GMAT query on improving my score

[DinkarM343]

Hi Stacey/Ron/Manhattan team,
I am a very ardent follower of manhattan gmat forum. Thanks to the team for making it such a knowledgeable forum.
I gave my GMAT once last year in Apr'13 and my score was 710 (Maths 50/ verbal 36). As some of the Indian business schools wanted a better score, I gave another attempt on November 2'2014. This time I got 670 (Maths 50 and Verbal 31).
My target score is 740.
I am not sure if I should re appear for the exam or not. This time when I gave, I exhausted almost all the materials. I watched all the verbal recording -"Thursdays with Ron". I did all the official gmat materials (OG 13th edition/GMAT power prep pack/GMAT exam pack/GMAT verbal supplementary).
I also did the SC section as Ron had mentioned in his - Thursday recordings - do the questions by looking at a particular rule only.
I think I messed up the critical reasoning section in GMAT as i seemed pretty confident in SC and RC - (although I am not sure as we don't get the breakdown. But this is at least what I felt). I did watch the personalising the CR recording. However, I watched it only 1 week before the exam.
I also took 10 mock exams (6 mgmat ones/2 default gmat prep/2 gmat exam pack ones). I prepared over a period of 2.5 months this time. Following are my scores :
MGMAT 1-710/MGMAT 2 - 680/MGMAT 3 - 680/MGMAT 4 - 700/MGMAT 5 -700/MGMAT 6 - 740.
GMAT prep 1 - 750/GMAT Prep 2 - 750, GMAT exam pack 1 - 720/GMAT Exam Pack 2 - 700.
In the MGMAT exams, I was consistently scoring in the range of 40 - 42 in verbal. So, I thought that I was performing well. I wasn't doing that well in the Maths portion. But, I wasn't that worried as Maths is difficult in MGMAT.
However, my questions are as follows :
1. If i re appear, then I plan to give it again in first week of December only. However, I am not sure how shall I improve as I have exhausted all the materials. How more and what more should I learn. What should my strategy be?
2. Does it makes sense to get a private tutor (I am based out of Singapore) given that I do know the basic concepts.
3. It would be great if any of you can guide me here as I am very confused what shall I do and whether I should spend my time on GMAT or on business school application. The US schools second round deadline is in first week of January. The Indian schools don't need any essay. They just need the GMAT score as their cut off. The Indian schools that I am aiming for need at least a 740. Deadline for Indian schools is in mid December.
4. Also, one thing to note is that I was not able to sleep at all the night before the gmat exam. You may call this test anxiety. And this happened to me before my last attempt as well. So, I think this can have an impact on the performance of my score. I am not sure how to remedy this. I did try the breathing mechanism to relieve the stress that was mentioned in some of the manhattan blogs. But nothing seemed to work. I think this seems to be a recurring problem just for gmat. For my other exams/important interview, I am able to sleep properly. I am not sure how to remedy this. Shall I show to a doctor/ psychiatrist on how to remedy this problem? This time, I even took a mild stress reliever pill (lexotan) and I tried this pill a couple of nights before the exam and it worked. So, I thought it would work this time as well. But, it didn't work.

Your help is much appreciated.

Regards,
Dinkar

[StaceyKoprince]

Some Indian business schools actually said they'll only take people who score 740+?? Wow. That is just a ridiculous way to make the decision about who to admit to the school. For that reason alone, I recommend that you concentrate on the US schools! Half the value of an MBA is networking with your fellow students - and any school using the GMAT as a cutoff at that level is seriously not allowing themselves to choose from the best possible pool of business candidates. You're not going to b-school to work in the standardized test industry or become math / grammar teachers.

Okay, rant over.

You mentioned that your MGMAT CAT Verbal scores were in the 40-42 range. What about your GMATPrep verbal scores?

Also, did you take those tests under official conditions, including essay and IR? Skipping essay / IR (or not taking them as seriously as you take them on the real test) can mean that you're going to be more mentally fatigued during verbal on the real test, which can lead to a score drop.

