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hanminhee
Joined: 31 May 2015
Last visit: 06 Jul 2020
Posts: 21
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Given Kudos: 9
Schools: Fisher '19 (A)
19 Dec 2016, 04:16
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Hi guys,
I just wrote GMAT this morning and only managed to get a 690 (Q49, V34). My target is 720-740 and so, I currently feel really disheartened, feeling myself so stupid, especially when I already studied for 3 months. My problem is Verbal score.
Below are my CATs 2 weeks before actual exam:
GMAT 1 750 (Q48V44)-8 repeats in Verbal, so it was just a fluke
MGMAT 1 680 (Q46V36)
GMAT 3 760 (Q50V44)-7-8 repeats in Verbal, but this time, I changed the strategy, if I encountered a repeat that I used to do wrong, I marked it wrong to avoid inflated score.
GMAT 4 760 (Q49V45)-again 6 repeats in Verbal, and adopted the same strategy with repeats.
I know that even when I marked wrong the previous question I got wrong, the scores would still be inflated a bit, but I didn't expect a drop of 60-70 points on real exam
-Is that because I did too few CAT? just 4? I realized people often did about 5-6 or so.
-My time management sucks too. I often finished ahead of time during CATs, but in actual exams, I became confident that I already had a sense of time so I didn't check the timer often. When I had the second passage, question 19 or so, I checked the timer and noticed that I only had 30 mins left. It was when I freaked out and couldn't focus on anything but the thought that my GMAT was done! When reviewing the GMATPrep again after exam to get my true pace , I realized that my weakest point is CR and most of repeat questions were on CR, hard level. So I must save some time, (not thinking about the repeat question during CAT as I just ticked it wrong and moved to the next one) and that's why I often finished ahead of time (7-8 mins)
Do you guys have any suggestion to improve CR? To be honest, I don't think I suck at reasoning in real life situation but somehow reasoning in GMAT is always ticking me off. I remember that Ron onced said the best CR strategy is to try to personnalize the question and once I personalize the prompt enough, I ended up with OFS option
))
-Reading and SC are not my problem in CAT. I didn't encounter too hard reading passage that I didn't understand the flow or general idea but the problem I faced in real test was that options were too similar. Normally in GMATPrep, I didn't see a repeat passage and was still able to get all Reading section correctly (so I assumed no inflated score for Reading here like CR section) but in real test, they always threw 2 options that I didn't know what to choose and that's when I lost pace.
I just had no idea what could contribute to my dismal performance todayI had normal routine, good sleep, no nerves:( I just registered for a retake but couldn't get over the thought that some of my friends working full time as I do and only studying for 3 months were able to cross 700 and I was here, same timeline but only 690, which made me feel even more of a loser.
Thanks!
I just wrote GMAT this morning and only managed to get a 690 (Q49, V34). My target is 720-740 and so, I currently feel really disheartened, feeling myself so stupid, especially when I already studied for 3 months. My problem is Verbal score.
Below are my CATs 2 weeks before actual exam:
GMAT 1 750 (Q48V44)-8 repeats in Verbal, so it was just a fluke
MGMAT 1 680 (Q46V36)
GMAT 3 760 (Q50V44)-7-8 repeats in Verbal, but this time, I changed the strategy, if I encountered a repeat that I used to do wrong, I marked it wrong to avoid inflated score.
GMAT 4 760 (Q49V45)-again 6 repeats in Verbal, and adopted the same strategy with repeats.
I know that even when I marked wrong the previous question I got wrong, the scores would still be inflated a bit, but I didn't expect a drop of 60-70 points on real exam
-Is that because I did too few CAT? just 4? I realized people often did about 5-6 or so.
