Need Advice

[GMATTER]

Hello,

I have been studying the MGMAT materials for the quite a few months and I took the real GMAT a couple of weeks ago. I received the worst score yet 440 (Q-29/V-25), something horrible like that. I have to say I crammed hard the night before the test and I had some anxiety going into the test, I guess. My practice exams went as follows:

MGMAT - 5/21/2008 460 (Q-21/V-32)
MGMAT - 6/21/2008 460 (Q-27/V-27)
MGMAT - 8/16/2008 540 (Q-32/V-33)
MGAMT- 10/26/2008 580 (Q-42/V-29)
Practice Test MBA.com - 11/10/2008 490
Real GMAT - 11/25/2008 440

Now keep in mind tha previous practice exams I did not spend very much time on the essays and I did postpone my time at certain points but not very extensively. I am very frustrated because with the MGMAT books and OG guides I learned a lot of concepts but I didn't capitalize on them during the real test. I need advice because the second round deadlines are in April for the schools that I want to apply to and I need to get in the low 600's to remain competitive. Should I hold off until the following year or get private tutoring and still try to get into B-school this year. I am stuck and I don't know what to do. Any help is greatly appreciated. If I have to wait to go next year so be it, but atleast knowing this will help me create my plan.

Thank you in advance

[StaceyKoprince]

April is 4 months away, so you probably have enough time to apply this year.

When people experience big drops, that's often due to timing or stamina problems or both. You mention "postponing" your time - do you mean using the pause button? NEVER do that again. We put it in there as a convenience for our students, but I tell my students they're only allowed to use that button if the house is on fire. It causes you to build some seriously bad habits - if you don't get used to cutting yourself off and moving on when you've spent the time you're supposed to spend, then you're going to run out of time towards the end, and that is the worst possible thing you can do on this test.

So, how was your timing on the official test? Did you generally move steadily through the test, giving appropriate time and attention to each question? (2m for quant, 1 to 1.5m for SC, 2m for CR, 2-4m to read a passage, 1m for general RC questions, 1.5 to 2m for specific RC questions) Or did you have to rush at times and possibly make random guesses? If you did have to rush and/or make random guesses, on how many questions would you say you did that? Did you do it on a lot of questions in a row or were the guesses scattered?

Also, as you guessed, you should do the essays on your practice tests. Mental stamina is an enormous issue.

Did you take a class already or did you study the materials on your own? You may benefit from the extra direction you can get from a class or private tutoring - you'd just need to look into the various programs available and see what you think would be best for you. Most courses run for about 8-10 weeks (ours run 9 weeks), and you can set your own schedule for private tutoring. Given where you are now and where you'd like to be, I'd say that you will need a solid 3 months to get there, so you do need to get started soon if you want to apply by April.