Huge difference between Official GMAT prep mocks and real GMAT.

Question

Hello everyone, I need help in understanding why there is such a big gap between my official GMAT prep mocks and real GMAT. I want to again retake GMAT for round 2 and need help to analyze my scores.

To give some background , I gave the GMAT last year and score 680 ( Q46 V37) , before taking the real exam I took the 2 free mocks that Gmat gives and score 670 & 690 respectively so the 680 in real test was in line with my score.

Now this year I prepared for a couple of months and decided to buy GMAT prep mocks 3 to 6 , to get an idea of my score. I scored the following (Under test conditions) -
730 (Q49 V40)
720 (Q49 V39)
730 (Q44 V46)
710 ( Q49 V38)

But I took the Online GMAT and scored an abysmal 670 ( Q47 V 35) , so I thought that may be I just did not perform well on that day , So I took the in center GMAT 10 days later and again scored 670,which I cancelled.

I want to understand how this is happening and what mistakes I am making, also now I am retaking the GMAT , so on what should I foucus my attension.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

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 670. 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.

In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new quant and verbal materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the  best quant  and  verbal courses .

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?

If you’d like more specific advice on how to improve your quant and verbal skills, feel free to reach back out. Good luck!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Yshukla582,

To start, your prior 680/Q46 is a strong Score, so it could be enough to get you into your first-choice School. As such, a retest might not be 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 and plans. There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

I'm sorry to hear that you under-performed on both of your recent GMAT attempts. 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) How long have you studied in total? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used over the course of ALL of your studies?
3) On what 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?

You might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

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

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi,

First of all, so sorry to hear about how things went with your GMAT. But don’t get disappointed. In my journey, I have helped many students identify what’s stopping them from a getting a good score and improve their score. To give you a brief introduction, I’m a GMAT Strategy Consultant and I like to analyse stats. I’ve been in this industry for more than 8 years now, so, hopefully, helping you shouldn’t be a big problem.

Looking at your scores on mock and the actual test, I can only think of two possibilities for the difference. Ideally you should be able to reflect the mock score on the test day but this case seems pretty ironic. Anyway, the two possibilities are:
  One reason might be the nervousness on the test day. It is quite common to feel nervous on the test day and if that is the reason, then I guess you are good to for a retake because your mock scores are pretty consistent. This time make sure you take the test with a relaxed mind. 
 The other reason might be you are not likely following a specific approach for all the tests. If your approach is not consistent, then I think there is some work to do.

I think the second reason would be the plausible reason in this case. I say this because the individual scores of Quant and Verbal are inconsistent in the last two mocks. That should not ideally happen if you follow a standard approach.I would like to know a few things before suggesting you what to do next.

Did you follow any specific approach while solving questions? 
 Did the approach change for every test?

Let me give you an example of a standard or methodical approach. Below is the comparison of how a person who uses general strategy solve CR question and how a person who uses methodical approach solves it.

General strategy    Methodical approach   
  Read the argument   Read the argument and identify the premise and conclusion  
  Read the question stem  Read the questions stem and start pre-thinking  
  Jump into statements and evaluate each option  Start eliminating answer choices which do not match the pre-thought assumption

Here is the   link   to the  series of webinars which help you understand the right methodology  to solve questions of individual topics. Hope it helped. If you wish to discuss more about the study strategy, you can schedule a free consultation call using the below link.

Click here to schedule a call

Yshukla582 · Answer

First of all I would like to thank you for taking your time to help me.

I also think that nerves and stress paid a big part in my in-center attempt , as after I booked my exam the center was closed by Pearson and all exams were held at new center, of which I was unaware. So on the test day I reached the old center and then had to rush to the new center. This entire exercise made me very jittery during the exam. As far the GMAT ONLINE is concerned , I dont know what went wrong.

Now I also deeply analyzed my Mocks and found that in most cases 75% of my incorrect answers in verbal were coming from S/C , in some cases even upto 90% incorrect answers were from SC. So I think that during mocks may be because I studied the official material a lot or just by luck I was getting more SC correct, then my actual ability. So I have decided to focus more on SC during this time (I have bought Manhattan prep's SC guide)while just practicing RC & CR.

As far as Quant is concerned, in my mocks I'm getting Q49 (which is ok for my target range of 720) , however during actual GMAT I am somehow always scoring in Q47-48 range.

Yshukla582 · Answer

First of all thank you for taking your time to help me.

now to answer your questions -

Studies:

1) I have been studying for past 4-5 months with average 3-4 hrs per day.
2) I am using the E-gmat material to study, however as I think S/C was the culprit behind my low verbal score I have also bought Manhattan prep's SC guide.
3) Mock 3 - 21st July - 730 ( Q49 V40)
 Mock 4 - 25th July - 720 (Q49 V39)
 Mock 5 - 30th July - 730 (Q44 V46)
 Mock 6 - August 1 - 710 ( Q49 V38)
 I Took the ONLINE GMAT on 4th august, and In-center exam on 17th august.

