gmat actual score 200 points less that last practice test

Question

Hello,

I have a question for you... I just took the GMAT today and scored 420. Percentile 16 in math and percentile 26 in verbal. My background is in psychology, so I am nowhere close to your experience with math. I learned these math through the gmat basically, from scratch. A bit of info, so you get an idea of you I am!

Now, I did do three practice tests. The first one I did after about 1 1/2 months of practice. I got a 560 (veritas prep). I looked at my responses and realised that I make a lot of mistakes in DS questions and a lot of random ridiculous mistakes. For the verbal I hadn't ptacticed at all, and it was better than the quantitative part, but still not that good. I then focused on math and a tiny bit on verbal, just practicing with some more questions.

I did a second test a few days later (gmat test) and got a 570. A tiny bit better, but basically the same and same mistakes. I then decided to focus on the verbal, in which I am better, knowing that I can improve it a lot. So, I didn't do any math again that time. I spent about 5 days during which I was looking into concepts in verbal and strategies to tackle the verbal part. I then retook the test and scored 620. The result showed that the same problems persisted in the quantitative part (mistakes mostly in DS, and very stupid ones. So, things you know, but tend to ignore when responding to the questions). But my verbal part improve a lot. It was around 60% and now it was at 81%. Epsecially when it comes to texts I had improved a lot, using strategies to "outline" the text and keep brief notes.

I still had 1 week before my actual gmat date. So, I focused on DS questions (especially number properties, that was my weakest point) for the following 4 days, and on revising the 2 days before the exam.

I took the exam today, and got a 420.. Epsecially the verbal part confused me a lot. I was asnwering the questions and then I look at the time. I had 30 minutes left and was at about question 15. I panicked. This had NEVER happened to me before. Even the first time that I took the GMAT, I guess all of my score was dure to verbal, as I had score at 2% for the math (remember, I had zero knowlegde and had practiced for one week because of a deadline, while I was working at the same time).

At the moment I am terribly confused. I have no idea as to how to explain what happened today. There were some issues in the test center:
1) I started 1 hour after the scheduled time, because there was no internet connection and she could connect with gmac. She spoke to perason and they couldn't say when the problem was going to get fixed. Well, after one hour I started the exam.
2) The marker I was given had a very thick edge, which required that I use large characters so that they would be clear. I didn't think of it as a problem at that moment. However, when I had about 15 more questions to go I realised that I only have one page left. I raised my hand as I was supposed to. I answer about 10 more questions raising and lowering my hand every now and then. She never came. I just gave up and used every empty space I could find in my scrap book.
3) I decided to take the optional brake before the verbal. Once again, hand raised for 2 minutes. Girl never came. I stood up on my own as I really had to use the toilet and only had 6 minutes left. When I left the room she saw me and casually asked "Oh are you taking a brake"?

Then I went back in and contunied with the test.

I refuse to believe that this is my level of knowledge. The score seems to be extremely lower. Do you think this is normal? I want to retake the exam next week (even though I won't be able to get an official score), because I am applying to a phd in consumer behavior and the dealdine has already passed..

Would you say that retaking tht gmat in 1 week from now is logical? Could it be just a bad day - perhaps too much stress - and a second test could possibly be better? Should I just assume that the practice tests are not reflecting reality or that they are so far apart from reality?

Not sure what to think at the moment...

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear pacifist85 , I'm happy to respond. :-)

First of all, I would urge you to complain about the way you were treated at the testing center. Register a formal complaint. I would recommend this form: https://www.mba.com/us/service/contact-us.aspx Not giving you another scratch pad when you raised your hand, not seeing you when you raised your hand for a bathroom break --- that is simply inexcusable. I would also recommend calling the test center, asking to speak to a manager, and personally letting that manager know of the irregularities on the day you took the test. Now, as far as your performance, read this blog: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/lower-on- ... ice-tests/ If you also read the linked articles at the bottom and put some of those practices into effect, it will really help you. I definitely think you should take a retake, although I think one week is way too soon. First of all, you need some time to integrate the stress-reduction practices recommended in those blogs. Learning to manage stress takes time. Furthermore, a good thorough review of all the content and strategy would be very helpful. Here's a one-month study-plan: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/1-month-gm ... -schedule/ If you follow that, and take the test again a month from now, you will be quite ready for the test. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear pacifist85 , Just FYI, your question got me curious, so I went to that same mba.com comments page and asked a more general question about Pearson VUE's official statement of responsibility toward test takers. I am very curious to see what kind of response they will have for me. Mike :-)

CaptainWeiner · Answer

Hi Mike,

Speaking of test centers, the D.C. test center provides a really thick headphones, imagine the headphones you would wear while using a law mower, and it creates vacuum and gave me somewhat of a headache when I took the GMAT back last May. Is it possible for a Test taker to bring earplugs? If I wear the headphones, I am sure it will give me a big headphone.

