Re-Take Advise

[willget780]

Hi Stacey,

Before i write my post, i would like to say THANKS to you and Ron. You guys have been phenomenal help in my preparation. Yeah it does not show in my score yet but it will in the next.

Another not so interesting story in your inbox. I will be as brief as i can.

I started preparing in January, 2011. Study-Work-Study-Work-Study.. thats it. No Social Life whatsoever. I thought i was doing pretty well with my preparation. Find below by scores on various tests. On the test say, that is 28th August, 2011, i scored a not so beautiful 680 (Q50, V31 ).

When i saw this score first thing that struck we was "When is the next date?" So here i am working on my re-take.

My Tests scores
Score800 1 710
Score800 2 710
Score800 3 740
Score800 4 770
Score800 5 770
Kaplan 1 670
Kaplan 2 700
Kaplan 3 720
GMATPrep 1 760 (Q51, 40) First attempt
GMATPrep 1 780 Second attempt
GMATPrep 1 780 Third attempt
GMATPrep 2 760 (Q50, 42) First attempt
GMATPrep 2 770 Second attempt
GMATPrep 2 780 Third attempt
There was never a problem of time in any of my tests. (By God's Grace)

I understand that second and third attempts dont count so i ignored them while setting my expectations. I was looking at 760 with may be minus 10 or 20 if i was too nervous or if turns out to be a bad day.

I was getting only 3 to 6 incorrect in Verbal in GMATPreps. 6 was max. I studied a lot of Verbal in the last 2 months. I used the following Study material:

OG 10, 11, 12
Manhattan all 8 books. Man SC i read 4 times and each of Man Quant twice.
I bought the all of the 8 question banks of various topics from Manhattan.

I read your other posts before writing one. But did not find my answers. I also went through the "what went wrong" article. I gave full four hours test. I checked the How to Evaluate your exam article as well. I did analyze my exam but not with such depth plus i did not give any Manhattan CATs which provide the maximun details so i have heard before buying them.

My concerns are as follows:
1) Am i eligible for a free Post-Exam Assessment? I bought 8 Question banks and 6 Manhattan CATs.

2) I know i got 680 and i know i can improve. Please advise what should be the way forward as i am a little confused about my verbal score. I actually thought i was doing pretty well on the exam. It went better than any of my Preps or any other tests i gave. It clearly shows that i could not make any sense of the actual exam at all.
Not so good part is i am not able to figure out where to begin now. If i do the same preparation i did for my 1st attempt, i could end up again with the not so charming 31 in verbal. That may break my heart.

3) This is my worst fear. I read at some other site that re-taking GMAT does not improve your score if you appear too soon because GMAT tries to map you to your previous score. Is it true? I have just this year to apply and to make that happen i have only 2 months left.

Any advise is highly appreciated.

regards
only680 to wow780 ;-)

[StaceyKoprince]

I know you're not happy with your score, but 680 is a really good score - and 50 on the quant! Nice work!

Okay, let's talk about the verbal. :) You don't qualify for the free post-exam assessment, unfortunately - that's only for people who take the class or buy a Guided Self Study package. You can still get free advice right here on the forums, though.

Did you have *any* timing problems at all on the verbal? Did the real test feel the same or similar to you, or did you feel that it was different in any way? How did the test feel different? How did YOU feel different? Did you find yourself distracted ever, having difficulty concentrating, feeling fatigued, or feeling like you just wanted the test to be over and you almost didn't care what you answered?

I'm going to have you take one of our practice tests, because we need the data to help us try to figure out what's going on. If you already bought our 8 strategy guides, you have access to the tests - you don't need to buy them. You can enter a code from the books into your student center and you'll get access to the tests. (Send an email to studentservices@manhattangmat.com if you have any problems.)

Once you've done that, you know what to do - analyze using the below article, then come back here and tell me what you discovered.

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

This is my worst fear. I read at some other site that re-taking GMAT does not improve your score if you appear too soon because GMAT tries to map you to your previous score. Is it true?

No. This is a myth. I haven't heard that one before - but it is definitely NOT true. :)

[willget780]

I know you're not happy with your score, but 680 is a really good score - and 50 on the quant! Nice work!

Thanks but with my work profile i have to bump it atleast by 150 if not 200 ;-)

Did you have *any* timing problems at all on the verbal?

No, i (thank God) never faced any time issues on any section. Neither on Practice tests nor on the Real exam.

Did the real test feel the same or similar to you, or did you feel that it was different in any way? How did the test feel different?

