I just completed the diagnostic exam in the O.G. Based upon how many questions you answer correctly there is a scale where you will fit into one of five categories: 1) Excellent 2) Above average 3) Average 4) Below average and 5) Poor. This time around I was mostly at the high end of above average and the low end of excellent. This made me a very unhappy camper. I was only happy with my performance on the R.C. portion of the diagnostic test, I only missed one question. The rest of the sections I felt I could have done much better. And there is no real pattern to my mistakes other than silly errors. So I'm not sure where to concentrate my studies? I really am having a hard time focusing while doing problems, even at the library where i've removed every possibly distraction! I suppose I could blame it on the recent unemployed status. I tell myself that everything is great but I think the stress is rearing it's ugly head in my practice problems. I'm giving myself three more days to do practice problems to work out all the lack of focus issues, and then I'm taking another practice exam. I've set a goal for myself of getting only a 680 for this practice exam. Then I'll increase it from there.
Is anyone else afflicted with the fear of being average? When I start reviewing the practice problems I've done from the O.G. I get this knot of anxiety in my stomach. I have this overwhelming fear of being average (it's the same anxious feeling I get when I'm hanging out with my married with kids friends in suburbia at their kid's soccer games...but that's another story for another day). Sometimes I feel like I'm fooling the people around me who have such faith in me. I'm scared that one day they will eventually catch on and I'll be labeled a fraud. If i think logically about my abilities I know I'm a smart girl but logic doesn't play into my insecurities over intelligence. And this whole GMAT/application process is not helping the situation at all! I know, I know, as my best friend tells me all the time "Get over it!". Well for today, according to the O.G., at the least I am above average and at the most I'm excellent. Next time I'll just be purely excellent!
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7 comments:
You worry too much.
Take a break ! This happens.
I was into 60 hr work-weeks and the GMAT was going no where. After reviewing the Princeton and a litlle OG I began testing.I went from 620 to 670 and then all of a sudden 560 ( fellow bloggers told me that its the bull shit princeton algorithm ).I shut all preps for a week and got back later to 700's.
"Dont go by scores,go by your mistakes". Be less score oriented and more accuracy oritented. Ultimaely if u manage only 3-6 incorrect on Quant and 6-10 incorrect on Verbal. You've done it. The goal is " Reduce the number of mistakes ".
This kind of thoughts haunt all of us from time to time. If you need re-affirmation in your abilities, talk to your family. They will definitely have loads to praise about.
That apart, GMAT preparations are akin to climbing a hill. You reach higher ground with time, provided you take care of the pitfalls lest you slip down. So your energies are better utilised if you focus on the errors and ensure that you dont repeat the mistakes you made earlier.
I think you are all set for a good score, so just chill.
Like everyone else I have my moments of self doubt (though not with my GMAT prep). The way I cope with it is to think of the worst case scenario - usually it's not all that bad! That puts things in perspective and reduces the pressure to perform. In this case, what is the ABSOLUTE worst that could happen? You have to take the test again. That would be hugely inconvenient but nothing to panic about.
And yeah, the only thing that GMAT tests is the ability to answer questions on the GMAT. Nothing more. Nothing less. There is no point in looking for a correlation between your smarts and your GMAT score. Fortunately for myself, I happen to have an aptitude for such tests, but this no way means that I am any smarter that a guy who scored 600.
There's one sentence i learned from the sales that is "Aim high, shoot high". So I suggest you set a higher target than 680.
So what I do is I set a target when I'm working on OG questions, like below 4 mistakes out of every 20 SC questions I do, so that's a 20% mistake rate. Sometimes I miss that rate, but I'll then focus on analyzing why I made the mistakes. And I track the rate for every 20 questions I do, so I can tell that my mistake rate is actually going down. That would give me a lot of confidence, and let me know I'm progressing.
Don't be depressed by one test, keep trying, and you'll make it! good luck!
*My $0.02*
A person with a fear of being average is probably the most likely sort to end up exactly that. Perhaps I'm off base, but I'm not sure how a person could take the necessary risks that life takes to end up "extraordinary" if they are constantly afraid that they aren't going to be the "best".
The real bummer is that sometimes, other people are going to seem better than you even while you perform better. Either they've had a harder row to hoe and so their accomplishments are more impressive (even if less substantial), or they simply have a personality that makes them seem "better" than you, even if they aren't, technically. In real life, and ten years from now, nobody will care what you got on your GMAT, and really won't care much what college you went to. They will care what you've done with the opportunities you've been given.
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