What are your timing issues? (Everyone has at least some minor, timing issues, so if your answer is "I don't have any timing issues"... then, yes, you do, and part of the problem is that you don't know what your issues are. :)

Re: your question about tutoring: given the study that you've already done, it may be valuable for you to work with someone who can diagnose your issues and help you pinpoint exactly what you need to do from here. Tutoring is expensive, of course, so you'll have to do decide whether you think the cost is worth it to you - but for someone at your stage, a tutor could help you break through the roadblocks. Do some research and see what you think.

Have you read these two articles yet?
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

In particular, let me know whether you think your mindset during the test matched what's discussed in the first article, and whether your methods of study matched what's discussed in the second article.

Then, use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CATs (this should take you a minimum of 1 hour):
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/2014 ... ts-part-1/

Based on all of that, figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as any ideas you have for what you think you should do. 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!)

Finally, you may need to see a doctor about the sleeplessness issue; it's certainly worth a conversation. I'd also try this:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... mat-score/

[DinkarM343]

GMAT Prep 1 - 44 (Aug 31 2014)
GMAT Prep 2 - 44 (Sep 13 2014)
GMAT Exam Pack 1 - 37 (Sep 20 2014)
GMAT Exam PAck 2 - 34 (Oct 12 2014)
MGMAT 6 - 45 (Oct 22 2014)

My final exam date was 2nd November'14.

Some of the questions in GMAT prep 1/GMAT Prep 2 and MGMAT 6 were repetitive. The question in Exam pack were not repetitive.

I took the tests including essay and IR.

I read the article on the last day before the exam about what gmat really tests. Hence, I tried to follow that strategy.

MGMAT 6 (2nd Oct'14)
No string of 4 questions wrong
Qsn 24/25/26/27 - I was ahead by 3.2 minutes compared to target cumulative time. These were 1 CR and 3 SC. All were correct except the last one.
Qsn 35/36/37/38 - I was ahead by 3.5 mins in each question compared to target cumulative time.(Mixture of CR and SC questions)
Qsn 39/40/41 - I was ahead by 4 minutes in each question compared to target cumulative time. (Mixture of SC and CR questions)
2 CR questions were between 2.30 to 3 mins. One of them was wrong and the other one right.
5 SC questions were between 1min 45 sec to 2 mins. 2 of them were wrong
1 RC question was greater than 2 min. It was an inference question and it was wrong
Overall, I would think that some of the CR questions were repetitive in MGMAT 6. None of the SC or RC questions were repetitive.

MGMAT 5 ( Taken on 6th October)
No string of 4 questions wrong
6 SC questions were greater than 2 minutes. 2 of them were wrong.
3 Specific Detail qsns were greater than 2mins 30 sec
1 inference qsn was 3 min 47 seconds
Qsn 9/10 - Cumulative time was ahead of target cumul time by 3.5 mins
Qsn 14 - 16 - Cumu. Time was ahead of target cumu. time by 3mins
Qsn 17 - 19 - Cumu. Time was ahead of target cumu. time by 4 mins
Qsn 22 - 25 - Cumu. time was ahead of target cumu. time by 5 mins
Qsn 26 - 28 -Cumu. time was ahead of target cumu. time by 4 mins
After qsn 28, One Rc question I spent 3.5 minutes and a couple of SC questions where I spent 2.3mins. I think this has brought my timing in sync with cumulative target time.

I have decided to take tution for only verbal. About 10 hrs of personalised tution. Please advise how I should go about training with the tutor. The tutor has asked me that I come to her with a set list of questions before the class and she will discuss those with me. So does it make sense if I practise questions and whatever ones I am facing difficulty in, I sit with her.
If yes, then from where shall I practise? I am mostly focussing on CR for the time being. ( at least for first 4 hrs).
Yes, I will see the doctor. In fact I saw the doctor before the exam as well. She advised me, but it didn't work out I guess.

