Horrible 170 point drop on real GMAT!! How is it possible ??

Question

Hello, I took my gmat yesterday and I got 480 ( Q43 V16) and that's something I can't explain since my CATs were:

9) 17 Dec REAL Score: 480 (Q43, V16)
8) 15 Dec Score: 650 (Q44, V35) MBA 
7) 7 Dec Score: 630 (Q41, V35) MGMAT
6) 5 Dec Score: 580 (Q39, V31) MGMAT
5) 27 Nov Score: 580 (Q44, V 26) MBA
4) 26 Nov Score: 540 (Q39, V27) MGMAT
3) 12 Nov Score: 600 (Q37, V35) MGMAT
2) 27 Oct Score: 570 (Q42, V27) MGMAT
1) 10 Oct Score: 530 (Q35, V28) MGMAT

I wonder how. As you can see the Quant respects my level, but the verbal is a lie. 
While I was doing it I was perceiving that the verbal section was harder than normal but didn't realize I was totally ruining it. 
Any Advice?

Moreover, I think I will give it another chance, probably in 2/2.5 months. Any suggestion on how I should plan my study?

rohan2345 · Answer

Hi MarcoMining, Welcome to GMATCLUB! Sorry to hear about your experience. On the GMAT, one tends to experience some stress which may cause a drop in his/her performance. I think you need to work a bit on your verbal in the next few months. For verbal, I would highly encourage you to consider e-gmat verbal online or the e-gmat verbal live course. They are both amazing courses especially designed for non-natives. They offer almost 25% of their courses for free so you can try out their free trial to decide which one you want to go for. Plus the e-gmat Scholaranium which is included in both the courses is one of the best verbal practice tools in the market. You can easily track your progress in that you can identify your strengths and analyze and improve on your weak areas. Further taking multiple mocks might help. Apart from the GMATPREP, Manhattan GMAT tests and Veritas Prep Tests in my experience have good verbal and Quant section and will certainly help you point out and improve your weak areas. Further another advantage of taking many mocks is to build up your stamina. Apart from the GMATPREP tests, taking practise tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that. I would also encourage you to purchase the GMATPREP QP 1 for some great additional practice. Here is a link that will help you with your decision. https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-ve ... ml?fl=menu Hope this helps. All the best.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi MarcoMining,

I’m happy to provide some advice but would first like to learn more about your situation with the GMAT. I have some questions:

1) Please describe how you studied. For how many hours a day did you study and for how many months? What resources did you use?
 
2) To what programs will you be applying? What are the deadlines for these programs?
 
3) By when would you LIKE to take the GMAT? By when MUST you take the GMAT?
 
4) For how many hours a day, on average, can you study between now and your next GMAT?
 
5) In your opinion, how prepared were you for the GMAT? It's important that you answer this question as objectively as possible.

Once I learn some more about you, I can provide some further advice.

Also, you also may find it helpful to read this article about
 how to score a 700+ on the GMAT .

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi MarcoMining

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day did not go as well as hoped. When we discussed your studies a couple of weeks ago (here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/why-did-i-ge ... l#p2184902), I noted that you were likely going to need at least another 1-2 months of study time to hit your Score Goal. Now we also need to determine why this discrepancy in your Scores exists. 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. If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as when you took your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE (re: on a prior CAT, in an online forum or in a practice set)?

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

MarcoMining · Answer

ScottTargetTestPrep   rohan2345 
 Thank you for helping.

Scott :

1)I used the EmpowerGmat course along with the MGMAT guides ( but not all of them) and I studied for a total of 3 months, 6 days a week. 
A normal day of studying used to last 5/6 hours: watch video lessons for 2/3 hours and then practise on the OG questions, both verbal and quantitative, reviewing all of them at the end. I had kept like that for like 2 months and 10 days but then I changed it during the last 20 days. I intensified my studying, taking it up to 7 days on 7, 10/11 hours a day, which was made of questions&review from both the OG and the GmatClub. I must say that I focused my studying more on Quant than on Verbal since I thought to be weaker on the quantitative side.

2) I would like to apply to several programmes that have deadlines in March, April, and June, but March 20th (Bocconi) is probably the most important one.
The other ones are all MSc Finance of IE, ESADE, Frankfurt School of Finance, LBS, Said, Hec.

