signyc wrote:
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..
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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