ESR Review & Analysis - [Post Enhanced Score Report Requests here]

Hi, I recently wrote my GMAT and scored an abysmal 660 (Q47, V34). My GMAT Prep 3 score 4 days before the exam was 700(Q49, 35) (Missed few easy SC questions in the beginning) and GMAT Prep 4, 2 days before the exam was 730 ( Q48, V42).

I am really bummed out with the score, as I scored 660 in my diagnostic test when I started the preparation. I felt I had come a long way but I guess I choked on the final stage. I have to give my next attempt within 3 weeks to even try for some schools in R1 however most of my target schools will stop accepting R1 applications which sucks.

Some context about me -

1. In these GMAT prep 3 and 4 exams, I got only 2 CR questions incorrect, got 0 incorrect in Gmat prep 3. I cannot fathom how I managed to get 33% in the actual attempt.
2. Also got only 3 RC questions incorrect in both these exams as well.

Other notes about test day -

1. I booked a slot at 8 AM which was definitely a mistake and I knew it but there were no other alternate slots available for a week. I am currently living in IST but still work in PST so I have never woken up before 630 AM in the last 8-9 months.
2. During the exam, I could not concentrate at all and just went with the flow. For example, if somebody asks me to recall 5 questions from the exam, I will not be able to.
3. My Q score of 47 is just bad and I would want to improve it atleast to 49 (if not 50).

EMPOWERgmatRichC ScottTargetTestPrep bb

Dear Experts

I need your help with the review of ESR

Aim is to go above 730. I want to understand what all areas i should focus on and what all areas are my weak point. What is the issue with my verbal score.

Please let me know if you need any other information as well

In mocks I score between in the range of 710 - 760

M1 : 740
M2 : 760
M3 : 740
M4 : 710
M5 : 730

Regards,
Rahul

Hi experts,

I would very much appreciate some help analyzing my latest ESR. I had scored a 730 (49Q, 39V) and am attempting the test one more time, shooting for a 750.

Some help on understanding key areas to focus on going forward would be very helpful!

EMPOWERgmatRichC ScottTargetTestPrep bb

Hi rdasika,

I don't see anything incredibly glaring from your ESR. Can you tell me more about how you plan to prepare for your retake?

Dear experts,

on Friday, I took my first GMAT (offline) and scored a 640 (Q47/V31).
Because I need about 660-680 to be safe for the schools I want to apply to, I think about giving it another shot. But for now, I pause the prepping for a week because the last two months were pretty tough.
Today I received my ESR, which confused me a bit. I therefor would like to hear the opinion of an expert on my GMAT and my overall prep so far.

First of all, a little bit of background about my prep:
I started to practice about six months ago. During the first 2 months, I spent little time (6-8 hours per week) on it and did everything pretty "unstructured" (solved questions most of the time without learning the concepts).
After those two months, I really focused on the GMAT, worked through all the MGMAT books (including Math foundations) and dedicated about 4-6 hours on workdays (I still work fulltime) and 6-8 hours on weekends to the GMAT. In addition to the MGMAT books, I used the GMATclub math book and several Youtube-videos on topics I struggled with.
As Quant was obviously my weakness, I spent a lot more time on Quant than on Verbal. I started prepping for Verbal about 2 months ago (after my 4th mock).
Also, the last month mostly dedicated to solving questions and reviewing concepts/errors.

So, this is the history of my tests:
1. 450: Q20/V31 (LBS/Economist, 27.04., completely cold)
2. 510: Q29/V32 (LBS/Economist, 24.05.)
3. 610: Q41/V33 (Veritas, 02.08.)
4. 590: (Kaplan, 18.08., don't remember the actual split, but was similiar to the third mock)
5. 590: Q42/V31 (Manhattan, 26.09.)
6. 680: Q48/V35 (OfficialPrep 1, 10.10.)
7. 640: Q45/V34 (OfficialPrep 2, 17.10.)
8. 640: Q47/V31 (Official GMAT, 23.10.)

Despite the fact that I gained 27 points in Quant and almost 200 points overall since my first mock, I am still a bit disappointed with my Verbal improvement (and with my Verbal performance on Test day). I thought that Quant would be the deciding factor, not Verbal.

A few more things that are not on the ESR:
- I had a few problems in the test center: first, the proctor couldn't bring me new pencils during the test. She told me, that I would need to get up, leave the room and collect them from her desk (while the time was running). This would take 1-2 minutes. After about 20 questions in Verbal (started with that), all 4 pencils that I had were completely empty. During those question, I constantly had to switch between those 4 pencils. Because I couldn't afford to miss 1-2 minutes, I had to eliminate answers in my head after the 20th question. Second, I only had 3 instead of 8 minutes between Verbal and Quant (a bit more complicated to explain...).
- I've never been a strong reader or a bookworm. Therefor, I usually struggled the most with CR and especially RC. In harder questions, I often fail to get the essence out of the passage or to find the difference between two similiar answer choices.
- What confused me the most was the fact that my weakest section in Verbal was SC. During prep, I NEVER had an accuracy below 70% in SC during practice. I felt a bit insecure before entering the test center (solved a few SCs before entering), because I focused on CR and RC during the last week and only did a few SC-questions per day. But I never thought that my accuracy in SC major factor in missing my target score.

