Actual GMAT with too much time left

[MikeJoe]

I took my actual GMAT yesterday, and while my score was fairly good (710, 7IR, 48Q, 38V) I am unhappy with several aspects of my test.

For example, my quant score was much lower than I expected. I have been regularly scoring a 50 on practice tests (51 on a Kaplan test under test conditions) and almost always with careless mistakes in the first ten questions. I've gone through the manhattan advanced quant book twice, and I greatly improved the second time. I am a prospective finance phd candidate and while a 51 ideal, I think a 50 might fly.

The second problem is that I had WWWAAAYYYY too much time left in each section. I had only one minute left when finished with my essay, but I had about five minutes left in IR, ten minutes left in quant, and a whopping twenty minutes left in verbal.

The most frustrating aspect of the whole ordeal is that I genuinely thought I was dominating the quant. I thought for sure I was going to get a 51, maybe 50 at worst. As for verbal, a 38 is both consistent with my GMAC practice and acceptable, but I can likely do better given all that time remaining.

My plan is to take a month off from studying and take the GMAT again a month after that. I will obviously have to work on my timing strategy, but my biggest concern is in quant. The manhattan cat quant is tougher than the GMAT quant, and since I may actually run out of time doing the manhattan quant, I have to speed myself up, which is the exact opposite of what I need. I need to slowdown and eliminate careless mistakes; if I'm going to miss a quant question, it absolutely has to be because the right answer will take me too long to solve.

Do you have any suggestions as how to basically perfect my quant score? I very much believe part of my timing problem was both due to the adrenaline of test day and my not having taken a standardized test (or any sort of test) in about five years.

Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Mike

[StaceyKoprince]

First, congrats - that is still a great score!

Second, way too much time left coupled with "I think I'm killing this" usually equals lots of careless mistakes pulling your score down. You're going so fast that you have no idea that you keep falling into traps or making mistakes.

If you really are working at the very top level, then you should be seeing some almost impossible questions. If they all feel easy... that's a warning sign.

Question for you: when you took practice tests, did you do so under official conditions, including the essay and IR sections?

Basically, I'm wondering whether this happened: you skipped essay and/or IR (or didn't take them very seriously in practice). On the real test, you did your best in both of those sections, and you used up more brain energy than you normally do by that point in the test.

Throughout Q and V, you became progressively more mentally fatigued. One common side effect is the feeling of not really caring any longer - just wanting to make a decision and be done with this problem, this section, this test. (This is called decision fatigue - you can read more about it here:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... you-crazy/

Do you think something like this happened? If so, then the remedy is to make sure that you're prepared to repeat your essay and IR performances next time with a minimum of brain energy expended - which means actually prepping some for these sections.

Alternatively, maybe you were so pumped up on adrenaline ("Go, Go, Go!") that you pushed yourself too hard?

Since you're going for a very top score, it's also important to make sure that you're being really systematic - to the point of anal-ness - when taking the test. I write *everything* down. I'll write down 2 + 3 = 5. It'd be easy, during the stress of the test, to think that 2 + 3 = 6, but as soon as you write that down, your eye protests: no, wait, something looks wrong there! So you give yourself a built-in "check" by writing everything down.

It's also important to make sure that, as you said, you're letting go when those crazy-ridiculous, not-worth-my-time questions come along. Even if I can get this question right in 4 minutes, I'd still rather get it wrong in 2, thanks. That saves you time AND mental energy - and the latter is just as important if not more so!

Let me know what you think about the above.

[MikeJoe]

When I took my practice tests, I did the essay and IR in some of my exams, but the scores were not different than when I skipped those sections. I suppose some mental fatigue could have set in, but I don't usually have a focus issue when taking exams. I really think it was just that I pushed too hard. I have had issues in the past where I move too quickly and make careless mistakes, and since this was my first test in several years, I wasn't very cognizant of this past issue. As for writing everything down, I do try and write absolutely everything down; it's important to have all relevant information on paper and in a logical format.

Moving forward, I really think I can bump up both my quant and verbal scores (at the very least quant) a couple of points. How do you suggest I accomplish that? What do you think of the month off then month on strategy? I've already been studying since the end of August, and I don't want to burn myself out (if I haven't already).

Thanks for your earlier reply, and I look forward to your suggestions.

[StaceyKoprince]

I like the first half - to take a month off and recover from burnout. I don't like the second half - to decide now exactly when you're going to take the test after that. :)

Don't do the same thing that you just did to yourself on the last test - push yourself so hard that you mess it up.

Come back with an idea in mind that you're going to take roughly 4 to 6 weeks, but you're also giving yourself some give and take in there. (That is, you'll give yourself a little more time if you think it will actually be worth it.)

Start with a practice test taken under 100% official conditions. Pick that thing apart using this article:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... ts-part-1/

Before you actually do that analysis, read these two articles:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

(In fact, read those two right now and just ruminate over the main ideas for the next month before you pick back up again.)

Figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as what you think you should do based on all of that analysis. Then come back here and tell us; 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!)