Hi Stacey and team,
My Previous post was labld approach, hence the same subject again.
I need some real help and advice....
My first gmat score was 630(poor verbal of 31/45 quant....had never got a 31 on any previous test)
I enrolled for Manhattan online program(the 9 week course)-since I had run through most of the material the online coaching was not too helpful....I feel I understand concepts well, especially english...
I gave all the MGMAt tests...the first one was poor(after a year-580), post that the range was 650-680 with an avg of 35-38 in verbal and 44 in math...
I also tried the official tests , got a 690 in the first and a 700 in the second.....
I felt that my actual level was at about 36 verbal and 45 math...
I gave the gmat today and got a 620(46 math and 29 V)...very similar experience to the first one...It shows that I have actually dropped in my score,which is not the case....last time around, I studied on my own and my average score was 620, this time it was around 670...hence, I post the foll issues/questions:
1.I am actually quite confident of my verbal skills, if given 2 mins to solve each, I get almost everything correct.
2.My SC fundamentals are good, but I seem to underperform on test day
3.I struggle between time on either sc or cr...(if i focus on 1 I lose time on the other)...having said that in all my practice tests, I have always completed the verbal section...today was an aberration....I had something like 7 q in 7 mins left.
4.Is my math score good enough or is it a weak one?I dont think I can go beyond this level, unless I put in a lot of effort.
5.My 9 week courses is supposed to have a post course analysis...how do I avail of the same.
6.If I end up giving the GMAT 3-4 times, does it mean my chances for a good school are over...I know schools take the latest scores...
7.What I am most confused about is regarding the action plan from here on....should I just retake the test.....since verbal scores were ok otherwise.
Should I go in for pvt tutoring(what are the options-am based in India) to get my score upto a sustained 740 level(i believe i can do it-i just dont know how)
8.I terms of content, i have gone through all mgmat books(which are awesome btw) and all og material....I have reviewed OG so many times I find it incredibly easy.
9.What resources are available for difficult verbal(I found the actual verbal slightly harder than mgmat and the prep software....though I still think I should have scored at least 35)
Apologies for the long post, but would appreciate if somebody can take the time and address all the points mentioned.I believe in MGMAT and am sure your advice will help me get this out of the way(PS I have 10 yrs of industry work ex and am fairly good at my essays-inspite of the low score last time, I got to the initial round of some top 10 ranked colleges, so I feel that the GMAT is my only hurdle)
GMAT Forum
5 postsPage 1 of 1
- Ashman
- GMAT Eater
tips
Although your Quant looks OK, you can still improve it into 49+ range.
I highly recommend EZ Solutions GMAT Advance Math (look it up in Amazon). It contains 650+ level questions you can't find anywhere else except GMAT Focus.
As far as verbal, you have a lot to work on. If you feel you are reasonably strong in CR and RC, then I would spend more time on those than your weakness (SC).
I highly recommend EZ Solutions GMAT Advance Math (look it up in Amazon). It contains 650+ level questions you can't find anywhere else except GMAT Focus.
As far as verbal, you have a lot to work on. If you feel you are reasonably strong in CR and RC, then I would spend more time on those than your weakness (SC).
- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9360
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
Hmm. Have never heard of EZ Solutions, but this is the fourth post in a row I've answered today in which GMAT Eater is promoting it... even, as here, for someone who is struggling with verbal, not quant. That's a little odd.
GMAT Eater, if you are actually a student, then I have no problem with you discussing something that you've found works for you. Keep it up. If you are a rep for this company in some way, though, then please disclose your affiliation when discussing this product. If it's a good product, it should speak for itself - it shouldn't need to be promoted in this way (that is, by a rep who doesn't actually disclose that affiliation).
Now on to Ashman's post.
Did you do the essays on your practice tests? If you didn't, there's a key reason why your verbal score dropped - you only trained for about 2/3 of the stamina you needed to do well on the test, and your verbal score suffered as a result.
You say that you can solve things if you are given 2 minutes. The problem is that you don't have 2 minutes for every problem. In particular, you need to do SC questions in about 1.5 min. You also say you struggle with SC on test day, and I'm guessing this might have something to do with timing, at least partially. If you are used to trying to solve in 2 min and then suddenly have to shave 30 sec off of each SC, that's going to mess with your results. Alternatively, if you do try to spend 2 min for some portion of the section, you'll find yourself behind, at which point you'll have to speed up. You'll most likely try to speed up on SC, which is the shortest of the three question types... and, once again, that's going to mess with your SC performance.
You also mentioned that you normally finish on time but you got really behind on the most recent test. That's an indication that you struggle with timing generally but, because practice tests aren't as stressful, you don't get too far behind. You know they don't count. Our habits (bad or good) tend to get magnified on official test day (due to stress), so timing problems that weren't so problematic on practice tests can suddenly become very problematic on the real test.
