GMAT Mock Score v/s Official Exam (100 marks difference)

AndrewN

Thank you for your reply.
I spoke to my tutoring partner and they told me to give another attempt in 2 weeks as I have already spent a lot of time in the preparation (solving and analysing questions, giving mocks, etc. ) and plus they think that I ruined my exam because of nervousness .
Also, I did not accept my latest score, so I don’t think there is a point in ordering the ESR.
In order to cover the conceptual gaps, what should I do ? I don’t have much time for the next attempt because the applications for 2023 fall intake have already started.
Kindly let me know what is the best possible solution for me.
Thanks!

Posted from my mobile device

Well, Shree, quick fixes rarely work out, so I would advise you to spend the next week reviewing (questions you have missed and the core concepts behind them). On the Verbal side, you should not look to memorize answers, but to understand the logic of a sentence or passage, and you should seek to grasp why the incorrect answers deviate from that logical path. If in SC, there is some fundamental issue that you kept missing—e.g., modifiers, or subject-verb agreement—you can dedicate some time to brushing up on theory. See what some of the Experts have to say about official questions especially. I myself enjoy learning from others, seeing matters in a different way from how I may have approached a question. Focus on Easy and Medium questions especially, per official designation. Those are the questions that make or break a test, not all the Hard questions that people tend to prioritize.

On the Quant side, you probably have most of the core concepts down. But there may be certain areas that make you uncomfortable. These are worth exploring, and again, the forum is an excellent place for guidance. You are not looking to overhaul your entire approach, but some fine-tuning could get you to a 48-49 in two weeks, no problem.

Finally, let go of the pressure these fall applications are causing you to feel. If these non-test issues are weighing on your mind on test day, they will do nothing but get in the way. You will probably slow your pace to ensure you are getting everything correct, and then you will run into trouble with the clock and resort to guesswork. Just look at the test for what it is and focus on the question in front of you. If you can do that, then you will be able to think more clearly, and your best results will be much more likely to follow.

Good luck.

- Andrew

Hi Shree,

I'm sorry to hear that your 2nd attempt did not turn out better. This result is remarkably similar to your prior Official Score (from 11 months ago), so it's likely that you developed some 'bad habits' during your prior studies that are keeping you from scoring higher now. Before we discuss any of those potential issues in more detail though, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) Over the last 3 months, how many hours did you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used over the course of ALL of your studies? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
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) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

Assuming that you took your official practice exams under realistic testing conditions, the results show that, on a good day, you are capable of scoring higher than V20. Thus, it’s quite possible that nerves, stress, tiredness, or a combination of all three negatively affected your test-day performance. However, it’s also possible that you have some lingering weaknesses that were exposed on test day. Although I’m unsure of how you prepared, it’s possible that, in your preparation, particularly in verbal, you did not really learn to do what you have to do in order to score high on the actual GMAT. Rather, you picked up on some patterns that were effective in getting you relatively high scores on practice tests. So, for you to hit your score goal, your preparation, particularly for verbal, probably needs to be more complete, meaning that you have to go through the various types of GMAT questions carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills.

For verbal specifically, you have to become more skilled at clearly defining the differences between trap choices and correct answers. Otherwise, you will get stuck guessing between two choices or be surprised to find that you incorrectly answered questions that you thought you answered correctly. Becoming more skilled in this way takes carefully analyzing all of the answer choices to lots of verbal questions to develop an eye for the logical differences between the choices. In other words, you have to go beyond answering practice questions and reading explanations to doing deep analysis of questions to learn to see everything that is going on in them.

You also may find it helpful to read the following articles:

how to score a 700+ on the GMAT

Why Was My GMAT Score Lower Than My Practice Test Scores?

I gave my official exam 2 days back and got a score of 540(Q45,V20)

I've suggested Manhattan-Prep's 6th Edition for SC to students I tutor. You may be able to get through it in a week. Watching YouTube videos that go over verbal learning may also be helpful. Feel free to check out some of the videos that go over Verbal questions on the gmatknight blog.

Here's someone I helped who got a 9 point jump on Verbal. They did it in about 30 days. May be some tips you can leverage.

All the best.

EMPOWERgmatRichC
Thank for your reply.

1) I have been studying for almost 1-2 hrs/day since the last 3 months.

2) I studied only from the official material as well as from the one provided by my tutoring company. I only gave GMAT official mocks in the 3 last months.

3) There used to be a almost a month's gap between two tests. My quant score was fixed at 47 whereas my verbal score ranged from 31-36 but I would say there always used to be few questions which were repetitive in the verbal section.


Initially, I was targeting a score of 700+ for my low gpa (2.8/4) and average work exp, but now, seeing my last gmat score, I am okay with anything around 650.
The schools I was initially targeting, don't seem possible anymore. I need to revise my list of courses, and the targeting colleges.

Hope this helps.
Thanks!

Hi Shree,

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

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

Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com