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BichT
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 28 Mar 2021, 03:37
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Hi everyone,

It's the first time I post on GMATclub, please excuse my English.

First of all I want to thank all of you for this forum. I'm a self taught and have been using your posted materials a lot form the day 1 of my GMAT journey.

I started preparing for GMAT in dec 2020.

After 2,5 month, I finished the OG 2019, All the books of MGMAT, GMATclub grammar and math book. I also buy the test 3,4 on GMATprep.

My test prep fluctuate quite a lot: 580 -> 640 GMATprep with Quant never go below 42.

But I gave the GMAT anyways and beaten with a score of 510 (Q36, V25). It was online and I was so nervous so crashed quant section.

I know my soft spot was verbal.

So I backed to revision and book a test 1,5 months after at test center.

It was yesterday the test, everything went smoothly. I do the verbal first as for me, it's more chill to start the test.

The quant section went well too, no panic.

I was so happy thinking this is the end of the journey.

But, in the test, 530 (Q42, V21) popped up. I was so shock! I canceled it right away.

I did even worst than last time with verbal.

I bought the ESR. My accuracy in SC is just 16%!! With grammar is lower than communication.

I don't know what to do now.

At home when practicing, I have at least 60% accuracy on SC. I don't know why I do so bad on test.

Can you you help me with SC? I'm lost.

I plan to take the test again in 2 weeks and focus on SC deeply.

I can't attach my ESR due to lack of post.
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DisciplinedPrep
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 28 Mar 2021, 08:50
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BichT - I am sorry to hear you could not achieve your target score. Not having seen your ESR, I cannot comment much on what could have gone wrong in the test. However, a 16% SC accuracy clearly says you lack knowledge of several concepts and/or strategies to solve SC questions. You can DM me your ESR, and I shall be happy to share it here in the forum; please make sure to mask your name and GMAT ID.
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 28 Mar 2021, 09:05
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SC is all about understanding the meaning of a sentence. you can solve so many easy types questions without understanding the meaning of the sentence, but when you'll try to solve 700 level question you'll fail to find the correct answer of that question.

you should take more mock tests (only official) by this time and write again to this forum for getting help from the expert.

you can do well in SC if you read only the best kudos post in the gmatclub forum. this is enough to get a good score in SC section.
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 28 Mar 2021, 09:18
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DisciplinedPrep
Thank you for your comment and the kind offer.

It seems like even in DM, I need 5 more posts to send you the file.
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 28 Mar 2021, 09:22
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TheUltimateWinner

You are right. May be I've been solving too easy questions.

My plan is to redo OG problem again this time with deep answer review.

I start watching Ron videos also.

And finally is to find a better approach and strategy to apply on test day.
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 28 Mar 2021, 10:03
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BichT - You have already three posts; so, you will soon be able to attach files in the forum. For clarity, this feature related to 5-posts is created so that spammers do not flood our forum with unnecessary files; I hope you would understand. We look forward to seeing your ESR.
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 28 Mar 2021, 10:50
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BichT - You have already three posts; so, you will soon be able to attach files in the forum. For clarity, this feature related to 5-posts is created so that spammers do not flood our forum with unnecessary files; I hope you would understand. We look forward to seeing your ESR.
Show more

Hi again,

I got the 5 posts now.

Here is my ESR.

Really looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Attachments

Bich Tran_391319328_ESR.pdf [505.12 KiB]
Downloaded 74 times

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EMPOWERgmatRichC
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GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V49
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GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V49
GRE 1: Q170 V170
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 28 Mar 2021, 16:09
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Hi BichT,

I'm sorry to hear that your 2 Official attempts did not go as well as hoped. 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 - or the data in your ESR - it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) Have you used any other study materials besides the books that you listed?
3) On what dates (or approximate 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 and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 28 Mar 2021, 18:13
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BichT
Hi everyone,

It's the first time I post on GMATclub, please excuse my English.

First of all I want to thank all of you for this forum. I'm a self taught and have been using your posted materials a lot form the day 1 of my GMAT journey.

I started preparing for GMAT in dec 2020.

After 2,5 month, I finished the OG 2019, All the books of MGMAT, GMATclub grammar and math book. I also buy the test 3,4 on GMATprep.

My test prep fluctuate quite a lot: 580 -> 640 GMATprep with Quant never go below 42.

But I gave the GMAT anyways and beaten with a score of 510 (Q36, V25). It was online and I was so nervous so crashed quant section.

I know my soft spot was verbal.

So I backed to revision and book a test 1,5 months after at test center.

It was yesterday the test, everything went smoothly. I do the verbal first as for me, it's more chill to start the test.

The quant section went well too, no panic.

I was so happy thinking this is the end of the journey.

But, in the test, 530 (Q42, V21) popped up. I was so shock! I canceled it right away.

I did even worst than last time with verbal.

