Q50 V26 - 640 (A weird and a disappointing GMAT experience)

Question

Hey Guys, The purpose of this debrief is not just to seek expert help as to what to do next but also to make people aware about how GMAT tricked me and denied me my dream score. I am a typical non native student, good at quant and terrible at verbal. In fact, considering I don't even belong to the typical non native engineering pool (yes, I am not an engineer working for an IT company), I had a tough time, working on quant as well. But that being said, quant was manageable to an extent. Last year, I gave an attempt at GMAT, without studying for verbal at all. I had some application deadlines and all the people I spoke to about the exam told me "Oh GMAT is easy. It is an easier version of CAT (Indian B-School Admission test)". Plus, I read this guy's experience of GMAT online. He gave the exam, without studying and scored a 730 I think. So, I thought how difficult the exam could be. I just quickly went through some Math exercises and gave the exam. Result (as you must be expecting) - 590 (Q48, V23). Before the exam, overconfident of myself, I was thinking of the schools I should apply to and what all recreational things will I do, once I get admitted to a prestigious school. One of the things I had planned was sky-dive. Well, let's just say, I did jump off the plane, "pretending" to be a pro at sky-diving, but I didn't know how to open the parachute mid-way. I realized I needed to study. I needed to study really hard to be better at this exam. I so wanted to sky-dive again, but this time I wanted to prepare for it well before actually doing it. That's when I came across this forum. I started reading successful debriefs and all the brilliant people out here motivated me towards my goal every single day. A couple of months before, I figured that I have sometime now and I should get going. I knew I needed to improve my verbal and I decided @e-Gmat would be the way to go. I went through all their lessons and solved almost all the OG questions and was ready to give my first GMAT Prep mock to see the improvement. GMAT Prep 1 - 690 (48q, 35v) And here it was! I thought I am good to go at verbal. I scheduled my exam for 18th December and I had about 20 days for math, which I thought are enough. I took a month's subscription of @EMPOWERgmat and started working on their quant lessons. In the meanwhile, I purchased GMAT Prep Question Pack and Exam Pack and started practicing verbal from the question pack. I gave the other mocks and following were my scores: GMAT Prep 2 - 680 (49Q, 33V) GMAT Prep 3 - 670 (48Q, 34V) GMAT Prep 4 - 720 (48Q, 41V) - This test really gave me some confidence How prepared was I a couple of days before the actual exam: Verbal - In spite of scoring a V41 in my last mock, I was still weak at CR, but e-Gmat helped me really improve my SC accuracy beyond a certain level. I had 80-100% SC accuracy in almost every test that I gave. So, I thought I am reasonably placed here. Quant - So, I wouldn't say I had covered it all. I was really weak at Geometry and Probability. I just knew the basics, but there were very few probability and geometry questions that came up during the mocks and as Rich mentioned, it is only when you're doing exceedingly well on the GMAT, that you would come across difficult geometry and probability questions. Plus, I was constantly scoring 48, 49 in my mocks and so I was quite confident in this section as well. The exam day: I slept for about 5-6 hours before the exam, reached the test center well on time and even though I was nervous, I think I was good to go. The essay was easy. I completed it just at the last minute. The IR section was also ok. I hadn't prepared well for it and so, I wasn't expecting much out of it anyway. Took a break and I was just hoping that I don't see many geometry and probability questions. I was good at algebra and arithmetic. The first question was a sequence question and the nerves got onto me. The options were quite close and I got really nervous as I didn't want the first question to go wrong and so I wanted to be so sure before I mark that question. I tried different methods to confirm the answer and that question took me 4-5 minutes!! Anyway, so I answered that correctly and the next question was a Geometry question!! It wasn't really a difficult question, but I knew I had wasted so much time on the first question and so I was really nervous already. I took some 4-5 minutes again on the second question and answered it. The result - I had 65 minutes and 35 questions to answer. To make the case even worse, I had around 4-5 Geometry and Probability questions in the first 10 questions. On the 11th question, I had about 43-44 minutes left. I quickly started attempting questions from thereon. I wasn't rechecking my calculations and I was rushing through the remaining questions, trying not to panic much. Furthermore, as Rich suggested, I just took some educated guesses on 2-3 questions. I had about 40 seconds to do the last question and I ended the test with just a couple of seconds remaining!! It was all pretty close and intense. In totality, without exaggeration, I had about 4-5 probability (including permutation, combination) questions and 7-8 geometry questions - So unlike the mocks that I gave and even the last GMAT I gave. I was shocked but I thought I did ok. I was expecting 48 on quant maybe. Took a break. Drank and ate almost everything suggested on the forums. I am not kidding. A banana, energy drink, energy bar, nuts, every possible thing in this world.

