Horrible GMAT Online Experience

Question

This is not the debrief that I expected to write minutes after my exam. I got a mere 610 (Q46, V28) after 3 months of proper studying. My mock scores are nowhere close to the score that I got on the main exam. My GMATPrep Mock scores averaged 740 and Veritas Mock scores averaged 700. I found the Quant questions to be a lot more difficult than the questions in the GMAT Prep Mocks. I was confidently marking questions in the Verbal section and post the section I even thought to myself that I shouldn't get more than 7-8 wrong as those were the questions I guessed. However, the score says something else altogether.

The Online GMAT Experience was also very bad. The screen kept freezing almost after every 2-3 questions that led me to lose at least 2-3 or more minutes overall in each section. I complained to the proctor but she was unable to provide any resolution. She blatantly accepted that it's a system issue. However, even then I did not even think I would get such a low score. I am absolutely devasted and I don't know how to go further.

I request some help with the below-mentioned questions. Would really appreciate it if someone can guide me.

1. Is the GMAT Center Exam portal the same as the one used in Online GMAT? Are the instances of the screen freezing often even in the center exam portal? 
2. Can I talk to the GMAC regarding such a pathetic online portal experience after paying such a substantial exam fee? Is there any chance of a refund? 
3. How do I improve further? I do not know where I went wrong and I am absolutely clueless. I don't know what went wrong and as you can see, I see no relation of the score to any of my mock scores at all.

Any help or advice would be really appreciated.

P.S : Apologies for any wrong grammar used in my debrief as I am writing this just minutes after my exam.

Thelegend2631 · Answer

740 to 610 - That's a huge drop

Couple of things here.
1. Since you have been practicing for a while, knowing GMAT Prep Questions before hand and answering them inflated your score?
2. Did your Score drop because Technical issues put you off ?

If the answer to 1 is no and 2 is yes - You don't have to worry about a score apart from money and time being wasted.
If the answer to 1 is yes , then you might have to work on few areas.
If the answer to 2 is no, then you might have to work on few areas.

itsm7 · Answer

For 1 : Yes, in each mock I did get a couple of questions in VA that I did know before hand but the number of such questions never exceeded more than 2-3. And for QA I never got any question common for that matter of fact. Please advice on how to proceed from here. I’m completely clueless. I never thought such a drop in my score would be possible.

For 2: It did result in me guessing the last 2 questions for each section as I didn’t want to risk the lag that would result in a no attempt for that question. Does the GMAT exam in the center use the same portal as the online one? Can the Center exam have a similar lag issue?

Posted from my mobile device

Thelegend2631 · Answer

I may not be the rest person (yet) to advice you. 
It's very unlikely that you'll encounter any sort of technical issue or lag in centre based exam. (This is purely based on no negative feedback of technical issues apart from a rare powet failure)

I think experts might be able to chime in to help if you were to attach an Esr.

bb   gmatwhiz   IanStewart

bb · Answer

Sorry about the issue with the at online 😢

Test center exams have a completely different system that is run by a completely different company. Computer glitches quite rare at test centers but they do happen in the rare circumstances

Posted from my mobile device

itsm7 · Answer

bb

Also, could you please advise me on how to move forward from here? The score is really disappointing and I don’t know what I did so wrong to get such a low score, after months of working towards it. 
Even if I consider the glitch making my score -50, it’s still no where close to the score I would need or the score I was able to achieve in my mocks.

Any help or advice would really be appreciated.

Posted from my mobile device

rajatchopra1994 · Answer

Dear  jammerroy  ,

From 740 to 610 Score is a huge drop. As you have said, the question which came to test was high on difficulty level. As It was GMAT online, I think you don't option to check your ESR. With Q46,V28 , you need to work on both Quant and Verbal. Revise the topics, and start practicing 700 level Questions.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/search.php?view=search_tags  use this link for all level and topic wise Questions

Also, on the glitch side, as your proctor has accepted it, you can write to GMAC regarding the same. i have seen so many posts here on GMATCLUB, they got a chance again free of cost.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi jammerroy,

I'm sorry to hear about the technical issues that you faced on Test Day - and those issues likely did impact your performance. You can certainly complain about this issue, but since your Exam did not 'crash' (and you actually completed it), you might not receive the type of resolution that you might be looking for (such as a refund or a free retest). Since you were scoring so much higher on your CATs/mocks, we also have to consider additional factors as to why you might have scored lower on your Official GMAT. 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. Before we discuss any of those potential issues 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 so far? 
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) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

The computer work-stations in each of the Test Centers are built to run Official Exams - and while technical issues can sometimes occur in rare circumstances, you would be far less likely to face the types of 'lags' or 'freezes' that you saw on the At-home GMAT.

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

itsm7 · Answer

Hi  EMPOWERgmatRichC ,

I would love to discuss the two potential causes that you pointed out because I do not know what caused my score to drop so much. Hence, I am furnishing all the details that you requested.

Studies:
1) Over the last 3 months, how many hours did you typically study each week? -> On weekdays around 3-4 hours, weekends around 6-7 hours. The schedule was more or less consistent over the last 3 months. 
2) What study materials have you used so far?
 ->  MGMAT   All the Verbal Book, although I used it majorly for SC. 
 -> Powerscore CR 
 -> OG 2020, Verbal Review 2020 : Solved all the SC, CR questions. 60% completion for QA questions. 
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)?
 -> GMATPrep 1 : 750 (QA50, VA41) 26th June 2021
 -> GMATPrep 2 : 730 (QA50, VA37) 7th July 2021
 -> GMATPrep 3 : 770 (QA51, VA45) 24th July 2021
 -> GMATPrep 4 : 730 (QA50, VA37) 29th July 2021
Along with the GMAT Prep Mocks, I did give the Veritas Prep Mocks and scored 700 (Q49, V37) in 3 of them.

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score? -> 730+
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?
 -> I wanted to apply in the first cycle but considering this low score and the fact that I am not sure what caused such a drastic drop, I don't know if I can give the exam again by end of August and if I can improve my score to the range that I want. If not the first cycle, then I would want to give the exam by the first week of October. 
 -> I want to apply to a few select among the top 15 Global B-Schools and to the Indian School of Business.

Do let me know if you need anything else from my end. I am really clueless about how to move forward from here. The fact that I do not know what caused such a drastic drop is an added burden.

Would love to hear your opinion.

Thank you, 
Arpan Roy.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi jammerroy,

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

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

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