Puzzled by my actual GMAT Peformance - Got a 540 - Thoughts?

Question

Hello-

I was really hoping to share a nice success story with everyone, but instead am very shocked and surprised by my GMAT performance. I am especially puzzled by the fact that my test score actually went down! I got a 540 after 3-months of rigorous studying. Here is an a summary of how I studied:

Books Used: OG12, OG Quant Supplement, OG Verbal Supplment, Kaplan, MGMAT 8-Series books and Manhattan Review- SC

I studied every weekday for 4 hours a day and studied for 6-8 hours a day on each weekend day. I spent a lot of the study time learning the material and then practicing. I went through all of the problems in the OG guides, the excercises in the MGMAT and went through the Kaplan Quiz Bank (mainly Quant). In addition to this, I did 17 practice exams! (2 GMAT Prep, 9 Kaplan and 6 MGMAT). My scores fluctuated everytime I took the exam, but I was basically in the 600-670 range each time.

Going into the exam, I felt confident and well-prepared. However, during the actual exam I got really flustered and started stressing out. I started the essays strong, but my brain felt like it went numb and everything looking foreign to me in the quant and verbal sections. Time was ticking away and I had to scramble to finish both sections, guessing on the last 4-5 in each section. All of a sudden, everything I had studied and practiced seemed lost. This of course, led to horrible score.

I felt like I had adequately prepared focusing on my weaknesses, but clearly when I didn't study as much I received a better score (last score was 560).

I am very upset about this and feel discouraged. I know that I understand the material and that I can do well, but my confidence is now shot and I feel stuck. I thought that my hard work would merit a good score.

Does anyone have any insight on what might have happened? Any advice on what I should do next? Your responses are welcome and appreciated.

cheetarah1980 · Answer

I'm sorry that the GMAT didn't go the way you wanted it to go. However, please do not give up. It sounds like your timing may be off. Do you see a question that you don't know how to approach and spend a while on it, thus throwing off your timing and confidence for the next question? This is very common. The earlier in the test it happens the worse the result is. If you understand the concepts it may simply be a matter of not quickly recognizing how to apply them. I recommend purchasing the GMATClub tests. They are actually more difficult than the actual test but will get you used to all of the ways concepts are tested and the tricks that GMAC likes to use. 
I also advise taking a few weeks off from the GMAT before you dive back in. Give your brain a rest from thinking about circles and exponents and what time Sally would finish painting the fence if she were working by herself. RELAX. Then when your head is clear start reviewing and building upon what you already know. Answer questions in the Quant and Verbal sections of this site. Working through the problems will help you pinpoint where your sticking points are. Plus explaining your answer is the best way to really master the concepts tested. Watch out for careless errors too because I think you may have missed easy questions on your exam when you could have gotten them correct. I wish you the best of luck in accomplishing your GMAT goals. Hope this helps!

NShock · Answer

Hi Cheetarah1980,

Thank you for your reply. I think you have hit it on the head. I did find myself panicking because I was spending too much time on easy questions. I would know how to work them, but when I solved them, I could not find the answer among the choices. I would then try to redo the same problem and look for any mistakes. I found myself doing this way too often! I am not sure why this was happening. It was stuff I knew that I practiced and understood, but for some reason could not put it together. I also found myself second guessing myself on the DS and CR questions.

I do think I missed some easy questions, and this certainly ruined my confidence and rhythm. I did find that I was making careless mistakes.

I think you are right that I need to step back and let my brain rest. Is it possible that I may have crammed too much into my brain?? I just felt like I couldn't study enough, and the weekend before the exam I spent 20+ hours studying.

So, you think that I should re-take the exam sooner rather than later (GMAC makes you wait at least 31 days before you can re-take).

cheetarah1980 · Answer

It depends on when you want to apply. If you're shooting for R1 of the 2012 apps, then you'll have to take it sooner. However, that doesn't mean you need to take it in exactly 31 days. There are other parts of the application that are just as (if not more) important than your GMAT score. I suggest taking some time to research schools. Look at what the different programs have to offer, check out the essay questions and begin to brainstorm how you'd answer them. Just get excited about going to b-school. This will get your mind off the GMAT. You can take the test in July or August and still have time to get all of your materials together. Start studying again in a couple of weeks. It'll take some of the pressure off and give your brain a rest. Yes, I do think you may have had too much crammed in there and you were probably wound really tight. In the days leading up to the test you shouldn't be learning new material, rather you should be priming what you already know by doing practice problems. Test day should just be the execution of it all. Also when you are confident in your preparation it calms you for the real thing.

ra011y · Answer

4 hours a day on weekdays and 6-8 hours a day on weekends for 3 months straight is   a lot   of time! I understand that some folks need a lot of time to prepare and to pace themselves but here is something I would like to point out from how I studied the first time around - I made absolutely sure that every time I sat down with my books I was studying with complete focus. I would study for 1 hour and then get up and forget about the GMAT till the next time I sat down. I would avoid thinking about it too much at work and when I am doing other things. But COMPLETE focus when I am at my books. Take breaks in between but work for those breaks. Don't stress yourself out - you'll end up hating the GMAT and that is not a good feeling going into the test.

Did you take all your practice tests at around the same time as the real one? Did anything in your routine change drastically?