My questions are:
- Do you think that reaching 660-680 within 3-4 weeks possible? An aggravating factor is that most probably my next attempt has to be online, because they will close the only test center I have access to due to Covid (if not, it is booked out until mid-January).
- What are the things I should work on? I thought about reading a lot on a daily basis (fiction and New York Times) to get more confidence. In addition to that: reviewing SC rules and the Quant concepts.
- How many mocks should I do? And in which frequency?
- Are there any other things that you conclude from the ESR?

EMPOWERgmatRichC ScottTargetTestPrep bb GMATNinja I'm thankful for every advice!

Thank you in advance.

Best regards
argerniki

Dear Experts,

I took my first GMAT on 19th of October and scored 650 (Q49/V29).

My aim is to get 700+, therefore I will retake the exam on December 9. As I continue to my studies, I would like to hear the opinion of an expert on my weaknesses which can be derived from the ESR. I am little bit confused with the sub-ratios and overall scores.

My Prep Background:
I am a quant oriented, non-native person. Therefore I focused fully on my Verbal and ignored the Quant. (even didnt solve the OG) After 2 weeks of practice, in which I solved OG SC and MGMAT SC, I wanted to give it a try in official practices. I scored 730 in my first test, so I scheduled my exam immediately for 2 weeks later. In 2 weeks, I solved a lot of SC, some CR and 4 more practice test, all which were around 640-650. So I believe my first 730 was an illusion.

I would like to hear your valuable opinions on:
- Which insights can be obtained from my ESR? What are the things I should focus on? I am planning to deep dive into Verbal via Magoosh and ignore Quant again. (my minimum Quant was 49 in all practices, I can say it is pretty consistent)
- Do you think reaching 700+ in 40 days possible? Even though my work hours are intense, I believe I can spare at least 2 hours everyday and maybe 5 hours in weekends.


EMPOWERgmatRichC ScottTargetTestPrep bb GMATNinja

I hope you can enlighten me, Many thanks in advance for any advice!

Hi Okang,

40 days may prove to be too little time for you to improve your GMAT verbal score, but you certainly can give it a shot! That said, do you want any general advice on how to improve your GMAT verbal skills?

Hi argerniki,

I've sent you an email with an analysis of your ESR and some additional notes and questions.

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

Hi Okang,

I've sent you a PM with an analysis of your ESR and some additional notes and questions.

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

Hi Everyone!

I took my GMAT on November 3rd. I was aiming for 740+ but my result was disappointing - 710(Q50, V35) only. Timing for verbal section was always a problem for me, I believe I was rushing because I was afraid i couldn't finish. In my 9 question, I was still left with 12 mins though.



Studies:
1) How many hours did you typically study each week?
I started my preparation from the July. And I study about 20 hours a week ).

2) CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
GMAT Prep 1 mock: scored Q49 V28 (650)
GMAT Prep 2 mock: scored Q50 V34 (700)
GMAT Prep 3 mock: scored Q50 V40 (740)
GMAT Prep 4 mock: scored Q50 V38 (730)
GMAT Prep 5 mock: scored Q50 V33 (690)
GMAT Prep 6 mock: scored Q50 V44 (760)


Goals:
3) What is your overall goal score?
My overall goal score is at least 740.
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?
I am planning to apply Next year and I'm applying to top 15 schools in the US.

Could anyone help to take a look at my ESR? I feel my Reading Comprehension questions was terrible and pulled down my score a lot.

Thanks in Adavnce
EMPOWERgmatRichC

Hi HumbleFool,

I have two very important articles for you to read. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out!

Why Was My GMAT Score Lower Than My Practice Test Scores?

GMAT Reading Comprehension Tips: Top 8 DOs and DON’Ts

Hi Experts,

Would really appreciate some help if you all get any time to review my situation below.

Studies:
1) How many hours did you typically study each week? What materials did you use?

I studied about 15 hours a week for the past 2.5 months. My process was to review Magoosh videos for the areas which I found were weak in my diagnostics/ mock tests. I would then do problems (Magoosh and GMAT Club) of that kind and review the ones that I got wrong. I only recently started keeping an error log which tracks the problem, problem type, what went wrong, why it went wrong, and what I can do to not miss that problem again. Predominantly focused on quant for the duration of the study, but did mix in about 20-30% of the total study time to verbal.

I performed practice problems for my weak areas after reviewing the magoosh videos and then did a practice test at the end of each week. I only recently started keeping an error log, but even then my log doesn’t feel so high quality.