The Actual exam was nothing like anything i have seen or done before. I was kind of expecting that otherwise there wouldn't be any fun giving GMAT if you are going to get questions which you have already seen or done. The experience was pretty good. I was actually having a Goodtime during the exam as it was very exciting and challenging but only until i saw my score. The FUN stopped right there. ;-)

How did YOU feel different?

I was definately nervous and was not used to such exam conditions. During the exam, i didnt think of anything else but whats on my screen. AWA, i was not worried about. I was sort of relaxed after the first few Quant questions. I did not have to think too much on any question except one. In verbal i thought i was doing alright but when i saw BoldFace question i was thrilled. As i have heard such a question will only appear when you are doing better than the average. The level of questions in Verbal was harder than anything i had seen.

Did you find yourself distracted ever, having difficulty concentrating, feeling fatigued, or feeling like you just wanted the test to be over and you almost didn't care what you answered?

I have a problem, i cant sleep. If i could sleep for 6 hours straight, then its one of my good nights. So i prepared myself accordingly. I used to get up at 8, study for the rest of the day working on the exam mistakes if i gave any exam the previous day, do OG questions or study Manhattan guides and then at 11ish in the night i will give a Full Length Test or if not exam then study some more. I gave all my GMAT Preps at midnight. Just wanted to be ready for the worst sleep scenario on the exam day.
And it happened. I did not sleep well the night before the exam not because of anxiety or anything but just could not sleep.
But during the exam i was not fatigued or had any lapses in concentration. Never happened to me before. I am pretty used to NOT sleeping. Also i feel that this will just be an excuse.

I'm going to have you take one of our practice tests, because we need the data to help us try to figure out what's going on. If you already bought our 8 strategy guides, you have access to the tests - you don't need to buy them. You can enter a code from the books into your student center and you'll get access to the tests. (Send an email to studentservices@manhattangmat.com if you have any problems.)

Once you've done that, you know what to do - analyze using the below article, then come back here and tell me what you discovered.

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

I have not studied anything since the 28th August. I will give an exam next weekend and i will post my results and analysis in this post.

No. This is a myth. I haven't heard that one before - but it is definitely NOT true. :)

I cannot tell you how relieved i am right now reading this. I am going all guns from this moment on.

Again Thanks for your time and, as always, very helpful advice. Seriously i can not THANK enough.

One more thing. I am thinking of appearing again in November. So i roughly have 2 months. If you can help me with my study plan i will be highly highly highly obliged.

thanks and regards

[StaceyKoprince]

yes, we can help you - but you need to take that test and give us the data first. We'll wait to hear from you. Make sure to take that test under 100% official conditions (including essays) and also take it at the same time of day that you'll have to take the real test. Maybe the reason you struggle to sleep is that you're an extreme night person (you took all your practice CATs at midnight!), and that can affect your score because you have to take the real test during the day. So take your next practice test during the day as well and we'll see what happens.

[willget780]

Thanks again for your reply.

I wanted to post after the 1st MGMAT CAT but i wanted to seek an advice.

I wanted to work accordingly to a study plan which is suited to me (680 Q50, V31) before i take my first MGMAT CAT as i do not want to commit the same mistakes i committed in my last preparation. Although i scored descent on the Preps and other CATs, there was certainly something seriously wrong with my preparation.

Kindly guide me with the plan. I can not afford to mess up this time around.

regards

[StaceyKoprince]

I can't give you advice specifically targeted to your case without any detailed data about your case. Without that data, all I can tell you is very general - study everything, buy all the books and study them all, join a class and follow the class syllabus... but I don't think that's what you want.

For example, I talk with people *every day* who tell me they don't have timing problems, but then we review their data... and they do actually have timing problems. Most people assume that, if they finish each section on time, then they don't have a timing problem. You can still have timing problems - sometimes serious ones - even if you finish the section on time.

It's crucial for me to know whether you have any timing problems and, if so, what kind and how severe they are, because that can completely change how I advise you. If you do have a timing problem and we don't address it, then it doesn't matter what else I tell you - it will be tough for you to go above 700. If nothing else, I want you to do the analysis so that you can confirm to me based on the data that you do not have a timing problem.

Also, you mentioned a couple of posts ago that you needed "at least" 150 or 200 more points. You have a 680 and a perfect score is 800 - there are only 120 more points to go (and no school comes anywhere close to requiring or expecting a perfect score).

Finally, have you seen the latest news about some of the emphasis changes on SC? In particular, I'm wondering whether the increased emphasis on meaning in SC might be one thing that's messing you up in verbal. When you studied SC, did you focus on meaning as well as on grammar? Or did you mostly concentrate on the more formal / mechnical grammar rules?