I bought the ESR. My accuracy in SC is just 16%!! With grammar is lower than communication.

I don't know what to do now.

At home when practicing, I have at least 60% accuracy on SC. I don't know why I do so bad on test.

Can you you help me with SC? I'm lost.

I plan to take the test again in 2 weeks and focus on SC deeply.

I can't attach my ESR due to lack of post.
Show more

Hi BichT
Your situation is similar to me and my experience can help you a bit.
You start with SC (below 600 questions - topic by topic), it will build your confidence.
After that you can start with CR in same manner and than after RC.

Also looking at your quant score, you need a paractice of more examples.
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 29 Mar 2021, 01:58
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BichT
Can you you help me with SC? I'm lost.
Show more
Hi! Since you mention SC as your specific area of concern, thought I would mention that our sentence correction book Sentence Correction Nirvana is perhaps the only book that offers a score improvement guarantee, and is especially designed for non-native speakers.

After reading the book twice (yes! it's an academic book, and so must be read twice in all seriousness, to reinforce the concepts), you will start looking forward to solving SC questions!

The book is available on Flipkart and Amazon.in. You might want to refer to these sites, to also read testimonials of how readers have benefited.

You can als go thru this post on how Soubhik, who scored V51 (overall score 780), vouches for our book.

If you want to sample a chapter before deciding to go ahead with our book, please PM me your mail-id (along with the chapter that you would like to sample) and I will be happy to send that chapter to you by mail. In addition, the entire Grammar section of the book is also available for free preview at pothi..
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BichT
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 29 Mar 2021, 02:33
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EMPOWERgmatRichC
Hi BichT,

I'm sorry to hear that your 2 Official attempts did not go as well as hoped. 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 - or the data in your ESR - it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) Have you used any other study materials besides the books that you listed?
3) On what dates (or approximate 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 and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Hello Rich,

Thank you for your kind response. Here are my answer to your question:

1, About 3 hours weekday and 5-7 hours week-end.
2, I bought Gmatprep official practice questions 1 and do questions by sub section on GMATclub.
3, Feb 23: GMAT Prep Test 1 510 (Q39 V21)
Mar 2 : GMAT Prep Test 2 610 (Q48 V27)
Mar 14: GMAT Prep Test 3 640 (Q47 V21)
4, My goal score is 600-650
5, I already sent my application to ESSEC IMHI - which ask for a minimum score of 550.

I plan to retake in 15 days to send the score to school.
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BichT
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 29 Mar 2021, 02:35
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ramlala
BichT
Hi everyone,

It's the first time I post on GMATclub, please excuse my English.

First of all I want to thank all of you for this forum. I'm a self taught and have been using your posted materials a lot form the day 1 of my GMAT journey.

I started preparing for GMAT in dec 2020.

After 2,5 month, I finished the OG 2019, All the books of MGMAT, GMATclub grammar and math book. I also buy the test 3,4 on GMATprep.

My test prep fluctuate quite a lot: 580 -> 640 GMATprep with Quant never go below 42.

But I gave the GMAT anyways and beaten with a score of 510 (Q36, V25). It was online and I was so nervous so crashed quant section.

I know my soft spot was verbal.

So I backed to revision and book a test 1,5 months after at test center.

It was yesterday the test, everything went smoothly. I do the verbal first as for me, it's more chill to start the test.

The quant section went well too, no panic.

I was so happy thinking this is the end of the journey.

But, in the test, 530 (Q42, V21) popped up. I was so shock! I canceled it right away.

I did even worst than last time with verbal.

I bought the ESR. My accuracy in SC is just 16%!! With grammar is lower than communication.

I don't know what to do now.

At home when practicing, I have at least 60% accuracy on SC. I don't know why I do so bad on test.

Can you you help me with SC? I'm lost.

I plan to take the test again in 2 weeks and focus on SC deeply.

I can't attach my ESR due to lack of post.

Hi BichT
Your situation is similar to me and my experience can help you a bit.
You start with SC (below 600 questions - topic by topic), it will build your confidence.
After that you can start with CR in same manner and than after RC.

Also looking at your quant score, you need a paractice of more examples.
Show more

Hello Ramlala,

Thank you for your response.

I will try to do ask you did.
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BichT
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 29 Mar 2021, 02:41
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EducationAisle
BichT
Can you you help me with SC? I'm lost.
Hi! Since you mention SC as your specific area of concern, thought I would mention that our sentence correction book Sentence Correction Nirvana is perhaps the only book that offers a score improvement guarantee, and is especially designed for non-native speakers.

After reading the book twice (yes! it's an academic book, and so must be read twice in all seriousness, to reinforce the concepts), you will start looking forward to solving SC questions!

The book is available on Flipkart and Amazon.in. You might want to refer to these sites, to also read testimonials of how readers have benefited.

