4th Attempt: Stuck at 640 despite GMAT Off Prep performance of 660-710

Question

Hi,

I just took the test for the 4th time. I had expected to score in the range 680-710 based on the performance on my last 9 GMAT Mock scores which are as follows:

Veritas Prep Exams 
 
 Date       
 
May 19:       
May 29:       
July 2 :       
July 5 :       
July 7 :       
 
GMAT Official Prep Exams
 
Gmat Official Prep Exam 3: 660 (Q48, V34) 8th July
Gmat Official Prep Exam 4: 670 (Q49, V32) 10th July
Gmat Official Prep Exam 5: 660 (Q45, V36) 12th July
Gmat Official Prep Exam 6: 710 (Q50, V37) 13th July

Actual Test: 640 (Q48, V31) 16th July 2021

I knew I had not done well on CR particularly and I got the feeling even during the exam. It definitely wasn't my best attempt in Verbal and faced a time crunch towards the end as well. As a result, I had to leave the last two questions unattempted. I got my ESR. The Verbal results are:

CR: 44th Percentile
RC: 63rd Percentile
SC: 72nd Percentile

Percentage Correct: 
CR:
Analysis/Critique 50%
Construction/plan 50%

RC:
Inferred Idea: 83%
Stated Idea: 25%

SC:
Grammar: 66%
Communication 62%

Detailed Verbal ESR uploaded. Based on my recent mocks, I was very confident that I could score a V35 easily but faltered in the actual exam. Is it the exam pressure or there are still certain gaps in my understanding. The previous 3 attempts had been horrible and in the range 590-630 but this time around with improved understanding and better mock performance, I expected to easily score in the range 680-700.

A year ago, I had taken the EGMAT course for more than six months (initially 3 months and then a few extensions). I gave the online gmat during covid last year and my online experience was horrible. But I also had issues with RC and SC. I then worked on the issues. Critical Reasoning was one of my stronger areas as I would answer correctly but just consume north of 2:00 minutes. I also worked on my Quantitative section mostly from GMAT Club test, which I think helped in scoring consistently above 48 in Quant. EGMAT course formed the foundation of my understanding (truly grateful) and I approach SC and CR Questions on the method taught by EGMAT. But now after taking the prep course and numerous mock tests, I think have run out of options or may be the direction to how to go about it. I would be extremely grateful if someone could help me find a direction/plan to improve my score at least to 680-700 band. I guess I have hit rock bottom in self-reflection after the 4th item. This is the year that I have to apply for B-school. Therefore, the upcoming admission cycle is extremely critical and I cannot delay my application any further.

ReedArnoldMPREP · Answer

The good news is a Q48 is excellent.

In verbal, for starters, your timing is way out of whack. You go **5 out of the last 14 questions** (and also... maybe did you leave a question blank? Oddly, the last 'chunk' of verbal usually represents 8 questions, but based on those percentages it only represents another 7... Which either means you got an extra experimental question, or, you left a question blank at the end (but I didn't know the ESR 'scrapped' that question... strange. Someone might know more than me how that happened)).

You also are rushing badly in the back half, particularly on that last chunk of questions. Your second chunk of questions, average 2:35 per question, is eating up too much time. You also missed at least one easier question in that column, possibly 2. Easy misses can really put a ceiling on a score.

How is your verbal timing, generally? There's something big to be fixed there, it seems to me.

swim2109 · Answer

Yes I did leave a question in the end.

My timing in verbal is generally on lower side. I generally find myself rushing in the last 4-5 questions. So when I reach the 30th question its generally 5 minutes left to complete the section.

ReedArnoldMPREP · Answer

Have you considered... fixing this? If you miss a slew of questions at the end, there's no time to make up for it. If you skip a question here and there throughout, you can recover. This is a cut and dry way to improve.

swim2109 · Answer

Yeah I mean I was scoring on avg V33-34 with the strategy of rushing in the last quarter. Okay will try to do a mock with this strategy of skipping 2-3 questions in the middle so that I can improve on the last few. However, I think I have a real difficulty in doing CR problems within 1:50 seconds.

ReedArnoldMPREP · Answer

So skip a few and do the ones you do in 2:20.

You do not need to put full effort into every question. This cannot be stressed enough.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi swim2109,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day did not turn out better. A 640/Q48 is still a solid Score though - and it could be enough to get you into your first-choice School. 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) On what dates did you take EACH of your Official GMATs and how did you score on each (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each)?
2) Over the last 3 months, 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?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) What specific application deadlines are you facing?