3) I would like to take it by the end of February (I am going to Frankfurt for my Erasmus programme and thus I would like to get rid of this weight to better enjoy the Erasmus experience). An extreme move would be on March, but later than March would force me to say goodbye to Bocconi, which is my first choice. I can say that I MUST take it by the end of April since June is my final chance to get into a business school.

4)Due to university exams, now I am forced to reduce my GMAT studying to 2hours a day AT MOST.

5) Looking at my CAT scores, I was convinced of getting a score between 570 and 630, I felt pretty good at verbal and kinda good at quant.

MarcoMining · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC

Hey Rich. Thanks for helping.
I notice that I didn't mention your course in the previous post. I must have deleted it by mistake while typing the answer post.
Anyways,
1) I must say I didn't take the entire cat every time that I was taking a CAT since I don't see the utility of spending time of studying on sections that do not count. I am using the Quant, Verbal, IR, AWA order, therefore I can say that they do not influence my mental energy either, so....

2)Yes, I took them at home, I know, I must change that, would a library be a good fit?

3)No, I didn't take them at the same time of the day, I used to take them during the afternoon but I took the real GMAT on Monday morning (as advised

) but I felt pretty energic while doing the real GMAT.

4) I have paused my CATs sometimes due to noisy people but it was just for 2/3 seconds. Breaks were regular,

5) I have never taken a CAT twice. Seeing a known question? It happened once on my MBA cat ( score 580).

) but I felt pretty energic while doing the real GMAT. 4) I have paused my CATs sometimes due to noisy people but it was just for 2/3 seconds. Breaks were regular, 5) I have never taken a CAT twice. Seeing a known question? It happened once on my MBA cat ( score 580).

egmat · Answer

Hi @MacroMining,

I am sorry to know that your scores were not in line with your expectations. Now that you have some data points from your first attempt, you must use those to create a plan for the next test. Creating such a personalized plan will help you achieve your target score in the most efficient manner. Learn how to create a personalized retake strategy by going through this article. In case you need any help in creating the plan or executing it, please feel free to write to us at [email protected]

Regards,
Aditee

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi MarcoMining

I have a couple of quick follow-up questions:

1) How long did you use the EMPOWERgmat Course and which Study Plan did you use?

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

MarcoMining · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC

Hey Rich. 
Well, I used the 3-month study plan, and I also printed it because I wanted to mark with my hand every single lesson as "done". So I followed the order of study plan, took each cat at the proper time, and that's it. 
Besides the Empower course, I used to do a set of Quant and Verbal question every day, you know, just to practise the techniques a little more. 
I began doing sets of 10 questions and then, to build stamina, raised them to 30.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi MarcoMining

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

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi MarcoMining,

Thank you for the response. So, I agree that your quant score was similar to your quant scores on your practice exams and that your verbal dropped quite significantly. Despite your putting in a lot of study hours, one possible explanation regarding your score drop is that you did not really learn to do what you have to do in order to score high on GMAT verbal. Rather, you picked up on some patterns that were effective in getting you relatively high scores on practice tests.

To hit your GMAT score goal, you probably have to adjust the way you’ve been preparing so that your preparation is more complete, meaning that you need to follow a structured and linear verbal study plan so you methodically learn each verbal topic, starting with the foundations and then moving to more advanced concepts. By taking such an approach, you can ensure that you fill in your knowledge gaps and that no stone is left unturned.

If you’d like further advice on how to improve your GMAT verbal skills, feel free to reach back out, and I’ll be happy to provide some detailed advice.

Good luck!

ccooley · Answer

Hey, I'm sorry your test didn't go well. Without knowing anything else, here's a starting point for you: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... st-scores/ Go ahead and read that and report back with what you think. One thing I'm especially curious about is whether fatigue might have affected you differently on test day, versus during your practice tests. Did you take more breaks or longer breaks during your practice tests, or did you allow yourself to do anything during the practice tests (like eating/drinking during the sections) that you couldn't do on test day? What order did you do the practice tests and the real test in? Fatigue seems to have a big effect on the Verbal section, since it's hard to focus on reading when you're tired (you have to maintain concentration for a long time), and many people take that section second. That's why I'm wondering about it specifically. But there could be other parts to the story too!

Horrible 170 point drop on real GMAT!! How is it possible ??

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