4th Attempt - 660

Question

Hello,
I gave my GMAT yesterday and scored a 660 again.
I began my prep in 2018 and since then I have attempted the test 4 times. My scores were 590(2018), 660(2020), 640(2021) and finally 660-Q49,V30(2021).
In past few years I have worked with two test prep companies to see improvement in my scores but I am stuck at this 650 plateau.
After putting rigorous efforts during the pandemic, in past 1 year my score has remained approx. the same.
My last 3 mocks scores were :
Manhattan 1 - 700 
Manhattan 2 - 720
GMATPrep 6 - 760
In today's online exam I was confident with my prep the way I have never been before, and the first verbal question seemed to be at least a 750 level question. It was very complicated and the same was the case with subsequent verbal questions. Infact I saw that the quant portion was also much more complicated than I have usually seen. 
Could you please recommend how should I move forward from here. (I am yet to receive the official score and ESR to analyze further)
I would really appreciate your advice.

Regards,
Prateek

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Hi  Prateek101 
Thank you for sharing the concern.
Your mock scores and the real score are at a huge variance and we think it could be due to the test taking strategies gone wrong. The first question many a times is a make or break situation and it is quite possible that a complicated question set the tone of the test.
An ESR can speak a lot of how you fared through the questions and the split of time can supplement the analysis.
It is also possible that you haven't attempted questions like the ones you encountered in the real test and that unsettled you. 
Your verbal scores need a huge upgrade and we suggest that you pay increased attention to verbal while practicing Quant questions on a daily basis.
We suggest you to analyze the mocks and figure out the verbal questions where you went wrong.
Ask yourself why you went wrong. There will always be a pattern. Identify the weak links and close them.
Take a break of a few days and reboot yourself.
There is never a problem that has not got a solution. So we humbly suggest you to identify the issues(in this case scrutinize the Verbal part with a fine eye once you receive your ESR).
Please take help of professionals who can guide you in case you are not able to figure out the issues yourself.
We hope you have got some push to move from here. Pls connect with us in case of any disclarity.

Thank You
Crackverbal Academics

MathRevolution · Answer

Hello Prateek101,

A score of 660 with Q49 is decent and tells the entire story about how well prepared you are for the GMAT and how to change the gear now to meet the target score in reality.

With my GMAT tutoring, guidance, and counseling experience, we have to accept a fact with a pinch of salt that diagnostic/ mock test scores are above then what one should expect in a real test. There is often dropping in the score. Some students have even experienced a drop of 100 pointers. It is one of the realities, and your preparation should not sideline this fact.

A couple of things that can be a noticeable barrier to your scores would be some or all of the below.

• No expert support (maybe) who can tutor, analyze, and guide you during your learning especially on hard-level questions while stably hitting middle-level questions.
• Lack of many updated questions and practice in the recent exam trend
• Not well aligned with time to solve questions.

Start with the learning of the concepts. Make a habit of taking notes during the initial learning of the concepts.

The day regular mock tests show the consistent score of Q48+ with V37+, then it will reflect the positive change in the score, and hence, your confidence will boost up. Gradually, with the help of mock tests, you will be able to compete with time and therefore, will be able to learn time management.

We appreciate your time and patience in reading this reply.

Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]

Success is within your reach.
Good luck!

Math Revolution Team

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi Prateek, First of all, a Q49 is a solid score to secure in Quant Section. However, sorry about how things went with your GMAT. I can understand how it feels to be stuck with a particular thing for a considerable period of time without getting the desired outcome. Let me share my insights on this. (Long post ahead but I am sure it will be worth your time

