100 points drop from the official mock to the actual test

Question

I have been preparing for the GMAT for the last 60days.

Materials used:-

1. Manhattan prep books
2.Official guide.
3.Official and Verbal Quant Review.

Mock Tests:-

Source Date V Q Toal Score
1 Official Mock-1 15 May 2020 34 45 640
2 Manhattan 24 May 2020 34 43 640
3 Manhattan 02 July 2020 33 45 640
4 Manhattan 07 July 2020 35 44 650
5 Experts Global 08 July 2020 41 49 740
6 e-GMAT 10 July 2020 32 47 650
7 Official Mock-2 13 July 2020 40 49 730
8 Manhattan 14 July 2020 37 44 670
9 Manhattan 16 July 2020 37 46 680
10 Manhattan 17 July 2020 32 46 640
11 Official Mock-1, Lots of Repeat question 19 July 2020 44 51 770
12 Official Mock-2, At most 3 repeat questions 20 July 2020 40 48 710
13 GMAT 21-07-2020 31 45 630

Note: I took all the tests at one go.

Since the time the result flashed on the test day I have been puzzled as to what may be the reasons. I was expecting a score in the range of 690-740 ( I was of the impression that 50 points on total or Q+3-4 can be added to the manhattan Mocks), which I presume is a pretty wide bandwidth. I have been perplexed and seeking an answer. Few answers that I have come up with are:-

1. I was too burned out, shouldn't have taken so many mocks at the fag end.
2. I may not have developed strong enough approaches to fall back on during the tensed exam situation.

But I am not sure what led to what.

However, I no more know what to base my 2nd attempt on. Seeking advice on the following questions:-

1. Should I give a short break, brush up in a week's time, attempt a couple of mocks, and based on that go for another attempt?
2. Should I take professional help and start from scratch?

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Two things that come to mind are taking so many mocks so close together - do you think that may have tired you out on the actual day?  , - and the repeat questions in your final two mocks skewing the results.

It may be true that Manhattan Mocks are a bit tougher but...maybe you were not as tired out on those days or the mock was just simply more accurate at predicting your score.

DisciplinedPrep · Answer

shubhajeetsil  - I am sorry that you could not achieve your target GMAT score. I observe that your office tests had repeat questions; therefore, did you reset and take the tests? If yes, then both 770 and 710 are inaccurate score estimations. The average of most of your practice tests is around 650 and therefore I do not see a huge discrepancy from your real-GMAT score, i.e. 630. Did you review every practice test religiously? Did you fix all your weak areas before the D-day? If not, chances are that you are unlucky enough to get a bunch of questions, in both verbal and quant, from your weak areas. Having said all that, I would advise you to not be disappointed with the score. Work hard for the second attempt, in order to achieve a higher GMAT score. Please follow GMAT Club's retake strategy, available in my signature.

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  shubhajeetsil , I observed that there has especially been a phenomenal variance in your  Verbal  scores. Unfortunately, such variance is generally symptomatic of shaky concepts.

Hence, it might not be a bad idea to  take professional help and start from scratch . However, best way to asses would be to do a trial class and then take a call on whether this would stand to benefit you.

Whatever you decide, do have some  patience . Fortunes are unlikely to change  overnight .

Looking at your scores, it does seem that you have the  potential . Converting that  potential , into actual  performance  will require commitment and patience.

p.s. Considering that you got repeat questions on your official mock tests, the d-day score looks more like a  50  point drop (than a  100 -point drop).

nick06jun · Answer

I was referring to the Official mock 2 score of 730 on 13th July

Posted from my mobile device

EducationAisle · Answer

Yeah...but on the last official mock, you got 710 despite 3 repeat questions.

My larger comment was about the significant  variance  in your various mock scores. Unfortunately, on the exam day, it was just that the variance resulted on the  lower  side of the spectrum:(.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi shubajeetsil,

You ask some great questions. I think the answer lies somewhere in between your two plans. First off, I do think you should take about a week off, but after that, you should give yourself more time than just one week to prepare for a retake. I think you need to keep working on improving your quant and verbal skills but build off of what you have already learned, you know what I mean? If you want more specific advice on how to improve your quant and verbal skills, feel free to reach out. Also, you may find it helpful to read the following articles:

Why Was My GMAT Score Lower Than My Practice Test Scores?