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). I'll need to see your FULL ESR though (and not just this part of it). If you would rather not publicly post the entire ESR, then you can feel free to PM it directly to me.

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

VirFortis · Answer

swim2109
Three points -
1. It seems you are investing a lot of time at the beginning of your test, which is leading you to rush through your last quarter. I have faced this issue and fixed it by working on my timing strategy.
A. https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/everything-know-gmat-time-management-part-3/
B. I started looking for patterns in questions and doing long analysis to find more efficient ways to solve the OG problems. This helped me solve Easy/Med Questions within 2 mins. This will help you improve your performance in the last section.

2. For verbal, it seems you are re-reading the statements a lot. That is a major reason for high time consumption for questions. Try to break sentences and understand them in chunks. I have tried the suggestions provided by Sunita Singhvi from gmatwhiz - You can check it out this session -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ENEmsHTvn8&t=2306s

3. Based on your GMAT Mock Test scores, it seems your 660 is within range; but still might not be performing at your highest level because of nervousness. I have found the below video really useful during my prep. This can help you shed the nervousness and take GMAT with ease and perform at your highest level.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odPwOQI_O0Q

Hope this is useful to you or anyone in a similar situation.

I am on the same journey as you and have faced similar problems. The above suggestions have helped me, hopefully, they can help you as well. Internet is great, if you let it help you.

Please give Kudos, if it is helpful in any way.

Thanks

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

I’m sorry to hear how things went with your GMAT.

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 V31. 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.

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?

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi swim2109,

I know how it feels to not be able to hit your target score repeatedly despite consistent and dedicated efforts over a considerable period of time. However, it’s good to see that you are eager to work on your weak areas to achieve your goal. Let me help you.

For scoring 700 and above, you need to get the easy medium questions right as GMAT test is adaptive in nature. You can afford making mistakes only in the latter half of the Section, not in the beginning. You have to make the GMAT algorithm serve you difficult questions and get them right. For that, being conceptually clear on all topics is really vital. Not only this, you have to be good with application of concepts because  GMAT is a test of application of concepts .

As evident from your score breakup, you have a good command over Quant, just a bit more methodical application of concept would help you get a Q50. If you are struggling with any particular topic, you can share with me for help.

However, your Verbal score is an area of concern. You clearly need to work hard in case of Verbal and develop a solid understanding first by revisiting the concepts and then approach the problems in a systematic and logical method.

Time management is one of the most important skills for competitive exams that most students struggle with. There is a significant penalty for failing to complete any section of the GMAT exam, so it is also important to develop pacing skills. Once you hone your time management skills strategically, you will be confident about not missing out on any questions on the test day.

The possible reason for struggling with time management in case of Verbal: 
Talking about the reason behind struggling with time management, you are likely taking more time to solve RC questions. The reason for this might be you are taking too long to read a passage or you might be going back and forth to the passage for every question. This happens when you don’t use the right reading strategies. Students often read the passage from a detail perspective and stuff themselves with the details. And once they come across an inferential question or a main point question, they cannot answer it and they read the passage again to find the answer. This would often lead to the wastage of time.

While in case of CR, the reason could be -not having conceptually clear knowledge about how to approach CR problems thereby leading to confusion in eliminating the incorrect choices. You have to follow certain steps while solving CR questions:
  Read the argument 
 Identify the premise and the conclusion 
 Read the question stem 
 Identify the missing link (Pre-think the assumption) 
 Eliminate answer choices which are irrelevant or out of scope

Identifying the conclusion helps you understand the scope of the argument, which in turn helps you to eliminate answer choices which fall out of scope. And to develop the ability to pre-think, you need to understand the framework on which most CR questions are based. Once you identify the framework, there are certain guidelines using which you can come up with the missing link.

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 and avoid taking too much time in solving questions.
  For SC – Follow the meaning based approach.  
 For CR – Focus on Scope Analysis and Framework driven Pre-thinking.  
 For RC – Involve yourself in the passage and understand why the passage is written and not just on what’s written.

This should help.

Important Tip –   Don’t practice tons of questions directly. First focus on learning the right methods for each question. That plays a significant role in getting hard questions correct within 2 mins.

Finally, looking at your scores, there is a clear lack of consistency in your scores as well. One possible reason could be that you’re following too many sources of information and have now confused yourself. I would suggest you to only focus and study from one source, whatever it may be.

Feel free to reach out to me in case you have any more queries.

If you wish to discuss this over a call, you can schedule a free consultation call using the below link. 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

4th Attempt: Stuck at 640 despite GMAT Off Prep performance of 660-710

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