Need advice for my second attempt

[sirius.in]

Hi all,

I took GMAT back in December 2011. Secured an appallingly low score of just 570. I got 45 in quant. I didn't finish verbal in time. Scored only 23. How much would have been the penalty for not completing the test in time.

I took 2 months for collecting and organizing all test related questions/data and prepared for 1 month. Anyone scored beyond 700 in 3 months of time? I planned to re-take the test. So kindly help me out regarding test prep material. I worked out OG questions but didn't review them. And when I took the test, almost all the questions, especially in Quant, seemed new to me. Never did I come across those types while practising OG quant problems.

[text deleted by Stacey; please see below]


Please tell me if 7 months of preparation would be enough? I will have 2 to 3 hours to prepare each day as I am a software techie with handful of work all day. I planned to re-take the test in mid August.

Any inputs?

Regards,
Sirish.

[StaceyKoprince]

Do not - EVER - discuss real test questions or what you saw on the real test with anyone. Do not - EVER - look up "live" test questions online or participate in forums where people are discussing live test questions.

This is illegal. Many people have been sued by the test owners over the years. A few years ago, an entire site got taken down, the company was shut down, and the students who had participated in discussing live questions had their scores cancelled and were banned from taking the test ever again. In other words, they have no chance ever to go to b-school (at least, not to a b-school that requires the GMAT).

I do not know whether the two questions you posted were actual live questions, but because you posted them in the paragraph after you discussed taking the real test and discussing the questions with others, I deleted them as a precaution.

If those two questions were NOT live test questions, then you can post and discuss them in the "General Quant" folder (not here in this folder).

I'll address your other questions in a separate post.

[StaceyKoprince]

The scoring is calculated using a very complicated algorithm, so there isn't a set answer to the question "what's the penalty for not finishing." As a very general rule, leaving questions blank can result in a penalty of up to 3 percentile points per question, but this varies based on various parameters (scoring level, number of questions, etc.).

Let's just say: it did hurt your score, probably quite a bit. The pain wouldn't have been limited to any blank questions. You also presumably noticed that you were running behind and starting rushing to try to catch up, which would have caused a lot of errors on questions that you might have been able to answer had you been able to work under normal timing conditions.

That's actually good news. I know that sounds strange, but the good news is that we know what went wrong. If we know what went wrong, then we know what we need to do to fix it. :)

I worked out OG questions but didn't review them. And when I took the test, almost all the questions, especially in Quant, seemed new to me. Never did I come across those types while practising OG quant problems.

Oh, but you did. You just didn't recognize them. Want to know why?

didn't review them

Here's how you review test questions:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

If you haven't done that, you haven't actually learned how to recognize different problems of the same general type in future. It won't be as easy as seeing the same problem with different numbers tossed in. (I wish it were that easy!)

Next, the test is changing in June - they will be adding a new section called "Integrated Reasoning." If you wait until August to take the test, then you will also have to prepare for this new IR section. (You'll only have to write one of the two essays, though.)

So you're going to have to decide whether you want to try to prepare to take it before 5 June or whether you also want to prepare for the next section. If you want to take it before, then you may want to look into joining a class, as that will help you to be more efficient with your study. You may also be able to do it on your own during that time, of course.

Take a look at this article:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

It links to a bunch of other articles as well - follow them and read them all. That will give you a good idea of what you need to do, and maybe also help you to decide whether you want to take a class and have the help of a teacher in doing all of these things!

[sirius.in]

Thanks Stacey for the reply and the help. When I worked out OG questions, I could solve them at my first attempt without any difficulty. But in the test I found the problems a little tricky. This is the reason why I said I never encountered the real test problem types during my practice.

The links you've provided are informative and thanks for the same. I planned to re-appear for the test in mid August so that it gives me ample time to prepare. Otherwise, I would have taken the test by may month end.

I work full time and hardly find time to attend your courses. So I am planning to do self study. Which of your self study courses are the best ones and have complete preparatory information?

[StaceyKoprince]

But in the test I found the problems a little tricky. This is the reason why I said I never encountered the real test problem types during my practice.

There were still connections to be made, but you weren't able to make them because you didn't go back over the OG problems and ask yourself: when they said this here, what were they really trying to get at and how did they disguise it? How could they disguise it further or tweak the material to make it a bit harder or different?

eg, this problem is talking about the "product of two integers" but what they're really trying to talk about is simply factors. I didn't have any problems because I know that "product of two integers" can be referring to factors, but they could word it differently next time. What are the other ways in which the problem could talk about factors in disguise? (Just for instance.)

Also, there are some problems for which you can completely figure out how to do them without figuring out the ultimate underlying math theory - but if you get a harder problem of the same type where you really do have to know the theory, then you're going to get stuck. So it's important, in practice, to try to figure out the theory (if any) even when you get it right.

Check out this article:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/09/ ... t-problems

There are two main self-study programs: one includes tapes of the classes and one does not. That's really the only difference (the both include all books and materials in general), so it's just a question of whether you want to have access to tapes of the classes. The teachers often include additional solving techniques and study recommendations during the classes - but it's also more expensive to buy the package that has this access. Check out the website for details.