Started with verbal. 3 out of the first 5 questions were sentence correction questions and all the 3 questions were based on Idioms!!!! Now here's the trick - in most of the idiom questions that I came across with during my preparation, firstly, there were other mistakes in the other sentences and secondly, there were rules as to what is preferred on the GMAT. Solving those questions had been all so easy until the test day. Now, the 3 questions that I got were all purely idiom based. Like I could narrow down to 2-3 options, but beyond that, the options were all based on the idioms that I hadn't ever studied. To illustrate, we know that "in contrast to" and "in contrast with" are both acceptable on the GMAT, so usually when there's an idiom error in a practice question, there would be a sentence, which would state "in contrast of" or something and we will be able to easily reject that answer choice and arrive at the right answer. But, these questions tested me on when to use "in contrast to" and when to use "in contrast with". Similarly, there was a question that had due to, because and since as the variations in the answer choices. I had studied when to use due to and when to use because in the sentence and so, I could narrow that question to the last 2 answer choices, but choosing between since and because (without any other obvious mistake) was another level altogether. The third question had the subjunctive verb "expect" in it. The narrowed 2 answer choices were this: a) Even though *something* has happened, I would expect that X would not be *doing something*. b) Even though *something* has happened, I would expect that X not be *doing something*. Basically, they were all so tricky to me and I am just talking about the first 5 questions!! And this is not all, the 6th or the 7th question that I got was a bold faced question right from the official practice problems. Can you believe it? I was surprised as I had studied this question before. Anyway, considering I got a bold faced 700 level question as my 7th question, I got some confidence that I am doing good. Plus, I answered that question correctly. Things started getting manageable beyond that. I won't say questions became easier, but I started seeing similar questions as I would see in my mocks. I thought I was doing well. Like I was pretty sure that I have answered quite a few questions correctly. I guessed 2-3 questions in between to keep up with the timing. The last 2 questions increased my heartbeat, but I definitely answered the last question correctly. Before the scores appeared, I had the impression that I bombed the quant section of the exam and did reasonably ok on verbal. And my scores were 640 (q50, v26)!! A 26 on verbal!! That was not even close to the least score that I got during my mocks!! I was so disappointed. I kept staring at the screen and I almost had tears in my eyes, for verbal is the only thing that I studied so much and couldn't improve at all. After a few minutes, I got some self composure, took my unofficial score card, booked a cab and just went directly back home (I was supposed to meet a few friends after the exam). Now, I am tired, disappointed and have no idea what to do next. I don't know whether I should retake the exam or apply with this score. And if I decide upon retaking, where to start from and if I don't, which all schools to apply. Any expert advice could really really help! Thanks, Akash

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Akash,

First off, a 640/Q50 is a good score (it's just shy of the 80th percentile overall), so it might be enough to get you into your first-choice Business School. The work that you did to prepare for the Quant section clearly paid off, but something must have been lacking in your Verbal preparation (or you hadn't properly built up your endurance/stamina to face the Full GMAT).

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? 
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once?

Thankfully, the Verbal section of the GMAT really is as predictable as the Quant section is, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

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

Akashkalra · Answer

Hey Rich,

Thank you for replying. I really appreciate it. Your quant strategies certainly helped.

To answer your questions:

1. Out of the 4 CATs, 2 were with AWA and IR. 
2. Yes, I took them at home.
3. I didn't really take them at the same time of the day. I took them whenever I had enough time. 
4. Nothing significantly different really. 
5. I did take one of the GMAT Prep mocks again, a day before the actual exam. I scored a 770 (51q, 45v) in that. I did not include this in my debrief because I thought this would be insignificant.

