GMAT retake experience

[RB574]

Hi Stacey,

I hope you're doing well. I gave the GMAT for the 2nd time yesterday and got a 670 (Quant: 50, Verbal: 31, IR: 5). I took my first GMAT in July 2014 and got a 710 (Quant: 48, Verbal: 40, IR:5, AWA: 5). I knew I can do better in Quant and so decided to retake the exam this year.

Yesterday, I was shocked to see my score in Verbal as this was by far the lowest I had ever scored (including the first diagnostic test that I took way back in 2013). Since my overall score was lower than my previous score, I cancelled it. After coming out of the test room, I could not understand what exactly happened. Perhaps there was a problem with the software...perhaps it was someone else's score. I wanted to call GMAC but could not as it was a Saturday. In hindsight, a good thing...

Thinking about the exam now...my AWA Essay and IR sections didn't go so well. I finished my AWA Essay with just a few seconds to spare. I could not review it completely. IR section was horrendous. I got a couple of Multi-source reasoning questions which I did not understand at all. I had to guess in a number of questions just to finish the section. So, not the best way to go into the Quant and Verbal sections...Quant was much better as compared to IR and definitely better than in my previous attempt. There were some timing issues as I got stuck in a question but overall I was able to finish the section and had some 20-30 seconds to spare. I went out in the 8 minute break and ate some fruits. I went back in with a positive frame of mind. In the Verbal section, I was lagging behind quite a bit (I used your check Qn # every 15 minutes strategy) and ended up doing some 9-10 questions in the end in about 10 minutes. Maybe I got all of them wrong. Maybe I got one of the RCs wrong. I still can't pinpoint and say where I went wrong. I am not a native English speaker but I can judge whether I did good or bad in the section. I guess not after yesterday. I don't know how my judgment can be so far off the mark. I just turned 30...

Regarding my preparation, I had the GMATPrep Question Pack and my scores were 750 in GMATPrep Exam 3 (Quant 50 and Verbal 41) and 740 in GMATPrep Exam 4 (Quant 49 and Verbal 42). I took the GMATPrep Exam 4 last Sunday. I lost the data for GMATPrep Exam 2 but my splits were similar. I did all the sections including AWA and IR while taking these exams. I did not get the time to review my performance (% of wrong questions in the subsections, timing issues etc.) in these exams. I was just happy with the overall scores. Not the best way to prepare I know. I had taken these prep exams last year also and while taking them again this year, I did not recall the answers to the questions except maybe the RCs as I had read them earlier. I could only take one ManhattanPrep's Exam and got a 690 with 45 in Quant and 39 in Verbal.

This year, I prepared for Quant from the ManhattanPrep's GMAT Advanced Quant guide. I did not get the time to review all the Quant strategy guides. For Verbal, I read the ManhattanPrep SC guide (6th edition) and PowerScore's CR Bible. I did all the questions from OG '16 and GMATPrep's Question Pack. I did not use any book for RC. I did a couple of RC passages from OG '16 and got most of the questions right. I am confident in the SC and RC sections but not so much in CR. Maybe I got many CR qns wrong yesterday. I can say with more confidence if I got a Quant question right or wrong but not so much about a SC or CR question.

Also, I was studying till the night before the exam and got about 3-4 hours of sleep. I definitely could have gone with more rest and less mental fatigue.

I am thinking about purchasing the GMAT Enhanced Score Report (http://www.mba.com/us/store/store-catal ... eport.aspx) to see where exactly I screwed up yesterday. I wanted to apply in R1 this year but will obviously have to push my applications to R2 now. I can take the exam one last time. Probably around the long weekend in September. The issue is I don't know how to go about tackling the Verbal section now. It would be great if you can advice me on what to do next. Thanks!

Regards,
Rahul

[AsadA969]

^^ I also think that majority of mistakes in your CR section because of following PowerScore's CR Bible. This book is good enough for memorizing rules but it can't help you because nobody can be master in CR by memorizing rules. Probably, you tried to use rules when you attempted to solve any CR question in REAL GMAT. To have a good score in CR, you must understand the situation in the passage. I also used to follow the PowerScore's CR Bible book for understanding the message of the passage in CR and could understand the every explanation of this book but when I tried to solve any question from another book, i can't. I've got a message from Ron Purewal like "you can't be master in CR by memorizing rules !''. When I got this message, I tried to research this message what does it actually mean. Now, I can say that this message is perfectly fine for CR. I try to follow this message and got most of CR correct if I can understand the message of the passage or the situation of the passage!

