serious problem.. stacey please advice

[vikram4689]

i have been studying consistently to get the concepts right and i was able to do that. for all 5 sections PS/DS/CR/SC/RC i was scoring above 85% and around 740-750 in my practice tests. i was planning to give gmat in a week or two. few days back, i got an order at the shop i work and was asked to complete it in 3 days. since work was too much for it to be completed in given time, i delved completely in the work and didn't even think about gmat for those 3 days.

since i have completed the work, i am feeling so low on my gmat ability. i can tell the strategy for each and every question on gmat but seem to have forgotten the rules for SC. my speed on RC to comprehend and my ability to quickly cut through the argument and pre-phrase an answer on CR seem to have eliminated. these questions seem to me as they used to be when i just began my preparation. when i do the questions i am making so many mistakes that i feel angry and shameful when i see them in review. i don't know what happened to me. please advise how can i regain my level.

[StaceyKoprince]

Not thinking about or working on the GMAT for 3 days shouldn't make a difference - you're not going to forget much in 3 days, nor should your skills / abilities change in any noticeable way.

My guess is that this is more about stress. You're nervous / stressing yourself out and worried that you're not going to do as well as you'd like. When we're anxious or stressed out, it's harder to think clearly, we make more mistakes, etc.

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

It's also possible that you tired yourself out so much from work that your brain needs a couple of days to recover.
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... you-crazy/

It's possible that you will want to postpone your test by a few days, just to allow yourself time to rest and calm down. :) You can use that time to take a practice test - to show yourself that you really haven't forgotten / lost everything. Note that we strongly recommend that you avoid taking a practice test within 5 days of the real test. Also, the closer you get to the real test, the less you do. In the last day or two, don't study for more than an hour or two a day - and that study should mostly just be high level review.

Good luck!

[vikram4689]

i want to thank you for motivating me when i was feeling that i have lost my gmat brain. after revising verbal for last couple of days, i have gained confidence on verbal though sometimes i make more silly mistakes than before. for e.g. i started a new thread for asking a simple question on comparison and people who are just starting prepration are telling me "dude, its so simple" :) i think all this is due to my worry for verbal section. quant is so natural that i got q50 on gmat without much studying. my earlier verbal score was 32 and i am targeting 46 this time. i responded to queries of few students to gain confidence. post73320.html#p73320 i plan to focus more on verbal for couple of days so that i gain at least as much confidence as before.

[StaceyKoprince]

You're welcome!

e.g. i started a new thread for asking a simple question on comparison and people who are just starting prepration are telling me "dude, its so simple"

Dude, ignore them. :) Anyone who doesn't realize that strengths and weaknesses are very individual is not a good teacher (or very observant in general!). I know you're talking about fellow students, not teachers, but even students can teach each other well - in fact, that's one of the ways to know that you really do know what you're doing.

my earlier verbal score was 32 and i am targeting 46 this time.

Woah - do you know that the scoring scales on Q and V are different? V46 is HIGHER than Q50. V46 is the 99th percentile (and the 99th starts at V45, actually), while Q50 is only the 90th percentile. In general, a higher score in your weaker section is unlikely. :) (I'm not telling you not to go for it - I just want to make sure that you actually do know what the scores mean!)