HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ivorycynia]

just finished a 9 week prep course, got a 600 in my first cat. took the 2nd cat today and reduced to a 520. i am so depressed, any advice from anyone would really be helpful. i am thinking of extending my exam to 7weeks so as to prepare more rigorously.my goal is a 720+ please HELP anyone.

[StaceyKoprince]

Did you take one of our courses? Have you spoken to your instructor at all about your situation? If not, email him/her to ask for advice.

You can also read this article and do the analysis described to try to figure out why your score dropped. (If we can figure out why, then we can figure out what to do about it.)

http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/10/26 ... went-wrong

It's not unusual for people to experience a score drop on a 2nd test. There are a lot of things you're trying out for the first time; many people will mess up the timing and/or other things on the 2nd test. (That's one of the reasons we recommend that students take their 2nd test halfway through the course, not at the end. Just a piece of advice for others reading this who might be in a position to avoid making the same mistake as this student.)

Most of my students take at least 3-4 weeks after the course to review, and many take a lot longer, so it's not unusual to continue studying for a while after the course - don't worry about that. :)

[such_18]

Hi Stacey,

I feel very anxious and dishartened right now. I also know it is all my fault.

I took the MGMAT 9 week Prep course in April-June 2010. Because of the rigorous study plan that I had created for myself then, I felt completely burnt out by the end of the course, and have been procrastinating ever since (for about two months now).

PLEASE HELP ME DEVISE A STUDY PLAN TO FOLLOW NOW UNTIL MY GMAT EXAM.

I had studied the 8 guides and had done the OG problems associated with those topics. I did feel quite comfortable with most of the material.

I scored a 580 in the first MGMAT CAT and scored a 660 in the 2nd CAT. Now, the catch is that I did not time these tests so I know these do not nearly reflect my actual performance level.

I have never been able to take it timed for the fear of scoring really low even though I feel fairly comfortable with the content. Time management is my major problem and most of the times the solution comes to me after I have taken a while on the question. I feel I know how to get there, but, take a long time to figure it out (experienced this esp. in the second test where I encountered majority of 700-800 level questions). Though, I felt glad to see a 660, I also knew this was not a true indicator of where I stood.

I have not really reviewed the wrong and slow problems or even reviewed the CAT exams very well.

After the prep course ended, I took a break and have not been able to start my preparation eversince. Should I start with the strategy guides all over again? Do I have to redo all that I studied earlier? Or should I just concentrate on practicing this time round?

I plan to take 1st exam in Sept or Oct depending on my prep. And maybe a second one (if required) in Nov or Dec.

Please help me!!!

[StaceyKoprince]

You took our course, so you should call the office today to sign up for a Post-Exam Assessment (PEA). You will get a personal phone call from an instructor to help you figure out what went wrong and set up a game plan to move forward, and the instructor will be able to review your tests directly in order to figure out the best plan for you. That's really the best way to go, because the PEA process allows the instructor to give you more personalized advice than I can through the forums.

If you would then like to come back here to share what you discuss with the instructor, and to ask for additional advice, please do so! Please start a new post for yourself, though, so that we can keep your discussion separate from the discussions for other students.