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Tex112
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sarthakaggarwal
Tex112
I have no idea what went wrong in the official tests. I was slightly nervous but also confident on scoring over 700 on the test days. I am only weak in Inequalities and Statistics/Sets according to the mock stats but I did not encounter difficult questions from those on the official tests. Any speculations/suggestions/help would be appreciated. I need to apply no later than Round 2 this year.

What was your sectional scores on quant and verbal
If your quants score was lower than what you were getting in mocks, maybe you made some silly mistakes( i often make them) but since you have given the official test twice it is unlikely that you world have made these mistakes both the time. Did you gave your mocks exactly in the same conditions as the official exam without pausing the exam? Were there any questions in the mocks which you have seen them before or knew their answers before?

- What was your sectional scores on quant and verbal
In the 3 mocks I had Q49/50/50 V39/40/38| and in the exam I had Q in 30s and V in 30s too. Both had suffered a drop but Quant drop was greater.

-If your quants score was lower than what you were getting in mocks, maybe you made some silly mistakes( i often make them) but since you have given the official test twice it is unlikely that you world have made these mistakes both the time.
This is what baffles me. I did make silly mistakes in the mocks too but they should not have increased so much in the exams.

-Did you gave your mocks exactly in the same conditions as the official exam without pausing the exam?
Yes I made sure the conditions and time of day were exactly the same to predict my score accurately. I only took a break after the Quant and Verbal were done.

-Were there any questions in the mocks which you have seen them before or knew their answers before?
No, all of them were new.
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I’m sorry to hear how things went with your GMAT. The good news is that you scored really well on quant, right? That said, I understand that you are not satisfied with your verbal score, so the question we need to ask is why you scored so high on your practice exams but lower on the real 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 650. 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.

I scored well in Quant in the mocks but not so well in the exams. I did feel a bit nervous but it wasn't anything more than what I had felt before any other exams. I made sure I well rested on the exam day.
I do have some patterns learnt in verbal but only for topics that I cannot grasp well. Combined with the fundamental skills I have learnt they helped me score consistently close to 40 in the mock verbals. And the drop in verbal was not significant in the exams. So I doubt it was any of that. But I will have a look at the resources you have provided. Thank you.
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Hi Tex112,

I'm sorry to hear that your 2 Official Exams did not go as well as planned. 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 your 2 Official GMATs and what were your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each?
2) How long have you studied in total? How many hours do you typically study each week?
3) What study materials have you used over the course of ALL of your studies? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
4) 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?

If you took either of your Official GMATs at a Test Center, then you might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. 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 purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

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Tex112
I have no idea what went wrong in the official tests. I was slightly nervous but also confident on scoring over 700 on the test days. I am only weak in Inequalities and Statistics/Sets according to the mock stats but I did not encounter difficult questions from those on the official tests. Any speculations/suggestions/help would be appreciated. I need to apply no later than Round 2 this year.

So sorry to hear that, did you encounter connection difficulties (if it was an online GMAT) or did some random noise distract you during the test or was there something else that you hadn't encountered during your practice tests?
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Hi Tex112,

I'm sorry to hear that your 2 Official Exams did not go as well as planned. 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 your 2 Official GMATs and what were your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each?
2) How long have you studied in total? How many hours do you typically study each week?
3) What study materials have you used over the course of ALL of your studies? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
4) 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?

If you took either of your Official GMATs at a Test Center, then you might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. 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 purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

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

2) How long have you studied in total? How many hours do you typically study each week?
3-4hrs everyday. So about 20-30hrs each week for 5 months

3) What study materials have you used over the course of ALL of your studies? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
I stuck to OG guide, some basic concepts from Khan Academy and GMATNinja/GMAT Club YouTube, GMAT Club and Official Prep for Mocks.

Goals:
5) What is your overall goal score?
- 730

I believe all your other questions have been answered in the replies above.
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Tex112
I have no idea what went wrong in the official tests. I was slightly nervous but also confident on scoring over 700 on the test days. I am only weak in Inequalities and Statistics/Sets according to the mock stats but I did not encounter difficult questions from those on the official tests. Any speculations/suggestions/help would be appreciated. I need to apply no later than Round 2 this year.

So sorry to hear that, did you encounter connection difficulties (if it was an online GMAT) or did some random noise distract you during the test or was there something else that you hadn't encountered during your practice tests?

Both the tests were Exam Center tests and not GMAT Online. I did not encounter any surprises or distractions aat the center. I was totally focused on the test because I wanted to send my applications in R1.
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Hello Tex112,

Your current GMAT score is a bit shaky but a target score of 700+ seems realistic.

Also, I fully understand your frustration because, 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.

• Inefficiency by using time-consuming Conventional method to tackle DS and PS questions still
• 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.

We would recommend you make a note of various possible combinations of your target score. The possible scores will help you track your performance after taking the mock or practice test. It will also help you maintain balance in both the sections, and you will always be in a great position to allot the study hours to a specific area accordingly.

The possible score combinations for 700 or 700+: Q should be Q 46, 47, 48, and V should be V38, 39, 40.

You can try our free diagnostic test(Quant only) and receive a comprehensive study guide by topic. This test will clearly help you understand your weak areas.

You can schedule a Free counseling session for 20 mins with one of our experts:https://calendly.com/mathrevolution/1-on-1-session for detailed advice on your current study plans.

You must schedule your day smartly to revise the topics and also practice more questions. We would suggest you register with MathRevolution https://www.mathrevolution.com/member/signup to get access to our 7-days on-demand course for free trial lessons. 700+ level questions https://www.mathrevolution.com/gmat/questionbank are separately available, too.

Since we are a math expert, we will recommend you go through our post on the GMAT club: Breakdown of GMAT math questions and types: https://gmatclub.com/forum/overview-of- ... l#p1641411

Regular tests 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 hence 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
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Hi Tex112,

With these types of Score drops, we need to be really specific about defining your studies, your Test Day results and your overall timeline. Some of your answers were vague, so I'd like to know the specific answers to the following questions:

1) On what dates did you take your 2 Official GMATs and what were your exact Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each?
2) 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)?
3) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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Tex112
I have no idea what went wrong in the official tests. I was slightly nervous but also confident on scoring over 700 on the test days. I am only weak in Inequalities and Statistics/Sets according to the mock stats but I did not encounter difficult questions from those on the official tests. Any speculations/suggestions/help would be appreciated. I need to apply no later than Round 2 this year.

Hi Tex112,

Sorry to hear about your test day experience. I understand how it feels to score really high on mocks but experience a sudden drop on the actual test day. Let me share my insights.

First of all, you may find this helpful: https://blog.gmatwhiz.com/scored-low-on-gmat/

Also, I would suggest you to get in touch with a GMAT strategy expert at the earliest for an advanced discussion on what must have held you back and how should you go about it to hit your target score soon.

I have helped many students in hitting their target of 700+ by devising a personalised strategy for them. You can schedule a free consultation call with me using the below link. This way you can take me through the approach being followed by you and also your exact pain points.I would be happy to help you!
Click here to schedule a call
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