SHOCKED - Mock 740 VS Actual 640

Question

We all know how the mock test may not reflect the actual result - but I did not expect mine could have 100 points difference compared to my last mock, which I took just a week ago!

After my last failed attempt in Feb (same score 640), I gave myself three more months of focused study to hit my 730+ target. I signed up for an online course that is highly praised by other test-takers, especially for its strategies on verbal. I followed all recommendations and studied relentlessly for 3-5 hours a day. Took mock a few times to track my progress, which seemed to show promise:

Mock 1 680
Mock 2 700
Mock 3 700
Mock 4 680 (shocked but I identified the issues and thus spent two weeks to work on them)
Mock 5 710 (Q49, V38) (okay but I knew I needed to score higher before the actual test)
Mock 6 740 (Q50, V41) (my last mock - I took it a week ago before the actual test - since the application deadlines are approaching and so I decided to sign up for the real test, believing I would at least get 700 based on my mock performance.)

What frustrates me the most at this point is that I no longer understand what the problems are! Especially for verbal, in all the mocks, my score typically ranged from V38-41 ... it's quant that is not consistent. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw V29 flashing on the screen - it is the lowest score among all the tests I had taken, including actual and mock. Quant (Q49) is in line with my latest mock results, which were Q49 and Q50.

I m fed up and tired. I used to think GMAT is something that can be conquered with proper strategies and hard work - that might be true for some people, just not me.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi gempony.

It's appears that you put in the hard work part, and got a quant score that reflects that work, but didn't do the proper strategy part for verbal, unfortunately.

Having read what I just said, you may be wondering how it could be that, if you didn't really learn verbal, you scored so much higher on verbal on the practice tests than you score on the actual GMAT.

Probably, what has occurred is that whatever resource you used for preparing bases much of what it says about GMAT verbal and the verbal practice question it provides on the verbal questions that appear in the GMAT Prep tests. So, assuming that those six practice tests that you took were in fact the six GMAT Prep tests, you ended up learning how to answer the verbal questions that appear in GMAT Prep practice tests without actually learning how to handle GMAT verbal questions in general.

Furthermore, some verbal strategies that are taught by GMAT prep companies don't work, but they may have seemed to work when you took the GMAT Prep tests, because of what I said above.

So, most likely some things you "learned" for verbal actually ensured that you would not score high when you took the test.

You aren't the first to have this experience, and you won't be the last. Many many people have had this experience.

So, your move now is to learn verbal in a way that will actually work.

Fortunately some of what you have learned about verbal you will be able to use to hit your score goal. However, other aspects of it you will likely have to unlearn. Also, you will have to learn things that you did not learn.

So, I suggest switching to a different verbal resource. Also, you may want to consider hiring a reputable and experienced verbal tutor to help you unlearn certain things that you learned that don't actually work.

Clearly, you can master GMAT verbal. Just, in order to do so, you have to make some changes to what you have been doing to prepare.

LoveWildLife · Answer

Thanks for the prompt reply. I think what you mentioned could very much be the reason for my disappointing verbal score - i have been learning the wrong approach to the actual verbal test! Because in these three months i did not neglect verbal and have been consistent in my studies and kept getting high accuracy rates in the verbal quizzes provided by the test prep company. Certainly my low score could not be attributed to laziness or inconsistency in my studies.

The mocks are from the gmat official and the test prep company. I did not score lower than 700 in all 4 official gmat tests i attempted. I did not reattempt any of these tests and took the test in the most realistic condition. I even used manhattan prep scratchpad when i did the mock. And the last two mock are from gmat official.

Some might not be able perform well in the actual test because of nerves or bad time management, something i was used to when I approached gmat initially. However, i was calm and focused and I managed my time well during this test. i finished all the questions and allocated my time well. So i cant explain how much this V29 came as a huge shock to me.

I signed up for that test prep company because many test takers experienced significant improvement especially for verbal after taking the course. My verbal wasnt strong to begin with but even in the first 2 actual tests i took, I scored v34/ v35 ...

I don’t know how to assess my test readiness for verbal more accurately - what are the other test sources you would recommend?

Thanks!

Posted from my mobile device

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

I think that, now that you have a sense what you have to do, you could do some research and perhaps put that exact question out to the community.

Just be careful what you do. There are many bogus things that people say about GMAT verbal, and you have to sort the bogus ideas, which often involve gimmicky approaches, from what actually works.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

HI gempony,

I’m sorry to hear how things went with your GMAT.

The good news is that you scored really well on quant, right? That said, I understand that you are not satisfied with your verbal score, so the question we need to ask is why you scored so high on your practice exams but lower on the real GMAT.

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 640. 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 my article with more information regarding
 how to score a 700+ on the GMAT  helpful.

If you’d like more specific advice on how to improve your quant and verbal skills, feel free to reach back out. Also, you may find it helpful to read the following article:

Why was my GMAT Score Lower than my Practice Test Scores

LoveWildLife · Answer

Hi Scott,

Thanks for the analysis, and apologies for my late response.

I was upset by my verbal score because I know it was NOT a reflection of my actual ability.

I took the online GMAT two days after the test center exam. My verbal score went back to "normal" - I got V38, on par with V38-41 I scored in the official mock.

But guess what went down this time - Quant... V42!

So I doubt its because of my lack of ability, but rather lack of focus/ stamina—otherwise, it is hard to explain the significant score discrepancies in both exams, within just THREE days.

Since I need to send the scores to the schools before application deadlines, for this matter, I consulted one of the school's ad-coms, and she encouraged me to send both results. Taking my highest scores in both exams (Q49, V38) together - that should be around 710- 720?

She said if the other aspects of my application are good enough, and they only have concerns with my GMAT, she will ask me to retake.

So I will just see how it goes.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Thanks for the update! I’m here if you need me.

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