Dont know what to do now

Question

Hello Experts

Yesterday, I gave my GMAT again for the 4th time and it has broken me beyond repair. 
I am completely lost and in total despair. It is so disheartening to know that I will not be able to get in my dream school just because I cannot handle those 4 hours at the test center.

I was preparing since October last year and these were my practice scores in that order
GMATprep1 - 640 (Before starting my prep)
And after 2 months of prep
Veritas 1 - 690
Vertias 2 - 700
Veritas 3 - 680
Veritas 4 - 680
Gmat Prep 2 -730, (All of these were given with V first and then Q)

I appeared for the real test in Jan and was confident that will score at least a 690 or above but, to my surprise, landed on 660 Q47 V 34 IR 8(12/12 correct). Shocked to my core, and all confused thought may be I had an off day, I registered to appear for GMAT again after 2 weeks.

Practiced only with official questions on GMAT Club( from EP1,2 and QP and GMAT Prep). I was much more confident this time, took another Veritas test, one week before- scored 710. My GMAT Club score estimate in Workbook is still depicting a 720. I knew I am going in the right direction, was positive.

Appeared for 4rth GMAT yesterday, felt that the questions were tough. The RC passages were dense, questions were thick with long statements almost like a mini CR question, overall entire exam felt tough. Went through the test and after clicking next on the last screen, eagerly awaited for my score.

The score screen flashed Q47 V29 - 630. 
Wanted to punch a big hole in the screen, wanted to burn the place down all these emotions anger, fear, rage and despair.

That feeling, that you know, you have done whatever you could do and you still lost.
Defeated so badly, that you doubt yourself that are you even capable.

A 630, I scored a 640 without even preparing, None of my practice score were this low.
All I wanted was a decent score, so that B schools dont reject my application because of low GMAT.
I rejected the Score, walked out of the center, embarrassed, humiliated and knowing I will probably never get into the B School I want just because I cannot handle those 2.5 hours.

I dont know, what to do now. I now that my Quant and English isnt that bad, what my GMAT scores depict. I am an Mech engineer and have been doing maths my whole life. (My jobs involves calculations). I am an Indian, living in the US for 5 years know, where I work with quite a diverse team of North Americans, South Americans and Europeans.

Dont know what to do know, wanted to leave a happy GMAT experience. Used to read all these happy experiences and thought I will write one some day. But this is what I got.

I give up!

AjiteshArun   EMPOWERgmatRichC 
  VeritasPrepKarishma

jaskirat_ghura · Answer

Hi,

I also faced similar fall in my verbal score . I took GMAT two days ago and my score almost dropped by 10 points in verbal. I got 5 RC including two big RC's.Also in CR I got 7 Assumption questions.

Posted from my mobile device

sdlife · Answer

Sorry to hear about your experience! After reading your post, my first thought was - NO, PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP. Before anyone here can help, I think it will helpful to know if you got your ESRs for these attempts? If so, do you see a pattern like SC below average, CR or RC? What is it that is bringing your score down?

I believe your approach should be to 'learn' from each attempt, fix what went wrong and then appear for your next attempt. And also, while focusing on weak areas, do not neglect your strong areas. Anyway, please post your ESR if possible.

And again, I know how you feel. BUT think about why you started this journey every time you feel like giving up.

ydmuley · Answer

Hello  alnewton ,

I can completely understand your feelings at this point of time and I do understand that it is very difficult to face this.

However, I think you are on the right portal and you will find dozens of stories on this forum about individuals who have been through what you are going through right now and how they overcame this situation.

A little more effort and a proper strategy should definitely help you to score higher. I am sure when it comes to resources you do not have to look elsewhere.

Also,adcoms are not only focused on score (i completely agree though that high score can make a big difference), there are chances that they like your story or your overall profile, etc and you may get in (if at all there the admission window is still open for the year that you are targetting). Sometimes, luck can also play a big role.

Don't give up my friend and keep trying.

Hope this helps!

adkikani · Answer

alnewton

It is indeed a bit discouraging to not get desired results after putting in so many 
hours of effort and sacrifices that one makes in terms of social and professional work life.

Cheer up, and appreciate yourself for sitting for 4+ hours in an exam as stressful as GMAT.
Not all working professionals can show a level of endurance as yours.
Have a rest for few days and then introspect what went wrong.

I would also urge you to see  this 
post (Esp #6 and #7) and share ESR of your attempts to have a meaningful discussion.

It would also make sense to share the resources you used in your prep and what strategies you
followed while attempting the next GMAT. Your inputs shall help experts dwell deeper and assist further.

Are you trying to alter section order / maintaining consistency in it in mocks? I seems a bit puzzled seeing those
V scores fluctuating .

Hope this helps!!

alnewton · Answer

I have my ESR from the 660 attempt at this link
https://gmatclub.com/forum/esr-analysis ... 57954.html

GMATNinja
I will really appreciate if you can comment here. I've been following you all this while and a reply from you will mean a lot.
Please, will you give me some advice.

alnewton · Answer

Both the times, this thing happened to me.

