Low GMAT score. Please Help!

[Psychodementia]

Originally Posted by score_786

I have taken a PowerPrep yesterday and got 640 score:

Verbal : 30
-- most of mistakes in RC [i guess editorials shud be worked out now]
-- Critical reasoning is one more area where i need to practice more

The problem is not with RC - it is with your concentration. Go through Kaplan Verbal Workbook if possible. And practise taking 10 passages at a time from 1000RCs. That would help build up your stamina and also deal with your internal system when it reaches fatigue. You should do this in 90minute marathon sessions such that you are at the fag end of your concentration.

Critical Reasoning - just stick to the basics. For all questions find out conclusion, assumption and premise. Try getting your hands on Manhattan CR for this.

Originally Posted by score_786

Quant : 48
-- most of silly mistakes like reading the question wrongly and more mistakes in DS.
-- mistakes were in probablity and work-distribution.

For DS do Kaplan800 thoroughly.

Also, for probability do the following links:

Compilation of Probability Problems - TestMagic Forum

Bell Curves - GMAT - Combinations and Permutations > Combinations Myths

The best -> Combinations Lesson

Originally Posted by score_786

Question here is : Is Power prep similar to GMAtPrep in terms of scoring ... does PowerPrep give me proper approximation of my scores?

More or less they are same.

Originally Posted by score_786

One more thing i observed was, when checking back for the mistakes the no. of questions attempted were shown less like for quant it was 28 questions shown. what happened to the remaing 9 Qs ?? similar was the case for verbal !

These are "experimental questions". Copy pasted from the net: "

About one quarter of the questions are experimental. The experimental questions can be standard mathematics, data sufficiency, reading comprehension, arguments, or sentence correction. You won't know which questions are experimental. Because the "bugs" have not been worked out of the experimental questions--or, to put it more directly, because you are being used as a guinea pig to work out the "bugs"--these unscored questions are often more difficult and confusing than the scored questions."

Originally Posted by score_786

Ok now reached 640 ..... what next to increase my scores to 700+ ..??

If you get to know please let me know as I myself want to get a 750

Arun

Regards,[/quote]

[Psychodementia]

Originally Posted by Neo2000

So basically, this dude took all the tough tests and got depressed??

Damn!! I was hoping to turn this into a sticky since I thought a lot of people would benefit from this.

Neo !! I have been long around here to figure when there are actual problems and when people post to crib without substantial data

But I appreciate your hardwork and general interest in helping people. Good work !!

Arun

[aim-wsc]

Originally Posted by Neo2000

Damn!! I was hoping to turn this into a sticky since I thought a lot of people would benefit from this.

dont worry make it sticky. u d never get all GMAT gurus on same thread... giving quality strats

[score_786]

Originally Posted by aim-wsc

dont worry make it sticky. u d never get all GMAT gurus on same thread... giving quality strats

Sorry for a late reply guys my system was on upgrade ... thx a LOT for everybody for the suggestions and helping me out solve my doubts and problems ...

Psychodementia Thx for the suggestions and comments ... i like ur straight fwd attitude .. thrs a saying from SoorDas.....

nindak niyare rakhiye aagan kuti chavaye.
Bin paani bina ... nirmal hui so jaye !!

its meaning is .. make frds who criticise you... and you dont need anything else to clean yourself...

And the last help from you guys would be .... do pray for me

thx again guys ... im heartly thankful to all of you ..!!

================================================== ========

I have tried to point out few things which i learnt from you all guys, i guess it would be helpful to people who are new to GMAT so that they dont repeat the mistakes i did:

Take the GMAT-prep or PowerPrep CAT as the first step .. (NEVER TAKE any other tests KAPLAN, Princeton etc as ur first CAT) to give you your true potential.
If u want to take other GMAT tests such as Kaplan ... do take them but dont rely on their scorings.

note down your weak areas and give extra push in those areas, for the other areas you just need to be in practice.

When preparing -- Quality, and not Quantity, is important. Analyse ..go back to all the questions and note why is the answer wrong , or even why is it right. this will guide you not to make similar mistakes again.

regards,
Score_786

[Psychodementia]

One more tip to help you analyze your questions better. This is a PR technique which I have slightly modified and find it very useful.

Whenever you solve any question from books maintain seperate sheets with the bookname on the top and questions split into 4 columns:

Book- OG 11

Q.No. Ans OA Type
---------------------------------------
1 E B M
2 D D N
3 C C G
4 A A F
5 D E D

What you essentially do is give a "key" to each of the 5 categories or buckets that a right or wrong answer can fall into:

N - Nailed it
M - Missed it
G - Guessed it
F - Faster (could have been done faster)
D - Duh ?! (I don't know what hit me)

Now, whenever you are reviewing the the OG SC questions then you can go through it in this way: I would leave out all questions I nailed (I would answer it at the dead of night). I probably don't even need to go through the questions I missed (silly mistakes).

I want to focus on questions I guessed in a different way. I want to see which of the 2 options I was guessing between. And then try to figure out that single point which diffrentiated the 2 choices.

I also want to focus on the short-cuts that I would possibly miss out when I get a question right. I want to revisit and see if it can be done faster.

Finally, the questions that left me stumped. These are the questions which are going to limit me from reaching a 800. I want to work on this and solve more of them on the actual test correctly to get a higher score.