You need to go back and take a look at some of the data from your most recent practice tests. Go look at the timing data and see what's going on. When do you tend to get sucked in? What happens on those particular problems? What consequences do you then face later in the section? Etc. You're probably right that you should / could have scored better - but your timing (and possibly your stamina) brought you down.
For the test review, you have to meet a few requirements. You have to have taken the three tests as assigned on the syllabus (you usually don't have to have done it exactly in the right week, but they do have to be generally spread over the length of the course) and you're supposed to make the request right at the end of the course. You should email your teacher right away to ask about this - I'm not sure how long it has been since your course ended. If you no longer have your teacher's email address, send an email to studentservices@manhattangmat.com, give them your name (so they can verify you were a student), and ask for the teacher's email address.
Most b-schools don't care if you take the test up to 3 times. After that, some schools care and some don't, There's also a difference between taking it, say, 5 times in one year, and taking it twice three years ago and then three more times this year. In the latter situation, they'll view that more as taking it three times.
You also mention you've done the OG so many times that you find it easy now to do those questions. The key thing is not how easy it is for you to remember, oh yeah, this is how you do this one. The key thing is whether you know how that problem is constructed from start to finish. For verbal, can you articulate why the wrong answers are tempting? (That is, why someone would choose a particular wrong answer?) Can you articulate why the wrong answers are wrong even when they are very tempting? That sort of thing - until you can do that, you aren't done studying that question!
GMAT Eater, if you are actually a student, then I have no problem with you discussing something that you've found works for you. Keep it up. If you are a rep for this company in some way, though, then please disclose your affiliation when discussing this product. If it's a good product, it should speak for itself - it shouldn't need to be promoted in this way (that is, by a rep who doesn't actually disclose that affiliation).
Now on to Ashman's post.
Did you do the essays on your practice tests? If you didn't, there's a key reason why your verbal score dropped - you only trained for about 2/3 of the stamina you needed to do well on the test, and your verbal score suffered as a result.
You say that you can solve things if you are given 2 minutes. The problem is that you don't have 2 minutes for every problem. In particular, you need to do SC questions in about 1.5 min. You also say you struggle with SC on test day, and I'm guessing this might have something to do with timing, at least partially. If you are used to trying to solve in 2 min and then suddenly have to shave 30 sec off of each SC, that's going to mess with your results. Alternatively, if you do try to spend 2 min for some portion of the section, you'll find yourself behind, at which point you'll have to speed up. You'll most likely try to speed up on SC, which is the shortest of the three question types... and, once again, that's going to mess with your SC performance.
You also mentioned that you normally finish on time but you got really behind on the most recent test. That's an indication that you struggle with timing generally but, because practice tests aren't as stressful, you don't get too far behind. You know they don't count. Our habits (bad or good) tend to get magnified on official test day (due to stress), so timing problems that weren't so problematic on practice tests can suddenly become very problematic on the real test.
You need to go back and take a look at some of the data from your most recent practice tests. Go look at the timing data and see what's going on. When do you tend to get sucked in? What happens on those particular problems? What consequences do you then face later in the section? Etc. You're probably right that you should / could have scored better - but your timing (and possibly your stamina) brought you down.
For the test review, you have to meet a few requirements. You have to have taken the three tests as assigned on the syllabus (you usually don't have to have done it exactly in the right week, but they do have to be generally spread over the length of the course) and you're supposed to make the request right at the end of the course. You should email your teacher right away to ask about this - I'm not sure how long it has been since your course ended. If you no longer have your teacher's email address, send an email to studentservices@manhattangmat.com, give them your name (so they can verify you were a student), and ask for the teacher's email address.
Most b-schools don't care if you take the test up to 3 times. After that, some schools care and some don't, There's also a difference between taking it, say, 5 times in one year, and taking it twice three years ago and then three more times this year. In the latter situation, they'll view that more as taking it three times.
You also mention you've done the OG so many times that you find it easy now to do those questions. The key thing is not how easy it is for you to remember, oh yeah, this is how you do this one. The key thing is whether you know how that problem is constructed from start to finish. For verbal, can you articulate why the wrong answers are tempting? (That is, why someone would choose a particular wrong answer?) Can you articulate why the wrong answers are wrong even when they are very tempting? That sort of thing - until you can do that, you aren't done studying that question!
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
- GMAT Eater
Stacey, I don't work for EZ Solutions
Stacey, I don't work for EZ solutions.
I am just its author.
Just kidding!
Yes, I am a current student of MGMAT.
Chris Berman is my instructor and I am in Sat 2:30pm-5:30pm course in Santa Monica.
Chris really knows his stuff, especially SC.
I am just its author.
Just kidding!
Yes, I am a current student of MGMAT.
Chris Berman is my instructor and I am in Sat 2:30pm-5:30pm course in Santa Monica.
Chris really knows his stuff, especially SC.
- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9360
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
5 posts Page 1 of 1