Regards,

Dave

CaptainWeiner · Answer

Hi Mike,

Speaking of test centers, the D.C. test center provides a really thick headphones, imagine the headphones you would wear while using a law mower, and it creates vacuum and gave me somewhat of a headache when I took the GMAT back last May. Is it possible for a Test taker to bring earplugs? If I wear the headphones, I am sure it will give me a big headache and reduce my GMAT score.

Regards,

Dave

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi pacifist85,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as hoped. While the situation that you experienced sounds really 'unprofessional', it's not enough to explain the 200 point score drop. THAT is more likely to be due to how you studied and the accuracy of your CAT scores. To that end, I have a few questions:

1) How long did you study?
2) What resources did you use during your studies?
3) When you took your CATs, did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
4) You mentioned that you retook a CAT. How many retakes did you do? Which scores were from "new" CATs and which were from retakes?

5) On Test Day, you described a pacing problem. How questions did you have to 'rush through' at the end of each section (just to finish)? Did you leave any questions unanswered?

I'll have some follow-up questions, but we can get to those after you've answered these ones.

Unfortunately, you have to wait 31 days between Official Tests, so you can't take the GMAT again in a week. What is the average GMAT score for the Program that you're interested in?

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

pacifist85 · Answer

Hello Rich,

Thank you for asnwering. Let me get to your questions one by one!

1) How long did you study?
I srated studying in the 1st of December. I was working at that time, so it wan't full time studying. I had 2 full weeks during Christmas and about 20 mores days between the mid of January and the day I took the GMAT, yesterday.So, I would say about 34 whole days and the rest of the time after work and during weekends.

I had also started studying for about 2 months during last May-June. I then stopped due to personal reasons. I started again in December, when I saw that the PhD I was interested in was open. So there was a 6 mont break in between my studying.

2) What resources did you use during your studies?
I started only with math. I've spent about 90% in math and 10% in verbal. I used the Manhattan guides, which prooved to be extremely helpful for someone that had no knowledge of these concepts at all! I also used the GMAT Club's math book. After I did the MG I used the GMAT Club forum and focused on questions starting with sub 600 evel difficulty. When I saw that they were getting rather easy for me I moved on to 600-700 level questions. I did some 700 level questions - some of them got right and others wrong. However, I was aiming at 600 at least, but no more than 650, so I only focused on questions of 600-700 level.

3) When you took your CATs, did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
Yes I took the entire CAT, including those first sections.

4) You mentioned that you retook a CAT. How many retakes did you do? Which scores were from "new" CATs and which were from retakes?
Yes I was a bit vague about that. All the CATs I took were different full practice tests. The first one was from Veritas prep (560), the second one was the first official gmat CAT (570), the third one was a different veritas prep CAT (620).

The program I am interested in is not requiring an absolute minimum. What they announce is that an indication of a good score is 650. I know from others that are doing their PhDs in this school that the GMAT is a requirement, but if you get a good enought score (perhaps a 600 or a bit more) then you are good.

Mind that the program is psychology based. I have no problem at all with statistics - on the contrary. And no problem with analysis and experimental research, which is what I will be doing during the PhD. I have a problem with numbers though (and with reading about plant biology)

pacifist85 · Answer

Thank you so much Mike! I really appreciate your help! I will definitely have a look at those links - already doing!

pacifist85 · Answer

Thank you! If you could also post their response here that would be great!

pacifist85 · Answer

Rich, I noticed I didn't respond to one of your questions:

5) On Test Day, you described a pacing problem. How questions did you have to 'rush through' at the end of each section (just to finish)? Did you leave any questions unanswered? 
I am not sure anymore, but I would say that for the verbal, I had used 1 hour, so I was left with half an hour, and was before the mid of the verbal part. So, I really didn't sense that I was being that slow. Usually, for the verbal, I am just about on time (so left of with 3 minutes for the last question). However, for the first CAT I took I did answer the last 4 questions randonly, because I had run out of time. No, I didn't leave any questions ananswered, but I did answer a big text basically randomly (it appeared right when I realised that time was almost over and it was a one page passage on plant biology - I hate this subject - followed by 5 qustions), and I did basically just randomly pick an answer to many questions, as at some point I had about 15 minutes for about the same number of questions - and I did get another passage near the end (even though I had already responded to a big one and 2 medium ones).

For the quantitative part, it is about similar. During the test day though, I did randomly respond to a question (which was basically due to the fact that I had no space in the scrap book and my calculations were in different parts of the same page, so I just got confused as to where I was left of and moved on). So, in the end I had about 3 minutes for the ast question.