Hope this helps,

Arun

PS: I couldn't resist saying that you can see all of these techniques plus a chance to assess yourself in my no-nonsense way in the Verbal bootcamp !!

[Psychodementia]

Originally Posted by score_786

Psychodementia Thx for the suggestions and comments ... i like ur straight fwd attitude .. thrs a saying from SoorDas.....

nindak niyare rakhiye aagan kuti chavaye.
Bin paani bina ... nirmal hui so jaye !!

its meaning is .. make frds who criticise you... and you dont need anything else to clean yourself...

Thanks !! It is kind words like these which keep me motivated to post year after year, thread after thread, post after post like duracell

I just hope that people do not mistake my direct approach from attitude/arrogance. Those who have known me in personal life know better

Arun

[score_786]

Originally Posted by Psychodementia

Thanks !! It is kind words like these which keep me motivated to post year after year, thread after thread, post after post like duracell

I just hope that people do not mistake my direct approach from attitude/arrogance. Those who have known me in personal life know better

Arun

psychodementia,
it was just a frdly comment ...
I hope you didnt take it in other sense .. !!

regards,
Score786

[kkjha]

Hi guys/ gals,

I think I have the similar situation as that of score 786's. I am encouraged to write my things down here because i saw a very positive response from the the forum. I too wish to receive some peace of mind from forum veterans.

I started my prep almost 4 months ago with the Princeton Review. Then I wrote my GMAT prep 1 on 12th July 06 and score 580 (Q48, V-23).

Since then i have been preparing for GMAT off and on. Could not prepare anything for approx 2 months though. But some how I managed to finished OG10 verbal except RC, OG verbal review and Kaplan verbal. And off late I started feeling the there has been improvement in my SC and verbal in general.

Now yesterday I took the same GMAT prep 1 once again just to check my progress. I did not remember any of the questions and donno whether all were different from the first ones. Moreover I found it very tough esp the RCs and also the SCs.

My score in the GMAT Prep 1 is

590 (Q-47, V-23).

Last 10 days I studied well i think. But inspite of all those my score speaks that I have reached my level and 580- 590 is my level.

I still have to do OG11 available with me. But I am loosing enthu because of non improvement in the score.

I have booked my GMAT on 28th Dec . Pls suggest whether I should re-schedule it or still I have some chance to score at least 650+. I am eyeing for XLRI 1 year course for which last date of application is 15th Jan 07. I am B.E Mech from NIT JSR - 5.5 yrs work ex in L&T . Presently posted in Malaysia since May06 for one of L&T s project.

My office hrs out here - 08.00 am to 08 pm and by the time i reach home its almost always 9 pm. Moreover I get only Sunday here.

Considering all the points mentioned above, I appeal all of you to suggest some tips.

[enzee]

Hi Folks ,

Need some good advice from PGians......
My Gmat is scheduled on the 21st of Nov . I still have a good 10 days to go before the test .
Took 6 mock exams from various sources and scored in the range 600-650 . I've read in many posts that the Powerprep and GMAt prep simulate your real score and I just cant seem to get past the 700 barrier .
On analysis i've found verbal to be my work point (a 60 percent) hit rate while the quanta hit rate hovers around the 90 percent mark .
I need advice from you guys out there on when I should write the test.Should I postpone my test date ? My preparation books are Kaplan , Princeton, OG 11 and the OG verbal guide .
Also any timing strategies I should use for verbal ? I am using the '12 questions in 25 minutes ' strategy for quanta which seems to be working pretty ok . I need help !!!

[score_786]

Originally Posted by kkjha

Since then i have been preparing for GMAT off and on. Could not prepare anything for approx 2 months though. But some how I managed to finished OG10 verbal except RC, OG verbal review and Kaplan verbal. And off late I started feeling the there has been improvement in my SC and verbal in general.

Now yesterday I took the same GMAT prep 1 once again just to check my progress. I did not remember any of the questions and donno whether all were different from the first ones. Moreover I found it very tough esp the RCs and also the SCs.

My score in the GMAT Prep 1 is

590 (Q-47, V-23).

Last 10 days I studied well i think. But inspite of all those my score speaks that I have reached my level and 580- 590 is my level.

I still have to do OG11 available with me. But I am loosing enthu because of non improvement in the score.

I have booked my GMAT on 28th Dec . Pls suggest whether I should re-schedule it or still I have some chance to score at least 650+. I am eyeing for XLRI 1 year course for which last date of application is 15th Jan 07. I am B.E Mech from NIT JSR - 5.5 yrs work ex in L&T . Presently posted in Malaysia since May06 for one of L&T s project.

My office hrs out here - 08.00 am to 08 pm and by the time i reach home its almost always 9 pm. Moreover I get only Sunday here.

Considering all the points mentioned above, I appeal all of you to suggest some tips.

Dude... first finish OG11!! its THE official guide...

Also as already told be many PGites in this thread try to go back to questions where you have made mistakes ... try and analyse where n why u r going wrong .. this will improve your score significantly.

for eyeing 650 score i guess you have plenty of time to do so .. prepare @least2-3 hrs a day from OG11 ... and then grab any other publications.. but u must be thorough with the OG11.

and ofcourse dont rely on the scores you get in any other tests [ As i did and got depressed!! ].. other than GMATprep or PowerPrep.

regards,