Gmat 1-660.Considering Retake.Need really helpful advice.

[suyash.tiwari]

I was pretty well prepared(atleast in my mind) for my gmat.
I scored (600,630,680,700,680,730) in that order on the 6 manhattan practice tests.
Also I scored 740,680 and 740 on Gmat Prep1,Gmat prep2 and Gmat prep1-reset respectively.
I was affirmative that I would score somewhere around 730 in actual GMAT.
But to my utter dismay, I got a poltry 660.
Quant-50,Verbal-30.Being a non-native speaker of english, I always felt that verbal was my weak point,but I got it improved.I know that this score is not representative of my abilities hence I am considering a retake around a month from now.
Can you help me out with some suggestions.
I really need some helpful advice.

Thanks in Advance.

[kourakis]

Retake the exam in 31 days. You can do it. (Unless you believe that this 660 reflects your true abilities -- if this is the case, then you should focus on other parts of your application that can hopefully prove to the adcoms your academic rigor.)

It is surprising that you scored a 730 at Gmatprep (which means a V40 with Q50) and V30 at the actual exam. Maybe just a bad day? Do you know what your painpoints are?


If your goal is hitting 700, you need to raise V30 to V36 (at minimum) , assuming you can maintain Q50. Thankfully, it is easier to improve on verbal than quant. I honestly do not believe that this test has anything to do with internationals' vs Americans' skills, as its verbal section pertains more to logic than to sheer knowledge of the language (as opposed to the GRE which has requires ridiculous vocab memorization.) Here are a few suggestions:

If it is SC:

-- This is the EASIEST section to improve fast. Redo SC problems (OG, Mgmat CATs, GMAT prep). UNDERSTAND why the given solution is right or wrong by reading the explanations. Be able to identify the respective SC types.

If it is RC:

-- Watch Ron's videos on short and long passages. Apply these techniques on practise exams, and also on magazine articles such as the economist, scientific american, or other journals that have lots of jargon

If it is CR:

-- Watch Ron's videos, this is all you need. Apply his techniques and practice, practice, practice.

In general, see this exam as a learning experience. You have plenty of time to retake the test (you have 4 more times until the end of the year), either if you apply on R1 or R2. Many applicants take the GMAT more than once, so this is nothing to worry about. The difference of 660 to 700 is 6-7 questions right, so you are almost there!

Good luck!

[StaceyKoprince]

I agree that we want to figure out why your practice test scores were so much higher than your real test score. Read this article; it can help you to figure that out:

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ent-wrong/

If we know what went wrong on verbal, then we can formulate a plan to deal with it.

Also analyze your most recent CATs using this article:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

That will give us an idea of where you need the most work. Note: if you took some of your exams under very non-official conditions, don't analyze those exams. (eg, if you skipped the essays plus took longer breaks than usual, or if you used the pause button or otherwise didn't adhere to the timing constraints during a section - then your score was likely significantly artificially inflated.)

[suyash.tiwari]

Thanks Kourakis and Stacey.

FYI, I am retaking GMAT on 24th September.

This time I am in better shape than earlier.

I am an engineering major, so quant is not a problem.
The reasons why I got a dip in my 1st GMAT was that all the practice tests, that I took were without essays.This time, I took all of them with essays.

Second reason and major reasons was that I read a few articles about timing strategies and slow versus fast pacing during test.Also, I knew that running out of time costs you more than doing last few questions wrong.Hence I was extra conscious about not running out of time and I had some vague idea that if on finishing 20th question in verbal, I am seeing 40:00 on the timer, that means I dont have to worry much about the timing.Hence during the first 20 questions, I was mainly focussing on attaining the above statistic.That must have led to initial series of questions wrong.I remember I did not get as such any hard problem during the test.And also, I finished like 6 minutes ahead of time, scoring a 30 in verbal.

I realised this soon after finishing the test, and 2 days later when I took a practice test, concentrating on doing initial problems right without thinking much about the timing and also maintaining decent timing in general, I got 38 in verbal.

After that I took few CAT's and I got average 38-40 in verbal using the same strategy.Concentrating on doing first 10-15 questions right giving them more time than later questions.I know even this strategy is wrong.But I am not sure of any other way.I dont want to repeat what I did earlier.

Stacey, you have a lot of experience about these things.
Can you enlighten me with some genuine timing strategy so that I get high score as well as do not run out of time ?

Btw, I retook mahattan cat 1 ,(I got 6 of them when i purchased mgmatsc) and got 780 this time.(51,46).Needless to say, some of the hard problems in SC,CR were seen earlier hence they went right.

Thanks in Advance.

[StaceyKoprince]

Ugh, 2 days ago. I'm sorry for the delay - we've been dealing with various news that came out of the recent GMAC conference, so the forums have been neglected.

Let us know whether you did already take the test / whether you still need help.

Concentrating on doing first 10-15 questions right giving them more time than later questions.I know even this strategy is wrong.But I am not sure of any other way

You're right that this strategy is wrong - the earlier questions aren't worth more. The overall balance of your timing is really important - as you found out, going too quickly can be just as much of a problem as going too slowly.

Here's an article about time management:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

If you haven't taken your test yet or if you plan to re-take, then read that and start doing what it says. It takes about how to learn to spend the right amount of time on each question type and also how to manage your time throughout the entire section.

Needless to say, some of the hard problems in SC,CR were seen earlier hence they went right.

If you take any practice tests on which you see repeated questions, don't automatically get them right! Even more important, don't do them fast - you'd never be able to have that advantage on the real test.

Anytime you see a problem that you remember (and this means: I know the answer or I'm pretty sure I remember the answer, not just "hmm, this looks vaguely familiar..."), immediately look at the timer and make yourself sit there for the full length of time for that question type. This way, you don't artificially give yourself more time than you should have. Second, think about whether you got this problem right the last time. If you did, get it right again this time. If you didn't, get it wrong again. If you *completely honestly* think that you would get it right this time around if it were a new question (even though you got it wrong last time) because you've studied that area and improved, then get it right this time.