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Infinite7 · 2009 October 3rd, 09:55 AM

I just took the GMAT exam and got a really bad score.

I think the reason is because, I did not practice enough on DS. I put a lot of focus on PS thinking if I'm able to do well on PS then DS would be a piece of cake, BIG mistake. Another reason is, I really stressed myself out the week I was going to take the GMAT. And, to make things worse, I became nervous on test day. I need some advice on how soon I should be able to take the test again, I'd really appreciate it.

hispano_phd · 2009 October 4th, 02:07 AM

Hi:

I could recommend you to evaluate the prep materials you used. Dunno how bad it went. Just re-focus. Materials are key as the time and concentration while studying. You have time and most people here do much better in a second test.

Can not provide more insight because lack of test results detail.

Later

Infinite7 · 2009 October 4th, 01:15 PM

My score was Q39, V22 and my overall score was 520. This was actually my second attempt.

In preparation for my first test, I didn’t know about this forum until about two weeks before my test and I only studied from two books (Princeton Review and Kaplan CP). Of course, I was ill prepared and I flunked.
This time I studied some good books, i.e OG 11 and 12, Princeton Review, Kaplan Comprehensive Program and PowerScore SC and critical reasoning and I joined this forum. I have read a lot of posts on this forum and have posted some threads myself, to which I’ve received very helpful responses from awesome GMATers

.
I got some good advice around four days before my exam that is to try some LSAT Passage exercises because they’re harder, which will help me improve doing reading comprehension and critical reasoning qs correctly.
I really neglected to study the DS part of the Q section

(I learnt my lesson!).
My question now is what else can I do to improve? And would two months suffice to take the GMAT again?

cristofer · 2009 October 4th, 04:41 PM

How are you doing with timing? If you don't finish all the questions in a section that will hurt your score worse than getting the last few questions wrong. On the Kaplan tests (& the PR tests too I think?), you can look and see how long you took on each question. If you can identify types of problems that are taking a really long time for you to solve, you can focus on short cut methods. Plugging numbers into the problem, eliminating choices that are wrong before you guess, etc.

I think 2 months will be enough to study, but only if you identify what you really need to study.

Infinite7 · 2009 October 5th, 09:52 AM

@cristofer, Thank you for your response.

I read on someone's post that if you get the first 21 qs correct (in the Quant section) your most likely going to get a 700+ score (of course, if you do well in your verbal as well). So at all costs I tried to get the 1st 21 qs correct, and I was left with about 12 mins to finish the rest of the 16 questions. I had to try and make educated guesses on some qs and simply guess blindly toward the end of the Quant section. So, yes, timing is definately an issue.

On the verbal, I spent too much time on reading comprehension passages as well as critical reasoning (trying to get the first 10 qs right, this I heard ,in general, is important to get a good score). I thought I'd do pretty well on the SC qs but on the contrary those qs were tricky. So having spent too much time reading passages, I had to guess toward the end again.

gmat^3 · 2009 October 5th, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Infinite7

@cristofer, Thank you for your response.

I read on someone's post that if you get the first 21 qs correct (in the Quant section) your most likely going to get a 700+ score (of course, if you do well in your verbal as well). So at all costs I tried to get the 1st 21 qs correct, and I was left with about 12 mins to finish the rest of the 16 questions. I had to try and make educated guesses on some qs and simply guess blindly toward the end of the Quant section. So, yes, timing is definately an issue.

On the verbal, I spent too much time on reading comprehension passages as well as critical reasoning (trying to get the first 10 qs right, this I heard ,in general, is important to get a good score). I thought I'd do pretty well on the SC qs but on the contrary those qs were tricky. So having spent too much time reading passages, I had to guess toward the end again.

Infinite7, though i am new here and not prepared for gmat yet, I have read in the OG 12th Myths and Facts that, every questions are equally important and do not focus only on the first few questions. I don't know how much it is true, but I also think that every questions should be equally important.

Infinite7 · 2009 October 6th, 06:43 PM

@gmat^3, I did read the part of the OG book that says all qs are equally important. But after speaking to people who have taken the test and after reading several posts of experienced GMAT gurus I just thought it would be best to answer the first 21 qs correctly and do my best to answer the rest correctly as well! (to be on the safe side, that is!) If anyone has anything to say about this please do!

gmat^3 · 2009 October 7th, 06:26 AM

@Infinite7,
If the official guide say so, I think we should believe this. Although I could not secure good score last time, I blame myself why I didn't prepare well. My opinion is if any person can score 700+ then why could not I? During last few days, I have reviewed many posts here and found that many people have scored 700+ usually in their 2nd or 3rd attempt. I have also reviewed thy posts on maths and found awesome explanations, from which I could not believe that you score such a low score in math. So, in my opinion, OG guidelines, time factor, concentration and skill to avoid traps are the major thing that we must consider beyond preparation. Hope u will score 750+ next time and I will also be able to get 700+.

BTW, I have posted in this forum, to get some suggestions and feedback from where to start and are the materials I have (I have listed the materials that I have) sufficient or not, I did not receive any suggestions. If you feel that you can help me, I would appreciate you. The thread is "How to organize GMAT study for 700+

I tried to put that link here, but I could not as it says I must have at least 30 posts.

