610 - 48M, 26V (Second Attempt) - Need Help guys!

[maverick08]

Hello Everyone,

I am not new to this Forum. I have been using TM as a Tutor. I have been posting lot of queries, though did not participated in queries from others, because of time constraint.

Coming on to something that screwed my yesterday was that I got a 610 (48M, 26V). I was, somehow, shocked to see this score. I was not expecting score like this at all, because of my performances in PowerPrep and GMATPrep. The blunder that I did was that I left the 41 question in Verbal. I just couldn't see the time. And I really feel sorry for myself. But I believe that that won't have caused a huge penalty. Had this penalty not charged, my score would have been 28-30 in Verbal. But again, this would have been far below my expectations.

Background - Ist Attempt Story:
I got a 620 (49M, 23V). The reason was that I reached 15 mins late at the center. I did not get a good parking. I was worried about the car. Then I took some time to locate the center. All in all, I panicked. Thanks to the examination incharge, who let me sit for the exam.
AWA: I did a good job here. Was satisfied. This brought me in rhythm.
Maths: I was going good, though I knew that I had done some mistakes in the first 10 questions, because I started getting easier questions. But when I got a 33rd question on probability, I knew that I was on track.
Break: I searched for my eye medicine that I was using as an eye coolant. Realised that I forgot that in the car. Controlled myself and jumped in for the Verbal Session.

Verbal: Did first 8 questions fairly well. But my eye started giving a problem after 8th question. And I discovered that there is something wrong in my eyes during the first attempt when I lost control on my eyes. This loss of control started during the end of Maths exam. Hence, during the Verbal session, I could hardly read the text in questions. My eyes really troubled lot. I marked the questions blindly just to complete the exam. Hence, got a 23 in Verbal. I did not had any problems while giving tests at home, because I gave tests on the laptop.
Score Screen: And I was not surprised by looking at the scores, but I was not happy, because apart from my preparation, there were many other things that were not with me that day. But I knew that I deserve much more than this score. Moreover, it was my eye probem that caused such a bad score. So, I considered that day a bad day of my life. Hence, I planned to appear for GMAT again. Many Thanks to TM members, whose debriefs really gave a strong motivation.

This time, I took all precautions, considering things happened with me in the last attempt.

Study Material:
- I have a Study Material from a Coaching Institute that is a combination of OG10 and OG11. I just followed this Material.
- After finishing this, I concentrated on 1000 RCs. Did lot of RCs. This really helped in improving my reading comprehension Score.
- 1000 CRs - Almost completed GMAT CRs. Did only one test of LSAT CRs. I could see the improvement in my performance.
- 1000 SCs - did till 400. I was satisfied with the performance. I was getting 2-3 incorrect in every 20 attempts.
- Manhattan SC - Did OG10 questions only for first 4 Chapters, because my performance in SCs was satisfactory.

Tests I gave:
Power Prep 1 - 770 (51M, 41V) (CRs were repeated)
Power Prep 2 - 740 (51M, 38V) (CRs were repeated). Score declined, because the day was one of my worst days.
First Attempt:
GMATPrep 1 - 730 (50M, 37V) (CRs were repeated). Couldn't complete the paper. Did only first 37 questions. Left other 4. I wanted to see the penalty that GMAC charges for leaving the question(s). I was somehow happy with the score.
GMATPrep 2 - 680 (50M, 32V) - It was my worst day. I was not feeling well. Headache was not allowing me to focus on the exam. This score demoralised me, because I made 4 mistakes in the first 10 questions. But I was just 6 days away from the real gmat. So, I concentrated and planned to revise my fundas and give GMATPrep again just to give a boost to my confidence.

Second Attempt:
GMAT Prep 1 - 730 (51M, 38V) - Couldn't understand the reason for the Score 730, though combined score in GMATPrep was 87, which is less than the combined score in the second attempt.
GMAT Prep 2 - 690 (49M, 34V) - Again, this was a bad day for me. I was unable to concentrate, because of heavy disturbances just outside my house. But I was, somehow, happy with the score, because I knew that on the D-Day, I will score a 700+.

Further, to boost my confidence, I attempted remaining Practice Questions from GMATPrep. The performance was really good.