Take the feeling of frustration and disappointment you have inside of you and channel it into an intense desire to perform to the best of your capability the next time. YOU CAN DO THIS. You do not need any fancy test prep material to get a decent score. Just stick to the basics and keep at it.

NShock · Answer

Hi ra011y,

Thank you for your post. You make a good point about making sure to step back and take breaks from the GMAT. I found myself studying hard all the time. I would sit for 4-5 hours at a time and just think GMAT. I may have also made the mistake of taking those thoughts with me everywhere (work, home, time spent with family and friends). Looking back, I was always anxious and uptight when I was not studying. I felt that I needed to be studying. This could have certainly led to negative feelings about the test. Instead of being excited about the test (after all the studying and practice), I was instead dreading it. Makes me wonder if I studied so much that, not only did I become blue in the face from the material, but also established a little bit of a resentment. This is certainly not a good thing. Any suggestions on how to avoid this type of thing in the future?

Regarding the practice tests, I took them spreadout over time. I took more towards the final weeks leading up to the exam. The thing that I found strange is that my scores were very inconsistent (with the exception of them being in the 600-670 range). When I did "poorly" on one test, I found that the next time I did one I got much higher. I did not really have any changes to the routine.

Good advise on channeling the feelings of disappointment and using those to fuel my desire to do better next time. The thing that behooves me the most is that I feel like I can get a high score. I even feel like I can break the 700 mark if I can really put together a solid performance.

NShock · Answer

Hi Cheetarah1980,

I think you are absolutely right about me being wound up really tight for the exam! This may have certainly hindered me. I, unfortunatley, put way too much pressure on myself. I felt this pressure even while I was studying. I was learning so much, that I just didn't want to make any mistakes and forgot the information that I was learning. I wanted to be especially sure that I didn't do this during the exam. Its strange, because even though this was what I was worried about the most, I felt like it happened during the exam and I just couldn't solve or respond to anything. I was solving problems in the quant section, and couldn't find the right answer. This really frustrated me, because I knew how to do the problem. In one specific problem, for example, I got so boggled down, that instead of solving for the ratio r/t, I kept solving for r/s. Not after doing the problem for 3 times, did I realize this at the last minute (when none of the answers would match what I was computing). This was surprising to me, because I was trying to be especially careful to these kind of silly mistakes.

You make a good point about giving the brain a rest. I may have made the mistake of not doing this. I would constantly be thinking about the exam (at work, with family and friends, etc.). Looking back, this may have actually been unhealthy. I had read though, that it was a good idea to always be thinking about the exam at all times and to train your brain to be in "GMAT" mode.

ra011y · Answer

Things I do -
1) Not trying to solve every new question that shows up on the GMAT Club forum. Just stick to high quality books and material (OG, Manhattan guides, Total GMAT Math, etc) and forget the rest. Once you have covered all of this, you should be set for a Q40 - 44 level. Only after you are 100% confident that you know everything in these books should you move on to other sources. I try to use the forums only sparingly - to ask questions, to answer a few and then to look up explanations by Bunuel, IanStewart and a few others. I am not saying saying that the forums are not a good source of information - it is a wonderful source of really good questions and explanations. But there is so much information out there that it overwhelms you and you really need to sort out the quality stuff from all the noise to derive complete value.
2) I still continue playing tennis, cooking my food, hitting the gym, meeting up with friends. But within limits. I may have not crossed the 700 mark yet, but I am fairly certain I will this time around and I don't think I need to sacrifice everything in order to do it. In fact I think it will be counter productive.
3) One more thing - I never sit at my study table if I am not working on my GMAT. I like to think of that seat as the GMAT seat. When I am on that seat, I don's surf, chat, Facebook, dilly dally or do anything that is not related to the GMAT. That particular seat is not for anything BUT GMAT study/exams. Once I am done, I get up and leave.
4) Also, I never study in buses, trains, coffee shops, etc. I don't want any distractions when I am studying.

NShock

Regarding the practice tests, I took them spreadout over time. I took more towards the final weeks leading up to the exam. The thing that I found strange is that my scores were very inconsistent (with the exception of them being in the 600-670 range).

When I took my practice exams the first time around, I was scoring between 670-700. I was (falsely) hoping to clear 700. As expected, I got a 680. I think too much variation in scores is a bad sign and it becomes tough to attribute the variance to any one factor. You then end up leaving it to chance.

NShock

Good advise on channeling the feelings of disappointment and using those to fuel my desire to do better next time. The thing that behooves me the most is that I feel like I can get a high score. I even feel like I can break the 700 mark if I can really put together a solid performance.

At the end of the day, feeling frustrated, disappointed or let down does not really get us the 700 score, now does it?

NShock · Answer

Hi ra011y,

You make some very good points. I think your second point is very important. Looking back, I may have made the mistake of letting the test "consume" me. It sounds like it is very important to have a healthy study-life balance. Shutting off and not doing anything for 3 months straight may not have been the best thing to do. I will certainly take your advice! In the end, your absolutely correct, "At the end of the day, feeling frustrated, disappointed or let down does not really get us the 700 score."

Thanks again for everything!

BTW, a score of 680 is very impressive. Good job and congrats!

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