GMAT : Scored a 720 (Q 50, V 37, IR 8) against a target score of 750+

Question

LONG POST. PLEASE BEAR WITH ME. I HAVE TRIED TO HIGHLIGHT THE IMPORTANT POINTS. BUT IT WOULD BE GREAT IF THE EXPERTS COULD GO THROUGH THE COMPLETE STORY

Hello GMAT club users,

Like many, I have been lurking around this site for close to 6 months now, reading up explanations for verbal questions, and parsing through GMAT experience stories.

I gave my GMAT on the 6th of September, and score a 720 (Q 50, V 37, IR 8), much below my target score of 750+. I know it is a decent score, but it is below the score I was expecting and I don't know if I will be able to leverage such a score to my target school

Exam experience:

The exam went well. I was not stressed while giving the exam, although there was a lot of stress in the days leading up to it. I completed the questions comfortably, with around a minute to spare in every section. The fact that I had given around 12 exams with similar test conditions, sitting in a computer lab, writing essays and giving IR, and giving exam at a time similar to the exam time had helped me to become comfortable in giving the exam.

Practice regime:

I had joined Jamboree coaching classes for verbal, and in parallel, read Manhattan for sentence correction and powerscore for critical reasoning.

In the month leading up to the exam, I practiced all the OG and OG verbal questions. In the 15 days leading up to the exam, I gave GMAT preps and Jamboree exams almost everyday, and gave sectional tests in the evening. I think I did ~500 SC questions, ~200 CR questions and ~200 RC questions in the last 15 days. Given below are the scores I got in the 6 GMAT preps (Jamboree had given me access to the extra exam packs):

Aug 05, 2016 - GMAT Prep 1 - 710 (Q 49, V 37, IR 7) (Had not completed all the material by then)
Aug 27, 2016 - GMAT Prep 2 - 760 (Q 50, V 42, IR 8)
Aug 30, 2016 - GMAT Prep 3 - 750 (Q 51, V 40, IR 7)
Sep 01, 2016 - GMAT Prep 4 - 750 (Q 50, V 41, IR 8)
Sep 02, 2016 - GMAT Prep 5 - 760 (Q 50, V 42, IR 8)
Sep 03, 2016 - GMAT Prep 6 - 760 (Q 51, V 42, IR 5)

Now there were some repetitions in the questions, with some exams having the an RC and related to the questions that I had done earlier, because I had given so many sectional tests and Jamboree exams.

Where I may have gone wrong:

I think the main factor that may have affected my score was the stress-levels in the couple of days leading up to the exams. Because I was doing sectionals almost everyday, I did not have time to revise OG and OG verbal earlier, and I redid the questions in OG and OG verbal only in the last 2 days. In fact, in the last 2 days, I gave sectionals, redid SC and CR questions from OG, and gave another mock exam in the last 2 days, while reading all notes the night before the exam. I slept at around 11:30 PM and woke up at around 6 in the morning, revised notes again, and gave the exam.

Another factor that I think may have affected my score was the repetitions in the preps, although I did not see many people complaining about such a thing. Because of repetitions, my scores may have been inflated, and may have built a false confidence in me by giving a false picture of the scores I am actually getting.

I believe the large amount of problems that I did in the last 2 weeks, along with the cramming up of OG in the last 2 days may have led to a decrease in the retention capacity and an increase in the stress-levels which would have got my score down.

Enhanced Score Report:

Because I did not know where I may have fumbled, I went ahead and bought the Enhanced Score Report (attached with the post), against the suggestions of many users. But I felt it was worth it, I was able to find out, or at least get an idea of, where and at what difficulty, my score started going down.

I saw that, in verbal, the first 10 questions went well, with only 1 question wrong, while I screwed up in the second group of 10 questions, with nearly 6 questions wrong. The third group of 10 questions again went fine, with only 1 question wrong. The last 11 questions had ~4 questions wrong.

Also, the second group of 10 questions, where I got 6 questions wrong, had a high difficulty on average.

I believe this is the prime area where I screwed up and my score came down. The quant portion was fine, with only 3 questions wrong in the final quarter of the exam.

Next Steps:

Now that I know where I went wrong, I want to know the actual causes of what may have happened. Was it the stress-levels that actually went against my expected score? Or was it that the GMAT prep scores were inflated? Or was it a mix of both? From the ESR, it looks like my concepts may not have been clear at all. This may have happened because I could not retain all the things I learnt in the 15 days leading up to the exams. Or is it that I need more practice? Because I got an RC passage that was lengthier than any passage I had done (up to 4 paragraphs wrong)

Concepts:
Going forward, I am thinking I will revisit all the concepts by going through Jamboree notes, Manhattan (SC) and PowerScore (CR). Additionally, I wanted to know if the E-GMAT verbal package (https://gmatclub.com/marketplace/courses ... bal-Online) will be helpful in clearing my concepts. If it is worth the cost, I can go ahead and buy it.

