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10 Dec 2019, 05:11
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Hi guys,
I just came back from my GMAT test center. Today was my second attempt at the GMAT and I scored an unsatisfactory 640 (Q44 V32). My first attempt was 2 months ago and I had scored a 580 (Q44 V27) back then.
I'm seeking help because I'm in a very intriguing situation. I have given more than 6 Official mocks and 6 Manhattan Mocks and the lowest I have ever gone is a 700!
Here is my mock test log:
Official Mock 1: Oct 10 - 730 (Q48 V41)
Official Mock 2: Oct 15 - 710 (Q49 V38)
Official Mock 3: Oct 19 - 750 (Q50 V41)
GMAT ATTEMPT 1: Oct 26th 580 (Q44 V27) -- I panicked hard in the first 10 minutes
Official Mock 4: Nov 2 - 700 (Q47 V38)
Official Mock 5: Nov 11 - 690 (Q49 V36)
Official Mock 6: Nov 13 - 720 (Q49 V39)
Official Mock 1 Attempt 2: Nov 20 - 760 (Q50 V44) --- Saw some repeated Verbal Questions
Official Mock 2 Attempt 2: Nov 23 - 770 (Q51 V44) --- Again saw some repeated Verbal Questions
Purchased Manhattan Test Series
Manhattan CAT 1: Nov 26 - 680 (Q46 V37)
Manhattan CAT 2: Nov 29 - 700 (Q47 V39)
Manhattan CAT 3: Dec 2 - 750 (Q48 V45)
Manhattan CAT 4: Dec 4 - 730 (Q46 V44)
Manhattan CAT 5: Dec 8 - 740 (Q47 V45)
GMAT ATTEMPT 2 Dec 10 - 640 (Q44 V32)
As you can see, I've never really fallen below 690 on my mocks. I understand that the first thing that may come to your mind is that I may have Googled or paused the tests, but trust me I did not. These were all taken in test conditions. Further, I felt I was doing quite well during my test today and was not even anxious.
I'm really really frustrated and I can't figure what is going on. Please help!
I just came back from my GMAT test center. Today was my second attempt at the GMAT and I scored an unsatisfactory 640 (Q44 V32). My first attempt was 2 months ago and I had scored a 580 (Q44 V27) back then.
I'm seeking help because I'm in a very intriguing situation. I have given more than 6 Official mocks and 6 Manhattan Mocks and the lowest I have ever gone is a 700!
Here is my mock test log:
Official Mock 1: Oct 10 - 730 (Q48 V41)
Official Mock 2: Oct 15 - 710 (Q49 V38)
Official Mock 3: Oct 19 - 750 (Q50 V41)
GMAT ATTEMPT 1: Oct 26th 580 (Q44 V27) -- I panicked hard in the first 10 minutes
Official Mock 4: Nov 2 - 700 (Q47 V38)
Official Mock 5: Nov 11 - 690 (Q49 V36)
Official Mock 6: Nov 13 - 720 (Q49 V39)
Official Mock 1 Attempt 2: Nov 20 - 760 (Q50 V44) --- Saw some repeated Verbal Questions
Official Mock 2 Attempt 2: Nov 23 - 770 (Q51 V44) --- Again saw some repeated Verbal Questions
Purchased Manhattan Test Series
Manhattan CAT 1: Nov 26 - 680 (Q46 V37)
Manhattan CAT 2: Nov 29 - 700 (Q47 V39)
Manhattan CAT 3: Dec 2 - 750 (Q48 V45)
Manhattan CAT 4: Dec 4 - 730 (Q46 V44)
Manhattan CAT 5: Dec 8 - 740 (Q47 V45)
GMAT ATTEMPT 2 Dec 10 - 640 (Q44 V32)
As you can see, I've never really fallen below 690 on my mocks. I understand that the first thing that may come to your mind is that I may have Googled or paused the tests, but trust me I did not. These were all taken in test conditions. Further, I felt I was doing quite well during my test today and was not even anxious.
I'm really really frustrated and I can't figure what is going on. Please help!
10 Dec 2019, 08:38
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi YashKothari94,
I’m sorry to hear how things have been going with your 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 640. 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, 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 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.
The overall process will be to learn all about how to answer question types with which you currently aren't very comfortable and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving up your score point by point. When you do dozens of questions of the same type one after the other, you learn just what it takes to get questions of that type correct consistently. If you aren't getting close to 90 percent of questions of a certain type correct, go back and seek to better understand how that type of question works, and then do more questions of that type until you get to around at least 90 percent accuracy in your training. If you get 100 percent of some sets correct, even better.
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.
In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new quant and verbal materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant and verbal courses. You also may find my article with more information regarding
how to score a 700+ on the GMAT helpful.
If you’d like more specific advice on how to improve your quant and verbal skills, feel free to reach back out. Good luck!
I’m sorry to hear how things have been going with your 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 640. 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, 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 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.
The overall process will be to learn all about how to answer question types with which you currently aren't very comfortable and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving up your score point by point. When you do dozens of questions of the same type one after the other, you learn just what it takes to get questions of that type correct consistently. If you aren't getting close to 90 percent of questions of a certain type correct, go back and seek to better understand how that type of question works, and then do more questions of that type until you get to around at least 90 percent accuracy in your training. If you get 100 percent of some sets correct, even better.
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.
In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new quant and verbal materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant and verbal courses. You also may find my article with more information regarding
how to score a 700+ on the GMAT helpful.
If you’d like more specific advice on how to improve your quant and verbal skills, feel free to reach back out. Good luck!
10 Dec 2019, 21:09
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi YashKothari94,
I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't 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) How long have you studied in total? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
Goals:
3) What is your overall goal score?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
5) What Schools are you planning to apply to?
You might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report for this most recent attempt. 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
I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't 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) How long have you studied in total? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
Goals:
3) What is your overall goal score?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
5) What Schools are you planning to apply to?
You might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report for this most recent attempt. 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
