Scored 550 only in all my 3 GMAT test appearances

[v800]

Hi Stacy,
Thanks for the reply.
I will surely ask the admission guys.

I contacted some of the universities,and got the feelers that 590 is too low.The problem is I am aspiring for the top notch universities outside of US, and the bar they have is high if not very high.

Tell me,is it worthwhile taking GMAT again? Deep down,I want to give it my all out shot for the 5th time.

Regards,
V800

[StaceyKoprince]

I know you want an answer from me on this question, but it's something you really have to answer for yourself. I don't think it's necessarily hopeless and a total waste of time - if I did think that, I'd find some nice way to tell you that you shouldn't keep trying. You did make some progress already (picking up 40 points!) on this last try, so it's perfectly possible that you could continue to improve.

Think about what you hope to accomplish. If you'd like to pick up another 40 points, then perhaps it will be enough to re-do your course work and keep doing what you were doing already, as that did work for you to some extent. If your goal is to achieve a substantial increase, then you may need to change the way you've been doing things so far. That might involve the in-depth advice of an expert who can work with you and guide you - but that can be pretty expensive. So it's a big decision to make.

[v800]

Hi Stacy,
Well,I am back again. This GMAT thing is haunting me.I mean actually the MBA degree is haunting me.
I started my franchaising busines now(part time).I am still working full time though.

If you remember I scored 590 in my 4th GMAT outing.

I just happen to speak with one of the professors from Insead today,and he said I can get into Insead based on my profile,International exposure and post graduate degree etc, BUT for my GMAT,and he said,if I can get another 40 odd points more from 590,I am in.

Since today morning again,the GMAT bug started pinching me,and so this I jumped again into this forum.

I can give this one more shot in Dec 2009.
Let me know in detail,what and how to start all over again.

Regards,
V800

[StaceyKoprince]

That's good news!

It's been a few months since your course ended, so you've likely forgotten at least some of the information. You may want to think about re-taking the course (you get a big discount if you want to do this - ask the office if you're interested: studentservices@manhattangmat.com). That will give you a set schedule to follow, as well as access to instructors (during class and office hours) to ask lots of questions.

For the material that you still remember, you can push yourself to a higher level of understanding (concentrating on harder problems, for example), and for the material that you've forgotten, the course and curriculum will be a good refresher.

Since you took the course, new versions of the OG Quant and Verbal supplements have been published. There are only about 75 new questions in each book, so it's up to you whether you want to use your older books or the new ones.

Talk to the office about how the re-take works and see whether you think that would be a good option for you.

[v800]

Hi Stacy,
Well,I have had enough thought and decided to give another shot.I have registered for the exam.
The date is on 30th Dec 2009.

I have checked out with the student service and the dicount is also good for the on-line course.But I have already spent a loooot of money for this GMAT dream of mine.

Please advice,as to where to start now and what should I read and what I should NOT.

Refresher:
I have constantly increased my verbal score from 22 - 24- 28- 30.
My Quant: 45-38-39-42

Last score: 590 (Q:42 V:30)


Regards,
V800

[StaceyKoprince]

One way or the other, I do recommend that you go through everything again. It's been so long that you are bound to have forgotten a lot of material, so it's important to have a thorough review. You can speed up in areas where you still feel strong and spend more time on areas where you're weak. (If you haven't taken a practice test since last time, take one now to see where your current strengths and weaknesses are, and set your priorities accordingly.)

If you're going to re-take the course, then just follow the set syllabus, and make sure to make good use of your office hours and ask lots of questions during class.

If you're not going to re-take the course, then you may want to extend your online access to the tests and class recordings (there's a fee for that - check with the office - but it's cheaper than re-taking the course). You could then basically set yourself up to "re-take" the course without live instruction. Follow the syllabus, watch one taped class per week, etc. If you don't still have your syllabus, you can download another copy of it in your student center.

You've got about the right amount of time to get through everything, whether you use the taped classes or you join a live course - that's up to you!

[v800]

Hi Stacy,
Thanks for the inputs.
I have taken the 4th exam,in the series of 6 exams and scored:

Q: 43
V: 32
Total: 620.

Topic wise scores:
SC = 67%
RC and CR = 50%

PS = 76% and DS = 47%.



I have taken this including the essays and without touching GMAT books at all.
So I assume that 620 is the score where I stand as a beginner as of today.
I felt bored and struggling to comprehend with RC's. And there was no exam stress but for sitting for 4 hours.

How do you rate this 4th exam and how did I fair?

Same old Story:
I was done with Quant with 15 minutes left. And with verbal too 15 minutes were there when I was done with the section.

This has been the case all through.What is the underlying cause for this? And how to improve this? I totally understand that 15 minutes is a HUGE timeand that is causing my low scores.


I will concentrate on myweak areas for couple weeks now.

Please advice and help as you always do.

Thanks.

[StaceyKoprince]

Q43 - high 60s (percentile)
V32 - low 60s

Good starting point. Finished way too early. Likely made careless mistakes due to speed. Go back over EVERY question you got wrong. Where did you make careless mistakes? WHY did you make them? What should you have done differently to avoid making those mistakes? Show yourself that your speed is hurting you!

Fundamentally, you are not being thorough enough. Sometimes, you are probably deciding what the answer is without fully going through all of the work (especially on something like DS). Sometimes, you are making careless mistakes - overlooking something important, missing some necessary step, reading something incorrectly, etc.

Click the link below to read an article about how to analyze your practice test more thoroughly. There are two parts - at the end of the article, click the link to read the 2nd half.
http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/09/23/evaluating-your-practice-tests

And once you're done reading, of course, follow the instructions in the article and do that analysis!

[thiru_anand]

[deleted by Stacey; see below]

[StaceyKoprince]

Deleted the last message for two reasons.

1) Scoretop was sued by GMAC for illegally posting "live" test questions. In addition, some individual users who used Scoretop materials were banned from taking the GMAT forever. Do not use any of their info, do not ask others to share their info with you, etc. Take a look at what their website currently says:
www.scoretop.com

2) For your own sake, please don't post your full email address online. "Bots" crawl the web, pick up email addresses, and add them to spam lists. If you need to post your email address for some reason, do so in this form: username AT domain name.com (bots are less likely to pick up that this is an email address without the @ symbol)