Practice:
I am thinking of doing the remaining Jamboree questions in blue book, along with the scholaranium from the E-GMAT verbal package and the OG and OG verbal questions (repeating them again). I am also thinking of taking up LSAT superprep for doing lengthier RC's and CR's. Let me know if the LSAT material will help me in increasing my RC and CR percentiles.

Mock Exams:
Now that I have exhausted all GMAT preps, I still have Manhattan CATs (all 6 of them) at my disposal. I am thinking I will start these once I complete the material and the practice questions

Study Plan:
I also wanted to know what my study plan should be, in terms of the time I should allot for concepts, practice, and mock-exams, in terms of how I should structure the practice exams and mock-exams, and in terms of what should I do every week leading to the exam.

I was thinking I will spend ~2-3 weeks on concepts, along with doing all the questions from Jamboree and scholaranium. I will then do OG and OG verbal for a week, followed by LSAT prep for a week. I can keep 2 weeks following this for just the CATs. Or alternatively, I can start giving CATs as soon as I finish concepts, giving one CAT and some sectionals every week. In the last 2 weeks, I give only CATs and revise all material.

Date of the exam:
I also wanted to know when I should schedule my exam, as I am planning to apply to universities in Round-2, and need to have sufficient time to write the essays as well. I am thinking I will complete this by October end, so that I have at least 2 months to prepare for the essays. If you think it should be earlier, please let me know.

That's it from me. Any help on any part of this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot!
sad_general

Attachments

SADIQ ANWAR_302817415_ESR.pdf [416.3 KiB]
Downloaded 156 times

Specter · Answer

First of all - well written de brief.

Few things from my side - (based on my experience of students getting 750+ from 720)

- The GMAT date needs to be thought properly without hurrying.

- Exam analysis is the key - The attribute that i felt was missing in your brief. Analysis is not about number of questions but about the way you got them right or wrong.

- Yes - you are correct in stating that practicing more questions in the last two weeks was one of the factors for some kind of mental fatigue during the paper.

- I would not suggest you to do anything but focus on "process" for the official questions and on proper strategy "revision".

Hope this helps.

HiLine · Answer

At this level, you are experience diminishing marginal returns; any improvement beyond 720 is going to require some hard work and total elimination of careless mistakes. In other words, you'll be looking to fine-tune your approach. The ESR was definitely a worthwhile purchase, since it tells you that your Verbal performance was very good across the board. To do better in Verbal, you'll have to raise the bar across the board as well. Since you do not exhibit weakness in any specific area, you'll need to squeeze the last few extra points out of each of the sub-sections. Perhaps additional practice on your own will help; otherwise, you can recruit the help of a very good tutor that is used to helping top scorers get to the peak.

I see that you were already practicing at high level on your practice tests. However, in order to lock in a 750, you'll want to consistently score in the 780-800 range, since test day performance can easily deviate by 30 points from regular practice test performance. Scoring 780 on any practice test is no small feat, but perhaps you're up for the challenge, if you're the type that's absolutely confident about scoring in the 99th percentile on the actual test. :wink:

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi sad_general,

First off, a 720/Q50 is an outstanding score (it's above the 90th percentile overall), so you can apply to any Business Schools that interest you. As such, a retest is likely not necessary. Depending on the Schools that you plan to apply to, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile. There's a Forum full of them here:

ask-admission-consultants-124/

It sounds like you have properly assessed your performance and your overall studies. Yes, your practice CAT scores were likely a bit 'inflated', so you were never really performing at a 750+ level. Yes, you did too much work in the last days leading up to your Official GMAT, so you likely 'burned out' a bit before Test Day (taking 4 CATs in 4 days was NOT a good idea). While you likely do NOT need to retake the GMAT, if you do decide to do so, then you have to account for these issues in your future studies. As an aside, referring to a 720 as a "decent" score makes you sound silly, so I would suggest that you stop doing that.

1) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

sad_general · Answer

Thanks a lot for the reply, Rohit Sir

I agree with all the points you have mentioned. I think I will fix the exam date only once I complete all the practice material and have started giving mocks. Hence, between the exam date and mocks, I will only have to focus on my exam taking strategy and revising all the material, no learning of new material. I did not spend any time on exam analysis, and I think this time, I will focus on it, by keeping a minimum of 2-3 days between every mock. Just to confirm, based on your suggestion, I will only focus on revising the material, redoing the OG questions, and giving mocks and analyzing how to refine my exam strategy. So does that mean I don't do blue book or LSAT prep? Thanks, sad_general

sad_general · Answer

I agree that additional practice may be the way to go. However, I need to lock down on what all should I take for additional practice. Do I invest in LSAT prep for CR and RC, or is it worthwhile to buy E-GMAT verbal package for additional prep? Or do I just redo OG and OG verbal questions?