Infinite7 · 2009 October 7th, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmat^3

@Infinite7,
If the official guide say so, I think we should believe this. Although I could not secure good score last time, I blame myself why I didn't prepare well. My opinion is if any person can score 700+ then why could not I? During last few days, I have reviewed many posts here and found that many people have scored 700+ usually in their 2nd or 3rd attempt. I have also reviewed thy posts on maths and found awesome explanations, from which I could not believe that you score such a low score in math. So, in my opinion, OG guidelines, time factor, concentration and skill to avoid traps are the major thing that we must consider beyond preparation. Hope u will score 750+ next time and I will also be able to get 700+.

BTW, I have posted in this forum, to get some suggestions and feedback from where to start and are the materials I have (I have listed the materials that I have) sufficient or not, I did not receive any suggestions. If you feel that you can help me, I would appreciate you. The thread is "How to organize GMAT study for 700+

I tried to put that link here, but I could not as it says I must have at least 30 posts.

Thank you for your encouraging words!

I definately will work harder on my weaknesses and do better this time! Btw you have a great atitude!

It's good to stay positive.

And I will post my

and a few links for you on your thread that I hope you find helpful.

2009 October 3rd, 09:55 AM	#1 (permalink)
Infinite7 I can DO this! Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 330	Got a terrible score - Need advice!!! I just took the GMAT exam and got a really bad score. I think the reason is because, I did not practice enough on DS. I put a lot of focus on PS thinking if I'm able to do well on PS then DS would be a piece of cake, BIG mistake. Another reason is, I really stressed myself out the week I was going to take the GMAT. And, to make things worse, I became nervous on test day. I need some advice on how soon I should be able to take the test again, I'd really appreciate it.

2009 October 4th, 01:15 PM	#3 (permalink)
Infinite7 I can DO this! Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 330	My score was Q39, V22 and my overall score was 520. This was actually my second attempt. In preparation for my first test, I didn’t know about this forum until about two weeks before my test and I only studied from two books (Princeton Review and Kaplan CP). Of course, I was ill prepared and I flunked. This time I studied some good books, i.e OG 11 and 12, Princeton Review, Kaplan Comprehensive Program and PowerScore SC and critical reasoning and I joined this forum. I have read a lot of posts on this forum and have posted some threads myself, to which I’ve received very helpful responses from awesome GMATers. I got some good advice around four days before my exam that is to try some LSAT Passage exercises because they’re harder, which will help me improve doing reading comprehension and critical reasoning qs correctly. I really neglected to study the DS part of the Q section (I learnt my lesson!). My question now is what else can I do to improve? And would two months suffice to take the GMAT again?

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2009 October 4th, 02:07 AM	#2 (permalink)
hispano_phd Eager! Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Puerto Rico Posts: 45	Hi: I could recommend you to evaluate the prep materials you used. Dunno how bad it went. Just re-focus. Materials are key as the time and concentration while studying. You have time and most people here do much better in a second test. Can not provide more insight because lack of test results detail. Later

2009 October 4th, 04:41 PM	#4 (permalink)
cristofer Share the Love Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 73	How are you doing with timing? If you don't finish all the questions in a section that will hurt your score worse than getting the last few questions wrong. On the Kaplan tests (& the PR tests too I think?), you can look and see how long you took on each question. If you can identify types of problems that are taking a really long time for you to solve, you can focus on short cut methods. Plugging numbers into the problem, eliminating choices that are wrong before you guess, etc. I think 2 months will be enough to study, but only if you identify what you really need to study.

2009 October 5th, 09:52 AM	#5 (permalink)
Infinite7 I can DO this! Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 330	@cristofer, Thank you for your response. I read on someone's post that if you get the first 21 qs correct (in the Quant section) your most likely going to get a 700+ score (of course, if you do well in your verbal as well). So at all costs I tried to get the 1st 21 qs correct, and I was left with about 12 mins to finish the rest of the 16 questions. I had to try and make educated guesses on some qs and simply guess blindly toward the end of the Quant section. So, yes, timing is definately an issue. On the verbal, I spent too much time on reading comprehension passages as well as critical reasoning (trying to get the first 10 qs right, this I heard ,in general, is important to get a good score). I thought I'd do pretty well on the SC qs but on the contrary those qs were tricky. So having spent too much time reading passages, I had to guess toward the end again.

2009 October 6th, 06:43 PM	#7 (permalink)
Infinite7 I can DO this! Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 330	@gmat^3, I did read the part of the OG book that says all qs are equally important. But after speaking to people who have taken the test and after reading several posts of experienced GMAT gurus I just thought it would be best to answer the first 21 qs correctly and do my best to answer the rest correctly as well! (to be on the safe side, that is!) If anyone has anything to say about this please do!

2009 October 7th, 06:26 AM	#8 (permalink)
gmat^3 Your effort, your success Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 24	@Infinite7, If the official guide say so, I think we should believe this. Although I could not secure good score last time, I blame myself why I didn't prepare well. My opinion is if any person can score 700+ then why could not I? During last few days, I have reviewed many posts here and found that many people have scored 700+ usually in their 2nd or 3rd attempt. I have also reviewed thy posts on maths and found awesome explanations, from which I could not believe that you score such a low score in math. So, in my opinion, OG guidelines, time factor, concentration and skill to avoid traps are the major thing that we must consider beyond preparation. Hope u will score 750+ next time and I will also be able to get 700+. BTW, I have posted in this forum, to get some suggestions and feedback from where to start and are the materials I have (I have listed the materials that I have) sufficient or not, I did not receive any suggestions. If you feel that you can help me, I would appreciate you. The thread is "How to organize GMAT study for 700+ I tried to put that link here, but I could not as it says I must have at least 30 posts.

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