) Looking at your individual break up of score, you have almost mastered the Quant section, a little brush up/ guidance may help you score Q50-51 though. However, you are surely on the wrong path for verbal preparation. What you are experiencing is just the symptom and not the disease . Early diagnosis of actual disease is important for curing it. Your verbal score clearly indicates there are many conceptual gaps and you may need to start from scratch, revisit the concepts and get a clear understanding of them before you solve the questions. Verbal questions on GMAT are very tricky. Let me help you with the right way to approach your Verbal Prep. How to Ace your Verbal Prep? For GMAT Verbal, it is very important that you follow the right methodology and the logical approach. Your focus has to be on eliminating four incorrect choices rather than choosing the right one . The key is to develop a solid understanding of the concepts that are typically tested on the GMAT and master the process skills that are required to solve GMAT questions. Only then, you will be able to smartly avoid the traps set by the test makers. Before you start learning, it's important to understand what is actually tested using the questions. Each module in Verbal (SC, CR and RC) has to be approached in a different way. For example, before you start learning the concepts of SC, you need to understand that SC questions on GMAT test your ability to convey the right meaning without any ambiguity. So, it's important to approach them from a meaning stand-point. You might have often come across answer choices which are both grammatically correct and convey a logical meaning but are indeed incorrect because they do not convey the intended meaning. So, the process to approach SC questions is to: Comprehend the original meaning of the sentence Identify errors if any (both grammatical and meaning wise) Eliminate answer choices which either are grammatically incorrect or do not convey the intended meaning Also, improving in SC alone won’t fetch you the desired score. You need to prepare for RC and CR as well in a structured and efficient manner. You have to follow a methodical and systematic approach while solving the questions in order to work on your accuracy and increase your score. For example, In CR, you have to understand the argument, identify the premise and the conclusion and then pre-think the answer before looking at the solutions. In RC, you need to have the right reading strategies to understand the inferences which are not directly stated in the passage. I’d recommend you to follow this order for the verbal part - SC->CR-RC . The reason for this is very specific. Each question type on the GMAT is testing a specific skill. SC tests your comprehension skills. CR tests comprehension & analytical skills. Finally, RC builds on the previous two skills and also tests your ability to be able to grasp the central point of the passage i.e. Your inferential skills. Thus, when you learn in this order, it's much more effective. This should help. The importance of using a standard resource: The only method to make sure that you invest your time, money and effort in an effective way is to use a standard resource which teaches you the concepts, strategies and also helps you work on your weaker areas. Studying using OG or a few random resources might help you to solve GMAT like questions but I’m afraid that they won’t be able to help you much from a strategy perspective. I would suggest you to go for some standard course for your Verbal preparation atleast which can help you prepare in a structured and efficient manner thereby increasing your productivity. It’s always better to spare some more time on your preparation until you are ready instead of missing out on your dream colleges/ b-schools in hurry. GMATWhiz helps you with all these things as we follow a structured and methodical way of teaching things , which makes the learning process simpler and efficient. It also helps you to develop an understanding of the test maker’s intention behind asking the question. It uses an AI powered learning platform to provide you with real time improvement modules after every practice quiz. It provides you with additional concept videos and practise quizzes which helps you overcome your weaker areas in a specific topic right away without having to put in additional effort to identify your weaker areas. You can check out GMATWhiz and go for its Verbal Prep Course. Here’s a link to our free trial – https://learn.gmatwhiz.com/?page=signup Having said that, I need a little more information about your GMAT preparation in order to suggest a plan of action. I would like to know more about: the way you prepared till now (your study strategy) your weak areas your approach of solving questions the resources you have used Answers to these questions will help me guide you in a better way. And I personally suggest to go for the retake only after you prepared well and are 100% confident. It would be better to have a one-on-one conversation with you. The discussion would be mostly around the answers to the above questions, the approximate time you have for the next attempt and the revised plan of action. You can also share your ESR once you have it with you as it will be even more helpful to get the insights about your performance. You use use the link below to schedule a call with me. Considering the effort, you have put, I would really like to know the concerns and help you improve your score. Click here to schedule a call

Prateek101 · Answer

Thank you all for the quick response. I will spend next few days to analyze what is being said here and accordingly decide how do I proceed further. It suddenly becomes a bit scary after your 4th attempt because now I am left with just 4 more. GMATWhizTeam , Here is my reply to the questions posed by you. I need a little more information about your GMAT preparation in order to suggest a plan of action. I would like to know more about: - the way you prepared till now (your study strategy) => in 2018 I did self study, then I took bought eGMAT complete pack, followed by few renewals and finally 2020 I worked with GMATWhiz

- your weak areas => I am going to focus on Verbal because that is what is causing the entire gap; My weak areas are CR (Flaw, FIB, Weaken) followed by RC (Inference). I don't face too much difficulty with SC but then I am waiting for my ESR to see if I bombed the SC as well. - your approach of solving questions => SC - finding the intended meaning is my priority, CR - Understanding the passage, (I sometimes lose track of conclusion and make major silly mistakes-happened to me in 1st question of my latest attempt as well), then finally hint of rethink not too much because personally for me deep rethink affects my POE, RC - Understand the passage, focus on what others say and what author points out. - the resources you have used - eGMAT, GMATWhiz, MGMAT Mocks and OGs Regards, py

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Prateek101,

Assuming that you took your official practice exams under realistic testing conditions, the results show that, on a good day, you are capable of scoring higher than V30. Thus, it’s quite possible that nerves, stress, tiredness, or a combination of all three negatively affected your test-day performance. However, it’s also possible that you have some lingering weaknesses that were exposed on test day. Although I’m unsure of how you prepared, it’s possible that, in your preparation, particularly in verbal, you did not really learn to do what you have to do in order to score high on the actual GMAT. Rather, you picked up on some patterns that were effective in getting you relatively high scores on practice tests. So, for you to hit your score goal, your preparation, particularly for verbal, probably needs to be more complete, meaning that you have to go through the various types of GMAT questions carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills.

For verbal specifically, you have to become more skilled at clearly defining the differences between trap choices and correct answers. Otherwise, you will get stuck guessing between two choices or be surprised to find that you incorrectly answered questions that you thought you answered correctly. Becoming more skilled in this way takes carefully analyzing all of the answer choices to lots of verbal questions to develop an eye for the logical differences between the choices. In other words, you have to go beyond answering practice questions and reading explanations to doing deep analysis of questions to learn to see everything that is going on in them.

In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new quant and verbal materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the  best quant  and  verbal courses .

You also may find it helpful to read the following articles:

how to score a 700+ on the GMAT

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

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Prateek,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day did not turn out better. A 660/Q49 is still a solid Score though, so it could be enough to get you into your first-choice School. Depending on the Schools that you plan to apply to, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile and plans. Those Experts should be able to answer your Admissions questions and help define the specific areas of your profile that could use some improvement. There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take each of your 4 Official GMATs - and what were the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH?
2) How long did you study before each attempt? For this 4th attempt, how many hours did you typically study each week?
3) What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used over the course of ALL of your studies?
4) For this 4th attempt, on what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

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

While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchased the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you (and if you would rather not post it publicly, then you can feel free to PM it directly to me).

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

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi Prateek101,

I think a better way would be to connect with me on call using the link given below so that you can take me through your exact pain points. I am sure we can devise a revised strategy for you that would help you get rid of these hurdles soon.

Click here to schedule a call

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