2) On what 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)?
11/14: 630 (Kaplan 41Q/36V)
11/22: 630 (Manhattan 43Q/33V)
12/1: 570 (GMAT official practice test 40Q/28V)
12/9: 660 (Kaplan 47Q/34V)

Goals:
3) What is your overall goal score?
690+ is my target score

4) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?
I am planning to send in applications in Mid-late march of 2021 in Round 3 of 4 of most schools. I'd like to take the GMAT at the end of Feb, and then in Mid march in the event i don't get the score i need. I am shooting for top 30 US business schools.


Final comments:
I felt my score was going to be very average during the actual test. Truthfully I was not prepared for the testing center conditions (didn’t end up prepping scratch paper and thus timing benchmarks). Procedure for breaks was unfamiliar, when I sat down after 3 min of the break, I didnt get the remaining 5 min break, test started. This rattled me for both Verbal and Quant sections started.
Order Verbal > Quant > IR > AWA
Mechanical Engineering undergrad, native English speaker.

Could anyone help to take a look at my ESR? (Cant post attachments since I dont have at least 5 posts on GMAT Club, but happy to PM it to anyone!)
Would really appreciate a few pointers on not just what went wrong, but how to study. I’ve learned more than anything the last 4/5 weeks that beating the gmat is about understanding the logic, not just reps reps and reps of similar problems.

Thank you so much in advance and happy holidays to all

Hi araucoul,

You can feel free to email me your ESR; I've sent you a PM with how and some additional questions.

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

About two weeks before the exam, I finished the TTP study plan. Hence leading up to the exam on Feb 5th, I had learnt the content but hadn't plugged my weaknesses or got into the test "mind-set". In my head, this first attempt was always going to be a "test-run" just to get a feel of the test centre and the exam itself; however, despite expecting, and achieving, a score in the 680-720 range, I was left disappointed.

I am not too familiar with how to interpret an ESR, so I would appreciate if an expert could have a skim through and provide me with some insight of where I did not (and did) perform well.

Before the exam I identified that SC was my weakest question type (RC was my strongest) by reviewing both my error log and GMATPrep results. The biggest issue was that I would get stuck on a SC question choosing between the last 2-3 options and would burn through the remaining time. This led me in both GMATPrep #2 and #3 to rush the last 6-7 questions, resulting in 50% of incorrect answers.

Regarding Quant, I did not have many issues while studying. I met all the accuracy target set by TTP for Chapter Tests and Global Review Tests.

Score Background

According to TTP Analytics, my accuracy for Quant was 95% and for Verbal was 75%. My practice scores are listed below:

[TTP 70% Complete]

• MGMAT #4 - 660 Q42 V38 IR6
• GMATPrep #1 - 720 Q47 V42 IR5

[TTP 100% Complete - Using MGMAT Scratchpad and Staedtler Lumocolor 3119]

• GMATPrep #2 (29th Jan) - 710 Q49 V37 IR6
• GMATPrep #3 (1st Feb) - 720 Q50 V37 IR6

[Recognizing that my Verbal time management needed work, I also sat single Verbal sections under test conditions]

• MGMAT #5 (3rd Feb) - V38
• MGMAT #5 (4th Feb) - V45

Test Day

I did not feel nervous during my exam. I had visited the test centre twice in the weeks leading to my exam date, and also followed the routine I had laid out for test day during the two days prior.

Test Order: V, Q, IR, AWA
Score: 690 Q45 V39 IR7 AWA6.0

As I mentioned, based on my practice scores a week before the exam I expected to score between 680 - 720; although, I left frustrated after seeing that I bombed Quant, scoring lower than any GMATPrep CAT I took. (I also feel that I underperformed on RC too)

I don't like to make excuses, but I did struggle with the pens during the exam. During the 3.5 hours I went through 6 pens, each was low on ink and had a frayed tip. I generally don't write much in Verbal (I only cross boxes), but in the Quant section, I had to repeat my working for questions 2-3 times since I was getting no ink down on the scratch pad.

Second Exam - March 9th

I will take a week-long break from studying, but I will spend some of that time to review all my data to identify which areas I need to work on. My main focus will be improving SC efficiency; however, because of my Quant score I may need to go back to TTP and touch up some areas.

Any further advice is greatly appreciated

HI MBAaustralia,

I know we have spoken in the past, so let's hop on a call to get things sorted out. Please reach out to me directly and we can go from there.

Hi,

I have attached my ESR. If anyone could do a quick analysis of my ESR, I would be really grateful.

My target score : 760.

Reason :
1. Belongs to over-represented group(Indian Engineer, non-IIT)
2. Targeting top 10 european b-schools and top 20 US b-schools.

Effort : 20-25 hours of study/week for 3 months.

Mock history:

GMAT Prep 4 - 640
GMAT Prep 5 - 690
GMAT Prep 2 - 710
GMAT Prep 3 - 700

Thanks a lot in Advance.
Biswesh

Working on your RC would probably boost your Verbal the most.