4) My overall Goal is in range of 720

5) I have started applying in R1 with my last years score of 680, but I want to give my GMAT hopefully before the R1 due dates which are around 15th October.

RetaketheGMAT · Answer

I primarily work with people who are targeting scores above 700 and consistently underperform their practice test performance on the actual tests.

There's a single consistent factor that is the core of the gap in performance: in-test process. I'm referring consistent methodologies that cut across quant and verbal questions. Those core steps in quant and verbal are the antidote to the things that hit you hardest in the real test: anxiety and timing issues.

At this stage, simply going back to practice problems and practice tests isn't going to yield the results you want. You need augment that with a real focus on creating consistent processes for quant and verbal problems. The starting point isn't your ESR because it only answers the what question (what topic areas, question types and parts of the test are you making the most mistakes in). The real question is WHY are you making those mistakes. And your ESR can't answer that.

The key steps here are observation of process gaps during a practice test (ideally by a performance coach or, otherwise, on your own). The usual breakdown areas are as follows:

In quant: 1) failing to capture all the information in the prompt and fully preprocess it to get maximum visibility on the problem 2) weak or absent visualization (so you're working in the words designed to confuse you instead of in a more structure and empowering framework like a table, number line or Venn diagram for example 3) unstructured setup of the calculation equation -- the one you're running to get the final result in a PS problem and 4) inefficient or shoddy calculation processes that result in errors.

In verbal: 1) in SC, elimination answers by skimming for change points 2) in CR, failing to narrowly capture the core argument before tackling the question itself and 3) in RC, reading with too wide a focus rather than lasering in on core questions first.

These are key failure points that that I run across everytime I assess a new client. Once you've identified your gaps in process, you can do drills that exclusively focus on them. The results come fast and are significant for most people. And the process is really energizing -- because it breaks you free of the usual cycle of practice problems and solution reviews. It's empowering to get gains that cut across a dozen quant or verbal questions in one swipe!

Happy to discuss how you should go about this in a more personalized and specific way if you'd like.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Yshukla582,

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

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

I'm happy to help. If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out.

Good luck!

FALSEnine · Answer

I've been facing a similar issue, albeit with a much steeper score drop. I've been scoring 710-740 on the official mocks but 600-620 on the actual test, with scores dropping across both Quant and Verbal. I'm pretty sure anxiety & nerves have a huge part to play in my under-performance, as I feel I that as if my mind is working at a lower capacity and that I am unable to absorb the information I read during the test, especially on Verbal. I have a plan to tackle these issues for my next re-take but I think the process gaps you've highlighted here are spot on in my case as well, and re-affirm my own strategy towards the re-take.

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

I'm pretty sure anxiety & nerves have a huge part to play in my under-performance, as I feel I that as if my mind is working at a lower capacity and that I am unable to absorb the information I read during the test, especially on Verbal.

620 Q44 V31

V31 to V40 ~30 day retake

You might find this post helpful. They took a bit of solving approach tutoring (6 hours) and did other stuff that may provide some insight to take into your prep. Finding a reading method that promotes absorption can be helpful. This can apply to both native and non-native English speakers.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi FALSEnine This may be helpful in managing your test anxiety: https://blog.gmatwhiz.com/how-to-overco ... t-anxiety/

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi FALSEnine,

I'm sorry to hear that your 2 Official attempts did not go as well as hoped. 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) On what dates did you take your 2 Official GMATs?
2) How long have you studied in total? How many hours do you typically study each week?
3) What study materials have you used over the course of all of your studies? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
4) 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:
5) What is your overall goal score?
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

If you took your 1st Official GMAT at a Test Center, then you might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

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

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi FALSEnine,

I'm happy to provide some advice. Once you respond to the questions asked I can provide some guidance on how to move forward.

FALSEnine · Answer

Hi,  GMATWhizTeam  and  GmatTutorKnight  . The links are full of insight, thank you.

FALSEnine · Answer

Hi,  EMPOWERgmatRichC  &  ScottTargetTestPrep 
I'd been thinking about this for a while so I've decided to post the details of my GMAT experience as a debrief post. Link below -

https://gmatclub.com/forum/staggering-120-pt-difference-b-w-actual-mock-tests-389332.html

	Manhattan Prep: $99 Bonus Score Higher on Your GMAT Exam. Guaranteed.
	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.
	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

Huge difference between Official GMAT prep mocks and real GMAT.

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

General strategy	Methodical approach
Read the argument	Read the argument and identify the premise and conclusion
Read the question stem	Read the questions stem and start pre-thinking
Jump into statements and evaluate each option	Start eliminating answer choices which do not match the pre-thought assumption