Drastic decline in score

Question

I have scored 460 in my real gmat q-42 v14 on April 20.
 Today I have taken an official mock exam pack-1 and I have scored a 450 q36and v14.
 However I have taken two Manhattan mocks previously and scored a consistent 570 with q41 and v27(after one and half month of preparation from may )and I am so disappointed that I wasn’t going in the right way from the past 2 months I have been preparing relentlessly and I want to get 700 please tell me where am I going wrong because thats a 120 point decrement.Though today I got 3 rc passages in the first 10 questions and wasted lots of time on the first 10questions and when I was left with 16 question I saw the timer with 4 minutes left . But thats a 5 mark dip in quant.recently i have quit my job and I need to deal with this right now. I can work for the whole day . I feel like my hard work is useless because there’s no improvement on top of that there is dip   .
Please suggest me something.
Now I have started with official questions in quant and verbal.
 abhimahna  ,  EMPOWERgmatRichC ,

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi SonGoku,

Based on what you describe, we have a number of different issues to discuss. Before we get into your Test Scores (and the 120 point drop), 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?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) When are you planning to retake the GMAT?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
6) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

SonGoku · Answer

Thanks for the response  EMPOWERgmatRichC .

I have been studying from the past two months and After My real GMAT in which i have scored 460 (q-42 and v14) in April 20 with a one month of random preparation. I have started preparing with manhattan guides and completer all the books and after 1 and half month i have taken the exam, in june 2nd week, of manhattanprep and scored a 570 with q-41 and v27 . Then i thought , As manhattan quant is one with tough math problems i would improve in the official math. When it comes to verbal i have spent most of my time on SC and very minimal time on CR and RC ,As i wanted to master one section first ,Throughout my preparation and i have given most of my time to verbal in my preparation when compared to quant. After a week gap i have taken a mock of veritasprep and scored the same. Then i thought maybe my CR and RC was too weak after reviewing manhattan aswellas veritas prep mocks. Then i bought the exampack 1 to start with the official mocks once so that i can get a clear picture of my preparation. i was so disappointed to see a 450 with q-36 and v14 (i got 3 passages in first 10 questions and i have spent most of my time without looking at the timer and was stumbled to see 4 minutes left with 12 questions to answer.)
STUDIES:
1. In total its a 3 month period and i have improved from 360(q26 v11).......460........570......450!!.
2. till now i have used manhattan guides and now started with official questions in the topic wise difficulty directory in gmatclub.
3. CAT-1----princeton- 360(q26, v11).....diagnostic test
 
.............1 month of random preparation..........

CAT-2----REAL GMAT-450(q42, v14)...........No pressure as i know I'm gonna score low
..............45 days of preparation (concepts revision from manhattan guides).........................

CAT-3----Manhattan prep cat-570(q41, v26).........no pressure as its not an official mock
...............1 week gap to check whether that's a correct score and taken another cat.---------

CAT-4-----Veritas prep -570(q41, v26).........no pressure as its not an official mock
....................1 week gap....

CAT-5-------EXAMPACK-1 -450(q36,v14).......Anxiety issues started.

Goals:
. Planning to take in August.As i have time (whole day for preparation i have to deal with this quickly. )
. i will apply in 2021 to ISB

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi SonGoku,

Since you are not planning to apply to Business School for a couple of years, you have plenty of time to continue studying - which is good. Unfortunately, you will likely need far more study time than you have allotted (for your August Test Date), so you might want to consider pushing that Test Date back. There's no 'harm' in taking the Exam at that point, but you could save some money - and some frustration - by rescheduling.

As far as the variations in your Test Scores are concerned, it's important to remember that Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" your practice scores can become. As such, we should examine how you took each of your practice CATs:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as when you plan to take your Official GMAT? What time did you take the Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? 
5) Did you take any of these CATs BEFORE? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE (re: in an online forum or in a practice set)?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

SonGoku · Answer

HI  EMPOWERgmatRichC

1. Till now i have taken every cat excluding essay at a time. Because i was so desperate that i want to see the improvement of the whole work that i have done the whole week.These thoughts are coming frequently while writing the exam.
2.yes i always take the exam at home.
3.Except the latest exam, which i took in the morning,Every other exam i took till now are in the evenings.
4.No
5.Not a single question that i have seen till now every cat is different from the other cats.Because all these exams are of different companies.I'm sure that i have not seen a single repeat.

I feel like taking cats once every three days.Because Till now i used to prepare that particular topic completely and then i have given cats.  So when taking the cats if i get 1 mistake in the topic that i had prepared to the full,what should i do? Do i need to consider that topic as one of my weak areas and prepare again? I was unable to figure out what to do.

please clear my Missing clarity and clumsiness and please suggest me how to improve in social science passages because i'm weak in that topic.

egmat · Answer

Hi  SonGoku ,

I am sorry to know that you could not perform as well as you had hoped in the test. But do not be demotivated, instead, rise like a phoenix! Take this test as a stepping stone in your endeavor to reach your target score.
 • Richa followed a methodical approach and improved from 470 to 720 (V16 to V39).  Click here  to learn how she achieved this feat.

How to bounce back? 
The problem that you are facing is common amongst people who use books to study. The problem here is that because of the nature of the medium(books), it is very difficult for you to get feedback on how much you are grasping or whether you are applying the concepts properly. Books traditionally focus only on imparting conceptual knowledge. GMAT, on the other hand, is a test of logic and reasoning abilities of a student. To score well on GMAT, you must be strong in fundamentals and have a structured, repeatable, and reliable process. Thankfully, you have plenty of time to study and improve.
 1. Askul tried coaching institutes and books but could not improve. Finally, following a structured approach and repeatable application process helped him to improve from a (520)V17 to (710)V40.  Click here to read his de-brief .
2. Chintan gave too many mocks on his first attempt and ended up getting only a 630. In his second attempt, he realized his mistake, followed a methodical approach, got his fundamentals strong and improved to a 710.  Click here to read his de-brief .

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Regards,
Aditee

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi SonGoku,

"Review" is an exceptionally important part of the GMAT training process; your ability to define WHY you're getting questions wrong is essential to defining the areas that you need to work on (and the specific things that you need to 'fix '). As such, I'd like to know a bit more about your last CAT. While a full Mistake Tracker would provide a lot more information, there are some basic questions that you should be able to answer (and the more EXACT you can be with your answers, the better):

After reviewing each section of this recent CAT, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math/verbal that you just could not remember how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?
5) How many Verbal questions did you 'narrow down to 2 choices' but still get wrong?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

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