-My time management sucks too. I often finished ahead of time during CATs, but in actual exams, I became confident that I already had a sense of time so I didn't check the timer often. When I had the second passage, question 19 or so, I checked the timer and noticed that I only had 30 mins left. It was when I freaked out and couldn't focus on anything but the thought that my GMAT was done! When reviewing the GMATPrep again after exam to get my true pace , I realized that my weakest point is CR and most of repeat questions were on CR, hard level. So I must save some time, (not thinking about the repeat question during CAT as I just ticked it wrong and moved to the next one) and that's why I often finished ahead of time (7-8 mins)
Do you guys have any suggestion to improve CR? To be honest, I don't think I suck at reasoning in real life situation but somehow reasoning in GMAT is always ticking me off. I remember that Ron onced said the best CR strategy is to try to personnalize the question and once I personalize the prompt enough, I ended up with OFS option
))-Reading and SC are not my problem in CAT. I didn't encounter too hard reading passage that I didn't understand the flow or general idea but the problem I faced in real test was that options were too similar. Normally in GMATPrep, I didn't see a repeat passage and was still able to get all Reading section correctly (so I assumed no inflated score for Reading here like CR section) but in real test, they always threw 2 options that I didn't know what to choose and that's when I lost pace.
I just had no idea what could contribute to my dismal performance today
I had normal routine, good sleep, no nerves:( I just registered for a retake but couldn't get over the thought that some of my friends working full time as I do and only studying for 3 months were able to cross 700 and I was here, same timeline but only 690, which made me feel even more of a loser. Thanks!
20 Dec 2016, 15:40
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Hi hanminhee,
First off, a 690/Q49 is a fantastic score (it's just shy of the 90th percentile overall), so it could be enough to get you into your first-choice School. As such, a retest might not be necessary. 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. There's a Forum full of them here:
ask-admission-consultants-124/
Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" your scores can become - and that's what happened here. By seeing repeat questions on those CATs, you weren't properly training for the FULL GMAT 'experience.' As such, we can't consider any of those CAT results to be accurate. GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability, so you could have very easily scored 700+ on the GMAT. At higher and higher scoring levels, the GMAT becomes really 'sensitive' to little mistakes though - if you make too many, then a 700+ score simply becomes impossible to achieve.
You could conceivably retest in a month and score well into the 700s, but you'll have to learn/practice some new Tactics and you'll have to take new CATs in a more realistic and test-like fashion.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
First off, a 690/Q49 is a fantastic score (it's just shy of the 90th percentile overall), so it could be enough to get you into your first-choice School. As such, a retest might not be necessary. 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. There's a Forum full of them here:
ask-admission-consultants-124/
Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" your scores can become - and that's what happened here. By seeing repeat questions on those CATs, you weren't properly training for the FULL GMAT 'experience.' As such, we can't consider any of those CAT results to be accurate. GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability, so you could have very easily scored 700+ on the GMAT. At higher and higher scoring levels, the GMAT becomes really 'sensitive' to little mistakes though - if you make too many, then a 700+ score simply becomes impossible to achieve.
You could conceivably retest in a month and score well into the 700s, but you'll have to learn/practice some new Tactics and you'll have to take new CATs in a more realistic and test-like fashion.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
beefphoforthewin
Joined: 25 Sep 2014
Last visit: 06 Dec 2017
Posts: 53
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 4
Location: United States
Schools: Booth '19 (A) Kellogg '19 (I) Tuck '19 (I)
GMAT 1: 750 Q50 V40
GPA: 3.4
20 Dec 2016, 16:07
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From your username I assumed you are an Asian applicant and yes, you will need a higher GMAT to be a competitive applicant for top 10 schools
There are many reasons for a lower than expected GMAT score (doing the same practice tests with same questions and get higher practice score being one of them). I would suggest taking different GMAT tests from various sources (there are A LOT of free ones - there is a thread on gmatclub that dedicated to free tests) to build sense of time and testing stamina
And don't feel like a loser, lots of test score (and even the admission process) will be attributed to luck
690 means you already have what it takes to cross the 700 mark, just need to try a little harder
There are many reasons for a lower than expected GMAT score (doing the same practice tests with same questions and get higher practice score being one of them). I would suggest taking different GMAT tests from various sources (there are A LOT of free ones - there is a thread on gmatclub that dedicated to free tests) to build sense of time and testing stamina
And don't feel like a loser, lots of test score (and even the admission process) will be attributed to luck
690 means you already have what it takes to cross the 700 mark, just need to try a little harder
