MASSIVE discrepancy-I do not believe it at all. Please help, please!

Question

Hello folks, I have studied the GMAT for 10 months now. I completed the following: All 3 OGs (Review and redo all mistakes) Manhattan GMAT (Finished all questions, read the Sentences Correction guide 3 times) GMAT Club Sentence correction guide Power Score Critical Reasoning Bible ALL GMAT Club test 700+ quad questions GMAT Prep Comprehensive SC, CR and RC questions from GMATCLUB Carcass Sentence Correction and Critical Reasoning Question Bank Bunuel Signature Collection (Seven Samurai, Best Problem solving 2012, collection of PS DS Questions with solution) Studied Quant notes from Bunuel GMAT MATH BOOK from bb and Bunuel Here is the result of my CAT before my 1st exam (in order and show improvement): GMAT RREP EXAM 1: 660 Q48 V34 (I paused the exam when I felt tired, run out of time and had to pause in order to finish every question, no AWA and IR) MANHATTAN CAT1: 630 Q45 V32 (I paused the exam when I felt tired, run out of time and had to pause in order to finish every question, no AWA and IR) MANHATTAN CAT2: 670 Q45 V36 (I paused the exam when I felt tired, run out of time and had to pause in order to finish every question, no AWA and IR) MANHATTAN CAT3: 660 Q46 V34 (I paused the exam when I felt tired, run out of time and had to pause in order to finish every question, no AWA and IR) MANHATTAN CAT4: 720 Q50 V37 (I paused the exam when I felt tired, run out of time and had to pause in order to finish every question, no AWA and IR) GMAT RREP EXAM 1: 660 Q48 V34 (I paused the exam when I felt tired, finished just in time, no AWA and IR) MANHATTAN CAT5: 680 Q48 V35 (I paused the exam when I felt tired, finished just in time, no AWA and IR) MANHATTAN CAT6: 700 Q51 V35 (I took a 30 minute break between Quad and verbal, finished just in time, did IR but no AWA) GMAT RREP EXAM 3: 720 Q50 V38 (I took a 30 minute break between Quad and verbal, finished but missed a couple of questions in verbal, did IR and AWA) GMAT RREP EXAM 4: 760 Q49 V45 (Saw ~5 repeated questions from Verbal, I took a 30 minute break between Quad and verbal, finished just in time, did IR and AWA) 1st TEST DAY: 660 Q50 V28(!!!!) I knew verbal was my weakness so I did more practice on verbal and finish all the GMAT PREP questions. I did two more CATs from Veritas as I run out of MANHATTAN Prep. Veritas CAT 1: 750 Q51 V42 (I took an hour break between Quad and verbal, finished all questions in verbal, did IR and AWA) Veritas CAT 2: 750 Q50 V42 (I took an hour break between Quad and verbal, finished all questions in verbal, did IR and AWA) 2nd TEST DAY: 660 Q48 V32 (!!!!!) :cry:

This was just yesterday. I was totally disappointed.... how can I get such a low score in Verbal. I know there is a difference when I am tired but 10 points difference in Verbal? huh?! About the quant, I was basically affect by the guy in the test centre. He agreed to give me a new scratch pad "in a minute" after I came back from the first break. I kept using the old scratch pad and kept thinking when is he going to come. After 20 minutes, I heard him talking with people outside the room. I was angry and finally I had to raise my arm to indicate that he forgot to gave me the scratch pad. However this didn't affect my mood in Verbal, I felt calm after the break. I thought I did well because I didn't feel tired. What happened? Is the real thing so much different compare to the Veritas Cat or the GMAT Prep? I know it shouldn't. But can fatigue and stress contribute that MUCH? I am totally confused. Please, leave any comment which could help me. As you can see, I am eager to improve but I just need the correct strategy. As usual I am generous on Kudos because I am truly thankful for anyone who helped / tried to help me. MANY THANKS! :lol:

Gordon

LighthousePrep · Answer

Hi Gordon,

Sorry about the test center troubles. In such a high pressure exam, sometimes the smallest things can throw you off.

Regarding your question about discrepancies in estimated scores: yes, there is a variance, although people can at best just guess at how much that is. For example, on my real GMAT vs. the practice exam I did the day before, there was a 70 point variance. How? I have no idea.

GMATClub also has a neat tool where you can plug in your test scores from various practice CATs and it projects your actual score. Again, not sure if we can say that with any accuracy, but it might give you some peace of mind.

You've probably already read the test day strategies about keeping a cool head and stuff so I won't bore you with those (if you haven't, a quick google search will help you).

Some things that aren't always mentioned, but I find helpful: take the practice exams in an as realistic as possible environment. Since you've been to the test center twice, you should be able to recreate the noise environment, the distractions, the scratch board, etc. If it helps, get out of your normal study space and try doing the mock test in someone's office or something (a place where you aren't as comfortable as your normal study spot).

