Messed up my Online GMAT 590 (Q43,V27), Time Management issue

Question

I have been self-prepping for over 3 months now and was getting around 700 for official mocks.
These are result of the last 4 mocks I gave before the actual test:
Test 1 - 680 (Q44, V39)
Test 2 - 720 (Q49, V40)
Test 3 - 690 (Q48, V36)
Test 4 - 700 (Q48, V37)

Because I was getting consistent ~700s, I went ahead and gave the exam.

Now during the exam, I messed up my timing and had to guess through 5 to 6 last questions on quant and more than 10 last questions on verbal. I feel that this time mismanagement has brought my score down. I would have loved to get a enhanced report but GMAC doesn't have support for online exam right now.

I'm looking for some advice on the following:
- How to handle time management, especially for verbal, because I have been struggling with this, even on my mocks.
- I'm looking to get a score of around 730, what kind of mock scores should I target for before I give an exam.
- Also, I'm planning to give my next exam on 3rd January, because I have to submit applications by mid-January. Do you think its doable?
- Does giving the exam in-person make any difference?
- I have exhausted official mocks and Manhattan mocks, what should I use now for mocks?

Any help would be really appreciated.
Cheers

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi dhrjain,

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) On your Official GMAT, did you leave any questions unanswered (meaning that you ran out of time and did not physically get to them)?
2) What type of study routine have you followed? How many hours did you typically study each week?
3) What study materials have you used so far?
4) You listed just 4 CAT/mock results. 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)?
5) What Schools are you planning to apply to and what are the exact application deadlines that you are facing?

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

DisciplinedPrep · Answer

dhrjain  - Please purchase the ESR to perform a thorough analysis of your performance on the test. It is too early to blame timing as the 'only' factor affecting your performance; you may very well have conceptual gaps or may falter at applying certain rules while solving questions. Your performance on certain sections could also be rusty for lack ofpractice.

dhrjain · Answer

DisciplinedPrep  ESR isnt available for online GMAT

dhrjain · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC 
1) Didn't leave any unanswered, however because of less time had rush and guess through quite a few questions in the end (~6 for quant and 10+ for verbal)

2) ~3 hours on weekdays and ~6 hours on weekends.

3) I started with OG and then practiced using the online test bank I got with the OG. I referred to GMAT Club for specific questions, the ones I answered incorrectly and also went through GMAT Ninja's videos on Gmat Club's YT page. Cuz you can create small timed exams on the online test bank, I used those for practice and once I was consistently getting 85% to 90% correct, I moved to proper mock tests.

4) Below are dates and results for Official practice test 3 to 6:
Test 3 - Nov 29 2020 - 680 (Q44, V39)
Test 4 - Dec 01 2020 - 720 (Q48, V40)
Test 5 - Dec 03 2020 - 690 (Q48, V36)
Test 6 - Dec 05 2020 - 700 (Q48, V37)
Actual Test (Online GMAT) - Dec 06 2020 - 590 (Q43, V28)

5) I'm looking to get around 730 and the schools are:
 - ISB, Hyderabad (Round 2: Jan 10 2021)
 - NUS, Singapore (Round 1: Jan 27 2021)
 - Nanyang (Round 2: Jan 15 2021)
 - Tepper Carnegie Mellon (Round 2: Jan 10 2021)
 - Kelley Indiana (Round 2: Jan 05 2021)
 - McGill Desautels (Round 2: Jan 15 2021)

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hey dhrjain,

Sorry to hear about how things went with your GMAT. Before suggesting you anything, I would like to know if you used the right methodologies to solve questions in your mocks. I feel that you got lucky at times and somehow ended up getting the right answer in the mocks. I say this because you mentioned that you struggled with time management in mocks as well. Struggling with time management is just a symptom. The actual cause is not using the right methodology.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaML_8kG7sc

what kind of mock scores should I target for before I give an exam : You should be ideally getting your desired score consistently in the mocks, which you did previously but this time make sure that you solve the questions using the right method.

Do you think its doable? : You have almost a month's time. So, it depends on the number of hours you can study. You need to follow a proper study plan with strict deadlines.

Does giving the exam in-person make any difference? : I don't think so. Unless, you need to select a specific section order and need to take the break after each section, center base test or online GMAT doesn't make any difference.

what should I use now for mocks? : There are a few mocks which are close to the GMAT test. We can discuss it later, once you are done with the prep.

So, to suggest you how to proceed further, I would like to know your approach towards solving questions. To know that, I would suggest that we get in touch over a call. I can analyze your way of solving questions and based on that, suggest you the areas to work on. You can use the below link to get in touch with me.

Click here to schedule a call

CAMANISHPARMAR · Answer

Sad to hear about your experience. Practice under timed conditions to improve you speed. The following post might help you:- https://gmatclub.com/forum/timing-strat ... ml?fl=menu

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi dhrjain,

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

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi dhrjain,

I’m sorry to hear about how things went with your GMAT.

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 590. 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!

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