Just finished the test, and I have no idea what happened.

Question

I just got back from my test and I really don't know what to say - I absolutely tanked it. I got a 540, 40 points lower than my 580 I got in the summer. I really don't know how this happened; I am more in shock than anything else. I was expecting a score in the upper 600s to lower 700s, not a score lower than what I have previously gotten. I've been studying my tail off and I thought I had made huge improvements in both quant and verbal sections, even breaking 700 on a practice test. I've taken several practice test within the last several weeks and have never done that poorly. I guess I'm going to reschedule the test, but I really don't know what to think. Does anybody have any thoughts of wisdom on this matter?

The following are my test/practice test results.

Date Score Q V
Official GMAT Test 5/26/09 510 40 21
Kaplan Test CD #1 510 26 28
Kaplan Test CD #2 510 30 23
Manhattan Review Test #1 6/23/09 560 39 26
GMAT 6/30/09 580 42 28
Kaplan Test CD #3 9/29/09 540 32 29
Manhattan Review Test #3 10/26/09 580 33 35 
Manhattan Review Test #2 10/30/09 620 42 33
Manhattan Review Test #4 11/12/09 490 31 21 * Very sick that day
Manhattan Review Test #5 11/19/09 580 42 26
Manhattan GMAT Test #1 12/1/09 640 44 33
Manhattan GMAT Test #2 12/15/09 580 34 35
Manhattan GMAT Test #3 12/17/09 580 34 35
Manhattan GMAT Test # 4 12/22/09 630 40 36
Manhattan GMAT Test # 5 12/23/09 700 44 40
Manhattan GMAT Test # 6 12/28/09 580 37 33
Official GMAT Test #1 12/29/09 650 43 37
Manhattan Review Test #1.1 12/30/09 640 44 35
Official GMAT Test # 2 1/5/10 640 45 33
GMAT 1/9/09 540 39 25

lagomez · Answer

I believe the standard deviation is +- 30 pts. So your next exam could be 610-620. If I were to take the average of your scores, based on what you provided, you would be between that 580-610, which corresponds to the upper limit. Therefore, your practice scores were pretty much close to official scores

hello212 · Answer

That being said, I think (from your last 5 practice tests), you had a good reason to believe that you'd score something in the 620-650 range. Do you think you might have been nervous that day/thrown off by unfamiliar questions?

ThomasD · Answer

did you include the awa during your practice or not? if you didn't i could imagine that might account for some of the surprise

SurgeMcNally · Answer

No I didn't do the AWA in my practice test... but I will now. I talk to one of my college professors and he told me the same thing happened to him. When he took the test for the second time he studied, like I did, for about 9 hours a day for a month, and bombed the test. He then took the test a month later and did very well without studying for it. I think I was just overworked and under a lot of pressure for the test. I plan on studying for about 3 weeks, focusing my weak points, and then taking 3 weeks off before I take my test. Does that sound like a good study plan?

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Just finished the test, and I have no idea what happened.

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