Actually, this is my personal conviction; it may be right or wrong. The Manhattan instructor may give you a good insight about your weakens.
Thanks

[RB574]

^^ I also think that majority of mistakes in your CR section because of following PowerScore's CR Bible. This book is good enough for memorizing rules but it can't help you because nobody can be master in CR by memorizing rules. Probably, you tried to use rules when you attempted to solve any CR question in REAL GMAT. To have a good score in CR, you must understand the situation in the passage. I also used to follow the PowerScore's CR Bible book for understanding the message of the passage in CR and could understand the every explanation of this book but when I tried to solve any question from another book, i can't. I've got a message from Ron Purewal like "you can't be master in CR by memorizing rules !''. When I got this message, I tried to research this message what does it actually mean. Now, I can say that this message is perfectly fine for CR. I try to follow this message and got most of CR correct if I can understand the message of the passage or the situation of the passage!

Actually, this is my personal conviction; it may be right or wrong. The Manhattan instructor may give you a good insight about your weakens.
Thanks

I also feel the same. I think my CR preparation has been seriously flawed. I am not following the approach to first read the question to find the type and then read the stimulus. This is as per the book's methodology. And come to think of it, I can't even tell you which CR question types I am strong in. I never classified CR OG questions into categories. I just did a batch of 15-20 questions and reviewed the answers to those that I got wrong.
Will it be helpful to get ManhattanPrep's CR book ? Does the book suggest a different approach ?

[AsadA969]

you must read the question stem first. then attack the stimulas according to question.

there are several types of questions in CR. you should understand which types of CR questions are solved by how..

the most important thing is that 'do you understand cr question is totally depends on the invention of cr questions by yourself. if you can make every types of CR passage by yourself then it is sure that you understand CR very well....

i have no idea about manhattan prep CR books. for CR, you can follow Ron's Thursdays with Ron videos (https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/thursdays-with-ron/), those are enough for understanding CR accurately and perfectlly. you can also watch manhattan gmat's CR video, which are taught by stacey and some other instructors of Manhattan gmat.
Thanks

[StaceyKoprince]

Hmm. This is a tough one. You did do better in quant (nice job!), but verbal dropped quite a bit.

You describe IR as horrendous - but you did still get a 5. So it wasn't that bad, but you psyched yourself out / let the test get to you.

You actually want to guess on multiple IR questions - this section is not as important as the next two. So next time, let the hard ones go - even if you could get them right, you don't want to spend that mental energy on the IR section.

Quant went much better but you still get stuck on a question there - noticing the pattern? There's still a part of your brain that's stuck on "trying to get everything right" or trying to get the hardest stuff right. Make a business decision: bail on the hardest stuff! It's not worth your time or aggravation!

If you had to average 1min per question for the last 9-10 questions, then yes, it's likely that you made a number of mistakes and your score really dropped. When you're moving that quickly, it's just not possible to tell how you're doing, because the whole point of a careless mistake is that you have no idea you're making it.

Also, I was studying till the night before the exam and got about 3-4 hours of sleep. I definitely could have gone with more rest and less mental fatigue.

That's a big red flag as well, and it would affect you most during the verbal section, since it's the last section of a very long test.

Okay, so let's talk about what to do from here. First, you already have a 710 on record, and your sub-scores are all solid - so there's no true downside here. Yes, you spent a lot of time studying and didn't lift the score - but you've got great scores on record already.

Next, are you sure that you need a higher score? Have you talked to any admissions consultants? If not, I recommend that as a next step (I like MBA Mission, personally). It may be the case that they tell you it's better to apply R1 with the 710 than wait till R2 (with no guarantee that you will get a higher score).

Third, my biggest piece of advice for you re: verbal is simply this: you already know what to do. You got a 40 on your first test. You can do it again! You just have to get yourself back to the equilibrium you had before.

Big themes:
(1) Mental energy. Think about how you're spending that energy during the early sections of the test, as well as in the several days before the test. You're an athlete about to run a marathon. Conserve your energy.

(2) Decision-making. Tied to mental energy. Don't waste time (and therefore mental energy) on things that are too hard or will take too long. Business decision: go after the best opportunities for a profitable business, not the worst ones!

(3) Content / process. It sounds like you feel comfortable with your SC and RC (though it may be a good idea to order the enhanced score report, just to make sure that your gut feelings are accurate). For CR, what did you do the first time around, when you got your 40?

If you'd like to learn more about our approach for CR, take a look through some of the articles linked here:
http://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/ ... reasoning/

I was using those to work out the various processes before writing the 6th edition version of the book, so if that stuff works for you, then you'll probably find the book beneficial. If not, then don't get our book.

Okay, so go back and think about how you prepared for verbal last time around. Tell me what that was. (That's generally what you should do this time, too, but I'd just like to check the details and maybe tweak some things.)