My first GMAT score 560

Hi at1988,

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.

If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out:

When you took your CATs:
1) What were your scores on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each)?
MGMAT 1 - 570; Q(39), V(30)
MGMAT 2 - 620; Q(42), V(33)
MGMAT 3 - 640; Q(44), V(34)
MGMAT 4 - 630; Q(44), V(34)
MGMAT 5 - 590; Q(42), V(30)
MGMAT 6 - 650; Q(44), V(35)
GMAT Prep Exam 4 - Q(47), V(34) - 660 - Last practice test before main exam
2) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)? - YES (Took the entire CAT for all the practice tests)
3) Did you take them at home? - YES, took them at a quiet place at home
4) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT? - NO. Official GMAT was at 8am. I took the exams around 11am
5) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? - No. Only thing different was I could sip water while taking practice CATs. No water is allowed inside test-center.
6) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? - No, this was first time.

Also I canceled my score since I was expecting atleast around 650... Also my goal score is 720 and above. Was it right decision to my cancel score?

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

Hi at1988,

The extra information that you've provided is quite useful, as it helps to define what went wrong on Test Day. In real basic terms, you took your CATs in such a way that you were NOT properly training to face the Official GMAT - so you were not ready to face it on Test Day.

Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" your scores can become - and that's what happened here. By taking the CATs at home, taking them at a different time of day, sipping water, etc., you weren't properly training for the FULL GMAT 'experience.'

Thankfully, this is a relatively easy set of problems to fix. The big question now is "how long will it take you to properly get 'used to' taking the full GMAT?" You'll certainly need a new set of practice CATs to work with and you have to put in the necessary time to train your brain (and body) for the FULL GMAT. You might also need to invest in some new GMAT training materials.

1) On what dates did you take each of these CATs?
MGMAT 1 - 2/25
MGMAT 2 - 2/26
MGMAT 3 - 3/1
MGMAT 4 - 3/3
MGMAT 5 - 3/7
MGMAT 6 - 3/9
GMAT Prep Exam 4- 3/14
GMAT - 3/18

2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
2017 Fall (Spring if possible)

To answer your last question, canceling your score was fine.

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

Hi at1988,

The process of taking a FULL CAT and properly reviewing it so that you can practice on specific areas and improve takes a lot of time and effort. As a general rule, you shouldn't take more than 1 FULL CAT per week. From your schedule, you took 7 CATs in 19 days - that is TOO many in such a short period of time. It also helps to explain why those score results were so similar - you didn't put in enough effort BETWEEN your CATs to properly hone your skills improve.

I have a few more questions about the last few days before Test Day:

1) What did you do in the 3 days before your GMAT? - Reviewed my errors from previous CATs, read flashcards, practiced a few problems.
2) How did you sleep the night before your Test? - My test was at 8 am, so I went to bed by 10pm.... slept by 11pm and was up at 6am in the morning. I slept well, but I would say I am not an early morning person. That is one thing I will change in my re-take , 11am suits me much better.
3) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home? - 5 minutes by car
4) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test? - not much, but the lady was not very helpful...In fact I came back from the break after finishing Quant, and she clocked me in without telling me I had 2 minutes 30 seconds remaining of my break!! So I was stressed that I did not take my full break for Verbal
5) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
1st break: Got up , stretched, went to restroom, came back, ate a cookie, and went back to the test-room, I realized I was 3 minutes late for Quant! But I picked up pace and finished the Quant session in time. I thought I did quite well but scored only 42
2nd break: Same as before, just at a fast pace since I did not want to be late for Verbal, but realized I came back almost 3 minutes early and the lady still clocked me in! I am very disappointed in the staff.
6) Did you finish any sections early? - Not that I can recall.... Everything was pretty much in time... I did not rush in Quant, not much in Verbal, but did fall short of time in IR.
7) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)? - Only in IR

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

Hi at1988,

As a general rule, you should plan to take 1 FULL CAT (with the Essay and IR sections) per week. You should also try to make each of those CATs as realistic as possible (take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT, take them away from your home, etc.). Using your Official Score as a gauge, and considering your score goal, you're likely going to need at least another 2 months of consistent study time.

1) What practice materials have you used so far? - I used the official guide 2015 edition, Manhattan GMAT SC guide, MGMAT tests(6), Magoosh practice questions + 2 tests, and recently this month I signed up for EMPOWERGMAT online course.



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