the test shorter and easier, because you don't have the same mental fatigue issues that you'll have on the real test.

Given all of that, your real test scores are making more sense - they go along with the idea that you scored 670/680 in practice but you also gave yourself artificial advantages on those practice tests.

The stamina issues are also helping to explain why your scores are fluctuating, especially during verbal (the last section).

There are probaly also timing issues - because everybody has timing issues. We need to know what they are.

If you've taken one of our tests, use that article to do a thorough analysis. It should take you 45 to 60 minutes (if not longer!) and you should be giving me paragraphs and paragraphs of commentary. (Note: not data. You can give me the data too if you want, but what I want to see is your analysis of the data. You need to learn how to interpret the practice data because that tells you how to study / what to do next. Alternatively, you can pay lots and lots of money to a private tutor to do that for you. But you're not going to be hiring a private tutor to get you through b-school too, right? Better to learn to do this kind of analysis for yourself. :)

If you haven't taken one of our tests, go take one - you can take the first one for free. (And take it under 100% official conditions, including essay and IR!)