from 720 (Gmat prep) to 640 (actual Gmat) - Help Required.

Question

Hello friends

I took my GMAT today and scored a 640 (Q49 V27). This is my lowest score in comparison to gmat prep. I have been preparing for the past 7 months consistently atleast for 2hrs everyday. But whatever happens life has to move on. kindly advice me what to do. I am completely clueless. My target is 700.

I have scheduled my second attempt on 18th August.

Preparation materials used: OG 12, OG 16, GMAT CLUB TESTS, MANHATTAN SC, GMAT CLUB COMPREHENSIVE COLLECTION OF ALL GMAT PREP QUESTIONS, Active member of GMAT CLUB Forums, E-gmat SC course.

My preparation strategy was to solve 20 questions from each section everyday and analyze the solutions thoroughly. I used to go through manhattan forums (Ron/Stacey) , Gmat club forums in case I find the solution unconvincing.

Mock test results: (all these tests were taken with IR and AWA) - 8 minute timed breaks - Exam like conditions

GMAT PREP 1 - 610 (Q49 V23) - During Jan 2016
GMAT PREP 2 - 650 (Q49 V28) - During Feb 2016

<<<Improvement phase>>

GMAT PREP 1 retake (April 2016) - 670 (Q49 V32)
GMAT PREP 2 retake (May 2016) - 660 (Q49 V31)
GMAT PREP 3 (Exam Pack) May 2016 - 670 (Q49 V32)
Manhattan cat 1 - 670 (Q45 V37)
GMAT PREP 4 - 650 (Q49 V30)

<<Final Phase>>

GMAT PREP 1 (june 2016) - 670 (Q49 V32)
GMAT PREP 2 (june 2016) - 700 (Q50 V35)
GMAT PREP 3 (june 2016) - 710 (Q50 V36)
GMAT PREP 4 (june 2016) - 720 (Q50 V38)

Actual GMAT (Today) - 640 (Q49 V27) IR 6

So that`s how this journey has happened so far. I am a non-native speaker of english.

EXAM :

The quant was pretty much similar to GMAT prep. Few geometry questions were really hard. Q49 (not much to complain here). GMAT club tests helped me a lot in particular.

The verbal part was quite different from what i have seen in gmat prep. The SC questions were completely (atleast 3 to 4 - my guess ) were based on idioms. Totally I got 3 bold faced CR questions (2 out of first 10 Q) and my 6th question was a 4 para scientific RC (i found it very difficult). But the end result is not so satisfying.

Having written several mocks, Time management was not a issue today. I guessed the last question in Quant and last question in verbal.

So, That`s my experience. I am feeling very tired and exhausted after seeing the results. Your advice on what must be done next will be highly useful for me to see 7XX.

Thanks

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Balajikarthick1990,

I first recommend ordering your enhanced score report, so you can determine your percentile scores for sentence correction, reading comprehension, and critical reasoning. That report should give you some direction on where to focus your verbal study efforts.

Also, based on the scoring progression of your official practice exams, it’s entirely possible that the drop in your verbal score was due to nerves or fatigue. I wrote a detailed article that provides some valuable  test day tips and strategies  that should help calm your nerves on test day.

Before your retake, I recommend doing some dedicated practice on your weakest verbal topics and then retaking your GMAT in the next few weeks, as you should be able to hit your score goal.

Once you take your next GMAT let us know how you did. If for some reason your verbal score does not increase, we can devise a new study plan for you.

Good luck!

Balajikarthick1990 · Answer

Hi I have already purchased the esr the splits are Ds 51 ps 48 cr 21 .huge surprise never had I scored below 35 sc 31 rc 29 . In verbal my first 10 questions consisted of 2 bold faced cr and 1 long 4 para tough rc...my accuracy for first 10 questions were 80. Don't know what happened it literally plummeted down in the next sets of questions

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Posted from my mobile device

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

You know, it would be interesting to see how you do on another  MBA.com practice test . Do you have one that you can take? If so, would you please take it, and report back with your complete score breakdown? I think that the results of this practice exam may be instructive for us.

Balajikarthick1990 · Answer

Sure scott. I would purhcase exam pack 2 and try to give it in a week ( caught up with some tight office stuff) and get back to you.
Thanks for your guidance. I really appreciate that.

himpuju · Answer

Balajikarthick1990 , if you check the link  https://gmatclub.com/forum/information-on-new-gmat-esr-report-beta-221111.html  , people have shared their ESR snapshots there. It may give you some insight how other people have scored and you can compare with your own ESR. If you post snapshots of your verbal results then I can provide some specific input.

However, CR 21 is very low, so probably it would be good if you can go through PowerScore CR Bible and understand the CR strategies. Identifying the conclusion and pre-thinking about the answers really helps. I was greatly helped by this book. Also, as you have done the GMATPrep questions and gave several GMATPrep mock tests, you may get some skewed results as many question might be common. So along with GMATPrep exams, I would advise to take 2-3 Manhattan tests as well. Their verbal is close to GMATPrep.

Best of luck.

Balajikarthick1990 · Answer

Thanks....Please find my ESR attached in this link: gmat-640-enhanced-score-report-attached-221307.html I got 2 bold faced CR out of the first 10 questions and a tough 4 para RC( 4 questions), ESR says that I got 78% of my first 10 questions correct. CR was/is pretty much strength and I strongly feel that after finishing my first 10 questions, My performance got ruined my either complaceny (thinking that I have got 2 bold faced and a tough passage) or too much stress. Please have a look at my report and give your suggestions.

himpuju · Answer

If CR is your strength then I guess it was stress that got better of you. Did you spend too much time in the first part? The timing report section would have helped. Also, it will be interesting to see the difficulty level at each section. It seems as you did well in the first part, it gave more difficult questions in the second and third part.

As you have done all GMATPrep questions from GMATClub, you may get repeat or similar type of question in GMATPrep again and that may give a false impression. I would suggest you should take 2-3 Manhattan tests now and see how you are performing in verbal and which areas need improvement. Based on that you can work on CR or SC.

I cannot see any mention of any CR material in your prep material and it is the section where you have been hit in GMAT badly. So I still think the CR Bible would help you. Even you can try MGMAT CR guide. There should be a strategy for CR, common sense does not work always, especially for hard questions under actual GMAT stress and time pressure. I also thought in the beginning CR was my strength. But I found after my first GMATPrep exam that it's not. Then only I decided to cover CR Bible.

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