Nervous on my first GMAT yesterday - Target 750, Score 680 (Q49, V33)

Hey everyone,

DISCLAIMER: Sorry for the long post - I tend to be verbose and my boss hates that about me.

Like I believe most introverts on this forum do, I lurked around this forum for over a year now slowly absorbing information about the exam and getting some practice on the GMATClub archive questions. I also took my first GMAT Prep test in June for a score of 710. It gave me some confidence that despite having little practice and no structure to my approach i could get a 710 on an official mock test.

Around November last year, I decided to the put pedal to the metal and take my first GMAT in February. I went all out and got as much practice and prep as I could - I reviewed all the OG questions, and went through the Manhattan Guides to help with the Verbal section, which was my Achilles' heel. I improved my verbal accuracy substantially thanks to the Manhattan Guides (which are as brilliant as they say! ) and didn't get much done in quants as it was never a worry for me with consistent scores in the 50-51 range.

Over time i planned my tests with proper gaps and saw my mock scores rise substantially: 730, 720, 750, 790, 790 ( I feel the last two are not accurate as by then I had already gotten through all the practice questions in the OG and many of the questions were repeats). So after having told myself that I have prepared enough, I took take the GMAT yesterday expecting a score of 730+.

I got a score of 680 (Q49, V33) - it was a shocker for me. I knew I'd bombed the test before it ended, but I didn't think I would deviate so far from my target of 750+. I've always stuck to the time strategy in all my mocks, but on D-Day was all over the place and had to second guess at least 6-7 questions in verbal which was my first section. Following this, I was more cautious in my Quant section and finished it just in time with 2 guesses towards the end, whereas in the mocks I used to finish the section with 20 minutes to spare.

I'd just cracked under the pressure of the exam. I felt that there was too much riding on this day and if I failed to achieve a 750+ as i expected, it was all over. I could feel it making me quiver in doubt mere moments before starting the exam. But it was an experience nontheless. Here is a list of things that I feel really affected my mindset the most on the day of the exam -

1) The environment - The test center was very different from my mock test environments. They had a large screen with full-screen text, as opposed to my laptop screen with a browser which I have used so far for the exam. I found myself reading at a much slower pace as the text was very different in size compared to what I was used to.

2) The silence - The test center was like a graveyard, which is unlike my neighbourhood where everything is loud. It's funny that I've gotten used to answering in loud environments, but became nervous in a silent test center

3) Practicing too much a day before the test - While i told myself I'd take the day off from work and relax, I ended up taking another final mock test. While the scores were motivating enough (750+), i think it just drained me out before the exam day.

3) The clock - I paid no attention to the clock during the exam. I was just too nervous to get any questions wrong that I just froze on each question and took too much time for each. This was something I'd probably done in my first mock, but I can't believe I also did this on test day.

4) The time of day - I took the exam at noon, since there was no other slot available in my city for that day. While I had no problem with the time, the unforseen effects took a greater toll. I'd started from home at 12PM for my 2PM appointment, so I had to have a brunch and could not eat/drink anything till the end of the test. I could feel my sugar levels going down towards the middle of the test, for which I should have taken some gatorade or some coffee along (my bad there).


Now, I've decided to retake the exam in another month or two and hope to achieve my target score this time. But I'm not sure how to improve myself before the next attempt as I've already exhausted all the OG questions and the GMAT Prep exams. Could anyone suggest any good practice test sets for Verbal where i can improve my skills before the next attempt in a couple months? Would really appreciate the help