Failed on 1st attempt and GMATPrep is nothing like the real test

Question

Hello,

I am a non-native and have been studying gmat for just about 5 months now. I just had my first offical gmat exam last week and am not satisfied with the result. This is mainly because there was a big gap between the real test score (660 : Q49/V32) and two GMATPrep exams (Exam Pack, Exam 3 T730 : Q50/V38, Exam 4 T710 : Q50/V34).

My overall feeling about the real test is that the GMATPrep does not really represent the difficulty level of the real test. Especially in quant section because I consistently scored 50 in my two preps. On the Exam 4, I only missed 2 questions in quant. But on the real exam, it was a totally different story. I had no idea how to solve question number 1 and had to guess & move on (not a good start). Although my feeling about the verbal portion was not that bad, the score was lower than I had expected. FYI, here is a brief history of my prep tests: took Exam 3 a month prior and Exam 4 two days prior to my actual test. I think the drop in verbal score (V38> V34) was due to missing almost a full passage in RC section (it was one about seal lion and its lactation period. I still have hard time understanding the passage), because on the Exam 3, I had 13 wrongs and on Exam 4, I only had 8 (1 CR, 2 SC, and 5 RC).

Over the past 5 months, I tried to stick to the official questions only. I solved and analyzed all the gmat prep tests (hence why I never took the two prep tests) and all the questions from OG 12, 13, and even the new 2016. I read MGMAT SC/CR/RC guides and also Aristotle Grail series. I honetly don't know where or how to continue my studying from here. Perhaps it's time to get some help from some prep courses? I am thinking about e-gmat or gmat pill. I am hoping to score +40 in verbal in my next attempt, which I am thinking about to take in about a month. I am hoping to find a program with a good diagnostic test so I know where my weakness is.

Any suggestion on anything (study plan, prep courses) would be appreciated.

Thanks

JW

Ralphcuisak · Answer

Hi jaykim0507,

For verbal Improvement i would highly recommend egmat course.I did not take it personally but have seen their content and methodology and it is really impressive and have some friends who did and were benefited.You can sign up for their trial on their official website and make an informed decision then maybe,They rightly boast about great verbal results.However,if you are trying to go for self prep,Veritas has really good verbal material.You can easily get the eBooks. The way they explain stuff really holds in your memory i feel.Hope this helps.

kudos if this was helpful :)

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi jaykim0507,

First off, a 660/Q49 is a solid score (it's just above the 80th percentile overall) and it might be enough to get you into Business School.

GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +-30 points of actual ability. Assuming a similar 'swing' in how practice CATs function, all of your scores are within range of about 690-700 (your Official Score is at the 'low end' of the range).

Since you're putting a lot of emphasis on your practice CAT scores, I have some questions about those Tests...

When you took each CAT...
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (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 your Official GMAT?
4) Did you do ANYTHING during this CAT that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, listen to music, etc.)? 
5) Did you take them more than once?

When are you planning to apply to Business School?
Do you know which Schools you plan to apply to?

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

jaykim0507 · Answer

Thank you Rich for taking interest in my post!

To answer your questions I must say that I have done everything I can to mimic the actual test environment. I took the entire test at the same time as my official test. I was at a quiet studying room with no disruption at all. No pause or music either. I even used similar scratch pad and pen as those provided at the test center. I purposely left these two exams untouched so i dont end up with a inflated scores.

I think the most scary part is that the overall feeling about the verbal part was not bad when I finished the exam. I actually thought that I did better than the prep exam 4 so I was definitely expecting something higher than 34. Maybe I missed too many questions in the beginning and failed to get myself into the 700 questions set?

I was really hoping to score +700 so I would have enough time to prepare for toefl and applications for the 1st round. I am shooting for Ross in particular but will go for higher, such as Booth, if I get a good enough score.

Once again, thank you for your interest.

JW

willowtree2 · Answer

Hi Jaykim,

I ended up in a similar situation. 700 and 710 in GMATPrep only to get a 680 on the real thing. It was very disappointing. I wish you the best, let me know if you retake it and have any tips to provide. I'm going to be retaking, and if it means applying in round 2 or waiting another year that's probably what I'll have to do.

TheGmatTutor · Answer

In my opinion, it's the 32 on Verbal that brought down your overall score. Because of the way the GMAT scoring algorithm is weighted, I don't think scoring an extra point on quant (Q49 + 1 = Q50) would have increased your score of 660 at all.

It looks like your verbal scores are inconsistent: GMATPrep V38 V34, actual GMAT V32. You should definitely try to get that consistently above 38. My suggestion would be to devote all of your additional study to verbal and take as many full verbal sections as you can.

jaykim0507 · Answer

Thanks for your advice gmattutor!

I did not know there was such limit to the score in the algorithm. I know that most Asian student, like myself, achieve +700 but disproportionate in their Q and V. I read somewhere that balanced score between Q and V is also important so I want to definitely improve my V.

It does seem like my verbal scores are inconsistent and frankly speaking, I am not sure why and how. I know my accuracy is decent in individual parts so perhaps I should take more mocks. I tried to stick to only the official questions, hence did not take any MGMAT or Kaplan mocks even though I had access to them.

Once again thank you for your valuable advice!

JW

jaykim0507 · Answer

Thank you Rich for taking interest in my post!

To answer your questions I must say that I have done everything I can to mimic the actual test environment. I took the entire test at the same time as my official test. I was at a quiet studying room with no disruption at all. No pause or music either. I even used similar scratch pad and pen as those provided at the test center. I purposely left these two exams untouched so i dont end up with a inflated scores.

I think the most scary part is that the overall feeling about the verbal part was not bad when I finished the exam. I actually thought that I did better than the prep exam 4 so I was definitely expecting something higher than 34. Maybe I missed too many questions in the beginning and failed to get myself into the 700 questions set?

I was really hoping to score +700 so I would have enough time to prepare for toefl and applications for the 1st round. I am shooting for Ross in particular but will go for higher, such as Booth, if I get a good enough score.

Once again, thank you for your interest.

JW

jaykim0507 · Answer

Hello willowtree2

Yeah it sucks to be in the lower range of +-30 that people talk about. How long do you plan to study before your next test? Apart from strengthening my fundamental (concepts), I plan to take a lot more mocks before my next attempt.

All the best to you too!

JW

Harley1980 · Answer

Hello jaykim0507 . I've done test today and I agree with you that prep is not represent the real test. Especially SC part. About math it was a little surprising, I was not sure in only 2 questions but received a 48 so looks like I miss a lot of questions and this is not happen in my last GMAT prep exams. Good luck in your preparations and your next attempt

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi jaykim0507,

When it comes to the Verbal section, there are 2 challenges that most Test Takers face:

1) You will NEVER know if you made a silly/little mistake - you'll just choose one of the incorrect answers.
2) Since the Verbal section is the final 75 minutes of the Exam, you will almost certainly be tired and at a certain point you'll just "want the Test to be over" - both of these issues will impact your will-power and your attention-to-detail.

As such, it's useful to know more than one approach for Verbal questions - in that way, you have a way to 'double check' your answer.

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

willowtree2 · Answer

Hi Jaykim,

I am thinking about 1 more month because i am pushing it for round 1 this year and I'd rather not wait till next year. And i also plan to take more mocks. I'm not rescheduling until i get two consistent 740+ scores so that if I drop i still have a comfortable zone to stay in the 700s.

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