Terribly depressed...Need advice!!

[ab_jonath]

Hi ,
I took the test twice and got terribly depressed by the results. I have been preparing for over 6 months by now and have been scoring in the high 600's ( in practice tests) before taking my first Real GMAT.I was surprised to see a 600 on my test(Q 45/ V 27). I read the posts over here and regained my confidence. Prepared again for a month and started scoring 750- 770 in GMATPREP CAT and 630- 640 in kaplan cat.I was really confident in my Verbal than in my quant, though i used to score 49 - 51 in my practice tests for quant.But to my surprise I saw a 630 this time for my real GMAT.(Q 44/ V 33/AWA -5). I am aiming for 740+

This is my history with test Experience.

First time REAL GMAT I found quant to be very simple and was able to move very fast.May be carelessly I made lot of mistakes as I got only 45.But my real shock was verbal -27 because I was confident in verbal.I guessed that the low score in verbal might be because of the bad score in quant, as they are both linked now ( This is something which I heard- Need confirmation).Also second reason I thought was that I carelessly hit some wrong answers in the first 10 questions in quant.
So second time i took extra care and time to make sure that I dont get any questions wrong in the beginning.(I did not use this strategy in my practice tests much).This time I felt quant to be tough and ended up having no time for the last few questions which I had to guess.The 630 was a shock for me.

I feel the quant questions in Kaplan CATs and princton R CATs to be very simple and always get less wrongs and also a good score. In GMATPREP I used to get around 10 wrongs in quant and a score of 49 on average.But last time when I took I got 51 in quant.In Verbal I usually get around 7 wrongs and a score above 41 in all tests.Took Manhattan GMAT free test and got a 730.Forgot the breakup.But I found quant to be tough and had to pause the test many times to answer them.

Planning to take test again in another month.Which area should I focus to improve? I need your help to identify where I need to improve.From my experience, I think the only weak area for me in verbal is RC.In quant I really dont know what is happening on the test day beacause a score 0f 45 and 44 is too low for me.Am I going down in verbal because of a low score in quant ? I am ready to practice howmuchever required to get a score of 740+.Please give me your valuable advice.

Thanks
Jonathan

[StaceyKoprince]

Verbal and quant aren't linked - your performance in one will not affect your performance in the other.

What were the quant and verbal breakdowns of your practice test scores (especially the ones you took closest to your official tests)? Were you seeing repeated questions? If so, how many, and what did you do when you saw a repeated question? Did you take your practice tests under full official testing conditions, including the essays?

The early questions are NOT worth more than the later questions. That's a myth. The worst thing you can do is get a string of wrong answers in a row. So if you spent extra time on earlier questions and then had to guess towards the end, you basically put yourself in the position of having a string of wrong answers in a row at the end - and that is at least part of what brought your score down.

NEVER use the pause button when taking the practice test (well, okay, if your house is on fire, use the pause button). You're training yourself to take more time than you're really allowed, which just makes it more likely that you'll run out of time on the real test and have a string of wrong answers at the end.

If you are also having timing problems in verbal, the same thing applies - the earlier questions are not worth more and the worst thing for your score is to have a string of wrong answers in a row. Also, if you did not do the essays on your practice tests, or if you otherwise did not do the practice tests under full official conditions, then you likely did not have enough stamina to continue to perform well during verbal (the final section on the test).

[ab_jonath]

Hi,

Thanks for the quick reply.My last test score was 760 (q 51/ v 41).But this was an exception because I never got a Q51 in GMATPREP before though I used to do well in Kaplan and Princeton.In GMATPREP I used to score (Q 49 / V 41 - 44) mostly.Regarding tests, I dint always do essays during my practice tests except for the last one or two tests before I took the real GMAT.But I dint consciously feel exhausted during the test.However, I will practice like that from now on.

I do see questions repeated on the test.But I don't normally remember the answers,but just the approach (in quant).So I solve it and reach answer.But in verbal may be this could have caused my score to increase because I remember answers for a few of them.

While doing OG SC ,I normally get 80% accuracy( I do this using stopwatch 1min per question). Also OG CR I find very simple and used to get over 90% accuracy.Though OG RC looks ok for me, I feel a bit confused on the type of RC questions which appear on the real test (Even GMATPREP CAT).Need your help on improving my accuracy with RC (real GMAT type questions).

Please SUGGEST me some strategies and materials for improving my RC.

For my Quant I think I need to work on my speed .Trying out that now.DS is my weakness in quant.From my verbal score, I believe that there is a lot of chance for improvement.But I need to figure out which area I need to work on.

Every week one test will help ?But I have done almost all tests.I will see repeated questions.Is it possible to get new or earlier versions of GMATPREP for download ?I find GMATPREP to be close to the real GMAT (in question format).

Sorry for the long post.But hope you understood my situation.

[www.mbachase.com]

[Please note: the below message was posted by someone at the company MBA Chase, a test prep company not affiliated with MGMAT. --Stacey]

Hi Jonathan,

This is the some tips for you.

1. Start early - The time required to prepare for exam depends on individual to individual. Nevertheless, a solid 2-3 months, in general, is good enough to study and practice enough to score well on GMAT.

2. Set early deadline goal - If your exam is in the end of August, set an internal goal of end of July as being the exam date for you. This strategy seems simple and of common sense, but many people fail to follow it. Group of people who have followed this technique have actually been benefited by having proper revision time and having time to handle surprises (like escalation at work, getting sick, attending wedding of a friend, etc.).

3. Study Material - There are standard practice test material available in the market: review those, talk to your friends, get an expert's advice and then select 1-2 books as material to prepare. The most important reference book that we recommend is "˜The Official Guide (OG)’ and MBAchase Math/Verbal workbooks as supplement.

