690 GMAT Score: help erin and all.iam bamboozled !!

[davvy]

Had a bad day today. first of all thanks to all of you for the support ,but I guess ets had a bad date with me . . got 690. but the problem is I cant figure out where I went wrong. I was hoping for a great evening , while I was taking the test , until I saw the scores.

i know 690 might not be that bad but obviously my expectations were much higher because I thought I was really prepared and will surely crack it. ( 740+)

i was doing pretty fine in all the sections during my practice tests. I got 720 in first pp before starting my preparation. I did get 690 in second pp test but I attempted it lousily . whatever weak links I had, I sorted them out.

today I had no problem in the test . I never doubted my answers except for 2-3 questions in maths 2 cr's and one rc.sc looked pretty straighforward.was hardpressed for time in last 2-3 questions in both sections , otherwise had a smooth sailing.

but just see the results. maths 48 verbal 36 !!!!!

what do u think might have gone wrong? do 1-2 wrong questions in the start cost that badly? as suggested by many people, I tried to balance the time with the theory that start good and finish good. other than the driving anxiety to perform well, I dont think I had any other major issues in my mind. yes , with lot of disturbance in the test center , your concenteration does suffer at times , but that's hardly an excuse as everone goes through that.

i had done almost all the og . I was doing like 95% + correct in both cr and rc and I did them with maximum 1.5 min per question. I wonder ,what else I could have done. Even In maths today, except for one question I could figure out all the questions. I could understand all the rc's perfectly fine and same with cr. there were two bold faced cr questions, which were pretty simple

35 in verbal suggests I must have made lot of mistakes. is there any way to know about them? for gre, ets provides the facility to check your performance on net after u get the registration number. is this facility available for gmat?

i dont know what to do now. I needed atleast 730-740. I dont know what else I will prepare , if I have to retake. please guide me , how to go this time. are first few questions bloody that important? I think I must have goofed up in first rc of verbal , which came at 2-4. what I need to do to get 42 in verbal and 50 in maths? for example, to get these scores , what are the maximum number of errors , one could afford.
just to mention, last year I had 97%ile in GRE verbal (710) , with a total score of 2200.!

[Erin]

I'm sorry to hear about your disappointment, davvy. If you ask me, I will say one thing: it's just bad luck.

Year after year, I see people marching off like GMAT soldiers to take their tests, and even the best sometimes have a bad day. I've seen people so dejected one month because they got 520, only to see them elated the next month when they get 680.

I've come to believe that luck is more of an issue for non-native speakers and even near-native speakers than for native speakers, since I don't see such fluctuations in score for native speakers. I believe that much of this "luck" comes down to the types of questions that native speaker know easily (often the most-asked questions in class and in these forums), but are hard to explain in grammatical terms.

If I had a dime for every time one of my students wanted to give up because of a low score, well, I'd have about $10. Just kidding. Seriously, I've seen this pattern so, so many times that I even have a term for it. I call it the "other side of the mountain."

I work with a lot of really, really smart, ambitious, capable, and talented people, and I'm truly fortunate to be able to do so. Many of these people will end up as future leaders of the world, I'm sure. But I always see these people before they make their great contributions to the world, during that time when they still doubt themselves, when they wonder what will ever happen to them. Many of my students struggle with GMAT (usually the ones whose English level is simply not high enough yet) and struggle with self-doubt even more. But I always try to encourage people to reach their goals (I haven't worked with any people with unrealistic goals yet), and for the most part, the ones who stick to it make it! And the difference between the these students before the 700+ score and after is like night and day! To me, it's like seeing people before they climb the mountain and after they reach the top.

I see people every day who are facing the mountain. I know the analogy is a bit cheesy, but it's true in many ways. Just face your challenge and defeat it. Study harder, and next time you'll break into the 700-club.

Okay, that's the "pep talk," now on to something useful. Overall, your strategy seemed fine. If you've heard that the first questions count more, it's simply not true. First, ETS has told me directly that it's not true. That's good enough evidence right there. Imagine if it were true--they could get sued! Second, I've tested the PP over fifty times, experimenting with answering different stretches of questions--at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end. My score was exactly the same each time. This was not true in the first iteration of the PowerPrep, so it would seem fairly clear that ETS made a change in their scoring algorithm, I assume when they found out the "problem." From my experience, most people get higher scores when they focus more on accuracy than on speed. Or more specifically, make sure you're choosing the best answer before you move on. I've seen lots of people get over 700 without answering all the questions.

Finally, I'm pretty sure GMAT doesn't have a diagnostic service like GRE has. Too bad. See my post about "my biggest gripe with the gmat" for more info.

So davvy, cheer up!! You'll make it, I'm sure!!

[davvy]

hello erin,
it was refreshing to read ur message. reflecting back and after talking with some of the ppl , i feel i must have made mistakes in SC. i remember , first cr came at number 11, 4-5 out of first 10 were sc. i still maintain that i could not have made much mistakes in rc . sc always bothered me atleast in the head. i tried to dispel all the fears by practising it from og and was doing like 85% + correct in first go. the rest i took pain to understand the ets pyschology in sc questions, and i thought, i had almost got the point.that bothers me , because now i dont know from where will i prepare it more.
i have heard of princeton verbal work out . can it be helpful? obviously i cant pick up high school grammar book and try to learn all the intricacies of grammar. what is ur suggestion.
for maths, i feel i must have done some silly mistakes and yes 2 questions which bothered me were from combinations and probability. i guess i need to hone these topics more to have a shot at 50 in maths. please suggest some good material for these topics. any online practice questions? the two questions were real good, not straightforward and mind u guys i was pretty good in these two topics , right from my high school days.
u said that first few questions matter more approach is not always true. but still let us suppose two scenarios. first one is , i do first 10 all correct , 10-30 2 -3 mistakes, and from 30-41 more than half of them incorrect including some random guessing. second scenario is, 4-5 incorrect in first 10, 3-5 i ncorrect in 10-30 and all correct in last 11.
in both these scenarios , number of questions incorrect is almost same, but wont scores will differ a lot?
also, any idea where experimental questions are generally placed.?
now some of the insights of my gmat exp. though iam not sure if iam the best person to give so. but still ,some of u might benefit.
verbal: no cr question till number 10!!! so better prepare sc and rc well because till cr questions come, ur fate might have been sealed to some extent. rc's were all 60 lines long except for one 45 line one, no short passages like og. two bold faced cr questions, but not tuf. (or so i thought). some very long sc's.
maths: all conceptual questions. a combination question at number 10 was the first one where i got stumped. spent 4 minutes before moving on. pacing is important. some questions wont require more than half minute, so dont spend 1.5 minute s on them , just because it's actual gmat. sharpen ur probability skills. remember 50-51 looks easy but is not that simple. though achievable.