Hello all,
I have been studying the GMAT for 9 months (including studying 3+ hours every single day for the last 3 months) and am truly "burnt out." I took two practice exams (GMAT Prep) 2 weeks before the real test and got a 700 and 710. On the real test I became so nervous I got a 640 (somehow my verbal went way down and that was where I was most confident). My question is - would it make sense to retake it right away (31 days later) and simply relax this month, lightly going over strategies much less intense than I was? With this method I will not "lose" my 9 months of studying and may not care as much leading to a more confident test day experience.
If you are asking this question you already know the answer. The night before go out for dinner and chill, it really isn't that bad, just relax into it and be confident and you will nail it....best advice i ever got
Great advice, wish I had followed it. OP, I'm in the same boat as you but much worse. My highest prep score was a 710, and my real score....... a whopping 580!!! My problem was that I went into the test feeling wayyyyy too comfortable and confident; I ended up paying less attention to tricks and multi-layered questions as a result. Anyways, it happens man, don't feel bad. I'm going to set aside at least a month after graduation to really study for the GMAT using phantombanker's guide at (//www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/how-i-got-a-770-on-the-gmat-with-minimal-e…). Definitely check this out if you haven't already.
You have obviously proved that you can get a good score on practice tests, so I think the most important aspect now is developing that psychological advantage by regaining your confidence (at least that's what I need to do!) Anyways, best of luck to you dude, you can do it!
I appreciate your quick feedback. My question however is would it be best to retake this right away (31 days later) and relax all month or take a few months off and get back into...say after summer?
Where do you want to go to school? It really depends. I took mine today, no study or prep and made a 710. It would probably be wise for me to retake and study for it, but i don't have the money nor inclination to give it another go.
Very helpful contribution for OP.
When it comes to standardized tests nerves can get the best of you. Keep prepping and schedule whenever you feel like you've mastered some concepts that you were weak in. Then take the day before the exam off, go watch a movie go out to dinner take off work etc. Roll into the exam with calm nerves. Answer choices can be similar and you don't want to second guess yourself out of a correct answer. You've done the prep but you lacked the confidence and state of mind. Keep up with your studies so you stay sharp but relax before exam day and take the mojo with you into the testing center.
Cookies with Milken - that is what I recently did. I studied for 4 months hard (7 days a week), then the day before I hung out with friends and got a good night sleep. Unfortunately, I think I put too became too obsessive, and I took an adderall and 5 hour energy during the test (I also took these during the practice tests where I scored 700), but I think they may made me more nervous/anxious. I literally know all of the concepts tested after this brutal journey, I believe its just a matter of being burnt out.
If I were you, I wouldn't sacrifice the gains you've made in your studies so far. No doubt you are burnt out after 9 months of studying...who wouldn't be?
Take it again in a month, but here's the thing - don't sweat it and don't study furiously for it. You said you did poorly in verbal, which is your bread and butter. Leave everything alone for two weeks to decompress. In two weeks, do a little bit of targeted studying on the topics you felt you had trouble with on the real deal.
If you want a confidence booster, take another practice test a few days out under near test conditions - to include at least outlining an essay. It's not looked at by schools but the essay and IR sections do fatigue you a bit for the rest of the test.
The day or two before you retest, put everything away and just chill. On test day, do whatever your usual routine is and don't stray from it. You'll crush it this time.
This ^. Relax for a week or two and then come back to it. Maybe schedule the test 5 or 6 weeks from now to allow for those weeks off. Then do a general review and focus on your weakest areas.Good luck.
take your time on the verbal. its easy to blaze through the entire thing in 15 mins but you have more time than you think.
640 on my first go, 700 on the 2nd. 3rd attempt coming up in a month (aiming for 730). I didn't spend 9 months studying though-you were def. burnt out. I studied for 2 months and then took a week off after my first try before diving right back in. I eventually scheduled it ONLY after I hit 680 or above on all 6 Manhattan GMAT exams, which are somewhat harder/trickier than the real thing.
Also remember that when you practice, you're not doing the essays and/or integrated reasoning. That stuff siphons off your focus and endurance.
I'd recommend you take 2 weeks off. forget about the exam completely. Then start over hitting all your weak points. once you strengthen those-i mean really strengthen them. I used to always just glance at or even skip the question types that would give me trouble. spend this next round of studying only hitting those hard and tricky concepts day in and day out. it should be enough to get you over the hump
Last piece of advice: relax on test day, but turn on your "focus". you will see a number of questions that look completely different from what you've practiced with, and it will be jarring. That's when you stop and think about what concepts you can extrapolate from the basics and apply them. Also think about what tricks have fooled you in the past. then just rock it out.
I'd say 2 week break, then study for 2-3 weeks, see where you are, and then reschedule a month or so from there. 6-7 weeks max.
OP, I know that feel and ended up bombing my exam the same way even though my practice tests were all stellar. Test anxiety is real shit and some people just can't overcome it by telling themselves to calm down. Consider seeing a doctor and having some beta blockers prescribed.
