710 in Gmatprep but 540 on GMAT day-OCT 21st 2011

Question

So far, I never ever posted any thing on any forum. This happens to be my first post on any forum

Just brief intro: I am from pune, India. Qualifications: Mech Engg from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee+ 3 yrs exp in an Automotive firm, India.

I gave my official GMAT on Oct 21st in Pune, India. I was so shocked to see score of 540(Q46, V20). 
It happens if you are a beginner or you did not do enough Gmat materials. However, it is not the case. I started my Prep in Jan 2011.
I studied regularly for about 2 hours daily. These are the books I have finished studying so far.
1)Mgmat SC 4th Ed(3 times)
2)Powerscore CR bible
3)Kaplan Premium
4)Quant 700-800 questions
5)OG12
6)Verbal review
7)Kaplan 800

As I am an IIT student, I never had any serious problem with Gmat Quant. I improved myself gradually. I got 510 in gmatprep in January when I did not even know A,b,c,d of Gmat.I used to score in the range of 600 in the month of May. I reached 700 mark in September. 
These were my scores in various exams just before 1 month of Gmat exam.
Gmat Prep: 710(q49, V38), 650(Q49, V30)
Mgmat: 640(q48, v32), 670(q49, v34)
800Score Gmat: 680(Q44, v38), 730(q49, v40)

I am so clueless on what went wrong on actual exam day. I had good sleep on that night. I did not panic. It just appeared to me as if I was writing just another GmatPrep exam. 
I could finish quant 2 mins.
In verbal, I reached upto 31st question. I marked all questions D for the later questions. But I solved and marked SC ones in last 10 of verbal questions.
It was not abnormal. I did the same on my GmatPrep exams. But still verbal gave me above 30 points just because I had very less wrong answers(upto 5) in first 30 questions. There were more of SC ones in first 30 verbal questions. They were all easy. But not even 1 idiom question was there (I crammed 100 odd idioms madly before the change took place in verbal SC)

After wring writing the test, before clicking to view scores, I was confident to see at least in worst case 650(Q49,V30) or even more closer to 700. I was so shocked and could not believe the screen showing 540(Q46,V20).I used to get this score when I started my prep in Jan. I have improved my self so much. I wrote more than 20 tests so far(Most of them with AWA). I never got such a bad score in any exam.

It not only happened with me. My friend who gave on the same day(Oct 21st) same time in Blore got 540(q41, v24) too. She consistently scored 680 or 670 in Gmatprep exams recently. She gave her official Gmat in August and got 600. She prepared so much (worked about 8 hours a day) during next two months. Even She was expecting to see a 660 when she clicked to view scores. But she also got 540(q41, v24).

We are so clueless on how did it happen? What went wrong in the exam. Everything looked so perfect while writing the test but eventually got poorest score what you can think of on any day.
We are so disappointed on this. My question to all is Are there any ones who gave exam on October 21st 2011 and suffered like us? 
Can it happen this way?on one day if most 750 gmatprep scorers give their official exam, a 650 gmatprep scorer gets 550 in official exam?
On other day if most 550 gmatprep scorers give their official exam, a 650 gmatprep scorer gets 750 in official exam?
How does the scoring algo works on any particular day?
We both are so confident that you ask us to give any practice exam available today, we will score 650 or above. That’s what our Prep history is.

Had I not experienced this weird scenario, I would have never believed a guy saying I got 710 in gmatprep but got 540 in official gmat. My answer would have been to that guy simply- You must have screwed your exam mate; Otherwise it’s just not possible. 
But the fact is- I did not screw my exam; exam screwed me
I can believe it just because I experienced it.

DexDee · Answer

This is a scary story!

As expected from an IIT bloke, you've done exceedingly well in your quants. But how many answers did you guess for your verbal? Perhaps you were not on your element that day; regardless, you should attempt the exam again. I'm sure you will do much better next time.

kastino · Answer

I took mine on Oct 15,2011 and scored 570 despite having 690 and 700 on GMAT prep, alongside a 1510 on gre CAT(770 m,740 v). I understand your frustration. Take it again, and don't try to game the exam or think of how well you are doing.

heman2402 · Answer

A disheartening story indeed. However, I would like to know if you answered AWA section during prep exams? (Regret if I missed this bullet in you debrief) To be frank writing AWA makes difference and I have seen people mentioned this on several occassions.

FYI - During my last prepration I had consistently scored between 670 - 720. However, on the D-Day I scored 630.

Better fasten your seat belts, forget about past, and start preparing for next round :-)

satishchandraaily · Answer

I must have guessed about 7(1 RC passage of 3 questions, 3 CRS, 1 SC) in verbal. But not even 1 question in first 30 questions.
What I learned in Gmatprep tests is that last 31-41 questions weigh less comparatively. It happened 1 one of my GmatPreps that I had only 3 wrong answers in first 30 and I guessed all the rest questions. I could still manage to get 38 in verbal.
What I took away from this is QUALITY MATTERS for GMAT not QUANTITY
I am thinking of re-taking again in Dec/Jan, assuming that less no. of native english speakers give the exam by that time. But again I am not so sure about if I manage to score 750s in practice tests, I wont get a 550 in official exam

satishchandraaily · Answer

Could you try to figure out what went wrong in your exam? The problem with me is that I am not able to find out where i went wrong. I was not stressed out. I was so confidently picking the answers. The exam was overall not tough just similar to Gmatprep.