Also something strange in the math part was that I got a lot of overlapping sets questions. At least 5. They were of the kind "100 people were asked how much they like car A or car B. 40% prefer can A, 20% like both A and B equally blah blah blah. How many didn't like any of the cars"? Don't get me wrong, I love these questions, but they were more or less identical during the test.

pacifist85 · Answer

Just wanted to add that today I took a Manhattan practice test and got a 600. My verbal and quantitative scores are around the same as for the other CATs I have taken. I did slightly worse in the verbal (71%) and around my normal average for quantitative (43%).

As an experience, this time I felt that the quantitative was challenging enough (I did a few extremely stupid mistakes) and the verbal as well. I did respond to a few questions randomly in both parts (around 3 for each part) but didn't leave any questions unanswered.

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dave, I'm happy to respond. :-)

Here's the official Pearson VUE "Comfort Aid" list: https://www.pearsonvue.com/accommodation ... t_aids.pdf Apparently, the testing center has to provide any headphones or earplugs. Theoretically, if you are not happy with the headphones, they should provide you with clean new earplugs. You could always bring some of your own, but I suspect they would be regarded as contraband and not allowed into the inner sanctum of testing. I would suggest calling ahead to the center, just to verify that they would provide earplugs as an alternative to the head-crushing headphones. Mike :-)

CaptainWeiner · Answer

Hey Mike,

Wow. Thanks for giving me that information. Actually, I am halfway through Magoosh. I am a premium member and I have to say that I really like your videos and practice problems. When I transition between OG Guide problems and Magoosh, there is not much difference. With Manhattan GMAT, I feel like the questions definitely stray away from the office problems. I am a native English speaker and for whatever reason. I am struggling on the verbal, especially with the critical reasoning. Would Magoosh consider uploading more critical reasoning videos? In the Quant section, you talk about traps that the test makers love to create for students. It would be great if you talked about traps that testmakers love to create for critical reasoning prompts.

Cheers,

Dave

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dave, I will talk to the Content team about this possibility. Keep in mind that lesson-creation is an intensely time-consuming, and the team already has a lot on its plate. Among other things, we are in a drive now to create more CR questions. Keep in mind that a great deal of the education that Magoosh provides occurs in the video explanations accompanying each and every Magoosh question. Mike :-)

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear pacifist85 , I wrote to Pearson VUE, and directed them to this website to see your complaint. I don't whether they contacted you personally. Here's the response I got from them: So, this is important for you to know, and important for anyone taking the GMAT to know: if you have any kind of bad experience at the test center, and feel that you have not be treated professionally, then you, the test-taker, should raise the complaint with the folks at that testing center and, if need be, with Pearson VUE as a whole. It's all about you taking responsibility for your own path toward success. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

CaptainWeiner · Answer

Hello GMATclub administrators:

I think that this thread should be tagged as important because it has a lot of useful information that some people may not necessarily think about unless they have taken the GMAT multiple times.

Regards,

Dave

pacifist85 · Answer

Hello Mike,

Thankyou so much for posting the response.

The day after the test I did send an official complaint about the conditions at the testing center, which I didn't describe in full here (it was actually even worse). And one week after, since I hadn't heard anything back from them, I called the first time.

True, I didn't complaint at the test center, and they also pointed this out to me over the phone. Still, everything cannot be my responsibility. The complaint was anyway sent, when I was feeling more relaxed. I don't think that they should be expecting candidates to file complaints on the spot, when their stress is quite high, and I personally don't think it is a good idea. I wouldn't trust this person to do anything anyway, as I would be complaining to her about her...

Well they haven't contacted me so far. However, I have personally called them - twice for now - and the customer service representative I spoke to, in London, told me that he tranfered my problem and I should be expecting someone to contact me. He also gave me another email where I can send complaints: g matcandidateservicesemea@pearson.com . For now, no one has contacted me (since Friday when I was told that someone would), so tomorrow I will have to call them back.

I know it is my obligation to complain and I did exactly that. I am not going to be pressured to do it on the spot, after having received such luck of respect, and after having kept my part of the deal 100%. Nothing went well that day, and it is their obligation to make sure it gets fixed. Let's see how quick  they  will be about it if I wasn't quick enough myself. For now, they are taking their time.

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear pacifist85 , My friend, good luck to you. Let us know when you hear a response! Mike :-)

adityadon · Answer

Hi There ! 
I am not a gmat expert or something but just my 0.02$ !!
If you are planning to retake then please change the test centre next time. If this is only test center available in your city then go to some other closer city.

pacifist85 · Answer

Hey,

Yes I am thinking of changing the center next time. However, I also have in mind that, after having received the complaint, it might be safer to go to the same one. I assume that they wouldn't repeat the same mistakes. Or I would ask for 2 scrap books in advance

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gmat actual score 200 points less that last practice test

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