Gave only 2 tests from Kaplan. Score was 570 and 580. Kaplan was hampering my confidence. So, I stopped giving other tests. Moreover, I was more concerned with Verbal, because my Maths performance has always been consistent even on bad days. And, Verbal Score averaged around 28-29.

Also, gave Sets 21-26.
The performance in sets 21-24 was satisfactory. I was getting only 2-3 incorrect in the first 15 questions. Overall, the count of incorect questions in each set was between 11 and 13. So, I was happy, because this performance was in accordance with my performance in GMATPrep 1 (First Attempt).
Did not analyse 25 and 26. Sets 25 and 26 were horrifying. My performance in these sets declined significantly. And I assumed that GMAT can not be that difficult. Now, I think that I was wrong.

D-Day:
I was all set for the exam. My confidence was touching sky. My mind was full of positive thoughts. Landed at the center well before time. No parking difficulties, because I hired a Taxi this time. Everything was in control. Because of my eye problem, I opted for a screen that has light over its monitor. I also requested the invigilator to reduce the brightness of the computer screen to zero. And I had eye drops with me.
AWA: Went fine. No regrets.
Break 1: Used it completely. Had a banana. Used eye drops to calm my eyes.
Maths: I felt that I was going fine, because I got 18th question on Probability and then 28th question on Curves (I saw this for the very first time). All in all, I was really happy with the performance. And needless to say that I was expecting 51 in Maths.
Break 2: I used the break effectively. Had another banana. Was all set for another session. My eyes were not well, but were very much in control this time.
Verbal: I think that I started well, because the difficulty level of questions was increasing. I could see 3-4 lines killer SCs. These SCs were horrifying. Considering the difficulty level of SCs, I thought that I am on track. I got 12th question as boldface. I was happy to see this boldface. After reaching 39th question, I saw that only 2 seconds were left. I just rushed to complete the session, but couldn't mark the 41st question. This would have led to some penalty. But I was, somehow, confident that penalty couldn't be huge, considering my performance in GMATPrep 1, where I left 4 questions and got a 37 in verbal.

Score Screen: 48M, 26V - 610. I was stunned!! Totally numb!! Then I controlled my feelings and returned home, because there wasn't any other option. Now, I am totally shattered as if my 10 years serious love affair has come to an end. I did every possible thing to make it work this time. During my attempt, there was not even a second that made me feel exhausted. There was not even a second in which my eyes gave any problem. But ultimate result is that I have failed! And I do not know the reason for this failure.

Guys, I need your help now! I am unable to identify my mistakes or probably, blunders. What went wrong where ? Can you please give me a direction ?

Please help guys. Your guidance, probably, can make me atleast walk on this ground, though I want to run and run faster than ever before.

[ankitvijay]

Hi Maverick....
I took GMAT on 5 Oct and my score was 640 (Q50 V 26)...almost same score as yours.
My practice tests score were as follows

GMAT Prep1,2 690,730
Kaplan median 600
Manhattan GMAT median 710
Princetion median 710

I was scoring around 37-42 in my verbal in each and every test i took.Finally when saw my actual score it was like a punch on my face.That was the lowest score i ever got in verbal.I was not exhausted,never had any trouble in exam so couldn't figure out what went wrong with the exam
It took me 10 days to realise that it was my bad Day....may be same has happenned with you...
Dnt get demotivated and start afresh and start with verbal......i have started taking more part in in ths forum by posting questions and answering queries...
You need to change your apporach in verbal...earlier my approach was to mark the right answer and now my approach is to make sure i now the reason why other choices are not correct....
This may seems difficult plus time consuming in the starting but with time you will get in the groove and will start enjoying....

I have realised that actual GMAT is far more difficult than GMAT prep especially verbal part.So this time i want to be sure that i am scoring in the range of around 44 in verbal to expect a score of 40 in actual GMAT.My target score is 40 in verbal and this is my statergy..hope this helps..

Finally, i cant let GMAT beat me because i cant let this failure bother me my entire life........
So take a break and then start afresh....

