640 on GMAT..want to go above 750!

Question

Hi all,

I took my GMAT today and scored a mere 640(Q50, V27).

I have an engineering background so I have never had a problem with maths. My only concern was Verbal. I invested a good amount of time in the preparation but still landed up with this score. I am a little dejected and really want to know what could be the possible reason.

Resources used for content knowledge:  
1. Manhattan SC, CR
2. Aristotle RC
3. GMAT Club book for Maths.

Resources used for practicing questions:

1. Practice Questions
OG 12th and 13th edition
Practicing questions from GMAT Club forums (timed)
Collection of various question sets for SC and CR from GMAT Club
Bunuel's question sets

2. Practice CATs
MGMAT #1 540 (Q34, V19)
MGMAT #2 680 (Q44, V26)
MGMAT #3 750 (Q51, V51)
MGMAT #4 710 (Q51, V36) --(took the test after a gap of 3 weeks in preparation due to some personal reasons)
MGMAT #5 710 (Q48, V38)
MGMAT #6 730 (Q51, V39)
GMAT Prep #1 750 (Q51, V40) --(included some questions practiced already from GMAT Club)
GMAT Prep #2 720 (Q50, V37) --(same as above)

Given all this information I want to know that were did I lack to score such a low score on the real thing. I always maintained an error log, identified my weak areas and worked on them. Also studied the MGMATs assessment reports carefully to find out weak areas. So were did I go wrong?

Also, the only mistake I made was not to revise any theory as in any strategy guides before my exam day. Another thing I observed was that I was too tensed during the exam and was highly under pressure.

I have to give my GMAT again and score well but I am really blank to even identify where I went wrong.
Kindly help me out.

KarishmaB · Answer

Many people nowadays are facing this very problem - good Verbal scores in Practice tests, not-so-good in actual GMAT. The reasons are not hard to find. We researched these cases and wrote a post explaining the possible reasons here: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2013/08 ... bal-score/
Hope this will give you some ideas.

You did a great job in Quant so revision of theory is immaterial. In Verbal, there is no theory that needs revision. You have theory in Verbal but you go through it before working on questions and utilize it during practice. It is always fresh in your mind. You don't need any 'revision'.

Again, if tension were the culprit, we would have seen an impact on Quant scores too. Tension, if it makes you forget things, makes you forget everything. I don't think it works selectively so I think you should not dwell on this point either. Everyone is tensed before a test - the structure and scoring of the test incorporate this.

rockstar23 · Answer

Firstly, I would like to thank you for your reply. I read the post you have given above and would like to tell you that RC's did take a lot of time. Even though I had practiced all GMAT Prep RC's, I found it tough to answer convoluted RC's on my exam day. Can you pls suggest any additional content for practice?

Secondly, I would want you to know is that when I practiced SC during my prep, I had a good accuracy. I had also covered all GMAT Prep SC's from GMAT Clubs collection. However, SC's on my exam had hardly any questions of the 3-2 type. Most of them were confusing in terms of meaning. So it took more time for me than it does usually.

I again thank you for your response and will try to work on the facts pointed out by you.

Hope these observations help someone else as well.

640 on GMAT..want to go above 750!

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