4. Plan, prepare and proceed - Someone has rightly said that, "recipe for success is - plan your work and work your plan". Make a reasonable plan and stick to it. Clear out other commitments and put GMAT preparation as the top priority for those 2-3 months in which you are preparing for the exam.

5. Participate in discussion forums - Participation in discussion forums will help you enjoy the process of preparation by asking and answering questions. It also helps you in getting awareness on different aspects of GMAT exam that you may otherwise miss. Remember forum is a place where multiple brains are sharing information, and your brain is just one of them. Learn from others, and share your learning while you do so.

6. Self study or private tutoring - The answer to this question depends on individual study style. However, if you have been out of touch with basic English and/or Maths for sometime, it may make sense to go in for at least some introductory courses. However, it is important to discipline yourself, make a routine with realistic goals and do serious preparation.

7. Balance your time devotion -Time should be devoted in accordance with the section that you are weak at. For Engineering students, quant section may be easy to score but verbal may be daunting. It would be wise (and of course) common sense that you devote more time on verbal without ignoring quants completely.

8. Practice, practice and practice - Take as many GMAT tests as possible. MBAchase recommends taking at least 6 CAT tests and may be another five non-CAT tests. Taking CAT tests will help you prepare the exam in GMAT simulation mode. You will find good set of Non-adaptive test set on mbachase.com to get ready for CAT version of the test.

9. Take time to analyze - Practice as much as possible, but also take proper time to analyze the result. Learn from each and every mistake of yours and never repeat it again. MBAchase team recommends that you keep some kind of an error log and review it on periodic basis.

10. Master the fundamentals - Last but not the least, master the basics. While preparing for GMAT, it is important that you have clarity on fundamentals. Remember, GMAT is a standardized exam to test your fundamentals in verbal and quant.

Thanks,
http://www.mbachase.com

[ab_jonath]

Hi ,
I am looking for advice from Manhattan instructors.Need strategies from you.Please let me know if you need any more details.

Thanks

[StaceyKoprince]

To mbachase.com:

I appreciate that you took the time to advise one of our students. We only let other companies post official responses here if we have vetted those other companies first to make sure that we approve of the kind of advice they will be likely to give**. (People may generally assume that we endorse or approve of what other companies write on our forums.) For example, we do allow some admissions consulting folks (whom we have vetted) to answer questions here.

We don't, however, host our forums for other test prep companies, as those companies are our competitors. If you'd like to get involved in helping the test prep community, I have two suggestions:

1) Start your own forums - there are never enough good, free resources available to students!

2) Talk to the folks at Beat The GMAT, a non-profit forum that is not affiliated with any one test prep company, about participating on their forum.

Good luck!

** For instance, I really have to disagree with the advice to take as many CATs as possible. CAT exams are really good for (a) figuring out where you're scoring right now, (b) practicing stamina, and (c) analyzing your strengths and weaknesses. The actual act of just taking the exam is NOT so useful for improving. It's what you do with the test results / between tests that helps you to improve.

I also disagree with the idea of taking non-adaptive tests to help get ready for adaptive tests. Non-adaptive tests are quite different.

[StaceyKoprince]

Back to this thread. Okay, so you didn't always do the essays. You may not have felt consciously exhausted, but you're not going to be as sharp during the last hour of the test if you had an extra hour of stuff to do at the beginning, and that's going to hurt your verbal score. Definitely important to practice with the essays in order to make sure you have the necessary mental stamina.

You can still take tests with repeats as long as you follow a few guidelines to minimize the chance of artificially inflating your score via those repeats. First, anytime you see a problem that you remember substantially (I know the answer or I'm pretty sure I remember the answer or I remember the process, not just "hmm, this looks vaguely familiar..."), immediately look at the timer and make yourself sit there for the full length of time for that question type. This way, you don't artificially give yourself more time than you should have. Second, think about whether you got this problem right the last time. If you did, get it right again this time. If you didn't, get it wrong again. If you *completely honestly* think that you would get it right this time around if it were a new question (even though you got it wrong last time) because you've studied that area and improved, then get it right this time.

How were your nerves during the real test? When you've taken other standardized (or high pressure, timed) tests in the past, how have you done compared to how you expected to do? (Trying to see whether you have a history of underperforming due to nerves.)

How was your timing in each section? Did you generally move steadily through the test, giving appropriate time and attention to each question? (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? Alternatively, did you move too quickly and finish with a lot of time (>3min) left over?

From what you've already said, it sounds like you do have something of a timing problem on quant, and this is likely why your score is going down on test day. When you're looking at a question, you need to ask yourself "Can I do this IN 2 MINUTES?" (Not just: "can I do this?"). If you cannot do this in 2 minutes (maybe 2.5 at the most), then you really can't do this question. It's designed to be done in 2 minutes, but you can't. So, the more time you spend on such a question, the more likely you are to get it wrong, because all this extra time is just indicating that you don't really know how to do the question.

Also, make sure you understand the right mindset on a CAT: you will get a lot of quesitons wrong. It doesn't matter how good you get - the test can always give you something harder. When the test gives you something that you can't do, you need to recognize that, make a guess (preferably, educated), and move on. If you want a 700, your task is to get all of the sub-700 level questions right. You don't care about the 700+ questions - you can get those wrong and still get a 700. They don't tell you, of course, what the questions are rated, so you just have to go with "I can do this one, so I'll do it, and I can't do this one, so I'll guess."

Re: taking practice tests, look at the end of my previous post re: what practice tests are, and are not, good for. :)

What have you been using to prepare for RC so far - things that actually teach you how to do RC, not just practice questions or tests? Official questions are great for practice, but the explanations don't really teach you how to get better, so you need some outside resource for that. I like our RC book, obviously, but you can look around at all of the material available and decide what you like best.