Seeking Expert Guidance: GMAT Score Retake

Question

Dear All,

Thank you for taking time to read through this post. I am new to GMAT club and seek your advise/suggestion on retaking GMAT in 5 weeks time. I had been getting a consistent score of 720-740 in GMAT Prep, but very surprisingly got only 630 in my GMAT Exam last week ( Q49, V 27). I had even taken almost 30-35 mock CAT's before actual GMAT.

Here is a brief summary of my Enhanced Score Report:

1. Overall I did 28 correct and 13 incorrect questions in Verbal ( which does not seem to be too gad isnt?). However, I had a surprising very low percentile of 5 in CR, 46 in SC.
RC was good with 78 percentile.
2. The average difficulty of Verbal questions presented to me was Medium.
3. I completed all 41 questions, so no possibility of penalty.

I did feel tired in middle of verbal section and was getting distracted by keyboard noise. I am based out of London and did travel for around an hour to test center in time.
Appreciate your thoughts on how shall I prepare for Verbal for next 5 weeks or even build mental stamina to not feel drained in 4th hour of test.

Thanks in advance :idea:

Ankur

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

Hi Ankur,

If you are stuck at a point, you can increase your score by drilling down deep.

SC: The questions test various concepts such as S-V agreement, modifiers, parallelism etc. Find out what troubles you.
As a general guide line, you can start solving a question by taking the following things in consideration:

1. Find out the subject and the verb
2. See that the S&V agree in number
3. Look out for the modifiers
4. Look out for parallelism
5. Look out for usage of certain words - such as vs like, few vs less etc.

CR: There might be certain types of questions that are troubling you. May be Assumption, may be conclusion, inference etc.
You need to find that out and then practice them
RC: This again can be drilled down into different types of questions and also different topics. See what questions and topics trouble you the most and then practice accordingly.
Quants: Again try to break the questions in topics such as Algebra, Number system (very important), Geometry, PnC etc.

As an addition, start preparing an error log and keep a note of all the mistakes you made and the lessons you learnt from the problems. This will ensure you do not make the same mistake again.

To build stamina, there is no substitute of practice. Try to solve mock CATs including the AWA and IR portion. This will help you stay attentive for the full time.
Did you solve Full length mock CATs in this round of preparation?

ankur2346 · Answer

Tha nk you very much Janielle for your tips and guidance. I actually took around 15 full four hour mock CATs and was scoring between 690-730 consistently.Therefore, I was really surprised to see a score of 630. Quant has always been area of my strength, so was satisfied with score of 49. Let me maintain a more detailed error log- specially the one you shared and drill down each verbal topic. I think SC should be so strong that one should be able to solve a question with 60-75 seconds, thereby giving enough time to get correct answers for CR and RC. Would you agree? QQ: I actually got 28 correct out of 41 questions. So looks like reason for my low score was getting tougher problems incorrect. So may be I shall do more intensive study. Instead of 4 hour, may be take test for 5 hours ( preparing like an athlete).Moreover, should take tests in different locations including coffee shop etc to build focus and develop ability to manage distractions. Any thoughts :?:

umg · Answer

I'd suggest that you check the average time you took to solve CR & SC questions. I think you rushed through both of these sections to generate more time for RC and hence while solving SC & CR, you were panicked while in RC questions, you were as relaxed as you could be thinking that you have generated enough time for these questions..

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

This sounds like a good plan. However make sure that you complete the test in the stipulated time and do not take more time. This will dilute the test preparation.
However, you can study for longer duration to help build stamina.

Also, make sure that the place that you chose for the test does not have a lot of disturbance.
All the best!

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Hi I had even taken almost 30-35 mock CAT's before actual GMAT. This is not a good practice at all to take so many mocks you should take only 8 to 10 CATs I did feel tired in middle of verbal section and was getting distracted by keyboard noise. Now GMAC has been facilitating Test taker to select the order of test according to their choice you should, while retaking the test, select order like first Verbal at second Quant and so on Best Verbal Books are Manhattan/Aristotle RC Guide Manhattan SC guide Manhattan/CR Reasoning Bible 1 Month for learning concepts and 15 days of practice when completed all the concepts learning and handsome practice Take full lenght CATs Analyze the result with Correct/incorrect questions, pacing analysis trace your mistakes and learn from them, make an error log to know your mistakes in the previously attempted questions Best CATs 1. Official GMAC (50+50$) 2. Manhattan GMAT (49$) 3. GMAT Club Quant CATs (80$) 4. Veritas CATs (49$ but you can buy at 15-20$ During sale period) Good Luck Cheers

rohan2345 · Answer

Hi Ankur,

I think you should focus on the verbal section. Taking another GMAT PREP course may help you solidify your concepts. In my opinion E-gmat verbal online or the e-gmat verbal live are both amazing courses that can really help you improve your scores.

However, given how close your GMAT date is, I personally do not think one should focus on too many different things on the final leg of their GMAT Preparation. It may be nice to give a couple of mocks (the official ones) and work on your weaknesses If you want to improve on any individual area such as Sentence Correction, you may subscribe to the individual SC course as you can finish the whole course in 10 days (with proper dedication). If however you are only looking to indentify and improve on your weak areas, I would encourage you to purchase the e-gmat scholaranium. It is without a doubt, one of the best practice tools for verbal and will indeed help you on the final leg of your preparations. Hope this helps. All the best.

IanStewart · Answer

If you consistently scored 720 on GMATPrep tests, then your true level is around 720. That is, if you perform normally, you're going to score a 720, plus or minus 10-30 points because of luck/natural variance. It's only if you do not perform normally that your score should deviate further than that. And it sounds like that's what happened on your first test - you were tired in the Verbal section, and your performance was likely different from normal (from your ESR data, it sounds like you answered some easy CR questions incorrectly, which you clearly don't do under normal circumstances). If you'll be happy with a 720 score, that's probably the only thing you need to address for your next attempt - make sure you're still focused during the Verbal section. Take advantage of the section order feature so you can take the Verbal section earlier in the test, and you should do just fine. Unless your target is above a 720, you're well enough prepared now, though you might do a bit more CR practice just to be safe.

Seeking Expert Guidance: GMAT Score Retake

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards