Devastated after getting 640!

Gave my GMAT yesterday and got devastated after seeing 640 on the final result screen. In my opinion, all my concepts were clear, but on the test day, things felt a little different, and verbal seemed a little tough. I touched 680 on mocks as was hoping to score around 700. Having used all my official mocks what should be my next step now? I'm hoping to reappear after around 3 weeks and looking forward to scoring around 720 now.

snigdh0699, sometimes things do not go according to plan. Don't be disheartened.
bb, MartyTargetTestPrep, ScottTargetTestPrep, CrackVerbal, GMATWhizTeam, GMATNinja, EMPOWERgmatRichC your take here will be helpful for snigdh0699 to overcome this setback and get back on his feet, so that he can achieve his goal.

Hello snigdh0699,

A score of 640 in the GMAT is decent and tells the entire story about how well prepared you are for the next GMAT attempt and how to change the gear now to meet the target score of 720+.

Don't be disappointed. Keep your motivation high.

With my GMAT tutoring, guidance, and counseling experience, we have to accept the 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.

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.

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

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

Register with MathRevolution https://www.mathrevolution.com/member/signup to get access to our 7-days on-demand course for free trial lessons. You can take our free diagnostic test(Quant only) and receive a study guide.

The day regular mock tests show the consistent score of Q48+ with V37+, then it 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 therefore, 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 info@mathrevolution.com

Success is within your reach.
Good luck!

Math Revolution Team
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Hi snigdh0699,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day did not turn out better. A 640 is a solid overall Score though - and it might be enough to get you into your first choice School. Before I can offer you any additional advice for your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

1) What were your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for your 640? Was this the 1st time you've taken the Official GMAT?
2) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
3) What study materials have you used so far? 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)?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

If you took your Official GMAT 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
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Hi Snigdh0699,

Sorry to hear about your experience with GMAT. It's unfortunate that your GMAT attempt didn't go as planned. But there is clearly scope for improvement.

Most people start their preparation by focusing on learning concepts and then they directly jump to solving questions on that particular topic. However, there is a very important step in between which is “To master the right strategies to solve Questions”. Most people don’t know how to do so or simply choose to ignore it and follow shortcuts. This may be one of the probable reasons in your case.

Having said that, I would need you to provide me with some context about:

1. The time you are able to devote to studying each day

2. Resources you used for prep

3. The structure and study plan you followed

4. Your GMAT score breakup along with the Mock scores and date

Also it’s always better to spare some more time on your preparation until you are ready instead of missing out on your dream colleges/ b-schools in hurry.

You can write back to me here or a better way would be to connect on call and have a discussion. This way you can take me through the approach you have been following and we can work out on your pain points. You can schedule a free consultation call with me using this link:


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Hi snigdh0699
At the outset, we understand how it feels to put in the effort and not receive results in proportion to it.
Take a small pause of a day or two and reboot the system to start afresh!
However, start by analyzing the errors you have committed in the mocks and identifying the pattern of the errors.
If there are any concept gaps then please close them immediately.
We are sure you must have completed the OG and analyzed the errors.
If not, take it as a top priority task and complete the same.
You can supplement the the prep with questions from QR and VR(Quant and Verbal Review).
You can visit the link here to have a fair idea and access to some of our resources to boost your prep.
https://www.crackverbal.com/gmat/gmat-f ... -Resources
Create a clear prep plan and incorporate break and test days in it.
We also suggest you to keep a revision day intact when you practice only advance questions from the area that you have prepped throughout the week.
It takes a lot of courage to restart and many a times those who keep going are the ones who make it to the end.
We wish you all the best.
Pls feel free to connect in case you need any assistance.
Crackverbal Academics

640 is a good start!

To improve your GMAT score to a higher level, you need to go through GMAT quant and verbal 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. For example, if you find that you are not strong in answering Number Properties questions, then carefully review the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions and practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. When you are working on learning to answer questions of a particular type, start off taking your time, and then seek to speed up as you get more comfortable answering questions of that type. As you do such practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you got a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not properly apply the remainder formula? Was there a concept you did not understand in the question? By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to efficiently fix your weaknesses and in turn improve your GMAT quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.

Each time you strengthen your understanding of a topic and your skill in answering questions of a particular type, you increase your odds of hitting your score goal. You know that there are types of questions that you are happy to see, types that you would rather not see, and types that you take a long time to answer correctly. Learn to more effectively answer the types of questions that you would rather not see, and make them into your favorite types. Learn to correctly answer in two minutes or less questions that you currently take five minutes to answer. By finding, say, a dozen weaker quant areas and turning them into strong areas, you will make great progress toward hitting your quant score goal. If a dozen areas turn out not to be enough, strengthen some more areas.

You can work on verbal in a similar manner. Let’s say you are reviewing Critical Reasoning. Be sure that you practice a large number of Critical Reasoning questions: Strengthen and Weaken the Argument, Resolve the Paradox, find the Conclusion, Must be True, etc. As you go through the questions, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get correct. If you missed a Weaken question, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize what the question was asking? Did you skip over a key detail in an answer choice? Getting GMAT verbal questions right is a matter of what you know, what you see, and what you do. So, any time that you don't get one right, you can seek to identify what you had to know to get the right answer, what you had to see that you didn't see, and what you could have done differently to arrive at the correct answer.

So, work on accuracy and generally finding correct answers, work on specific weaker areas one by one to make them strong areas, and when you take a practice GMAT or the real thing, take all the time per question available to do your absolute best to get right answers consistently. The GMAT is essentially a game of seeing how many right answers you can get in the time allotted. Approach the test with that conception in mind, and focus intently on the question in front of you with one goal in mind: getting a CORRECT answer.

In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new verbal and quant 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.

Feel free to reach out with any further questions.
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Welcome to the forum!

Most people experience a 10-20 point drop in score on the actual GMAT. Since you had scored a 680 on the mocks, it makes sense that your score dropped on the actual test. This happens to everyone.

I scored a 640 too in my first attempt. Don't lose heart. Keep studying & you will reach your target score.

All the best with your prep!
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