How to Score a 700+ on the GMAT — A Mini Guide for Success

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi shubhajeetsil,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so with just 2 months of study time, you might not have honed all of the necessary skills needed to score at that higher level. In addition, the process of taking (and reviewing) a CAT requires a significant amount of energy and effort - and takes time to 'recover' from. This is one of the reasons why you typically should not take more than 1 CAT per week - and your last CAT should be taken about 1 week before Test Day. You were clearly taking CATs far more frequently than that - and you may have inadvertently 'burned out' a bit before your Official GMAT. We have to be careful about assuming that those are the only possible reasons for your drop in score though.

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. Before we discuss any of those potential issues though, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) Did you take your GMAT at a Test Facility or did you take the At-home GMAT?
2) How many hours do you typically study each week?
3) Did you use any other study materials besides the books you listed?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi,

It’s sad to hear that you couldn’t get the desired score. I can understand the feeling of getting 700+ scores on a few mocks and not able to reflect the same in the actual test. Don’t feel disappointed. An improvement is always possible. Let me share my observations.
First of all, taking too many mocks is never a great idea. And that too, when the scores are inconsistent, the right thing to do is to introspect the reason behind the inconsistency and work towards the right balance.

The possible reason behind the inconsistency in the mocks and the actual score: 
The scores of your mocks and the test tell that you might not be using the right strategies to solve the questions. They indicate that there is no definite approach and it keeps changing with every test. GMAT is an adaptive test and getting a string of questions wrong can greatly affect your score. So, it is always recommended to learn the right methodology and use it every time you take a test.

What should be the path forward! 
To answer your question, it is okay to take a short break. But a week is too fast to give another attempt. Giving an ample amount of time for preparation and then taking a test seems to be a good idea. This time, make sure you take the mocks carefully and book the slot only when you get consistent scores.
The focus now should be on filling the conceptual gaps and learning the right methodology to solve the questions. Your quant score is decent but there is a scope for improvement. In verbal, it’s better to start from the concepts again. Let me share a detailed approach for both the modules.

Plan for quant: 
The score indicates that you might be struggling with a few concepts. To identify them, I would recommend you to take sectional quizzes on each topic and mark the topic as your weaker area if you get less than 60% accuracy. 
Once you identify the weaker areas, start working on them by going through the concepts. I recommend you to work on one topic at a time. During the learning phase, make sure you learn the right methodology to solve the questions. After that, start taking sectional quizzes for the topic and move to the next only if you get easy-medium questions right. I reiterate that the focus should be on learning the right methodology.

Plan for verbal: 
In verbal there is a scope for overall improvement. There are chances that you might be doing well on a specific module (SC, CR or RC). You can know your performance level by taking the quizzes for each module. Let me tell you the right approach to approach verbal questions and the importance of using it.
  To solve SC questions, you need to approach them from a meaning stand-point. The main thing GMAT tests using SC questions is the ability to convey the right meaning without ambiguity. There can be answer choices with ho grammatical error and convey a logical meaning but do not convey the intended meaning. So, it is important to use the meaning-based approach.  
 To solve CR questions, you need to develop the ability to pre-think. This will help you save precious time and also guarantee you the right answer. To do this, you need to understand the framework behind the CR questions. 
 For RC, use the right reading strategies so that you can understand the intention behind the author’s writing of the passage.

How should you plan your studies and allocate the time? 
I recommend you to start with Verbal. Identify the weak areas and start working on them.
  In the 1st week and 2nd week, dedicate your time to verbal. Work on one topic at a time and take sectional quizzes. Then move to the next. 
 3rd week you can dedicate to quant. 
 The next week you can start giving equal time to quant and verbal. You can take a mock in this week and analyze the performance. 
 The next week, you can start taking mocks for every 2 or 3 days and analyze the score pattern.Once you start getting consistent scores, you can book a slot.

This should be the ideal study plan. If you wish to seek further help and know more about the study strategy, you can schedule a free consultation call with the GMAT Strategy Consultant using the below link.

Click here to schedule a call

nick06jun · Answer

Studies:
1) Did you take your GMAT at a Test Facility or did you take the At-home GMAT?

I took the test at a test center and took the mocks at home.

2) How many hours do you typically study each week?

For the past month, it's just been GMAT. 50 hours a week.

3) Did you use any other study materials besides the books you listed?
1.Powerscore CR Bible.
2. Novas Data Sufficiency, not thoroughly.

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
North of 710

5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?
Planning to apply by September mid. Is it too late?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi shubhajeetsil,

I've sent you a PM with some additional notes and questions.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

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100 points drop from the official mock to the actual test

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