Huge score difference between actual GMAT and GMATPREP Mocks

Question

Hello I just took GMAT. 
My goal is 710-730. Not sure what to do. 
Below are some of the things that I did.

Date Score Q V
 GMATPREP  
 31-Jan 640 46 33 - after this exam I started TTP to boost quant
 1-May 630 48 28 - score after finishing TTP. started working on verbal exclusively after this one
 22-May 700 49 35 - score after working on verbal exclusively since mock 2. (Either official GMAT verbal questions or LSAT Questions)
 4-Jun 700 49 37
 10-Jun 710 48 39 - right before online GMAT.
 17-Jul 710 48 38 - between GMAT Online and regular GMAT. worked on quant after this mock because I wanted to raise q up to 49 or 50.

For the mock 4, 5, 6, I did see one to two questions that I thought were familiar from verbal. But upon checking those questions, those were questions that I had gotten right in the past. (checked with GMATClub timer).

Took all exams following the rules, except for the last one, mock 6. I was on the last question with 10 min remaining with urge to use the bathroom. I went while timer was running. Came back before the time was up.

For GMATPREP, I finished everything in one sitting, all on Sat morning at 9:30 am.

From the mock exams, my SC is about low 70% accuracy, CR mid to high 70 percent accuracy, RC high 70 to low 80 percent accuracy.

Online GMAT 
  6-Jul 600 47 26

I started at 10 pm and had some fireworks going on outside abruptly for more than 30 min while my kids were asleep. I was slightly scared that my kids would wake up and come into the screen, effectively canceling the exam.
I took a nap during the day to refreshen up my mind.

Regular GMAT 
  25-Jul 640 44 34

Thought the quant was okay. After quant and before verbal, went to get water from a vending machine, couldn't find one. Just decided to drink from the water fountain. Got back to the testing room. And the admins were chitchatting. It delayed me going in fast. I was late 2:30 min. I was rushing through verbal thinking that I gotta make up the lost time. 
Also, I had a physics passage that I am extremely weak at. Accuracy for those can be similar but takes a longer amount of time to comprehend.
I took enough sleep at night. From 9 pm to 6:30 am. The test was at 8 am.

What's next for me?
It looks my quant is just really bad at 50 percentile. And even verbal is disappointing.

I used up all of the question pack 1 and 2. And solved the OG.
Still got some LSAT questions left.
700 level SC questions are something that takes a long time for me. So I haven't been working on those.

And for quant, I am not sure what to do...
What would you suggest? How should I improve my score?

DisciplinedPrep · Answer

comithrow1  -During the approximate 3 weeks time between the Online GMAT and the one at the test center, I noticed you took no official practice tests; is that correct, or did you take a lot of non-official practice tests, or retake GMAC official tests? At this point, you must purchase the ESR to understand why your raw score dropped in the quant section; did you focus only on verbal during the 3-weeks retake preparation? Please understand that an 8 point increase in the verbal section is a mere 3 weeks time is incredible but does that mean you put disproportionate amount of studying towards verbal?

himadeep · Answer

For quant, get gmat club forum's tests. They are of higher difficulty level than the actual gmat.
An average of 48 in gmat club tests would mostly translate to 50 in actual test.
For SC- pls watch Ron and gmatNinja vidoes on youtube and then practice topicwise in gmat club forum
Good luck on your prep!!

comithrow1 · Answer

I took a mock 6 gmat prep between online gmat and regular gmat.

So basically the scores since I worked on both quant and verbal have been pretty stable. Not much fluctuation. Q is consistently 49 or 48 while verbal is 38 and 39.

I worked on verbal since the second mock because I thought that my quant would be stable and to achieve 50 or 51 would be possible but potentially take a lot more time. 
And working on verbal would increase the overall score much faster.

But after the mock 5 and online gmat, I focused on all categories.

Posted from my mobile device

comithrow1 · Answer

I tried few of those when they are free on holidays. But can’t seem to finish it on time at all.

Does anyone actually finish that on time and get 48? Or is my q really bad?

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi comithrow1,

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. 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:

1) How long have you studied in total? Over the last couple of months, how many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far? Did you use any other CATs/mocks besides the 6 Official CATs?
3) 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

comithrow1 · Answer

1. I studied since Sep 2019 But really since the beginning of this year (About 6 months) because I was traveling a lot last year esp toward the end of the year. 
 And I also moved in January. I had a lot going on until Jan this year. After that, I studied without any interruption.

2. I looked over all MGMAT books, TTP, LSAT. Took 6 of the MGMAT tests. 
The latest result from GMAT I took on June 14 was 680 (44q, 38v).

3. I am trying to apply for the first round of this year. And some of the schools are KF, Tepper, Johnson, McCombs, Fuqua.
My GPA is low so I have to at least go above average.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi,

It is sad to hear that you could not score well even after putting a considerable effort. Let me share my observations here.

The GMAT official mock tests are completely reliable and yours scores indicate a consistent improvement. But it is really ironic that it didn’t reflect in your actual GMAT test. There might be a couple of reasons for it.

The first reason could be the nervousness the exam day. As you said, you were tensed about your kids interrupting you and on regular GMAT day, you were rushing through the verbal, these might be a couple of reasons for the low score. If this is the reason, you shouldn’t be much concerned about preparation part and you should give another attempt with a peaceful mind. 
 The other reason might be you are not using the right methods to solve the questions or your approach is not the same in all the tests. You might be using one approach in a certain test and a different approach in the other one. If this is the reason, there is a need for serious introspection.

To score well on GMAT, it is really necessary that you use the right methodology to solve problems. Assuming that you have fairly understood the concepts and learnt a few strategies from TTP, I recommend you to use the same strategies in every test you take. But, if you feel you still need to learn the right strategies, let me tell you the path forward.

The good thing about GMAT  quant  is it tests only specific types of questions from each topic. Knowing how to solve those types of questions will help you score well on GMAT quant. It is also important to learn the right methodology to solve the questions. As you are not new to GMAT, you might know that GMAT doesn’t test just the concepts but it tests the application of concepts. For example, to solve DS questions, you would need to do certain pre-analysis on the question stem and then jump into the statements. This would ideally help you solve the question under optimum time.

And coming to  Verbal , the topic of the passage shouldn’t be the major concern. No matter what the topic is, your reading strategy should be the same. You have to read the passage with an open mind, leaving all the unnecessary baggage. GMAT gives you ample amount of information in the passage. It does not test your knowledge on topics such as physics, political science. You need to read the passage in an inferential manner so that you can draw the right inferences and understand the intention behind writing the passage. You can refer to the following video to understand the strategy of “Involved and Evolved Reading”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCcaY1NOvDQ

And to solve SC questions, you must approach the questions from a meaning perspective. Having a knowledge of grammatical rules will help, but as GMAT SC focuses mainly on meaning, it is important to understand the intended meaning the sentence is trying to convey. To understand the right meaning and to solve 700 level questions under optimum time, you have to know how to read a sentence by breaking it at regular intervals. You can refer to the following video to understand the strategy used to solve GMAT SC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWf5npGuX5U

Having said this, I would like to know what is the approach you followed during the test so that I can suggest you a more structured plan. If you wish to discuss this over a call, you can schedule a free consultation call using the below link. I have helped many students improve their score by more than 100 points. Considering the effort you have put, I would really like to know the concerns and help you improve your score.

Click here to schedule a call

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi comithrow1,

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

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi comithrow1,

I’m sorry to hear how things went on test day. Based on the scores of your practice tests, I would have expected you to score higher on your GMAT. I’m going to PM you, so we can get you on the right track. We will get this figured out, my friend.

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