Additionally, I wanted to know if Manhattan CATs will suffice for the next lap of studies.

Thanks,
sad_general

sad_general · Answer

Thanks for this info, Rich!

I will put up a post for my profile evaluation there. However, to give a gist, given below is my profile. Schools I am planning to apply to:

Kellog
Darden
Fuqua
Anderson
Tuck
Kenan-Flagler
ISB

I want to know if a score of 720 will help me in these universities at all. I have a B. Tech and an M. Tech from IIT Madras. I have around 5.5 years of work-experience. I have been working in ZS Associates for 3.5 years. I also founded an NGO in Pune 2 years ago and am currently heading it.

Thanks,
sad_general

mcelroytutoring · Answer

To state the obvious: your Quant was excellent but your Verbal was lacking, especially with regard to the front-loaded scoring algorithm.

You performed reasonably well on the Verbal overall (22 correct out of 30 counted questions = 73% correct), but your score fell apart in the very important 2nd quarter of the test, where you answered only 3 of 7 (43%) counted questions correctly. It was hard to recover from there, as you can see from the difficulty chart, despite a strong recovery in the 3rd quarter of the section. You simply didn't earn enough hard Verbal questions to reach an elite score.

I also agree that 720 is good enough for almost any B-school. But given your past scores, it may have been a bit of an underperformance.

https://www.drivecms.com/uploads/mcelroytutoring.com/Screen%20Shot%202016-09-11%20at%2012.07.56%20PM.png

https://www.drivecms.com/uploads/mcelroytutoring.com/Screen%20Shot%202016-09-11%20at%2012.08.05%20PM.png

HiLine · Answer

Stick with official materials only. LSAT questions are well written and can be a useful supplement to your GMAT study, though I think GMAC's question packs will be more helpful. Test prep companies' practice questions are not as well written and can do more harm than good. At your level, stay away from non-official practice materials. You can re-take the GMATPrep exams in a short while; I doubt you'll remember too much - you took these exams in a haste without reviewing them later after all.

sad_general · Answer

Agreed. This means that either I did not have complete concentration in the second quarter or I was not prepared for questions of such a difficulty. Nonetheless, I will re-start my preparation.

I have finalized on the following, based on suggestions from everyone:

Exam date - Left to decide yet. I will schedule the exam only once I have completed the concepts and practiced the material sufficiently.

Concepts - I will revisit Manhattan for SC and PowerScore for CR.

Practice - Redo OG and OG verbal questions, complete remaining questions from Jamboree blue book, and do 700-level questions from GMAT club (optional).

CATs - Since I have Manhattan CATs left, I will be taking them after I complete the concepts and OG. HiLine has also mentioned to give GMAT Prep exams again.

Study plan - Focus on concepts for the followed by OG and OG verbal questions. Following this I will give one CAT a week and do extra questions in the area where I feel I am lacking, along with revising all the material every week.

Again, as people have said, LSAT is a no-go.

I am thinking I will give the exam by October end. That will give me at least 2 months for the applications.

Thanks,
sad_general

HanoiGMATtutor · Answer

I don't think anyone suggested that you work on Jamboree or Manhattan practice questions, and I think you should focus on only official questions at this point. Even representatives from these companies will probably agree with me.

I would not wait that long for a re-take either. Take the exam this month if you can. Focus and do not get burned out.

I would not wait that long for a re-take either. Take the exam this month if you can. Focus and do not get burned out.

sad_general · Answer

Got it. I was just trying to make sure what I should do and what I should (certainly) not do.

I will focus only on official questions for now. However, I am revisiting all the material for concepts again. I feel I should have revisited all the notes and books at least once to recall everything I have learnt. I will do a run once more before I do the OG questions. Will this work against my favor?

sad_general

HanoiGMATtutor · Answer

Reviewing what you've learned is not a bad idea. Keep in mind that applying what you've learned to specific cases is the key to conquering the 750+ range. Don't practice blindly either; make sure you learn something from each practice question. Don't just do and move on.

	Target Test Prep - Save up to $599 $400 Discount + $99 Bonus GMAT Club Tests
	e-GMAT: 60% Off on GMAT Focus Get to 735+ from any starting point
	Magoosh increases your score, guaranteed - 15% off ALL Magoosh GMAT plans with code GMATCLUB15 + Free GMAT Club Tests.
	Manhattan Prep: $99 Bonus Score Higher on Your GMAT Exam. Guaranteed.
	Experts' Global - ~~$1720~~ $960 End-to-End GMAT Prep + App Support: 150+ Videos, 2000+ Questions, 15 FLTs +
	GMATWhiz - $299 ~~$499~~ Experience the course through a free trial.
	GMAT Club Tests - Free Included with every course purchase of $149+ View all deals

GMAT : Scored a 720 (Q 50, V 37, IR 8) against a target score of 750+

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards