Please help, GMAT in about a month

[alex.gellatly]

OK, let me give you some background info first. I have been studying seriously for the GMAT since Dec. I have been dedicating a lot of time (about 3 hours a day M-F, and much more on Sat and Sun). I have also read and done the practice problems in all eight of the MGMAT books. As far as the OG, I have done every math question twice and almost all the verbal. I have also done the OG Quant 2nd edt.

Now the problem. I recently took MGMAT Cat 1 2 weeks ago (560 Q31 V36) and Cat 2 on Sunday (580 Q33 V36). I am very upset with myself. I thought that after so much time studying I would do much better than that. Math used to be my strong point (an Econ major). However, apparently I have forgot some things over the years (27 now, out of college for some time).

I'm not really sure where to go from here. Obviously my quant needs the most improvement. Actually, over the passed week I really studied quant and got a 3 point improvement (however I ran out of time on the last 4 questions and had to guess). I often do problems and understand my mistakes (do an error log), but when it comes to new problems I simply don't know where to begin.

I have scheduled the test on April 24th so I don't have much time to improve. Any advice would be very grateful.

Thanks,
Alex

[omkar.nadgauda]

Alex,

Don't be discouraged. You still got a month.

It would be nice if people know your target score. That will decide what steps to take.

I am not an expert or super genius. I am trying to give gmat next month. I got 620 and 640 on first 2 mgmat tests. One thing I have noticed about myself though is, in both those tests, I compromised time to get the answer correct. THAT WAS A STUPID MOVE ON MY PART. I am trying some techniques from the blogs on this website to calm myself down and learn to "let go " some time consuming questions.

Also, you say you have gone through all the 8 guides and solved the question on OG twice. Did you try to understand the concept or tried to get correct answer ? Both might seem same but there is a big difference. Understanding the concept will help you attack a new problem. You will know what sub category that might belong t oand how to begin solving it.

This from my side. Hope you get what you want.

Regards

[StaceyKoprince]

I agree with Omkar that we need to know your goal score in order to best advise you. For example, if you want a 700, then you probably need more time than 1 month. If you are going for a 650, then 1 month might be enough time if we can fix your timing problems and also make progress in other areas.

Use the below article to analyze your most recent MGMAT test. That will give us a good picture of your strengths and weaknesses so that we can devise a plan.

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Note: when you come back here, don't just share the raw data - tell us what you think it means and what you think you should do about it. The ability to self-assess, make plans, and adjust plans is critically important.

Re: the timing issues, read this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... to-win-it/
And then this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

It typically takes people 4 to 6 weeks (possibly longer) to fix timing issues - it's rarely a quick fix. The good news is that your timing issues could explain why you're not seeing the progress that you feel like you should be seeing. You can objectively get better by 100 points and yet see nothing happen to your score if your timing issues are significant enough.

You mentioned that you often aren't sure what to do with new problems. Take a look at this article; are you thinking about these things when studying a problem? (Note: studying a problem is what you do after you try it in the first place. Studying typically takes 2 to 5 times as long as trying the problem in the first place - and you don't only study things when you get the problem wrong or don't understand something.)

http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

When you're studying, you're learning how to think your way through a new problem. When you then try a new problem, you're simply testing yourself to see whether you've learned how to think (and whether you know whatever material is being tested on that problem, of course) - and, if not, then you go try to learn more about how to think / analyze. BIG emphasis on learning how to think your way through something - this is NOT like tests in school, where you just had to memorize stuff and spit it back on questions that very closely / obviously resembled what you studied.

For example, if I showed you an old problem you'd already done and said, "Tell me how you know what to do - not actually what to do but how you know that that's the best way to do this problem" - could you do that? And can you do that based only on the problem text in front of you and any connections you can make to similar problems you've done in the past? (That is, your answer to my question shouldn't involve anything that you only knew because you read the explanation or already knew what the answer was.)

My guess is that you've been doing the same thing that a lot of people do - trying to do tons and tons of questions but not really learning how to think your way through or do the things described in the "how to analyze" article linked above. If that's the case, then what you're looking at is learning a new way to study. (And this may also be why you feel you aren't making enough progress for the amount of study you've already put in.)

What do you think about all of that?

[alex.gellatly]

Hello, thank you for your reply. Actually, I didn't realize that you had replied. This is very unfortunate because I just took the GMAT a day ago and got a 540 (Q35V29). My original goal was a 650+ GMAT score. This is by far the worst score I got on any MGMAT CAT or GMAT PREP CATs. Here is a break down of my scores:

MGMAT 1 : 560 (Q31V36)
MGMAT 2: 580 (Q33V36)
MGMAT 3: 650 (Q39V39)
MGMAT 4: 650 (Q43V36)
PREP 1: 590 (Q41V30) Although I took the new version and they sent me an email saying there was something wrong with the scoring... not sure what happened. Also, that day I had an important call during verbal which I couldn't ignore. So, I don't know how accurate this reading is.
MGMAT 5: 660 (Q44V36)
PREP 2: 680 (Q40V41)

As you can see I started off weak in math. However, I started to really focus my energy on understanding the problem types and improved dramatically over the month. Because of this, my verbal suffered. Therefore, I started to focus on verbal again, while reviewing my math notes. I was feeling pretty confident with my 680 as my goal was a 650+.