Well, that's what I thought before the exam. I don't know but the initial few questions were really tricky and different. Atleast that's what I thought.

What do you suggest I do?

The things that could work for me, if I apply with this score are:
1. I have worked as a Transfer Pricing consultant in KPMG for about 3 years. Post that, I worked as a Senior Transfer Pricing Consultant for about a year and a half at a startup started by a ex deloitte director. So, I have some solid experience with me. 
2. I have my own startup, up and going presently. It is progressing quite well and I have been mentioned and interviewed by some people on that. So, I have some entrepreneurship experience as well.
3. I graduated in commerce with honors.

Things that can potentially let me down:
1. I am an Indian applicant. So, apparently, they would expect more out of me. 
2. Such a huge variation between the quant and the verbal score.

What is your opinion on this? Should I retake?

Thanks,
Akash

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Akash,

From what you describe, there are some serious inconsistencies with how you went about taking your CATs. The GMAT is a rather specific 'event', so you CAN train for it. However, the more your practice deviates from the specific situation that you'll face on Test Day, the more your score results can vary. Skipping sections, taking the CATs at home and taking them at different times of day are all choices that you made that were unrealistic - so you weren't properly training for Test Day (and all of that helps to explain why your Verbal Score dropped on the Official GMAT). Taking that last CAT the day before your Official GMAT also likely caused some 'burn out' (since taking a CAT involves a great deal of effort) right before you took the GMAT.

Thankfully, all of these issues can be 'fixed', assuming that you choose to retest. On that issue, I have a few follow-up questions:

1) What Schools do you plan to apply to?
2) When do you plan to apply?

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

WayneHam · Answer

My 2 cents is that you can improve your quant fairly quickly by studying but the verbal is much harder to improve upon. I scored well on the verbal both times and essentially didn't study at all except to get used to the format of the question. Also in the OG, particularly with the sentence correction, I never understood any of the explanations for the questions I got wrong. Anyways, improving on the verbal takes time.

I also find it interesting how everyone on here is analyzing the level of the question at a certain point in the exam and they remember questions etc. My focus was always to get all the questions right within the allotted amount of time regardless of the level of the question. I never bothered analyzing those things because that would take away my brain power from answering the questions. I could see doing that if I was a genius and could afford to do so, but I'm not.

AjiteshArun · Answer

I can understand what you must be going through, but you have to get out of the "the GMAT is at fault" stage as soon as possible. And not just if you want to retake the GMAT.

It could be that you were just extremely unlucky, but it's possible that you need to go through your SC concepts again. I've seen too many students focus on idioms and walk away from official questions thinking that they need to work even harder on idiomatic usage when even a quick look at the questions they got wrong shows that most of those questions were  not , in fact, testing idiomatic usage. I'm not saying you're wrong, but you'd have to be  extremely  good at GMAT verbal to identify (under exam pressure and under timed conditions) exactly which concepts are being tested in a question.

That said, a drop from 41 to 26 on verbal is huge. If I were you, I'd just take the exam again. What do you think? Was that 41 representative (were the questions "new" or had you already seen them before)?

Akashkalra · Answer

Thank you for writing Rich. Perhaps these are the reasons that explain my score drop in verbal.

1) The schools that I am aiming for are Tepper, Goizueta, Kelley, McCombs, and Mays. 
2) I was planning to apply for Round 2 of these schools, but I am unsure about applying now because of the score. Also, I read somewhere that most of the schools look at both quant and verbal scores individually. If this is true, then this could further reduce my chances of getting into my target schools.

What do you think?

Thank you for all the support Rich
Akash

Akashkalra · Answer

You're right. Maybe I should have concentrated more on getting those questions right, rather than freaking out by judging the kind and level of the questions. Just that not having definitive answers to the first few sentence correction questions (apparently my strong point) made me think about these questions. Further, the added pressure of the importance of the first 10 questions made me all the more vulnerable at that time.
Also, the thing is I was always weak at verbal. I trained hard for it, developing a sense of the questions that come up. That being said, I am still one of the traditional non-native students. Verbal is just not our forte. Preparing rigorously can give us some kind of confidence in verbal, but if something that we are not prepared for comes up during the 'all important test', some of us will not know how to handle the situation. And unfortunately, on the test day, I was sailing in the same boat. I freaked out. 
I should have controlled my emotions better. I should have perhaps reassessed those questions and looked for errors. As you said, I should have concentrated more on solving those questions.

