EMPOWERgmatRichC wrote:
Hi buffaloboy,
The GMAT is remarkably good at giving each Test Taker the score that he/she has earned, so it's unlikely that the program malfunctioned. When these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day.
If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out:
When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?
5) Did you ever take any of these CATs before?
As an aside, a 710 is an outstanding GMAT score (and yours is still valid). Why did you decide to retake the GMAT?
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Hi Cohan,
Thanks for your reply. Here is pointwise reply to concerns raised
1) Yes I took the entire CAT (including Essay and IR)
2) Yes, I took CATs at home
3) No , timing was different. generally I took CATs in the afternoon or evening but real GMAT in the morning. I chose morning slot considering the fact that I perform very well in the morning.
4)I took the CATs under same conditions as applicable during real GMAT
5) I took these CATs two years back when I first appeared for GMAT. When I decided to retake GMAT I reinstalled these tests and scored 700 without any prep just to gauge what I need to focus and where I stand. Then I prepared for about one month and wrote second test. Bingo , I scored 760 (Q49, V45). Since my focus was to increase Q from 49 to 51. I studied hard for Quant and watched all videos of Thursday with Ron (I don't think Ron needs any introduction among GMAT takers) and really I came to know the small naunces specially on DS. I again reinstalled the tests and scored 760, and 770.
I want to pursue PhD and admission to these programs is very competitive. I was hoping to score 750+ to enhance my chances of admission but end up with 580. Worst , I didn't cancel the score and rather went ahead with reporting.
Now I am really hard pressed to write GMAT again but don't know what to study .