GMAT 690 (Q48 V37), Quite disappointed, Need Help

[siddhant.tewari]

Hi,
Yesterday i appeared for GMAT. I scored 690 (Q48, V37). I am very much disappointed with my performance mainly due to :-

a) When i started my preparation, around 2 months back, I scored 680 in the first GMAT prep mock test . My 2 months of preparation didn't resulted in significant score gain.

b) I thought my preparation was better than what i scored. I took 6 mgmat mock test all with AWA and IR. In first three of those tests the performance was not up to the mark as i was still in the middle of the preparation, but towards the end my scores improved: In 4th and 5th mock test my scores touched 740. The score again dropped to 680 in the last test but the drop i thought was primarily due to the way i approached that test.

Now with the score in hand and quick analysis of the past i can conclude :-

a) My verbal score 37 reflects my ability in general. The mgmat scores of 44,45 were just an aberration.

b) My excessive focus on verbal preparation made my quant score suffer. I think with right focus and effort i could have touched a score of 50 in quant.

My question for the experts is :-

Please suggest me ways, study plan that would help me in getting my verbal skills to level so that i can score 44+ verbal in gmat. I am from india and a non native english speaker and I have always had trouble with english grammer.

In verbal, CR is my better part, followed by RC and have always struggled with SC. Assessment of all my mgmat test clearly reflects that. I have overall 73% accuracy in CR, 69% in RC and 67% in SC.

Eagerly waiting for a reply.

[thisisveek]

The GMAT verbal on my test seemed to contain more idioms than the verbal on MGCats. Perhaps getting yourself familiarized with common idioms might improve your score slightly.

[siddhant.tewari]

thanks for the reply. Will definitely keep that in mind.

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry that you're disappointed with your score. (Though I have to add - 690 is a great score! Give yourself some credit!)

Next, a verbal score of 44 is the 98th percentile - that is, 98 percent of all test takers score lower than 44. The jump from V37 to V44 is very large and will likely take a long time.

Next, if you were to score Q50 and V44, your overall score would be somewhere around 750. Anyone would love to have that score - but nobody NEEDS that kind of score. Do you really want to dedicate months of your life to that particular goal? Think very carefully - I would imagine there are a lot of other more valuable ways you could be spending your limited time.

Also, note that Quant and Verbal are not scored on the same scale. Q50 is the 89th percentile - so if you scored Q50 and V44, your verbal score would actually be MUCH higher than your quant score. Given that you think quant is your strength in general, it's unlikely that you're going to end up with a better quant score than verbal score.

In sum, it's probably more reasonable to aim for a several-point improvement in each section - maybe to V39 or 40 and Q50 or 51.

In order to determine how to make these improvements, we need to know more detail about your strengths and weaknesses. First, read these two articles:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

Then, use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT(s):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Figure out what you think you should do based on 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!)

Re: idioms in SC, the GMAT test writers have said for the past couple of years that they are trying to reduce the emphasis on idioms. Because they haven't said how (or how much) they're actually doing this, we haven't really reduced idioms on our own tests (except for really obscure ones), so if anything, it's possible that we test idioms more than the real test now.

[siddhant.tewari]

Hi Stacey,

(Though I have to add - 690 is a great score! Give yourself some credit!)

Many thanks for the nice words. Disappointment is mainly because of following reasons :-

a) At the start of my prep i scored 37 in verbal in full length gmat prep test. After 1.5 months of preparation i scored the same in actual gmat;So effectively all the hard work meant nothing in terms of actual GMAT performance.

b) Even in quant i don't think i scored up-to my potential.

(Do you really want to dedicate months of your life to that particular goal?)

Yes i do. Mainly because i think an above average GMAT score will help compensate my below average academic record when applying for B-Schools. And second because i believe preparing for a higher verbal score will definitely improve my reading and basic english comprehension skills; Skills that may prove quite helpful in future especially during the B-School studies. Please correct me if you feel what i say is not completely right.


Last few MGMAT CAT Analysis :-

QUANT

a) Severe timing problem in DS. I think i am missing the right strategy. Tend to over-think on the questions especially on those with E as correct answer. Always have a feeling that i am missing something.

b) In PS questions with slightly more calculations involved, I make lot of careless mistakes. What happens then is in even those questions which i get right in 1st go, i recheck again and again to make sure that i did everything right. In effect many a times I spend more time than required even on easier problems.

c) One of the scenarios that has hurt me a lot (i think it happened at least twice in actual GMAT), start solving the problem, make calculation mistake, arrive at answer which is not even there in the options. Look back where i make the mistake, even after repeated attempts arrive at wrong answer and finally after all the time spent answer the question with wrong answer. I think i need to organize my calculation and approach in much better way. Writing each and every step and that too in organized way is the way to go.

