HORRIBLE GMAT SCORE 510

Question

Hi All,

It's pathetic. I got screwed up so badly. I worked hard for last 3 months. Daily 2-3 hours study along with my job. I gave 6 gmat mocks before actual exam.

First mock 3 months ago - 570
Second mock 3 months back - 580

2 weeks back. 
2nd mock - 640
3rd- 600
4th-570
5th-600
6th-650

I did understand that I was doing few mistakes . Around 9 silly mistakes in Quant and 5 in verbal. That was average. I was doing average on IR. Around 6-9. So I was hopeful that I'll score 700+ in actual exam considering that I worked on my mistakes and I have revised all mocks. But I guess I did more mistakes in actual exam.

It din not work in actual GMAT and I ended up with 510. That's heartbreaking.

I CANCELLED MY SCORE. Do not remember how much I scored in each section.

I need a help. What did I do wrong? I know some of my weaknesses. And every time I try to improve.

Material I referred. - 
OG 2016, QUANT & VERBAL 2016.
MANHATTAN 5th edition for verbal. (SC, CA, RC) 
MANHATTAN 5th edition for IR.

When should I take my next shot? Also I am concerned about deadlines.

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HiLine · Answer

Is there a way you can reinstate the score and obtain an ESR? Without knowing your score breakdown, let alone your sub-sectional performance, we can't really give you any specific advice.

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HKD1710 · Answer

All you need is the ESR report. Spend around $28 and get it. It will give you Scores of each section and much more. In order to have the fair idea about what ALL details ESR will give you, please check link in my signature

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi shriraj93,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. 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 (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 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?

Thankfully, the GMAT is still the same consistent, predictable Exam that it's always been, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. However, given this recent result, and your score goal, you'll likely need at least another 2 months of consistent, guided study to get up to that level.

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

shriraj93 · Answer

Hi,

Let me tell you exact scenario. I'll answer your questions.

1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)? - - Yes every time. Though for the first two CATs it was repetitive. 
2) Did you take them at home?
-Nope I took it at my local tuition. I just used their lab for my test.

3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
- yes my exam was in the morning 10:15 and I took all tests at same time. I followed the same timing. One thing I noticed on exam day that I wasn't fresh even after 8-9 hours of sleep and surprisingly next 2 days I was feeling fresh even after only 5 hours sleep.

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.)?

- yes sometimes I paused. May be it gave me 10 max 15 extra minutes for whole exam. I know it's not good practice. But yeah honestly it happened. 
Apart from that nothing else.

5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once?
Like I said except the first 2 free CATs remaining 4 were fresh.

I am not sure which sections I should do again. I'll get the exam report and I'll share with you guys. But I am just numb. I thought I did enough. But I realize that it wasn't enough.

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi shriraj93,

Pausing your practice CATs is NOT realistic - by doing so, you were not training for the exact conditions that you faced on the Official GMAT. That choice on your part is probably not enough to explain the large score drop you experienced though, so I have a few additional questions about the lead-up to Test Day and Test Day itself:

1) What did you do in the 3 days before your GMAT?
2) How did you sleep the night before your Test?
3) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home?
4) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test?
5) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
6) Did you finish any sections early?
7) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)?

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

shriraj93 · Answer

Hi.. I didn't do it all the time but yes sometimes while losing patience, while getting disturbed by someone I have done that. Below are answers for your questions.

1) What did you do in the 3 days before your GMAT?

One day before exam I revised my notes which include some formulas, verbal rules etc. And on second and third last day I gave my final 2 mocks. That is gmat prep pack 2 mocks.

2) How did you sleep the night before your Test? I slept around 11pm and woke up at 7:30am next day. I got up in between and I feel I didn't have sound sleep even if my eyes were closed for 8+ hours. I think that was stress.

3) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home? 15-20min

4) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test?
No

5) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?

Washroom, finger print scanning, few minutes rest and back to my desk.

6) Did you finish any sections early?
may be a minute before

7) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)?

Yes for few.

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi shriraj93,

The information in your last post is important - it helps to explain what happened to you on Test Day. The process of taking (and reviewing) a CAT requires a significant amount of energy and effort - and takes time to 'recover' from. This is one of the reasons why you typically shouldn't take more than 1 CAT per week. By taking two CATs in the two days right before your Official GMAT, there's a reasonable chance that you experienced some 'burn out' on Test Day. Combined with the poor night's sleep the night before your Test, you were almost certainly too tired to perform at your best. Since we don't have the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores from that Exam, it's impossible to define how badly your performances suffered in each of the Quant and Verbal sections, but the 510 implies that you lost lots of points in both sections.

Thankfully, this is a relatively easy set of problems to fix. To start, you should plan for your last CAT to be about 1 week before your Official GMAT. Also, now that you've faced the Official GMAT, you should be able to use that experience to better prepare yourself (mentally and physically) for your next attempt.

1) Although you never stated it, what is your exact score goal?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

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

shriraj93 · Answer

Hi

I am trying to get 720+. And I want to apply for one year course in India or Europe. Targeting IIMs, ISB, INSEAD, HEC etc.

I belong to typical software engineer background. I have 4.6 years of experience in IT. I said it typical cause it's very well known that we are large in population.   now being said that if I want school of my choice I need to have maximum score. 700+ would be good figure but I am trying to get maximum.

Another reason for targeting maximum score is to get scholarship.

If you see my profiles, it is as below. 
4.6 years of experience in IT
62% average of 4 years engineering. (76% in final year.) 
Participated in extra curriculum activities through out my college and I still do.   (sports, dramas, play etc) I am not sure if that's helpful anyway.

Another thing I got my ESR. Would you like to see? How can I share?

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi shriraj93,

If you're comfortable sharing the information publicly, then you can upload your ESR as a file attachment. You can also PM me the attachment if you'd prefer.

For Admissions questions, 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/

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

HanoiGMATtutor · Answer

You can attach the file to a new forum post, or you can take screenshots of the file and attach them if you want to exclude personal information.

HanoiGMATtutor · Answer

Actually, you don't need to reinstate a score just to get an ESR. https://www.mba.com/us/frequently-asked- ... #question6

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