Performed poorly on actual GMAT

Question

Hi Experts,

I recently took a GMAT test and scored very poorly despite of having OK scores on official practice tests.

GMAT Prep 1 - Dec 10, 2020 - 570 - (Q44 V25)
GMAT Prep 2 - Jun 25, 2021 - 710 - (Q46 V41)
GMAT Prep 3 - Jul 2, 2021 - 660 - (Q45 V35)
GMAT Prep 4 - Jul 3, 2021 - 720 - (Q48 V40).

I took the official GMAT test yesterday (July 8, 2021) and scored very badly: 570 (v28 Q39)…. I am quite frustrated, to be honest. Could it be affected by my anxiety? I came to the test location with my heart racing as if i just climbed up 4 floors in my apartment building. I’m not sure what to do now..

MathRevolution · Answer

Hello signyc,

Your current GMAT score is a bit shaky, but you can surely do better. Don't be disappointed.

You need to practice demanding and most challenging level questions and take as many mock tests as possible. Create the error log and try access to the specific areas and topics that require improvement.

With my GMAT tutoring, guidance, and counseling experience, we have to accept the fact with a pinch of salt that diagnostic/ mock test scores are above then what one should expect in a real test. There is often dropping in the score. Some students have even experienced a drop of 100+ pointers. It is one of the realities, and your preparation should not sideline this fact.

You can schedule a Free counseling session for 20 mins(https://calendly.com/mathrevolution/1-on-1-session) with one of our experts if you want detailed advice on your current study plans.

Also, make a note of various possible combinations to achieve your target score. The possible scores will help you track your performance after taking the mock or practice test. It will also help you maintain balance in both the sections, and you will always be in a great position to allot the study hours to a specific area accordingly.

You can try our free diagnostic test: https://www.mathrevolution.com/diagnost ... Memberfree] and receive a comprehensive study guide by topic. This test will help you understand your weak areas.

We recommend learning unique, alternative time-saving approaches [VARIABLE APPROACH to hit DS questions accurately in less time and IVY Approach for PS questions]. You can check the applications of the mentioned approaches on our various posts in the GMAT club. Also, make sure that you revise your basic concepts every week on any one day.

Below are two useful links.
Ultimate Q51 guide: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-ultimate ... l#p1613600
Breakdown of GMAT math questions and types: https://gmatclub.com/forum/overview-of- ... l#p1641411

You can visit Math Revolution and get access to our 7-days on-demand course for free trial lessons and free videos. 700+ level questions https://www.mathrevolution.com/gmat/questionbank) are separately available, too.

Regular tests will reflect the positive change in the score, and hence, your confidence will boost up.
Gradually, with the help of mock tests, you will be able to compete with time and hence will be able to learn time management.

We appreciate your time and patience in reading this reply.
If we can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

You can reach us at [email protected].

Success is within your reach.
Good luck!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi signyc,

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:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far? 
3) Have you taken any other CATs/mocks besides the 4 you listed here? 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)?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

You might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

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

signyc · Answer

MathRevolution , thank you for your reply. I will review the links you mentioned above as well as practice with more challenging questions.

signyc · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC  , thank you for your reply. Here are the answers to your questions:

1) I’ve studied since December 2020, my first GMAT Prep score was before i started the study. 
Approximately 1 hour/day everyday on the first 2 months, 1 - 2 hr every other day, 2 - 3 times a week for 2 months, and 2 hours per day every day for the final 2.5 months. 
2) so far i only used OG, and some 1hr “advance questions” session once a week from a third party provider. 
3) I’ve only taken those 4 CATs.

My target score is 700+, and my target schools are CBS, NYU, Booth, Dartmouth, and Wharton.

Regarding ESR score, i have it, i just need to make more post to be able to attach it here (new user).

Thank you!

signyc · Answer

Hi  EMPOWERgmatRichC

Please see attached my ESR, and i’d be very grateful if you can help me with suggestions!

MathRevolution · Answer

Hello, You can always write to us at info@mathrevolution.com for any further queries. Thank you.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi signyc,

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

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi signyc,

I’m sorry to hear 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 V28. 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?

signyc · Answer

Hi Experts,

Thank you to all of you who replied. All answers are very very helpful to me, and i think i need to readjust my study plan and test taking strategy in general. While anxiety might be part of the reasons, all of your answers make me realizes the area that i can focus more on to get score on test day. I will carefully review all your answers once again, and i might possibly reach out to one of you for some help.

In the mean time, i’d be interested if you have suggestion on when should i retake the test. Hopefully not too long as my brain is still “hot”, but I also don’t want to rush it as i really want to get into the right school for me.

Please advise. Thank you as always.

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  signyc ,

Were the questions in tests 2-4 "fresh"? If you were not already familiar with them, your scores are representative. That is, you're already capable of getting a 700+ score. This doesn't mean that we won't see variations in scores though. Also, if this was your first GMAT, you should know that most people tend to underperfom the first time around.

Your ESR shows that you may not have been following a timing strategy. You should try to make sure that you have  one in place  before your next attempt.