There was one more guy who gave the exam in my test centre. He scored 580. He said he was consistently scoring 700+ scores in Gmatpreps. It can happen with 1 guy/girl if he/she messes it. But how come it happen with all who gave the exam onsame day.

I read one of the post in one of the forums that one guy who scored 750 in kaplan diag test scored a 550 in official test in Aug. He regave on Oct 02 and got 750 in official test. I was shocked to read that he did not study anything extra in those three months.

satishchandraaily · Answer

You did not miss any bullet in my post mate. I forgot to mention about essays. I will change and include this if i could edit my post. I did give many tests with AWA and without AWA. I noticed that AWA factor did not effect my scores much. It can happen if you feel so tired and fail to concentrate. I dont get stressed out with 4 hrsGmat test. It happened oneday that as i was not satisfied with my score in the morning test, I gave one more in the afternoon on the same day. I was little exhausted by the time i finished my second test on same day. But two tests gave me almost same score. Infact second test gave 10 points more that 1st test.
I am used to giving so many competitive exams since my childhood. So 4 hrs Gmat is not great one among them I must say. 
I am used to giving so many competitive exams since my childhood. So 4 hrs Gmat is not great one among them I must say.

I feel sad about you scoring less. I found many students who wrote about scoring 50 points less in official exam. But in our case its almost 150 points. Its so brutal and scary.

goalset · Answer

Give it another try,I am sure you will do well!

samramandy · Answer

I would say that take a week off and then go for the kill once again..it was just a bad day for you...and don't lose hope...you will definitely get a good score

prakhag · Answer

I understand your frustation buddy. Its very hard to pick yourself up from such unpleasant situations. But as Steve Jobs once said in his famous Stanford commencement speech: "life sometimes hits you with a brick in head, don't lose faith"

.

Give it another go, I'm sure you'll rock this time.

. Give it another go, I'm sure you'll rock this time.

AbhiJ · Answer

I think your strategy of guessing on last 11 questions might have affected your score.
There is a theory that most experimental questions are between 15-30/32. So you guessed in last 10 questions and if you got them all wrong your score would dip dramatically.

A better startegy would be pace your self unifromly throughout the test.

satishchandraaily · Answer

Thanks mate! I am planning to retake in dec/jan. Waiting for the best time

Posted from my mobile device

satishchandraaily · Answer

You are true buddy
I am psychologically very upset with all this. I sacrificed everything fun with friends parties movies gfs I was even out of fb for 3 months
I don't deserve this. 
Yeah it's life we need to take it

Posted from my mobile device

satishchandraaily · Answer

You made a valid point about experimental questions. But do you think one can get more than 3 exp questions? I will try to improve upon my verbal timing next time

Posted from my mobile device

dmnk · Answer

You mentioned that you had completed more than 20 prep exams before taking the real GMAT. Is it possible that you did the same prep test more than once and that therefore your scores in the latter part of your preparation period could have been inflated?

Abhishek14 · Answer

I gave GMAT today .. I saw shocker 550 M45/V21 .. Cant believe .. Guys plzz help .. I am not able to figure out where it went wrng...

jko · Answer

In a 37 question problem set, guessing on the last 7 questions is a huge hit, but for a CAT problem set it's even worse. Not to mention whatever problems you missed in the first 30 problems.

The plus side here is that you know what you have to work on. Time management. Spend a month working on your pacing and doing more verbal problems and you should be able to dramatically improve.

gmatpapa · Answer

I know how frustrating it can get. Honestly, though, 46 is not a score that reflects an IITian's quant ability.. Considering how big quant studs you guys are, so over confidence may be??

You guessed the last 10 questions on verbal- so that took care of your score going from 30 to 20 in pure arithmetic progression. Statistically, you have 20% chance of guessing a question correctly so even if you got 2/10 right, spending 2-3 seconds/ question, the CAT would surely know that you've guessed on the questions. So most probably, no points there as well (could be disputed but its just my opinion).

----------------- story -- timing, timing, timing. Do as many official questions as possible and solve them by logic. That is what will get you through. No templates. No shortcuts. All my best wishes to you.

gmatpapa · Answer

How can anyone, just anyone at all help you without knowing how you prepared, what books you used, which mocks you took? please provide your background and you'll surely be helped.

rjkaufman21 · Answer

yeah from what I understand, and I believe it is posted on mba.com as well as in the OG, not finishing a section of the test dramatically drops your score. As others have mentioned, the algorithm likely took into account when you put the same answer for all of the last 7 questions and probably scored it the same as if you hadn't answered them at all.

The point of the GMAT isn't just to test how well you can answer verbal and quant questions, but how well you can manage the test. I'm sure any of us - given enough time - could get most GMAT questions right, but trying to answer them in under 2 minutes is much more challenging and it forces you to pick your battles and make educated guesses by eliminating answer choices etc.

The fact that you were only able to answer 30 V questions in time, and that you say that is how it has been in your practice exams tells me that you haven't learned to consistently manage your time. I'll echo what the above poster suggested: reschedule the test for a month from now and focus your efforts on timing. Practice timing strategy and learn to make smart guesses when you are starting to get behind. You'll be surprised how much your score can increase by employing these tactics.

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710 in Gmatprep but 540 on GMAT day-OCT 21st 2011

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