Hi Everyone,
I was really hoping to gain some advice from you in regards to my GMAT study. I have taken the real GMAT exam today in Melbourne and scored 570 (Q:48 ; V:21). Unfortunately, this is my third attempt in 2 years. I am extremely disappointed with my performance and was REALLY hoping to get some top tips from you all on how can i improve.
Firstly, I'd like to share bit of background of myself, I am from China and lived in Australia for the past 10 years. I studied my high school and university in Brisbane and worked in a large organisation for the past 5 years. Currently I am working as a Corporate Strategy analyst in Melbourne.
Last year, i decided to take the GMAT exam as I was really hoping to pursue my MBA education in a top business school overseas. After 9 weeks prep, I took my GMAT in May and scored a shocking 560 (Q:46; V:21). There were some disruptive behaviours (people chatting outside the test room; construction work on the road; lost time during writing pad renewal process), so i decided to retake the exam in Sep. Another 11-12 weeks prep, I went through all verbal guides from Manhattan GMAT, and redid every single question on OG 13 and verbal review (2nd Ed), i scored 610 (Q:47; V: 27). Unfortunately the results were still not great. I was too disappointed and exhausted from GMAT studying. In the meantime, I had 3 work promotions and worked on a few challenging projects. Hence, I decided to retake my GMAT again in 2013.
From 24th June - 1st Oct this year, I have studied diligently most weekdays after work (from 9 or 10 pm - 12 or 1 am) and 7-8 hours study for all Sat and Sundays. Key materials that i've used include : a few Manhattan guides (SC;CR;Number properties); all verbal sections from 'crack the GMAT'; all SC questions from OG12&13, and Verbal review (2nd Ed).
Below are the schedule for all prac test i've taken:
25th June: Paper Test Code 14: 610 (Q:45; V: 31)
15th July: MGMAT CAT1: 650 (Q46; V33)
26th Aug: MGMAT CAT2: 670 (Q44; V37)
10th Sep: MGMAT CAT3: 630 (Q46; V31)
17th Sep: MGMAT CAT4: 620 (Q45; V31)
22nd Sep: MGMAT CAT5: 660 (Q45; V35)
28th Sep: OG Prep1: 710 (Q50; V34)
29th Sep: MGMAT CAT5: 680 (Q47; V35)
30th Sep: OG Prep2: 710 (Q49; V35)
Except the 1st paper exam, all the other exams were completed under real exam time requirements, no pause, no extra breaks, full AWA, full IR section.
I was very nervous the day before the exam, but still tried to give my best shot. I took 3 and a half days off work, that's why I managed to do 3 prac exams in the past 4 days. I went to bed around 11pm as per normal routine. I felt ok with AWA, bit nervous about IR; kind of ok with Quant. However, I was very very unsure about the first few verbal questions, my Q4-Q8 were RC, I can normally achieve 50% accuracy in RC, so I was not feeling confident. Then i realised i was bit slow, so i tried to speed up. However except the front section, i didn't feel the verbal section much harder than any of my prac however I did run out of time for the last 5 questions, i guessed about 3.
I knew i may struggle to get 700+, i thought I might see some score around high 600s, surprisingly i got a shocking 570. :-(
I would really like to get a score around 700+ and am still planning to apply my MBA for Sep next year. (~apply in early Jan next year). Given limited time left before my application, I would really appreciate if anybody could help me to diagnose my poor performance today or point me to the right direction.
Thank you all
Best Regards,
Lydia
GMAT Forum