One night before the exam, I felt like loosing control. Most of my answers to practice question I tried the night before were incorrect. But I thought that is normal, happens to everybody before an exam.
So, I just closed the book and left it like that and watched TV or something to take my mind off of it.

During the exam, I was never happy with the chairs at the center, felt uncomfortable the entire time and a combination of all this feels weird. I don't feel that I am nervous or afraid or anything, just that I don't feel as sure during the exam as I am at home practicing.

I prepared with official stuff and with GMATCLUB's (There is a plethora of study material and questions here, so I didn't needed anything else.

adkikani · Answer

alnewton Thanks for your insights. I do sense that your issue is psychological and you are not putting your best foot forward. . Different students tend to perform differently under stress but ideally taking eyes off the exam a day before works best See this or this post. To share a simple example from cricket (which hopefully you follow) imagine the mess created if Harsha Bhogle tried to talk about reverse swing in commentary box when Wasim Akram is present and what if later tried to host a TV show.

I would again emphasize on your strengths, weakness and most importantly try to get in to rhythm of exam. Few scenarios how students do it: a. If you are not accustomed to disturbances, try to give a mock near vicinity of crowded place so that facing worst can help you ease things when you are in actual exam. b. A person who actually needs some warm up did few easy qs half an hour before exam so that confidence level and flow gets gelled well. I do not see anything incorrect here as long as you are attempting fresh questions and learning from mistakes as here . Hope this helps and all the best for your retake!!

adkikani · Answer

alnewton Thanks for your insights. I do sense that your issue is psychological and you are not putting your best foot forward. . Different students tend to perform differently under stress but ideally taking eyes off the exam a day before works best See this or this post. To share a simple example from cricket (which hopefully you follow) imagine the mess created if Harsha Bhogle tried to talk about reverse swing in commentary box when Wasim Akram is present and what if later tried to host a TV show.

I would again emphasize on your strengths, weakness and most importantly try to get in to rhythm of exam. Few scenarios how students do it: a. If you are not accustomed to disturbances, try to give a mock near vicinity of crowded place so that facing worst can help you ease things when you are in actual exam. b. A person who actually needs some warm up did few easy qs half an hour before exam so that confidence level and flow gets gelled well. I do not see anything incorrect here as long as you are attempting fresh questions and learning from mistakes as here . And apologies for some how missing IR 8 on earliest post.

Great job! Hope this helps and all the best for your retake!!

GMATNinja · Answer

I 100% agree with  adkikani  here: it really does look like the nerves caused a ton of trouble for you. Look at the quant section: you missed two really easy questions during the first quarter of the section. And then in the third quarter of the quant section, you got really, really stubborn and spent a ton of time on those questions, and then had to rush at the end. Those unforced errors at the beginning can do a TON of damage to your score.

You recovered decently on quant, but it's not a surprise that you had a hard time on verbal, and especially on CR. CR questions are wound really tightly. If you misread or misinterpret one word in the wrong place -- or just make a goofy assumption that you shouldn't make -- then you can miss a pretty easy question. (More on that general concept  here .) And on an adaptive test, that can send your score spiraling in the wrong direction pretty quickly.

And honestly, if you're even a little bit jittery or unfocused, you're much more likely to make those types of little errors on CR. Sure, it's possible that you're just weaker in CR than the other question types, but I somehow doubt it. This looks like a good case of the nerves. Your heart doesn't need to be pounding through your chest in order for your nervousness to cause little tiny lapses in focus. And it doesn't take many lapses in focus to induce errors in the wrong places. The difference between a 740 and a 660 isn't necessarily as huge as we like to think: a handful of silly errors can easily cost you a ton of points.

Again,  adkikani  has nailed it with some good links that provide some good advice, and I also totally agree with  ydmuley  &  sdlife . Concentrate on getting your mind right, building your confidence, and building your CONSISTENCY, especially on verbal. If you make careless errors on your homework or practice tests, you'll make even more on your actual test. So don't tolerate careless, unforced errors EVER when you're practicing.

I hope this helps, and good luck with your retake!

AjiteshArun · Answer

It's normal to see GMAT scores that are slightly different from GMATPrep scores, but a 630 is different enough to be attributable to something other than just the error inherent in the measuring process. Normally, it's stress or fatigue that is to blame for such differences.

As far as I'm concerned, you need to check only one thing: whether you had already seen the questions your GMATPreps gave you.

If those questions were new, and you were getting scores above 700, you  are  capable of getting more than 700 on the actual GMAT. After that, it's a matter of time (and luck). Some people get their target scores after just one retake. Some take longer. In fact, there are people here looking for exemptions from the lifetime limit of 8 attempts. Have faith that you are at least as good at what the GMAT measures as your GMATPreps say you are. Whether you show those skills through the GMAT (by going for another retake) or through another exam or through things that have nothing to do with any exam is completely up to you. Just don't let what's happening with your GMAT stop you from continuing to work on everything else in your application. A 660 itself could work for even the best schools.

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