500 (q:40, v:20) - help!!!

[battlethisgmat]

Oh boy!

Where do I begin? First off I'd like to mention that I wrote the gmat yesterday and received a 500 (q:40, v:20). I am very disappointed with my mark and feel that it does not reflect my aptitude what so ever. I feel that I have always been analytically inclined as my background in electrical engineering would suggest (gpa:3.3 from a Canadian University). I was born, raised and educated in Canada, although my first language is non-english. However considering I was brought up in an english speaking society, a score of 20 on the verbal section is shameful, something that I feel is not reflective of my capability. I am also very disappointed with my quantitative score because my entire education was submersed in mathematics, which I think is one of my strongest assets.

Here is a synopsis of how I found the real exam:

quant:
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-i felt that I did not read those convoluted descriptive problems actively or critically enough to understand how to effectively set up the problem. After reading a question I would ask myself what in the world did I just read, and then would end up re-reading. This wasted precious time and I found myself falling behind.

-I fell behind because of the above and then panic struck in. My focus was destroyed and everything fell apart thereafter.

-I had to guess on a 1-2 questions in the middle of the section but found myself with a minute remaining with 5 questions to go. I ended up just guessing 'C'.

verbal:
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-I must have gotten a few of the early questions incorrect to have received a score of 20.

-Again NOT reading actively and critically was a big drawback here. I have read ample recommendations on this site (thanks to Erin and to the remainder of the TestMagic community) about taking notes while reading an RC passage but how do you take notes and still finish reading a passage in 2 minutes as most people here suggest or seem to do? What type of notes do you take? How many words do you jot down? I've typically written 1-3 words about what I felt was the topic and other important points. Sometimes after thinking that I've noted the topic I would stop taking notes as I seem to have trouble articulating the jist of what I just read in the context of the passage at that point into the passage.

-Now to have received a score of 20 I was definitely receiving easy questions. But even with the relative ease of the questions the test was firing at me I couldn't easily synthesize some of the CR and SC questions. In a typical 'the argument above assumes that' question, while I could identify the evidence and conclusion and even mentally note what a possible assumption could be, I couldn't select an appropriate answer. That was very frustrating.

-as for the SC, a small fraction of these questions directly related to those that you typically see in the prep books. Most of them appeared awkwardly worded, which seemed to negate all the typical rules you find in the prep material. I suppose the rules still apply but it appeared to me that you had to stretch the limits of them to see that they do apply in an obscure kind of way. While I have read that its a good idea to become familiar with the various components of a sentence like prepositional phrases, phrases, clauses, subjunctive form, objective form etc.. I cant see how this really helps in a SC question. Now I am familiar with what nouns, pronouns, verbs etc.. are and can apply the rules pertaining to them in the context of subject verb agreement, pronoun reference/agreement, misplaced modifier, parallel construction type questions but man some of the SC questions i received on the test were no where near those that I have seen in the prep material.

What good does knowing that 'of chocolates' is a prepositional phrase in the sentence 'Brian bought a box of chocolates' ????

Know that this is my 2nd time writing the gmat. The first time I wrote it was 3 years ago and I received a 610 (q:42, v:28) - which is also very disappointing as I believe I can achieve a high 600 or a low 700. As you can see from my performance this time around that either I have become more stupid or I am just not cut out to tackle this exam. This is very hard to accept because I have never been a quiter and going to a top b-school has been a number one goal of mine for a few years now. My score this time around just makes me feel that this goal is even further off than it was 3 years ago when I received a 610.

What I used to prep:
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-since I completed the entire OG my first time I'd say I ran through 25% of the book this time around. Did both PP cats but I dont think my performance on them are very accurate since I went through the entire book 3 years ago and 25% of it this time around. I received 740 on PP1 and 710 on PP2 this time.
-I read through the PR course ware from the actual course PR offers. Did all of the questions in it.
-I bought the Kaplan 2004 with CD. I read through it and executed 1 cat. I received a 550 on it and was increasingly frustrated with my performance on it. Although I have read that KP is much more difficult than the actual exam. But my real gmat was even lower than my KP score - pathetic!!!
-I also ran through some paper based tests I had of previous actual gmats from vstudy.co.kr (pdf files - if anyone wants them I can email you copies).
-I ran through 3 PR cats and received 700, 690, 680 (i cant remember the q/v break down at the moment).
-For the most part my work is very busy during the week so I dont get much time to studying during the weekdays (if anything I only read over notes that I have taken on the weekends). I studied 7-8 hours on saturday and about the same on sunday for a total of 8 weeks (so thats 14-16 hours a week for 8 weeks). Maybe my efforts are in the wrong place? Or maybe 7-8 hours a day is too much which might explain why my mind became so lazy on the real exam and why I wasnt reading actively/critically??

Does anyone have any idea of what my problem is and how I should go about first diagnosising my weakness and then addressing it as right now conquering the gmat is my life's biggest goal as that would allow me to go to a top b-school and fulfil what i've wanted for a very long time now. Should I hire a tutor (maybe from veritasprep.com??)