[kobraaa]

guys, u are not alone...same is my story too...took gmat couple of days ago...and i scored 650(Q50, V27).
My practice scores from GMAT prep/Power prep are all well above 700 except one 660.
As far as i am concerned, i strongly feel that apart from strategies from Manhattan SC, gmat has also started testing few other basic concepts like usage of ',' and 'and'. so i feel its better to hone yourself with basics of grammar apart from digesting Manhattan Sc and OG11.... i have already started doing it btw....

Remember, winners never quit until they reach their destination....

Its easier said than done .."WOrk on thy Weakness"

Best of luck to you guys and wish me the same too

[adi_800]

Maveric: Sorry to hear what you have faced....
Abt u left verbal unfinished:
My frd gave GMAT somewhere in July 2008....he used to leave last two questions for each section bcoz of timing problem and get the score of around 670 to 680....so he was confident that even of happen to leave q bcoz of timing problem he most humbly and respectfully would reach a score of 670..
On test day same thing happened..he was nt able to solve 4 question 2 in each n his score was 470...I am damn sure this score of thine is bcoz of that unanswered q in verbal...
Guys, this is d case of GMATPrep...it is representative of the actual test in some respect...but nt in every terms..Even GMAC says that GMAT Prep is nt d correct representative of actual GMAT...u can see that when u start to give GMAT PREP...

one more frd...gave gmat prep..was able to solve only 23 qs in both verbal n in quant...he got a score of 530 in gmat prep...if one does this in gmat...the score wont be more than 400...

Even if u leave more than 4 qs...in gmat prep...it wont harm mch in that but if u happen to lose last 4 in actual GMAT...it most humbly and respectfully would kill thy score...

Go back..relax..and start fresh..
This exam can be BEATEN...
@Ankit:let GMAT beat me because i cant let this failure bother me my entire life...loved this part of thy text...

[maverick08]

Guys,

I Thank You all very much for the support and wonderful motivation.

I am still in dilemma about the question I left. I have a question for Adi and others who know about this.

If someone leave a question in Verbal, then can this affect a score in both Quant and Verbal ? I am asking this, because my Quant Score has never ever touched 48, so, if that left question can affect such a low score in Quant, then I deserve a big pat on my back for making such a wonderful blunder.

[adi_800]

I am nt sure abt leavin 1 q unanswered affected d quant score...but that unanswered q took thy score down...i have one more exmaple of a frd who 540 after leaving 1 q unanswered in verbal(actual GMAT)..but his quant was nt affected by (insert demonstrative pronoun here)...
u getting 570 in kaplan rite??
so u have 700+ jst around corned... im damn sure

[donkey_man_88]

Hey Maverick,

I'm sorry to see another person face the same ordeal that I faced during my GMAT. After reading a bunch of debriefs, I think a lot of test takers are focusing too much on the first part of the exam. I think that's where my score fell because I had to guess on a lot of questions at the end of the exam because I took too long in the beginning. Honestly, I don't think it's necessarily our level. I've seen people who score 25V in practice tests and get 38V on the real thing. How that happens, I have no clue. Except for my one test with a 35V, my lowest score has been 39V. Lowest score has been 670. I've taken Kaplan, Gmat Prep, Manhattan GMAT, etc. I will say that the actual Verbal is way tougher than the practice tests. The SC is very different. I'm getting back into my studies this week. I plan to re-take in a month or so.

[adi_800]

@Man_88... I really think that last 8 and first 10 questions are really important in verbal section... GMAC knows that people jst guess on last few questions and I think GMAC targets this weekness...
n as per OG, all questions are imp..nt first ten..

Also, after reading the views of all shocked persons...I think it depends all on that day!! If its your day...you will make it...what kind of questions one get... Which question you get in first ten... I know all q are imp but first ten decides the level... If a person gets 2 RCs in first ten then it can be very difficult to score given the time constraint of 75 min!!

Anyways... Jst forget what has happened and get back to verbal...

[maverick08]

Guys,

I am trying to figure out the reasons for such a score. One reason is that I had done lot of mistakes. However, can someone clarify that how consistent one should be while answering questions ? Like, I took 4-5 mins in some of the questions and <30 secs in others ? Can this inconsistency cause any problems in the final score ?

[sandeep_chads]

The variations in timings are fine. 4 min per question and 30 sec per question based on the complexity of the question are fine.