Disappointed by the GMAT scores

Question

Hi, I have been reading the forum for the past one month. And that's the same amount of time I prepared for GMAT, which I took today. I used OG and Kaplan for preparation. These are the scores that I obtained on some of the tests : GMATPrep1 (Before I started the preparation) = 620 Kaplan CAT 1 = 650 Kaplan CAT 2 = 690 Kaplan CAT 3 = 680 MGMAT (Free Test) = 710 Knewton (Free Test) = 710 GMATPrep1 = 730 GMATPrep2 = 700 GMATPrep1 = 720 GMATPrep2 (A Day before the exam) = 740 GMAT = 660

I am highly disappointed

(and angry) by my performance and as I was targeting the first round of applications, I am extremely tensed. I made a big mistake towards the end of Quant section.I could not click "confirm" for the last question and the time was up. So I guess that resulted in a serious penalty. I would like to know if I stand a chance of getting admitted to top 20 universities in the US(such as Ann Arbor, Carnegie Mellon amongst others). I have 3 years of work experience, with one year in the IT industry(worked for the largest auto insurer provider of US) and the rest in Market Research(with some additional responsibilities in IT as well). If not, would a retest and application in the second deadline be a better option?

dokiyoki · Answer

Call it a bad day. Not completing a section surely kills your score.

If you think you have a good profile and experience to pull out a decent application, then surely go for round 1.

vwjetty · Answer

its a bad day man. wait you 30 days and then take it again.

whiplash2411 · Answer

I think that your preparatory materials could be improved upon.

This actually doesn't matter, because if it's the last question, then GMAT just takes whatever answer you've clicked as your final answer, so you don't get penalized for that. Penalty occurs only if you ran out of time while you still had like, say, 2 questions left.

While a 660 is still a good score, depending on the average scores of your school, I would suggest retaking and pushing your applications to the second round.

imparc · Answer

@dokiyoki Looking at the current profiles of the students at various top ranking B-schools, I think the probability is less because of the lower GMAT score. @vmjetty Yes.I guess that's the only(and probably the best) option I have @whiplash2411 Suggestions to improve the preparatory materials are highly appreciated

. Oh, and thanks for that clarification. Phew, I was actually frustrated for being so careless about the timing, and was cursing myself for making that mistake. Maybe it's a myth, but I have heard/read somewhere that probability of getting accepted with the same score and profile is higher in the first round than in the second. This is the reason I was being highly anxious about the entire situation.

ankitranjan · Answer

A Bad day...

anaik100 · Answer

with an IT work ex it is very difficult...
i do not think u r penalised for the last question. if u had selected the answer and it timed out, then i feel the answer gets recorded..read somewhere in this gmatclub forum

Dreamy · Answer

Your score difference between final mock and official score scares me. There is 80 point difference between the two. Is there any other factor that would have affected your score.

hhh · Answer

Sounds like you just had a really crappy day.

Rebook the exam, take a week off to relax, and jump back into this thing refreshed. You are going to crush it this time!

Best.

imparc · Answer

@hhh Thank you. Oh yes, I plan to throw a small party this Sunday

The question now is, will I get the needed time to study again. @Dreamy Honestly, I really don't know. I mean.. I was absolutely confident of a 700+ score. I was scoring between 38 and 41 on Verbal in the mocks.Quant was in the range of 49-51. In the main exam I scored a pathetic 47 on Quant , which actually didn't make any sense to me. PS : I have exhausted all the official mock tests and some of the others as well. So, I plan to purchase MGMAT and Veritas GMAT tests.

Jeanette · Answer

when you took the practice tests, did you always do both essays at the start as if you were doing the real thing?

imparc · Answer

Almost on all. Out of the 10 mocks, I guess it would be 6-7. The AWA repeats in the GMATPrep software..so I attempted AWA once in the beginning and towards the end. But does that affect the performance on Quant and Verbal in such a drastic manner?

PranavChamp · Answer

for me similar happened!
Gmatprep 1 600 q47 v24
gmatprep 2 610 q47 v26 
and actual gmat 540 q 47 v 19 (a 60-70 points difference)

i found difficulty level of actual gmat far more tougher than gmatpreps. i felt the difference in difficulty level quite clearly. it was disappointing and frustrating experience for me to score the lowest of all prac tests in actual gmat.

i'm apping for R2 so now i'm back to 'study-mode'.

imparc · Answer

Hey folks,
(Bumping up this topic!)
I am appearing for the exam on 27th December. Almost 3 months later, I feel much more tensed. Studied weekends (really busy time at work) and was able to manage scores of 700-730 on Knewton and Manhattan. The only thing that scared me was the Knewton attempt.I got 4 incorrect answers on the Quant section, yet just a 49;9 incorrect on verbal, 37. I really hope whatever mistakes I make on the real test get me a 50 on quant and at least 38 on verbal. 4 days to go! (deep breath)

Hope to crush it this time!

rg1 · Answer

Good luck for your test.

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