Possible Reasons for Unexpected Verbal Scores

In the actual GMAT, people expect to score similar to their prep test scores. But in the last few days, I have come across quite a few cases on the forum in which people score much lower on GMAT verbal than they do on prep test verbal. So I thought of digging up a bit on why this might be taking place.

Here are some of Brian's thoughts (and my comments in brackets):

· A lot of prep RC passages are “old” in the longer-winded 400+ word count days, but the newer passages are shorter and denser *and* everyone seems to get 4 passages (I have also heard about people getting 5).

· I have to bet the official SC is getting tougher. Especially among the forum crowd you have a lot of memorizers who might have gotten by on previous “memorize between vs. among” or “memorize such as vs. like” questions but now they’re more reasoning-based (more questions based on accurate meaning). And I doubt the most popular tests have caught up, so they’re practicing for older questions.

· Really the best explanation I have is that the test is evolving faster than some popular practice tests.

· ALSO – I wonder how many prep tests are from people doing AWA/IR first. I bet IR saps people’s energy more than they think and they’re losing focus toward the end.

· Perhaps a downside to a lot of forum time - I wonder if students had seen enough practice test questions discussed on the forums - or direct ripoffs and variations of them - that their scores were a little inflated.

On the whole, the point is that actual GMAT is tougher than some popular practice tests. These tests have probably been the same for the past 3-4 yrs though the pattern especially of Verbal has changed drastically.

My suggestion going forward will be to adapt yourself to the new GMAT - shorter but denser RCs and reasoning based SCs. Try to get hold of some latest tests for two reasons - the questions would be better suited to the current GMAT and the questions would be *new* i.e. they wouldn't have been discussed on the forum before. Also, web based tests are better than downloadable one. (Let me add here that one neat feature of our new tests is that they're web based and easy to update, so we can update, add, and delete questions instantly.)

In the actual GMAT, people expect to score similar to their prep test scores. But in the last few days, I have come across quite a few cases on the forum in which people score much lower on GMAT verbal than they do on prep test verbal. So I thought of digging up a bit on why this might be taking place.

Here are some of Brian's thoughts (and my comments in brackets):

· A lot of prep RC passages are “old” in the longer-winded 400+ word count days, but the newer passages are shorter and denser *and* everyone seems to get 4 passages (I have also heard about people getting 5).

· I have to bet the official SC is getting tougher. Especially among the forum crowd you have a lot of memorizers who might have gotten by on previous “memorize between vs. among” or “memorize such as vs. like” questions but now they’re more reasoning-based (more questions based on accurate meaning). And I doubt the most popular tests have caught up, so they’re practicing for older questions.

· Really the best explanation I have is that the test is evolving faster than some popular practice tests.

· ALSO – I wonder how many prep tests are from people doing AWA/IR first. I bet IR saps people’s energy more than they think and they’re losing focus toward the end.

· Perhaps a downside to a lot of forum time - I wonder if students had seen enough practice test questions discussed on the forums - or direct ripoffs and variations of them - that their scores were a little inflated.

On the whole, the point is that actual GMAT is tougher than some popular practice tests. These tests have probably been the same for the past 3-4 yrs though the pattern especially of Verbal has changed drastically.

My suggestion going forward will be to adapt yourself to the new GMAT - shorter but denser RCs and reasoning based SCs. Try to get hold of some latest tests for two reasons - the questions would be better suited to the current GMAT and the questions would be *new* i.e. they wouldn't have been discussed on the forum before. Also, web based tests are better than downloadable one. (Let me add here that one neat feature of our new tests is that they're web based and easy to update, so we can update, add, and delete questions instantly.)

Hi Karishma,

I agree with - · Really the best explanation I have is that the test is evolving faster than some popular practice tests.
but what is solution for this? Practice tests from prep companies are, are only source. I think ball in their court now.

and this - actual GMAT is tougher than some popular practice tests.

Please tell me how to do what you mention here "Try to get hold of some latest tests"
GMATPrep only offers two exams. Every one already has OG's, OG Supplements as well the official Question Pack.

What else do we do?

I might have to buy some new tests or try something different for the verbal section next time I take the GMAT...

I got a Q48 V29 --> 640, but my practice tests were all V33 - V37, so i was pretty shocked, I used 4 CATs from kaplan and 3 CATs from MGMAT, my gmatpreps gave me the highest verbal scores actuall V36 and V37, so i was pretty confused when I got my results, perhaps it was my lack of energy toward the end

I don't think the ratio is that skewed. If you get more passages, you might get fewer questions per passage. People usually get 4 passages and 3/4 questions per passage so they would get around 14 questions from RC (par for the course). If they get 5 passages, they may get only 3 questions per passage and hence 15 questions - in this case RC has slightly more weightage. The issue here is that it takes a lot of time to go through the passage and understand it. Having fewer questions from more passages eats into your time.