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Theragz23
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Hi Theragz23,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. Although you didn't state is directly, is your score goal 680+ or is it something higher?

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. If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE?

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Hi Rich! Thank you for your reply!
Yes, I have not explicitly mentioned it but 700 is my goal. After getting that much in Prep2, I can't have a goal lower than that. However, I would not retake the exam anytime soon if I get 680 or 690 in my next attempt. I will leave the GMAT for the time being and look for a job.

1) I took IR, Verbal and Quant in all of my CATS. In about 5-6, I did not attempt AWA.
2) I took them at my dad's workplace.
3) Yes, the CATS were taken at the same time as the actual exam (10:30am)
4) Whenever I skipped AWA, I used to take a 3-4 minute break after the IR section, not the full 8 minutes.
5) Apart from ETS 1, I did not take any CAT more than once. In GMATprep1, I came across 5 questions in quant that I had seen previously either on gmatclub or in other study sources.
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Hi Theragz23,

From your prior post, there were a few 'red flags' in terms of how you took your CATs. Before we talk about those details though, I have a few additional questions about the lead-up to Test Day and Test Day itself:

1) What did you do in the 3 days before your GMAT?
2) How did you sleep the night before your Test?
3) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home?
4) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test?
5) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
6) Did you finish any sections early?
7) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)?

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Hi Rich! Thank you again for your reply.

1) I took GMATprep2 on Wednesday and my exam was on Sunday. On Thursday, I reviewed my mock. On Friday, did some light revision of some concept (about 2 hours) and on Saturday, I didn't study at all.
2) I slept for about 6 hours, that's an hour or two less than I normally do.
3) The ride was about 35 minutes.
4) There were no distractions. The environment was suitable.
5) During my breaks, I drank water and used the restroom. I had brought an apple with me but I didn't eat it. Not eating it wasn't an issue as I had eaten before coming.
6) I finished all sections with about a minute to spare but in AWA, I almost ran out of time.
7) I didn't have to rush in any section. In my verbal section, I hurried a bit through the last four questions but by what my ESR suggests, I got at least three right.

As i've said, I feel very exhausted mentally. I know I cannot achieve a good score unless I am 100% focused. Can you help me with that in any way? What to do when I am losing hope fast?
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Hi Theragz23,

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 skipping the AWA, you were taking shorter Exams that required less overall work from you. Seeing even a couple of 'repeat' questions can completely throw off your stress levels, pacing, amount of energy you have to expend, etc. so any CAT that included repeat questions has to be considered 'suspect.' This is meant to say that you weren't properly training for the FULL GMAT 'experience.'

Beyond those points, it sounds like you didn't have a great night's sleep before your Official GMAT - and that certainly could have impacted your performance. The two 8-minute breaks are exceptionally important on Test Day, but it also sounds like you didn't take full advantage of them.

Thankfully, this is a relatively easy set of problems to fix. The big question now is "how long will it take you to properly get 'used to' taking the full GMAT?" You'll certainly need a new set of practice CATs to work with and you have to put in the necessary time to train your brain (and body) for the FULL GMAT. You might also need to invest in some new GMAT training materials.

1) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
2) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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Hi Rich! Thank you once more for your reply!

While I do agree that skipping AWA was inadvisable, In my last mock before the exam (GMATprep2), I gave all four sections and scored 700. I didn't feel exhausted or tired during that mock at all. However, I should have done this in all of the mocks that I took.

As far as the breaks I concerned, I took all my mocks without eating anything during the breaks so I don't think that would have been much of a factor. Perhaps I should keep a snack handy for my next ones to see if it invigorates me in any way.

You have very correctly pointed out the 'big question'. I think I will take GMATprep3 and prep4 (all the sections) and take it from there. Delaying my retake isn't going to do me any good as I need to start working soon and my capacity to study has been dwindling.

As for your questions -
1) I do not know exactly when i will apply but I do know that I will need a GMAT score for most programs. It could be that I use the score one year later to do a program which requires a GMAT score but not any work experience or it could be that I use my score 4 years later for an MBA. A lot depends on the kind of job I can get into.

2) Not sure about the school right now either.

I do not want to have too much on my plate at once. When I started this journey, I thought I could multi-task (prepare for GMAT, look for schools, even work alongside etc) but the GMAT alone is proving very challenging. My target score is 700 and if I achieve that, I believe I should be able to apply to most schools that interest me.
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Hi Theragz23,

Scoring 700 on a FULL-LENGTH CAT (taken under realistic conditions) is a great achievement. However, since the GMAT is adaptive, you won't see the exact same Test every time you take it (although you will be tested on all of the same major concepts each time). As such, you can't assume that you're really at the '700 level' until you can earn that score repeatedly.

In addition, GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. Assuming a similar 'swing' in how your CATs function, your various CAT score results show that your ability level is likely right around 660-670 (with a lower boundary of about 630 and an upper boundary of about 710). This goes to show how slight 'shifts' in your performance (for physical, mental or psychological reasons) can significantly impact the score that you ultimately earn.

All things being equal, I think that you could probably score at a much higher level on the GMAT, but some significant adjustments would have to be made to how you handle the overall Exam. 1-2 months of consistent, guided study would likely be needed for you to consistently score at that higher level though.

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