So test day I failed miserably. There were a few factors that led to my failure, although I blame my inadequacy the most. For starters I am an American testing in Taiwan. I speak Chinese, but with important things I still prefer English. Anyway, the day of the test I took the MRT and got lost. I was dripping in sweat when I finally found the place. I still had 1.5hrs before the test, so I don't think this really caused me to preform poorly. Then, the people at the front desk could hardly speak English which caused a little anxiety. Also, this testing center was...ghetto.. I mean run down, nothing like the video at MBA.com. Again, I don't necessarily feel this led to me doing so badly. If I was prepared enough then I should have done well despite these things.

OK during the test. AWA started off great even though the key board was crap and kept sticking. I think I did well. I took the break and arrived back on time. Quant started off alright, but then I don't know what happened. The questions seamed easy and I was answering them fast. Way way too fast, actually. I really noticed it around question 20 when I still had more than 45min left. I tried to slow down and be calm... but it didn't work. The room was hot, my hands were sweating badly and the stupid pen thing was smearing all over the place. Then I got a very difficult geometry question and I spent much time on it. This boosted my confidence because I thought that I must be doing OK if they gave me this difficult question. However, I still ended the session way to0 quickly. So fast that I actually thought there was something wrong with my computer. I honestly didn't think I answered all of the questions!

So, I took my break and asked the supervisor if something went wrong. Again she spoke Chinese (with a hash accent I haven't studied) and I didn't really understand. I was nervous. I thought what if something went wrong on the computer? Or did I actually answer them way to0 quickly? They seemed so easy.... This shattered my confidence, obviously. Because I was trying to talk with her for so long I came into verbal late (only 30 seconds, but still late). I started off OK, but then the first RC really confused me. I had a little panic attack. But after I a while I was able to refocus. All the CR seemed straight forward, but this has always been a strength. SC, which usually is a strength, was very confusing. All the patters seamed like I never saw them before. My eyes and head started hurting towards the end. All in all, it was a very bad experience and I feel like a complete failure. Not only have I wasted a lot of money and time, I also let my self down. I mean a 540!!! I could understand a 620, or even 590.... but I 540?!?

So, where do I go from here? I obviously need to retake the test. Originally I wanted to take it before the June 5th change, but that won't happen as there are no spots available here in Taiwan. Also, I think I really need to reevaluate where I am and how to accomplish my goals. So, I will need to take the new test. I plan to study very diligently (again). But, I don't really know where to go. I've already done the OG, MGMAT books, and GMAT PREP. What should I study? Should I review my old materials or get new ones? How should I study? any advice would be very very useful. Oh yea, originally I wanted to get 650+, but now I should shoot for 700 to off set my terrible 540.

Thank you very much

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry you had such a rough test day. It sounds like you primarily had an anxiety attack and that makes it incredibly difficult to think clearly and calmly - so that obviously really hurts your ability to take the test.

In addition, the fact that you went so quickly through quant indicates that you were likely making careless mistakes. which would also bring your score down. By the time you got to verbal, the prolonged stress and adrenaline started to have more serious physical effects (pounding head, etc) that would have just made things even worse - and this is borne out by your test scores (both dropped, but verbal even more than quant).

So what can we do going forward? First, the various things that happened before the test did collectively add to your anxiety level. Now you know how to get there and what to expect - that will help some. There are some additional ideas about stress management in the below; take a look and see what you think would help you:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

Did you take your practice tests under full official conditions (including essays, length of breaks, etc)? If not, then your scores might have been inflated and you should take another CAT under full official conditions. It's important to know whether your scores really did drop as much as it seems or whether the practice scores were somewhat inflated in the first place.

You can also read this article to get more ideas about what might have gone wrong:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ent-wrong/

That will help us to figure out the plan going forward (because if you know what went wrong, you can implement specific steps to combat whatever those things are).

If you took our course or one of our Guided Self-Study packages, then you're eligible for a free Post-Exam Assessment (if you haven't done it already). This is a phone call with an instructor to figure out what went wrong and come up with a plan to re-take the test. If this applies to you, please send an email to studentservices@manhattangmat.com and request the Post-Exam Assessment.

If you aren't eligible for that, or if you want to get additional advice here, then analyze an MGMAT CAT using this article:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

If your practice CATs weren't under official (or close to official) conditions, then take a new one and analyze that.

In terms of what specifically to do, you're going to do some combination of old and new - you still need to review the same material, but you are also going to want to test yourself on some new questions. But let's see what comes out of the various analyses above first and then we'll figure out the best path forward.