[StaceyKoprince]

Hmm, okay. If you saw some repeat questions on the tests where you scored in the mid-40s...we have to assume that those tests are artificially inflated. So your scores that were in the mid-high 30s are more representative.

You were a bit ahead of time on your last MGMAT CAT, but you also saw questions that you'd seen before. How did you handle them - did you answer them more quickly than you would have otherwise?

I'm trying to figure out whether you have an overall tendency to go too fast, or whether that was an artificial result because you saw some questions that you'd seen before.

In order to get the most out of your tutoring, you do want to bring specific questions or issues to the tutor. Think of it this way: the tutor is trying to "diagnose" you so that she knows what you need to learn to get better. So she needs to see how you're thinking and where you're struggling.

This may not always involve single problems. You may realize, for example, that you are struggling with all Inference questions. Bring a couple for her to see, because she'll use those to figure out what you need and then she can help you with general principles for all questions of that type, not just the ones that you bring to her.

Your tutor should be working with you to determine what topics you should be studying. (You can also use your analysis from your most recent practice tests.) In fact, for your first meeting, I'd go back over everything you've done in the past few weeks and pull out the problems that you feel you should be able to answer but for some reason they aren't coming together.

DON'T pull out the problems on which you are totally lost. Those should just be answered quickly and you move on. You want to pull the problems that you can almost do, but something's causing problems in the moment. (These could also be problems for which you read the explanation and you think, "oh, yeah, I can do that!" but you never thought to do it yourself when the clock was ticking. Why not? What are the clues that you should've been thinking along those lines? The clues are there, so if you're not seeing them, ask your tutor to show you / help you figure it out.)

[DinkarM343]

1. Yes, I went fast on the questions I had seen before.
2. I have started tutoring. I just did the CR part of all paper based offcial tests. So now, I am discussing my doubts with her. In most of the wrong questions, I am left with 2 answer choices and am not able to decide between the 2.
3. I am planning to do LSAT questions that are GMAT type and discuss those with my tutor. Do you think that will help? I have exhausted all official problems. So, I don't think it is an efficient discussion if I have seen the problem before. Hence, I am planning for LSAT qsns. Let me know your opinion and if this method makes sense?
4. I plan to take a total of 10 hrs of classes. 2.5 hrs are already over. First class, we went over questions that I went wrong while preparing for my earlier gmat. The next session we went over questions that I went wrong in the paper based test. Have another class to clear doubts of paper based test. Then, I plan to do LSAT and go over the doubts.
5. Do you suggest giving any practise test over the weekend? If yes then from where. I have exhausted GMAT PRep/Exam pack and 6 MGMAt tests during my earlier preparation.
I am planning to give gmat again between 10 - 15th December.
6. Any other study strategy?
7. Yes, I am doing the meditation.

[StaceyKoprince]

I have exhausted all official problems. So, I don't think it is an efficient discussion if I have seen the problem before.

I disagree. :) It doesn't matter if you know WHAT the right answers are. Until you can articulate WHY the right answers are right and the wrong ones are wrong, you are not actually done with that problem.

Your learning doesn't come while you are trying the problem (and the clock is ticking). You either know how to do it and get it right or you don't and you get it wrong. You learn afterwards, when you're reviewing the problem.

So learn first from the problems you have already done (and have your tutor help you). Can you explain the whole problem, including those last 2 answers? Can you explain why the tempting wrong one seems good and why the right one seems like it might not be right? (That is, can you articulate the traps?)

Then, once you have gained new understanding about how to do questions of that sub-type (eg, find the assumption), test your understanding by trying new problems.

It is fine to use LSAT questions, yes. (But don't just keep doing what you've been doing in the past - plowing through tons of new questions. That's not how you learn best!)

When was your last practice test? I'm thinking you probably don't need another one right now - you know where you need to work, so work on those things.

[DinkarM343]

Understood.
My last practise test was around a month ago on 23rd October'14.
I will work on your steps. I am taking the test on 7th December.
Let me know what more shall i do in the interim?

[StaceyKoprince]

That's how you learn. Go do it for all question types / content areas. :)