Taking GMAT Prep CATs over and over is a sure-fire way to inflate your GMAT score. If you keep retaking CATS, you will remember the answers, whether consciously or subconsciously, and get a gorgeous 780 on a CAT. But once you head down to the Pearson center, a 500 will greet you as you exit.
The two GMAT Prep CATS provided are as valuable as gold. Do not waste them. I took one cold when starting my prep, and took the other one the day before my appointment. Of course, take a good amount of CATs in between, but not the official ones. MGMAT makes good CATs, and they give you 6 free with every guide you buy. Well worth the money.
And try not to study late the night before, and do a LIGHT review the morning of. Do whatever helps you relax. Have a smoke, tobacco or whatever else you'd like as long as it's not PCP.
Don't overestimate the GMAT, if you prepped, you will kick its ass. But do not underestimate it. General rule: If it took you less than 30 seconds to answer a question, you're wrong. Try to think like the writers of the test.
Good luck to all!
TheKid1998,
While I'm sure you're frustrated, don't give up, your situation can be overcome. I improved my score 100 pts from mid-600s to mid-700s through focused studying and mimicking "test conditions." For me, the difficulty was getting a good night sleep before the test. The more comfortable you can make the exam setting, the less it will impact your ability to perform well.
In addition to the above recommendations, I suggest you buy the yellow dry-erase pads that are used during the actual exam. You can get them on Amazon for $10-$15. I found that practicing using paper and pencil hurt when it came time to draft out my answers during the exam.
How long did it take you to jump into the mid 700s? I'm starting to see diminishing returns now that I'm at the 700 level. The "hard" quant questions are way too layered for me to get through in an acceptable amount of time...did you make some sort of specific breakthrough that you can remember? So far I've been getting my additional points with incremental improvement in verbal, but quant is at a plateau (44-45). I've got about a month left before my final attempt (I managed to get into a couple of programs but I want to submit a new score to my wait list school, and put a mid 700s score on my resume for recruiting)
Based on my experience, I went back and decided to focus on my areas of weakness and make sure I knew them cold. If I looked at a question and I wasn't 100% confident that I had the correct answer, I considered that wrong even if I ended up having the answer correct. This made my studying incredibly more effective and ensured that I was only at risk of getting the highest difficulty problems wrong. It was particularly helpful for the Quant section and definitely helped for sentence correction, which was my original weakness in Verbal.
I found that holding myself very accountable while studying was important. I treated my study time as if I were taking the actual test and tried not to get lazy when doing problems because they really didn't count. If I got a question wrong, I always came back to it after studying to learn why I got it wrong. I did quite a few practice tests which were great prep, but I also did sets of 10-20 questions and looked to get 85%+ correct each time. I had a very good GPA in high school and college, but was never a very good standardized test taker and was able to get 700+ on my first attempt. If you have as much time to study as you did for the first test, just make sure that you make the most of it. Studying 3 hours a day will not guarantee a high score unfortunately. Like others, I too relaxed the night before - went to the gym for a light workout to clear my head, had a nice healthy dinner and was in bed by 9PM (had my test at 8AM the next day). I was a bit nervous on test day, but I think by treating all my practice sessions as actual tests even if I only did 10 problems helped me tremendously. Also remember that a high 700 score doesn't guarantee that you will get into a top school. There are a lot of great candidates that get dinged with great scores - just the nature of the beast. I think that you could take the test in a month if you would like, but make sure that you are comfortable doing so - if you already studied for 9 months, I don't think an additional 9 months is going to greatly improve your odds. Just tweak your study habits a bit and be confident. Good Luck!
Whether you are studying for the test or sitting down for that retake, try not to think about the 640. I always found that one of the best ways to do good on standardized tests is to walk in like you own it. Feel confident and you'll do great, you've already shown that you can get a high score.
Depending on when you plan on applying, I would take a little bit of time off...say a few weeks...and then come back at it. I went through a similar prep process and know the exact feeling you described. Looking back, my studying became very weak towards the end because I was just so over it. Ideally, I would take a few weeks off and then come back and hit my very weak areas hard but not forget to stay fresh on the stuff you are already comfortable with.
Also, try to mimic the testing conditions as much as possible. It's easy to not do this during practice and get stuck on the real test.
I think the silver lining in all of this is that your weak point appears to be your strong point in practice tests and, in my opinion, verbal is the easiest part to improve over the shortest period of time.
Lastly, be very methodical in what you study. Verbal tends to be easier in that regard, because the principles are mostly the same across the various types of verbal questions...assuming a high level of English fluency. Quant and the associated rules and knowledge seem to be much more difficult to learn over a short period of time.
Regards
Took a 2 week decompression period and began studying again (including 2 practice tests: 720 and 740). Went into the test feeling great, finished extremely confident. Score: 610, Q44 V29. Have no idea how this happened and will never know where I went wrong. All in all, I'm done and actually am fine with this result because it will cause me to not apply to grad school and continue to do well in and enjoy my current position (commercial lending). Considering I truly do enjoy my current position, it may have been a mistake to go to leave to go to grad school anyhow. Thanks all for the support, it truly was helpful.
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