Interesting observations in GMATPrep

Question

Hi All,

Just wanted to share some interesting things I observed in my three GMAT prep exams so far ( I bought EP1 ).

My three scores so far have been

GMATPrep1 - 710 (Q48, V40) IR8 No AWA April 30th
GMATPrep 2 - 730 (Q48, V41) IR NO AWA (Repeated, no new questions) May 7th
EP1 - 740 (Q49, V42) IR8 -Also wrote AWA Full Length 4 sections. May 14th.

I observed that in my second GMATPrep exam I only had 5 incorrect Verbal questions wrong and my score was V41, however in my third test I had a score of V42, even though I had 8 wrong questions. When I analyzed my results a little more I noticed that GMATPrep actually gives you a detailed distribution of your individual scores with in verbal. I had a verbal distribution of (40 CR, 51RC and 42 SC) in my third test, while a distribution of (38 CR, 41 RC and 45 SC) for my second exam.

This is interesting because, I only got 1 RC question wrong in my second test, though the RC question that I got wrong was a silly mistake. That silly mistake cost me a drop of 10points in RC alone and perhaps another point in verbal overall and a total of 10 point drop in my total score. In my third exam, I had all the RC's correct and well m y score was 51 for RC, and a little boost for my total score. I believe that if you nail one of the sections, it certainly helps the total score.

I have my exam on the 19th and I am going in with the lesson, that I don't need to get all the questions write, and I just need to focus on each question without trying to assess its difficulty.

In Math I have heard a lot about this - If you are doing too many calculations then you are not approaching the problem the right way. I got at least 3 problems in the my GMAT PRep 3 exam for Math where I should have calculated ( one was a venn diagram ) and I would have gotten the answer right. So another lesson to take to the exam hall is - Solve a question if you want to be sure. And basic math to little bit of math is okay and may be even required.

If anyone else has had similar experience with their GMATPrep scoring please share.

I will report my final score after my GMAT.

SamirAbrahao · Answer

This is a more detailed account of the practice exams I've taken, and should explain the variation.

March 28ish - GMATPrep free exam 1: 550
March 29ish - GMATPrep free exam 2: 570
May 7 - GMATPrep pack 1, exam 1: 530 - I did this in the morning, during the weekend, I really wasan't at my best, failed miserably with the timing. Left 40% of the exam unanswered.
May 9 - MGMAT free CAT: 630 (Q40, V36)
May 10 - GMAT exam pack 1, test 2: 710 (Q47, V41)
May 11 - GMAT exam pack 2, test 1: 590 (Q43, V28) - Took while drunk, I'm a better driver when I'm drunk so... who knows? :D
May 12 - GMAT exam pack 2, test 2: 710 (Q46, V41)
May 13 - GMATPrep free exam 1 (retake): 710 (Q48, V40)

shadowfax1 · Answer

I think you can def hit 700+. Mostly your scores have been low when you have had other issues going on. ALso I read your debrief and it seems that you had a really bad day at the test. I think more than the preparation for the test, test day mentality is also really important.

Good luck, if you are trying again.

SamirAbrahao · Answer

From all the debriefs I've read around here, whenever external conditions negatively impact one's performance, they tend to realise it right away. I thought I was doing GREAT until the last moment, so this probably wasnt the case. Indeed, several external conditions may have impacted my score, this is something obviously hard to measure, but it is certainly a possibility.

However, I don't think this accounts for a 100 score difference, so I have decided that I cannot rely on these practice exam scores to predict my performance on the real exam, much less the ones that do not come from the official website. I believe this is the most relevant point to you.

SamirAbrahao · Answer

You see, I was thinking just now on what you've said, and it's kinda funny.

Do you realise the assumption on which your argument is based upon? Based on my debrief and your reply, do you see what information would aid us the most at evaluating your conclusion?

I don't mean to criticise you. I'm just making a point here that, in a sense, we are being tested RIGHT NOW. The skills measured at the GMAT are the same skills that determine your ability to successfully prepare for it. Thinking in such a circular manner would only lead us to the conclusion that the fundamental skills necessary to succeed here can only be found in resources other than the ones focused on the GMAT questions themselves.

I mean, If you've made the assumption that "having a bad day" made such a heavy impact on my scores, what is stopping you from making such assumptions not only on the GMAT questions themselves, but also when coming up with a study plan to prepare for said questions. This could be why so many people perform badly on the verbal section. Does this make any sense?

I gotta figure out what information, if proven to be true, would best explain my poor performance on the quant section. This is so frustrating, man. I never finished yesterday's exam at all.

shadowfax1 · Answer

Decided to take the exam in Rio de Janeiro, the closest city which offered exam schedules during the afternoon. 
- Got stuck in traffic jams for three hours prior to arrival (went by car), and the city is crowded, smells of piss and crap, and is insufferably hot.Spent more money on road tolls, parking and fuel combined than I would have spent on airplane tickets, even though I live 150 km away from the city,   and this made me angry  .   Arrived with a headache at the scene.  
- Went YOLO on the IR section. Can't explain why.