I would greatly appreciate some feedback! Thanks in advance!!!

[battlethisgmat]

does my story build a perception that I cannot be helped that no one dares to respond? haha... well any help would be appreciated if anyone does have any feedback. Thanks.

[mdp]

To reduce test panic one needs to take many timed tests. This will also help us pace the test and also see how accurate we are.

[StrangeDaze]

Your posting is in Oct 2004 - i would love to know if you were sucessful in future attempts as i am currently having the same problem and i'm not sure what to do. (1st 510, 2nd 530 - after a month of pretty intense study).

StrangeDaze

[vale_dude]

Indeed, that is quite bizarre. Battlethis, do not take it personally if few people respond to your post. It seems that one gets attention in here only by scoring a 700 or above (with some exceptions, of course). This is a lesson in human nature more than anything else.

Obviously, you are a smart guy. Your engineering degree speaks for itself, so I do not need to tell you that GMAT math is not "real" math. On a personal note, with an M.A. from a top 20 school in the U.S., I thought I was quite the verbal guy until I sank my teeth into GMAT verbal. After a few months of study, what I now find completely absurd is that I perform better on the quant section than on the verbal.

Don't lose hope. From what I see, the exam today is much tougher than it was three years ago. My fiancee took the test in 2002 and she remembers it as equatable to the guide. Pardon the lingo, but there is no chance in hell that that is the case today. With all the money ETS makes from its tests, I find it unconscionable that a guide that reflects the true difficulty of today's exam does not exist. When people start suggesting you use the LSAT guide to study for verbal, then you know you have a crappy guide. I guess people keep calling it the bible because, unfortunately, it is the best thing there is.

One more thing, your story and accounts of your experience are priceless. I wish more people who are scoring in your range would post. It is from them that people who are trying to improve obtain the greatest guidance. Good luck to you, and once again, hang in there.

[shiana_k]

I think u have scored reasonably good in quant section ........ I wish i would have got that score.I took the exam in june and got 420(q35,v13).If with this much of panic and anxiety as u say u can score 40 in quant then i must say that just be cheerful about ur performance in that section.
As far as verbal is concerned i think that there is no guide on this earth which can replicate the g-mat verbal.I was veru confident as far as verbal is concerned during my first attempt but it was shattered completely.For rc i think do what really works for u.See what i do is just read the first qs and then give a two minute reading to the whole passage and just understand what it says right so far so good

then as the qs approach i look for them in the passage i think it has somehow worked for me try working it may by it is of any help to u.

and finally have faith in GOD

All the best
Divya

[Stormgal]

Battlethisgmat:
You would not believe this, but after reading your post, I felt as if you wrote my biography! It's exactly how I feel. I am also a native speaker, born and raised in the States, and for the life of me, I can't score anywhere above a 500 flat. I'm not stupid, I have a GPA of 3.8, with national honors and magna cum laude standing in MIS with a minor in law. Furthermore, I really dont' think that gmat scores correlate with the first year of business school. I don't care what statistics say - I've met two people who have scored 99th percentile on the GMAT and who've done horrible during their first year of business school.

[slick045]

Stormgal, you "met 2 people who have scored 99th percentile on the GMAT and who've done horrible during their first year of business school." It seems to me that the sample from which you are pulling your "Assumption" is not representative of all people who have scored 99th percentile on the GMAT. This is why your assumption is not valid. Had you provided more evidence, such as the results of all people who have scored 99th percentile on the GMAT that showed that most do poorly in their first year of business school, perhaps (and only perhaps) your argument may have been more convincing.

All I can say for everyone who is struggling out there is, "Practice does NOT make perfect. Perfect Practice makes perfect." You must all realize what your weakness are and how to overcome them. Continually beating your head against the wall won't do anything but give you a headache. From my experience, I have seen many people do numerous problems without truly understanding why they got their answers right or wrong. This is a test of strategy, memorization, and speed. The test CAN be defeated, but brute force is not the answer.

[garima]

battlethisgmat started the thread in oct 2004.
Check out the 4th post in this thread and u will know what has been going on in here....
But the posts in this thread are very inspiring and informative.

[Stormgal]

Stormgal, you "met 2 people who have scored 99th percentile on the GMAT and who've done horrible during their first year of business school." It seems to me that the sample from which you are pulling your "Assumption" is not representative of all people who have scored 99th percentile on the GMAT. This is why your assumption is not valid. Had you provided more evidence, such as the results of all people who have scored 99th percentile on the GMAT that showed that most do poorly in their first year of business school, perhaps (and only perhaps) your argument may have been more convincing.

I think this test is getting too much into your head. Either that, or you must be a spokesperson for ETS. The bottom line is that I know what I am capable of and I am capable of succeeding in business school with or without the GMAT.

But since you love statistics so much, I assume that you correlate in every way exactly like ALL the people of your height, ALL the people of your same shoe size, ALL the people of your race, and ALL the people of your religion. Yes sir, because you come from said background, you will never be the exception - not even if you are the only one who happens to be unique. Wake up, statistics can sometimes be used to bring people down.