Thanks for your input! Definitely gives me something to learn.

Akash

Akashkalra · Answer

Hey, Thank you so much for writing! While I understand the point you're trying to make and I really appreciate it, I just want to clarify that when I said "how GMAT tricked me and denied me my dream score", I didn't mean to blame the GMAT for my score. Instead, my intention was to let others know that identifying patterns of the official questions need not help always. With that, the underlying concepts (even if not tested frequently or solely) have to be crystal clear. To illustrate, I hadn't concentrated on the idioms much during my preparation because I was under the impression that they wouldn't be tested solely and even if they do, there are very few idioms to remember. Well, you're right! Maybe, under time constraints, I panicked more than I should have and maybe I skipped few other errors in the sentences. But as far as I remember, there wasn't really other obvious error. However, what you said is certainly a possibility and I take some learning out of it. Thank you!

It is huge, isn't it? And that's why I was so disappointed. So, the questions were definitely new. I had taken the exam pack and the 4th test was one from the exam pack. I wasn't really expecting a 41 again, but maybe 35 or around.
Thank you for your view on retaking. Makes sense to retake it. However, I don't know how to restart everything, honestly. The thing is I have exhausted all my official resources. Anything on how to prepare this time?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

HI Akash, Since you know which Schools you're interested in, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile. There's a Forum full of them here: ask-admission-consultants-124/ You'll likely be at the 'lower end' of the acceptable GMAT Score range of each of those Schools, but if you have a strong OVERALL profile, then you could still receive an invite. GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made, Rich

justdan · Answer

Hi Akashkalra,
I was in a similar situation. I could not improve my verbal two times even though on my 1'st attempt I had higher score on V than afterwards and I had to give GMAT 4 times. I would definitely suggest you (1) to practice a lot and (2) do not study much or better anything 1 day before the test day, be relaxed. I took my 4'th attempt after ~2 weeks from the 3'rd one, and I did not have what to study, since I covered almost all the materials that I had and I managed to improve my V score by +9 points. For RC I was solving from 101 LSAT RC passages file, for CR there is a compilation of questions from GMAT prep and for SC, I just repeated over and over SC rules from e-GMAT, you can also go through the file that contains a compilation of GMAT of SC questions. Sometimes you simply luck and rest to score more! If you have any issues, feel free to PM me. I was in a similar situation and I was looking for help, and the guy that posted over here, Rich, told me that it is impossible for me to improve my score to 700+ in 2 weeks, but I did so!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Akashkalra,

If you'd like to read the exact exchange that I had with the prior poster, then you can do so at the following link (and I never told him that it was impossible to improve his score). He seems to have 'erased' his side of the conversation though, so I suggest that you take his advice with whatever amount of skepticism you deem appropriate.

gmat-struggle-208401.html#p1617088

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

justdan · Answer

I actually erased all my replies from that conversation, because I found the conversation useless, as I did his comments.

Suggestion to Rich, Never try to predict one's score ! He told me that I cannot get 700+ "if I am not willing to spend some extra money", that's his comment! P.s: I wanted to delete the whole forum page but I couldn't! P.s.1: In case it is needed I can provide my scores and to show that everything I say is true. Rich, dude, stop your freak willingness to make money on others' unhapiness and bad luck!

AjiteshArun · Answer

I meant what I said: maybe you just need to take it again. A lot of people here seem to believe that the GMATPreps are easy. It is  not  easy to get a V41 on a GMATPrep. You would obviously want your scores to be more consistent, but there is no way that you "lucked" your way to a 41 on verbal (V41=94%) if those questions were new and done under timed conditions.

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Q50 V26 - 640 (A weird and a disappointing GMAT experience)

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