An excerpt from your exam experience that you shared on another thread. The highlighted section clearly tells me that you did not arrive at the exam center in ideal conditions. This would have had an impact on your exam. I have not yet given the GMAT, but all the experts on this forum say that it is important to arrive at the exam hall, and stay calm. If you are not feeling your best while giving the exam, it will certainly have an impact on your scores. That was my interpretation of your experience that you shared. Again I have not give the exam myself yet ( 2 days to go ), so just thought I'd share "what I think" could have gone wrong with your exam.

Again good luck for your next one.

SamirAbrahao · Answer

" I really wanted to enter the test center by kicking the front door down screaming "THIS IS SPARTA". Unfortunately, my nerves got the better of me the night before and I was only able to get a few hours of sleep. I woke up feeling like crap but I had no choice but to get completely wired on caffeine and just get the test over with. I do not recommend this for anyone else.

(...) I then dealt with the questionnaire at the end of the exam and clicked on report my scores. I couldn't believe what I saw...760.
 "

The direct relationship between my state of mind and my score is an assumption. Besides, I still felt confident and thought I was doing great until I saw my score. What would be most useful in determining here? Whether it is the lack of confidence that has the greatest influence on performance, which could be a consequence of a bad day. You have already begun your test, and I haven't finished mine.

Balajikarthick1990 · Answer

Yes, as fax commented...this is actually quite strange. The score drop is about 100 points between any 2 mocks and I think the pattern continued on exam day.
 But still i think if you plug the reason and retake in 30 days...U can hit 700

SamirAbrahao · Answer

But how the heck do I figure out the reason?

Balajikarthick1990 · Answer

But how the heck do I figure out the reason?

Bro...with all due respect to you...you need to be patient to analyze and see what went wrong?

There is no point in getting frustrated. Try to purchase the ESR report of your actual exam and check.

SamirAbrahao · Answer

Sorry for the cold reply. I had just woken up when I wrote that, and I'm kind of pissed. Uncertainties make me angry. I'll figure it out.

Balajikarthick1990 · Answer

totally fine bro. you will bounce back.

shadowfax1 · Answer

Coming back to the original thread.. I gave my 5th GMATPrep this morning ( 1 day before my actual exam ). Got a score of 760 with 8 incorrect in both quant and verbal (50, 44). The main difference this time was I got 14 questions correct in both Math and English and I am convinced that getting the first 10-12 questions correct has a significant impact on the final score. None of my previous mocks were without a single incorrect in the first 10!

With 3 incorrect my RC was still at 40 in the ESR. Guess it again goes to show how the first 14 impacted the score.

With 3 incorrect my RC was still at 40 in the ESR. Guess it again goes to show how the first 14 impacted the score.

sdlife · Answer

Hi  shadowfax1

A couple days ago I gave GMAT Prep 4 and got 650(Q47, V34). Here are the details:

Score 650 (Q47, V34) 
Quant - 8 Incorrect (Question# - 2,3,6,20,22,23,26,35)

Verbal - 11 Incorrect (Question# - 4,5,8,9,12,20,26,31,33,36,38)

Percentile Rank Quant - PS 47, DS 47
Percentile Rank Verbal - CR 32, RC 32, SC 38

With 8 questions wrong in quant, you got Q50 and I got 47. That would be because I got 3 wrong in first 10. And verbal i got total 11 wrong but 4 in first 10. I got 4 RC wrong and 3 in last passage since I was running out of time. I have a week left before the test and still have GMAT Prep 5 and 6. I will also be retaking 3 and 4 again. A few questions:

1) What's your timing strategy on both Quant and Verbal? How much time do you allocate to first 10/15 questions in each section?
2) Retake GMAT Prep 3 and 4: Did you see a lot of questions again when you did a retake of GMAT Prep?

Good luck with your exam. I am sure you will get your target score.

YT

shadowfax1 · Answer

Hey YT,

Thanks for providing your scores. One thing that I realized on my GMAT4 and GMAT5, was the fact that I would hide my clock. The ticking time, in the corner of my eye used to affect me a lot.. as in OMG 2 mins have passed and I still have not solved this question. Once I started hiding the clock, I could get a 20-30 points improvement. While I don't know how different people feel about this, it certainly makes it better for me. I hide the clock in all the sections because it appears anyways when you have 5 mins left. That said, I don't blindly keep doing questions. Every now and then I assess how much time is remaining and then analyze what my strategy should be, how many questions can I reliably solve vs guessing.

As for my timing strategy, in my last 3 GMAT Preps, I have focussed on making sure I don't make silly mistakes in the first few questions. My strategy is to make sure that in my first 20 questions, I don't have more than 1 or 2 wrong answers. I end up finishing this part in about 45-47 mins. That leaves me with about 28-30 mins for my last 17 questions in quant. While this may seem like daunting, notice that if you do well on your first 30 questions, the last 7 questions won't affect your too much. (Of course we are talking about getting a lot of questions right in the first 30), but that's my strat.

