First GMAT: a very unexpected GMAT score.:Please help

I agree with MikeScarn that you may have just been nervous on test day. Did you get a good night's sleep? and when you took the mock tests, were they taken under test like conditions i.e. no extended breaks, all four sections (V,Q,IR,AWA) at once?

Hi PallabiKundu,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. When these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day. Before we discuss any of those potential issues though, 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? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) On what dates did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
6) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

You might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

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

ScottTargetTestPrep

Following are the answers to your question:

1.I have been studying for GMAT for the past 1 year.
2.I have been considering resources from GMAT Club mainly, however some time ago, I had taken a 3 months course from Princeton Review.
3.I want to apply to B schools for 2020 intake.
4.I don't remember for Practice Tests 3 and 4 dates.
However score breakup are as follows:
Practice Test 5: Q47 V21 Total Score 560 Date: 30.11.2019.
Practice Test 6: Q47 V19 Total Score 540 Date: 02.12.2019.


Kindly help

MikeScarn
I took the Quants section first.
For somehow I was unable to concentrate first 10 mins,I don't know why. I was unable to think the questions and evaluate the answers quickly, I marked some questions by little guessing and moved on. I do not know why.

EMPOWERgmatRichC

Here are your answers:
Studies:
1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week? --- I have been studying since the past one year, I am a software developer and 6 years experienced, I work for about 9-10 hours daily on weekdays, so each weekday I get 2 hours time to practice, on weekends I study for 4-5 hrs (Saturday and Sunday)
2) What study materials have you used so far? -- I have been studying from GMAT Club, but have taken help from Princeton Review some time ago.
3) On what dates did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
I don't remember for Practice Tests 3 and 4 dates.
However score breakup are as follows:
Practice Test 5: Q47 V21 Total Score 560 Date: 30.11.2019.
Practice Test 6: Q47 V19 Total Score 540 Date: 02.12.2019.


Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score? -- My overall goal score is between 650-690. It would be better if I get around 690.
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School? - I am planning to apply to Business School around October 2020
6) What Schools are you planning to apply to? Mainly I am trying to apply for Indian Bschools like IMT Ghaziabad, IMI Delhi, Great Lakes Chennai, etc.


Kindly help me. I wish to retake the GMAT again around 3-4 months, I would try to purchase the ESR and will update you as suggested.

Thanks,
Pallabi

Hi PallabiKundu,

With another 3-4 months of consistent, guided study, you could potentially improve a great deal, but you will clearly have to make some significant changes to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections.

Based on what you described in your recent posts, I have a few follow-up questions about your studies up to this point:

1) Did you ever take the two free Official CATs available from www.mba.com? I ask because you appear to have taken all of the Exam Pack CATs (Exams 3-6). How did you score on those two free CATs?
2) What type of studying did you do for the Verbal section over the last year? What "steps" do you go through when dealing with a typical RC, SC and CR prompt?

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

Hi EMPOWERgmatRichC,

Following are the answers to your questions:

1) Did you ever take the two free Official CATs available from https://www.mba.com? I ask because you appear to have taken all of the Exam Pack CATs (Exams 3-6). How did you score on those two free CATs?

Ans: Yes I took the free CATS.
Following are the scores:
CAT1 : Q47 V21
Overall : 560
Date : 9th September 2019
CAT2: Q47 V27
Overall : 600
Date : 15th September 2019
CAT3: Q48 V20
Overall:560
Date: 20th October 2019
CAT4: Q47 V21
Overall:560
Date: 9th November 2019



2) What type of studying did you do for the Verbal section over the last year? What "steps" do you go through when dealing with a typical RC, SC and CR prompt?

Ans: Please find the steps taken for the Verbal Section
a)For RC,
At first I read through the passage,read each paragraph, concentrating on structural signposts like 'however','but'.
When the passages were long I used to take notes, otherwise not.
For short passages I used to mug up everything within my mind.
Then I would look at the questions, main idea questions were occasionally correct, however I had problems with inference type questions, I used to get attracted to answers which were directly stated in the passage and wrongly chose them when I had time crunch.
Next when the question stem was long, I had to reread the question stem, had problems understanding the same and thus consequently had problems choosing the answers.
b)For CR:
I used to read the question stem first, go through the argument and then concentrate on the answers.
Many a times out of time crunch or hurry I would choose answers which were irrelevant/Out of scope.
I had serious problem with questions like Evaluate the answer choices,Bold Face Arguments, Except Questions.
(Though in the real GMAT I got only one Evaluate Questions and no Bold Face/Except Questions).
I had problems when the answer choices had keywords like ('unlikely',negation words), I was unable to evaluate those answers quickly and thus would end up choosing the wrong.
3. For SC,
My greatest problem was at first looking at the underlined part I was unable to understand what type of error was happening in the original sentence.
I had problems with 'ing' verbs and would end up with choosing the wrong sentences.
I used to study grammar rules, however when the questions were mixed and matched, the correct rule would not pop up in my mind which was required.


As previously stated in my earlier posts, I took help from Princeton Review, mainly studied Manhattan Books and PowerScore(for CR), solved GMAT Club questions, but still that low score. I may be having loopholes in my preparation. Kindly suggest.
While I was in school I used to get good marks in English, however I do not know what happened here in GMAT Verbal.
I would be buying the ESR report, and would share with you shortly.

Regards,
Pallabi

Hi PallabiKundu,

I've sent you a PM with some additional notes and questions.

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

Hi PallabiKundu,

Thank you for providing more information. Based on your practice test scores and your actual GMAT score, I think that you’ll need to significantly improve your GMAT quant and verbal skills in order to hit your GMAT score goal. Would you like some advice on how to make those improvements? In the meantime, you may find it helpful to read the following article:

The Phases of Preparing for the GMAT