Request Experts Help in ESR analysis !

Question

Dear Experts,

Thanks in advance for helping me out!

I gave my gmat on 19-Oct-2020 , this was my first attempt after almost 18 months long preparation.

But the result has completely taken me back as I scored 530 (Q36 and V27) .None of my mock score had been so low. Not even the first mock which was 550 when I started my preparation.

I had my last official mock score of 650 (Q-47 and V32) just 5 days before my test. This test was taken strictly under exam environment and did not take any liberty. So I expected my actual score to fluctuate 30 points but not so much.

I had faced issue at test center, where they gave white board marker pen instead of regular marker pen with thin point to write on scratch board. So I did struggle writing on scratch pad. But dont want to blame that issue for sure to affect my score this badly.

I would really appreciate experts Suggestion and advice to plan my way forward. Since I have deadlines for application I need to improve my score in next two months and bring it in Range of 680-710.

Request experts for their input  GMATinsight ,  ScottTargetTestPrep ,  BrentGMATPrepNow , @GMATNinja@EMPOWERgmatRichC,  egmat 
 mikemcgarry

My ESR is attached here.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Gmat20201,

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:

1) What type of study routine did you follow over the last 18 months? Did you take any "time off" from your studies? Over the last 3 months, how many hours did you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used over the course of ALL of your studies?
3) Over the last 3 months, 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)?
4) What Schools are you planning to apply to and what specific application deadlines are you facing?

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

Gmat20201 · Answer

Thank you so much for writing back. Please find my reply below

1) What type of study routine did you follow over the last 18 months? Did you take any "time off" from your studies? Over the last 3 months, how many hours did you typically study each week?

- I am a working full time, so has been giving average 4 hours on weekdays and about 6 hours on weekends over 
 the preparation period of 18 months.
 - I have not taken long time off from studies. ( Maximum 2 days off)
 - Over last three months I have diligently put daily 4-5 hours. And taken mock and practice quizzes.

2) What study materials have you used over the course of ALL of your studies?

-I have gone through MGMAT books for Concept , also have used Veritas for some concepts where I needed help.
- Practiced Questions from OG 18 ,Quant review 18, Verbal review 18, All official new questions from OG 19,OG 
 20, and OG 21. Solved twice OG 18 for questions I got incorrect in my first attempt.
- Always kept error logs and reviewed my mistakes.
- Have taken Gmat club quant test (12 of them overall)
- Official mock1 to 6

3) Over the last 3 months, 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)?

24-July Gmat Prep-1 640 Q47 V31
22-Aug Gmat Prep-5 620 Q42 V33
14-Sep Gmat Prep-6 610 Q47 V27
26-Sep Gmat Prep 3 640 Q43 V34
14-Oct Gmat Prep 4 650 Q47 V32

4) What Schools are you planning to apply to and what specific application deadlines are you facing?

- I plan to apply to Indian B school ,IIMA, IIMB and ISB
 - my deadline is first week of January for R-3 for IIM

My ESR is attached below, if you could help me analyze my ESR it will be big help.

Thank you once again for your time

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Komal,

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

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

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi gmat20201,

First of all, sorry to hear about how things went with your GMAT. Ideally, your score must range between +30 and -30 points of your mock score. But as this didn't happen in your case, let's dive into what must have happened.

I can see only two reasons. One is the test day pressure. It is quite common to feel stressed on the test day. If that is the case, then make sure to take the test with a relaxed mind. The other reason could be your  inconsistent application skills . Your mock score of 650 might just be an aberration. You might have somehow got the right answers without using the right technique. And unfortunately, that didn't happen in the actual test. So, if this is the case, then you must focus on improving your methodology.

Having said that, it would be pre-mature to jump into conclusions without knowing all the details. An ESR would definitely help but apart from that, I need to know if you followed any approach to solve questions. If yes, did that remain consistent or did it change randomly? Answers to these questions will help me guide you better. You can always write back to me or a better way would be to connect over a call and discuss the same.  I would prefer a zoom conference call because that way we can analyze ESR in a better way and quickly narrow down things and decide the future plans .

So, if you wish to connect over a call and discuss, you can schedule one using the below link. Looking forward to hear from you.

Click here to schedule a call

Gmat20201 · Answer

Thank you so much  EMPOWERgmatRichC . The insight that you have provided is indeed helpful to me in identifying the area of improvement. Also the in depth ESR analysis for each subsection has give me fair idea where I went wrong on exam day. Grateful for your expert inputs.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Gmat20201,

I’m sorry to hear about how things went with your GMAT. If I’m being totally honest, because you scored 150+ points off your score goal, I really don't think the ESR is going to be of much use to you. I actually think the bigger focus should be WHY your actual GMAT score was so much lower than your practice test scores, right?

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 530. 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?

If you’d like more specific advice on how to improve your quant and verbal skills, feel free to reach back out. Good luck!

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