So far in all my GMAT prep here's an estimate of how I have timed though I don't follow any strategy other than hiding the clock

- Quant - 1-10 questions about 18-22 mins. 
 2-20 20-22 min
 3-30 15-20 mins
 Whatever time is left for the last questions.

In Verbal, again I make sure that I get the first few questions right, even if it takes me a little longer. In all my GMATPreps, I have have around 15 mins for my last 10 questions. How many questions you have left for verbal will also depend on where you get your RC's. If you get your RC's late in the section then you will have more time to do less questions (coz you need to read the passage), and if all the RCs are d one by question 30, then all about CR and SC. What I am trying to say is, I don't follow any particular strat. Once again, I focus on the first few questions and then pace myself from there.

I think one very crucial point that I have noticed in my Prep1,2 vs my Prep3,4,5 is the importance of last few questions. I used to take the last questions lightly and that used to bring my score down by a 10-20 points.

I am not sure if I have helped you with timing at all, but these are a few things that I keep in mind as I going through the paper.

I do the same for IR, I know that if I can get 8 correct out of 12, the last 4 questions won't matter. So I focus on getting those right.

As you noticed with 11 wrong, your score in verbal came out to 34, because you got almost 5 wrong in the first 11 that's almost 50%. I think that you can def focus on getting the first few questions right, in a reasonable amount of time. If you get the first 10 correct in about 25 mins, I'd say that's pretty safe, because you can guess later.

Hope this helped and thanks for your wishes, I will report my score after tomorrow.

Also take a look at your ESR, and see which areas demand more attention. It helped me to review the wrong answers and try them again wihtout seeing the solution or answer. That helped me understand what went wrong and how I can approach a problem next time.

PS : I have only repeated Exam 1, one time and I saw about 30% repeats, but it was helpful in understanding what it means to get a high score, and the new questions were also good. So you can repeat your exam but expect a few repeats.

sdlife · Answer

Thank you  shadowfax1  for your inputs. I will make some changes to my timing strategies in the next GMAT Prep.

Good luck!

YT

shadowfax1 · Answer

Gave my GMAT Today. 680 (Q49, V33)! I am actually very surprised. I will be retaking it. Having said that, a good lesson for me was that it is possible for someone to drop 80 points, from their highest GMATPrep score. I gave the damn GMATPrep yesterday and got a 760 and even though I gave it in full exam conditions, what a difference the real exams make.

Everything was going fine, until I got to Q31-32 of my Quant. I got a super easy question. Something like what is (x+y)^2. And I was like.. I probably bombed my Quant. Big mistake!!! Because, this played a lot of things in my head and I think I became quite zoned for my verbal. Big mistake.

One lesson to take from here is -> While the GMATPrep is a good exam and close to the GMAT ( Although I thought that GMAT quant was a little more difficult, but Q49 so how bad could I have done ), it does not prepare you for a **** on the real day.

Another lesson -> Do not try to assess the quality of the question. I know that it is all over this forum, but I realized the impact of it first hand and it cost me a lot! Anyways.. I think I am can def cross 720! So I will be trying again soon.

AjiteshArun · Answer

Take some time out to recover from this (actually pretty good) score.

1. You can't luck into a 760 on a GMATPrep (unless some questions were already known to you).
2. The actual exam involves exam day pressure, which can compromise decision making.
3. A few people get their "highest ever" score on their first attempt. Most people don't do as well as they can the first time around.
4. The actual exam will have experimental questions, almost all of which will appear extremely easy to good test takers. These questions do not make a difference to your score.
5. The actual GMAT draws from a much larger pool of questions than any GMATPrep ever will. Be prepared mentally for what seems like a less than smooth ride.
6. Dial your participation on gmatclub down unless you're confident that you can stay positive in the last few days.

Again, don't  over analyze what happened (get the ESR if you want), and take another shot.

shadowfax1 · Answer

Yeah thanks for your suggestions. I did not know any of the GMATPrep questions. It was mostly screw up because of seeing easy questions and then getting into the mindset that I messed up. GMATprep obviously does not prepare you for that. I will take some time out and then retake the exam.

Do you think I should keep this score? I have the option to cancel it for 72 hours.

Do you think I should keep this score? I have the option to cancel it for 72 hours.

AjiteshArun · Answer

Cancel it if you have even the slightest doubt. You can always reinstate it later if you change your mind.

That said, I wouldn't cancel it if I were you, because canceling a 680 sounds a little extreme. It's 84%. Most people would be thrilled with a 680.

SamirAbrahao · Answer

Shadowfax,

Now you know what I'm talking about when I say we are on the same boat. The same thing that happened to me probably happened to you: A 100~ point difference between mocks and the actual exam. Overall I *WAS* performing well on mocks, same as you!! Those I didn't do well had good explanations.

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