Hope you find that helpful. Best of luck on your next try!

bb · Answer

It happens and sometimes the exam is just set off wrong. You end up missing a few key questions, esp if you are tired after doing IR and AWA. It is a long test and i would recommend you practice with IR and AWA... you keep taking these breaks and pausing tests - why do you do that?

gordonf35 · Answer

Thanks, was it a positive 70 point difference (i.e. 70 higher in your actual gmat)? I have read the strategies and I tried to replicate the background noise by playing some "typing noise" videos on yourtube. Don't ask me why people would produce video like that, and it is a video 6 hour long.... :wink:

I had the scratch board at home. It doesn't make any difference on my performance as compare to paper. I use the paper in my practice cat because I don't want to clean the pad every time. However, you can appreciate my Quant score is similar between CAT and actual. Thank you for your input. I tried that gmatclub tool before and it was awesome! However, I still wonder whether fatigue is the reason for my verbal score.

gordonf35 · Answer

Thanks bb, I am not the best guy to focus in a revision. I tend to have many mini breaks during revision. However, it works well for those revisions in university. It works for studying gmat materials too as you can tell I have done loads of revision. I haven't thought this is a problem before because I can usually focus on a 3-hour exam. However, those exams were merely mathematical and did not test my reading ability when I am tired. I think you have pointed out that fatigue may be my main issue, provided that those veritas scores on verbal are accurate. Kudos for you! (probably you don't really need it

) Many thanks, Gordon

angelfire213 · Answer

well, i wouldn't rely on your test scores. you never took one without a break. since you don't get that break on the real thing, it's not an accurate prediction. practice without breaks.

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

It is actually very common to see a large discrepancy between the practice tests and the real exam, but only in one direction--down!

Does this mean the practice tests are easier? Not at all. It means that taking a practice test is less likely to go wrong than taking the real thing. Here are a few common problems: *You've seen some of the practice material before. This creates more score inflation than most people are willing to admit! However, it looks like you didn't repeat any tests, so this probably isn't the case for you. *You give yourself an advantage on the practice test that you don't get on test day. (Longer breaks, pause button, breaking up the exam, skipping essay or IR, etc.) In your case, as angelfire points out, this seems to be the culprit. Why are you giving yourself these advantages? You don't get to keep those practice scores!

Let me give you some blunt advice: never practice this way again. Practice tests are meant to simulate the test, and you have now wasted all of the best tests available without actually having that experience. If you want to do untimed review, do that after. Even with individual OG problems, you should get used to doing them under timed conditions first. *You are more comfortable and less stressed taking a practice test at home. You can address this in a few ways--first, by taking the exam away from home (e.g. in a library), and second, by pretending that you are taking the real test. As much as possible, the goal is to blur the boundary between practice and performance. It's the same thing you might do if you were playing guitar in a band. At home, you motivate yourself by saying "Okay, everyone's waiting for my big solo!" Then on stage, you might combat nervousness by saying "Alright, it's just another practice day. Let me play it the way I've been doing at home." *You changed something about your practice on test day. This is closely related to the last point, and it may be the biggest factor in bringing people's scores down on the real test. If you tell yourself "Okay, today is the day I hit 760!" you may be setting yourself up for disaster, because you're not used to performing at that level. Putting too much pressure to succeed makes you more anxious and less able to think, and it also makes you more likely to stubbornly persist on a problem when you should guess and move on. I can't tell you how many times a student has told me a story like this: "My highest practice score was a 650. I really wanted a 700, but I got a 590." Why does this happen? Because when you say "Today is the day I'm going to do better than ever before," it actually doesn't help. You just want to recreate your home performance. So in short, look for the differences between home and the real thing and eliminate them systematically. Whether it's one of the above or sleep or nutrition, take the necessary steps to make sure that your practice tests run just like test day will. Then walk into the test center and do it all the same way. Honestly, if you are hitting 660 on the real tests, it is probably because you are at 660 level. To improve to 720+, you will need to do some more study/review, but you may get a bit of a boost simply by getting used to the entire 4-hour endurance event that is the GMAT! Good luck!

gordonf35 · Answer

Thank you, I agree on your comments indeed. To be honest, I think I am still at the 660 is because of my stamina or I probably use to much "mental energy" to tackle some questions. This is probably because I am still not familiar to the theory enough. However, I do have the knowledge to tackle the questions. Otherwsie I wouldn't get the 750 score in those CAT. Therefore I should focus on building up my stamina for the 4-hour GMAT. Thanks for your help and your blessing. :-D

angelfire213 · Answer

just wanted to add. most people have the knowledge to get close to 800 untimed. the stress of the GMAT comes from the time crunch. Whenever I review my exam, about 3/4 of the ones i solved incorrectly, i can solve once there is no timer. Don't use those mocks you took as any indicator of your score. it seems little but those breaks you take make a HUGE difference. Remember, the GMAT concepts are not actually hard. It's all rudimentary math (no differentiation, integration or calculus to be seen)....so yes, stamina is huge and also being able to see the path you need to go down in about 2 mins. I've had to throw away questions because i started down the wrong path, realized my mistake and then decided i did not have enough time to get the right answer even though I knew how to get it because i had wasted time.

so knowledge is only half...the other half is technique and stamina.

so knowledge is only half...the other half is technique and stamina.

gordonf35 · Answer

Thank you for your input. I agree about the long breaks between Quant and Verbal. However, it seems a lot of people picking my small breaks between question. If you look closely, I stop having those small breaks on my last few CATs. They did have an impact on my score as you compare my CAT results. Anyway, I totally agree that I should take the long break between Quant and Verbal. Thank you guys! I hope I can make use of your advice to nail the GMAT! :-D

gordonf35 · Answer

I would like to say THANK YOU to everyone who involved in this post, especially those who encouraged me to work on my stamina. I have done a practice test of Veritas yesterday. My score is 680 Q50V34, which is I am hoping for as it realistically predicts what I achieved on my test day. I will work hard on my stamina now! THANK YOU ALL! :-D

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MASSIVE discrepancy-I do not believe it at all. Please help, please!

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