You can als go thru this post on how Soubhik, who scored V51 (overall score 780), vouches for our book.

If you want to sample a chapter before deciding to go ahead with our book, please PM me your mail-id (along with the chapter that you would like to sample) and I will be happy to send that chapter to you by mail. In addition, the entire Grammar section of the book is also available for free preview at pothi..
Show more

Hello sir,

Do you have a Kindle or Ebook of the book available? I'm in France so I can't buy it on Amazon India.

Thank you!
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TheUltimateWinner
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Schools: Harvard '24 Judge '23 LBS '24 McCombs '24 Mendoza Tepper '24 Ross '24 Cox Marshall '24 Fisher Kelley '24 Jones McDonough '24 Owen '24 Terry BU Simon '24 Katz GWU Mason Babson Gabelli Foster '24 Goizueta '24 Scheller Stern '23 CBS '23 Booth '23 Haas '25 Wharton '25 Stanford '26 Johnson'23 Fuqua '23 Kellogg '23 Kenan-Flagler'23 INSEAD Aug 22 intake Olin '23 Said '23 Sloan '23 Carey Arizona "22 Yale '23 UC Davis Madison '23 Anderson '23 Carroll Carlson '23 Darden '23
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 29 Mar 2021, 09:11
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BichT
TheUltimateWinner

You are right. May be I've been solving too easy questions.

My plan is to redo OG problem again this time with deep answer review.

I start watching Ron videos also.

And finally is to find a better approach and strategy to apply on test day.
Show more
BichT
yes, Thursdays with Ron videos are the best tutorial i have ever seen for GMAT. i suggest you to watch newest to old study hall videos. you can also read every SC question's explanation that is explained by Ron in ManhattanPrep forum. most of the SC questions explained by Ron in manhattanprep forum are from gmatprep 1 and 2, probably. so, if you have no intention to practice from practice test 3,4,5, and 6, don't touch those official practice test 1 and 2's explanation in that forum.
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 29 Mar 2021, 19:42
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Hi BichT,

I'm sorry to hear about how things went with your GMAT. Since you seem to need the most help in SC, I have a great article for you to check out:

GMAT Sentence Correction: 8 Essential Tips

If you have any questions after reading this, feel free to reach out.
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Location: United States (CA)
GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V49
GRE 1: Q170 V170
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GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V49
GRE 1: Q170 V170
Posts: 21,784
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 30 Mar 2021, 19:13
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Hi BichT,

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

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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From 640 preptest to 530 on test day... I'm in shock 31 Mar 2021, 23:12
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BichT
Hi everyone,

It's the first time I post on GMATclub, please excuse my English.

First of all I want to thank all of you for this forum. I'm a self taught and have been using your posted materials a lot form the day 1 of my GMAT journey.

I started preparing for GMAT in dec 2020.

After 2,5 month, I finished the OG 2019, All the books of MGMAT, GMATclub grammar and math book. I also buy the test 3,4 on GMATprep.

My test prep fluctuate quite a lot: 580 -> 640 GMATprep with Quant never go below 42.

But I gave the GMAT anyways and beaten with a score of 510 (Q36, V25). It was online and I was so nervous so crashed quant section.

I know my soft spot was verbal.

So I backed to revision and book a test 1,5 months after at test center.

It was yesterday the test, everything went smoothly. I do the verbal first as for me, it's more chill to start the test.

The quant section went well too, no panic.

I was so happy thinking this is the end of the journey.

But, in the test, 530 (Q42, V21) popped up. I was so shock! I canceled it right away.

I did even worst than last time with verbal.

I bought the ESR. My accuracy in SC is just 16%!! With grammar is lower than communication.

I don't know what to do now.

At home when practicing, I have at least 60% accuracy on SC. I don't know why I do so bad on test.

Can you you help me with SC? I'm lost.

I plan to take the test again in 2 weeks and focus on SC deeply.

I can't attach my ESR due to lack of post.
Show more

Hi BichT,

Sorry about how things went with your GMAT. There could be a couple of reasons for the drop in the score. Please go through the article below to find out the probable reasons.

Scored well on mocks but failed miserably on the test?

Having said that, it would be premature to conclude anything without knowing the actual reason. To understand what could have led to the drop in the score and to suggest you the plan of action, I need a little more information about your GMAT preparation. I would like to know more about

  • the way you prepared till now
  • your weak areas
  • how did you approach questions
  • did you use the right methods in the mocks or did you get lucky on a few questions

Answers to these questions will help me guide you in a better way. And I personally suggest to give the retake only after you prepared well and are 100% confident. An ESR will definitely help us get a few more insights. I can help you in the analysis of your ESR. We can get in touch over a zoom conference call, analyze your ESR, have a detailed discussion on the above things and come up with a plan of action. You can use the below link to get in touch with me.

Click here to schedule a call
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