VERBAL

CAT 1:- 36
CAT 2:- 37
CAT 3:- 37
CAT 4:- 45
CAT 5:- 44
CAT 6:- 38

Till CAT 3 i had severe timing issue ( i used to spend infinite amount of time on SC but i learned to let go) which i think was fixed from CAT 4. I think it is better that i analyze from CAT 4.

I think very honest analysis will be i am simply not that good enough to answer large number of 700 - 800 level questions within 2 minutes correctly. In CAT 4 and CAT 5 high verbal scores were kind of fluke.

SC :- I have read MGMAT SC book twice. I think that i understand basic rules written in the book. Two question types that i consistently fail to answer right :-

a) Concision.
b) Idiom

CR :- I feel i do much better in CR than in RC or SC. But now i think even my CR skills are not that good that i can answer right majority of tough questions .

RC :- Inference questions are real trouble for me. It seldom happens i answer a tough inference questions with 100% confidence; It is always like i am stuck between 2 choices and i mark final answer always with doubt in mind.

While practicing OG questions in CR and RC i used to get 8 out of 10 problems right consistently and i thought the accuracy was good enough for 40+ verbal score. After all the analysis what i have concluded is (please correct me here) in OG only 2 out of 10 questions on average will be of 700-800 level and since I used to answer them wrong most of the time, i really never stood a chance to get a high score in verbal. What mistake i made was not getting enough serious with those 2 questions and not spending enough time in their analysis.

So to conclude. What i plan next is :-

For QUANT :-
a) Need to develop better approach for DS. Will search in forums and will look for alternative approaches in explanations given in MGMAT CAT answers.

b)Organize my work in solving PS problems in a better way. This is crucial to reduce number of careless mistakes i make.

For Verbal :-

Overall i need to follow what is written in The Second Level of learning link as such(thanks for the link).

For SC i will rework all the OG problems and will go through MGMAT book again . But i really need suggestion what i need to study more.

For CR. I will go through all the question types again. Will spend more time in analyzing each and every problem i do now. I need to track my thought process more closely especially when dealing with tougher problems.

For RC. For inference questions i need to work out a strategy. Again i need suggestion here what you recommend if i can spare say next 3-4 months for the preparation.

I hope my analysis is good enough for you to offer me suggestion.
Will wait for your reply.

thanks
Siddhant

[StaceyKoprince]

Mainly because i think an above average GMAT score will help compensate my below average academic record when applying for B-Schools.

Ask some admissions consultants whether this is the case. If so, then great.

For DS, you'll always feel a little bit like you're missing something, because if you do miss something, it'll just lead to one of the other answers. To some extent, you just have to be fatalistic: I did my best, now I'm going to pick and move on. Same thing for PS when you're tempted to check and recheck.

For DS:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... questions/

Now, when you do discover a careless mistake, don't just get mad at yourself. Figure out what procedure you can implement the FIRST time you're doing something to minimize the chances of repeating that exact mistake. Take a look at this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

I agree that you want to write EVERYthing down. You also have a new rule: if you get stuck, you get ONE chance to unstick yourself. After that, you pick an answer and move on. You are spending both time AND mental energy, both of which are in short supply on this test - so if you know you've already gotten stuck once, then don't waste any more time on this problem.

Why were CATs 4 and 5 so much higher than CAT 6 (for verbal)? What were the actual differences in the data?

It is always like i am stuck between 2 choices and i mark final answer always with doubt in mind.

50/50 is a GREAT position to be in on the harder questions! You only need to answer about 60% of the questions correctly, so 50/50 is almost there! Stop wasting time agonizing back and forth. Compare those last two ONCE, then pick and move on.

I'm sensing a theme here, which is that you're spending a lot of time AND mental energy in places where you should not be doing so. That then affects you on other questions, where you have to rush or your brain is more tired out, and so you make mistakes. If you can start making better decisions about how to spend your time, that should also help you cut down on the mistakes.

For SC i will rework all the OG problems and will go through MGMAT book again . But i really need suggestion what i need to study more.

Use the 2nd level of learning to analyze those OG problems. Start with some that you remember or have already done recently - learn HOW to learn first.

You can also use these:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... em-part-1/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... orrection/

For CR:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... reasoning/

For RC:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... rehension/