Devastating second Attempt

Question

Hello GMAT Club family,

In my first attempt I scored a 605(q84, v79, D77). However after this I took a break from prep due to personal reasons, and when I gave my second attempt today after 6 months(was preparing last 3 months) I was devastated to see a 565 Q79, V77, D78

But my last 4 mocks before second attempt were consistent 645-665.can u let me know how to proceed further from here on?

My quant was real tough today or atleast I felt so, bombarded with hard qstns right from 2,3.. which derailed my mindset.

My target score is 635-655 , as I'm only targetting indian schools.

Can you provide me some advise on this ?

When to take next attempt and what to practice..I feel already im having good basics of concept in quant and verbal..was consistently scoring 615-665 in last 5-6 OG mocks

bb   hr1212   MartyMurray   karishma   AjiteshArun   Bunuel

bb · Answer

Hi  ToddlerandGMAT , sorry about this experience.

Having hard questions and being bombarded with them is not a bad thing. that means you are doing well but I can see how it feels that it is tough. I have heard of a few people running into hard questions in the first 5 or 10 and then things going very easy into fraction operations. The test can be unpredictable with difficulty and sequencing of questions so you just have to take it one question at a time. How did you do on accuracy between the Quant in the first and second test?

What were you focusing on in the last 3 months? Were you trying to improve a particular section?

And yes, getting hammered in the first section probably demotivated you on the V and DI though you did not do much worse really, which is Kudos to that. For this reason I suggest perhaps taking the section that demotivates you last so it does not impact the rest of the exam.

hr1212 · Answer

Hi  ToddlerandGMAT ,

Quant on the actual test can feel a bit tougher than the official mocks, and sometimes the section starts off on the harder side. I saw this in my own test as well.

It helps to practice slightly higher difficulty questions on GMAT Club so you’re better prepared for that jump. At the same time, even if the questions feel tough, make sure you don’t lose focus on the easier ones. It’s easy to get pulled into the harder questions early and end up making mistakes on simpler ones later.

Also, try to improve your accuracy on direct questions in Verbal. Check if there are any obvious mistakes you’re repeating and work on eliminating those, that alone can add a few points.

3-4 weeks could be a good time. You’re already close since you’ve been consistently hitting your target in mocks. Just need to fine-tune your test strategy and stay a bit calmer on test day.

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi ToddlerandGMAT,

1.  The most important thing now is whether you want to go for a quick retake or not. This does depend on your practice test scores, but I first want to check whether the 4 scores you mentioned (645-665) were on  official  GMAT practice tests. If they were, and you weren't already familiar with those questions, you are most likely already capable of getting a score in your target (635-655) range. On the other hand, if you were referring to nonofficial tests, then it becomes much harder to say that we're already at that level.

2.  I agree with a lot of what you said about quant. Unfortunately, it's very hard to say what may have happened purely on the basis of your score, as GMAT quant scoring can be wild (harsh) for non-Q90 test takers. Just to be safe, assume that you need to work on your concepts, even though you got a Q84 on your previous attempt.

3.  Verbal and DI are the sections you should really focus on. And I'd recommend verbal > DI (as DI is harder). V77-79 means there's a lot of scope for improvement, and you should absolutely try to push this up to somewhere in the low (or possibly mid) 80s.

Since you mentioned OG mocks towards the end, maybe this 565 was just an off day for you. If so, you could retake soon. But because there's no real deadline pressure right now, I recommend putting more time in to really work on your weaknesses.

ToddlerandGMAT · Answer

Hello,

The scores 645-665 were on official OG mocks 3 and 4.

I feel I have a good flow and understanding of basics now , so want to take the next attempt earlier.. I have been working on verbal extensively for 3 months mainly on CR as it's my weakness and was disappointed to see a drop in verbal score as well.

In my mocks I was averaging V79-V83..

I have now used all my official OG mocks and any suggestions for verbal how do I proceed ?

Planning quant practice with GMAT club medium and hard questions.

Any feedback on prep materials and what areas to focus will be appreciated.  bb   AjiteshArun   hr1212   MartyMurray

I generally have issues with CR in verbal and long RC passages,so after my first attempt I was focussing more on this. 
Im waiting for my score report to check where I have faltered in verbal this time.

EducationAisle · Answer

How have you been preparing on CR? Also, thought I would mention that our Critical Reasoning book  Critical Reasoning Nirvana  is perhaps the  only  book that offers a score improvement  guarantee .
 
After reading the book  twice  (yes! it's an  academic  book, and so must be read twice in all seriousness, to  reinforce  the concepts), you will start looking forward to solving CR questions! 
 
If you want to  sample  a chapter before deciding to go ahead with our book, please DM me your mail-id (along with the chapter that you would like to sample) and we will be happy to send that chapter to you by mail.
 
p.s. The book is available on  Amazon  and  Flipkart .

AjiteshArun · Answer

Retaking soon is definitely an option if you think you had an off day. Also, there's really nothing to lose (except some money/time).

I think that makes sense, and you can post your ESR here as well if you're okay with that.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi ToddlerandGMAT,

There's good news buried in these numbers (even though the 565 doesn't feel that way right now).

The mock-to-official gap is the real story. 
You're scoring 645-665 consistently on practice tests, which means your content knowledge is strong enough to hit your target. A student who lacked the fundamentals wouldn't put up those scores repeatedly. So the question isn't "do I know enough?", it's "why can't I replicate that on test day?"

You got rattled early, and it cascaded.  You said quant felt extremely hard right from questions 2 and 3. When a test-taker interprets early difficulty as a sign things are going badly, it triggers a spiral: you spend too long on those questions, burn your time budget, lose confidence, and rush through questions you could have gotten right. The 565 likely reflects what happened to your decision-making, not what you know.

Mocks don't replicate real pressure.  At home, the stakes feel lower, your emotional state is calmer, and you recover from tough questions faster. On your second real attempt (already carrying pressure to improve on a 605) difficulty hits differently. This is one of the most common patterns I see. It's not a content gap. It's an execution-under-pressure gap.

What I'd recommend: 
 
  Train your response to hard questions.  Do timed sets of 10-15 mixed quant questions that include problems above your comfort zone. Hard rule: if a question isn't coming together after 2 minutes, pick your best answer and move on. No exceptions. Practice until this becomes automatic. 
  Simulate real pressure.  Take remaining practice tests in exam-like conditions: go to a library, skip extra breaks, treat the score like it counts. 
  Don't rush your next attempt.  Give yourself 4-6 weeks. Spend 2-3 weeks on intensive timed sets, then take 2 practice tests in the final 2 weeks under realistic conditions. If those land in your target range with good composure, you're ready. 
  Review your 565 score report.  Check whether you ran out of time in quant and whether accuracy dropped sharply after the first few questions. That'll confirm whether this was purely mental or if there's a specific content area worth addressing.

Your 635-655 target is very achievable based on your mock performance. The gap isn't about learning more, it's about performing under pressure. That's a solvable problem, but it requires deliberate practice on the tactical side, not more content review.

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