All the best.

signyc · Answer

Hi Experts,

So after reviewing your feedbacks, i think my problems are as follows:

- Time management was the number 1 issue during the test. And i think it’s because i didn’t really understand what is tested in the test. I should be able to realize faster that i won’t be able to answer the question and that i should move on. I can’t believe i didn’t know this earlier. Anxiety made things worse. I knew the time rules (without knowing the purpose), but i remember i didn’t consider the rules that much because i believed that i already have a good sense of time based on my practice scores. But i feel like my sense of time got distorted when my heart was racing and my mind was wondering. So to practice this, i plan to 1) develop 1-minute sense practice, 2) be able to decide whether to guess or to try after 1 minute passed, and 3) practice mindfulness to address the anxiety. 
- While i might already have a good understanding about the foundations of quant and verbal, i still need to master those skills to be able to consistently answer medium difficulty questions correctly. This is still needed to get the better score, but i think an additional 1 month of disciplined studying would be enough for me to achieve 700.

I read the intro materials from Manhattan Prep, and i realized a number of test-taking strategy new to me. I took the 1st CAT from Manhattan Prep today, and i scored 690 (V38 Q45). I recognized a passage from RC, and a couple CR questions. I recognized none of the quants, but i can’t be too sure as some questions just look too generic. In general, i still felt that “oh i made a lot of mistakes” feeling, but the result doesn’t seems as bad as what i thought would be. So in the next 3 weeks, i am planing to 1) study 1 - 2 hours per day on weekdays except friday, and 3 hours per day on the weekend; and 2) take 3-4 more practice CATs (2 tests from 5 - 6 set of official prep, 2 tests from 3rd party).

Does the above-mentioned approach sounds reasonable to aim for a 700+ in 3-4 weeks time? During that period, i will be practicing the one-minute sense as well as mindfulness..

Thanks!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi signyc,

Earlier this week, I sent you a PM with an analysis of your ESR and some additional questions; the answers to those questions are exceptionally important - and they will help to define not only what you need to focus on during this next week of your studies but ALSO how long you will likely need to continue to study. Based on your recent Official Score, you will likely need more than just another 3-4 weeks of study time to get to the point that you can consistently score 700+.

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

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  signyc ,

I think you're on the right track. Time management issues are very common (especially on the first attempt). However, the fact that you faced time management issues on your first attempt also means that you are in a better position for the next attempt. As for your study plan, I think it's fine. As in, I don't think there is such a thing as a perfect study plan, and getting started with a simple plan is far better, and more important, than trying to optimise that plan, at least as far as preparing for the GMAT is concerned.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi signyc,

Its really disheartening to know your experience of GMAT Test Day. However, don’t lose heart. As long as you are ready to put in efforts and put right what went wrong, there is a ray of hope. Let me share my insights with you.

Of course, anxiety may be one of the major reasons. However, you have to stay test-ready and keep yourself calm on the exam day to focus. You get that confidence when you are all prepared and you have this thought in mind that no matter what you can tackle all the problems coming your way.

Also, as evident from the information provided by you in the chain of responses, you have not given adequate time to your preparation. You have to prepare in a disciplined and structured manner to get to your target score.

For scoring 700 and above, you need to make sure you don’t get the easy & medium questions wrong as GMAT test is adaptive in nature. For that, being conceptually clear on all topics is really vital. Not only this, you have to be good with application of concepts also, because  GMAT is a test of application of concepts . But, before application, you need to understand the motive behind the questions being asked. Once you understand that, the process of learning becomes a lot simpler and easier. If your concepts are clear and you use the right methods and strategies to solve questions, you will be able to smartly avoid the traps set by the test makers

Looking at your score break-up, you definitely have consistency issues. There are wild swings in your scores which implies that you haven’t followed a very structured approach. Especially for verbal. I would suggest that you need to start again for verbal and also work on the application of concepts for verbal

What needs to be done? 
 Important Tip –   Don’t practice tons of questions directly. First focus on learning the right methods for each question. That plays a significant role in getting hard questions correct within 2 mins.

For example, for Quant, identifying your weaker areas and working your weaker areas should ideally get you a score of 49/50. For this, you need to have a strong understanding of the concepts and also use the right methodology to solve the questions. The good thing about GMAT quant is it tests only specific types of questions from each topic. Knowing how to solve those types of questions will help you solidify your learning and score well on GMAT quant.

To deal with Verbal you need to iron the conceptual gaps in some topics by revisiting them, and then move to the next topic only when you are 100% confident. Verbal questions on GMAT are very tricky. For example, 
  In SC, you have to read the sentence from the meaning standpoint and then start looking at the grammatical errors. 
 In CR, you have to understand the argument, identify the premise and the conclusion and then pre-think the answer before looking at the solutions. 
 In RC, you need to have the right reading strategies to understand the inferences which are not directly stated in the passage.

It’s always better to spare some more time on your preparation until you are ready instead of missing out on your dream colleges/ b-schools in hurry.

A customized study plan may be useful in your case as it will help you to prepare in a disciplined and strategic manner along with an exhaustive course structure which covers GMAT like questions.

GMATWhiz is one such unique course which provides you with a  personalised study plan that is integrated with the course , with clear deadlines. The concept booster and practise quizzes help you to solve the GMAT like questions by using the right methodology. It  uses AI to provide you with real time improvement modules  after every practice quiz .It provides you with additional concept videos and practise quizzes to help you improve. This helps you overcome your weaker areas in a specific topic right away without having to put in additional effort to identify your weaker areas.

If you are open to suggestions, you can check out the free trial of GMATWhiz and decide for yourself.

Hope this helped and feel free to contact if you have any further queries.

You can always write back to me here or the better way would be to connect over a call and have a discussion. You can schedule a free consultation call using the below link.

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