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Question

Hello,

After 3 months of prep i took the GMAT today and got a score of 630 Q49 V 26. I am unable to accept my verbal score as i am very confident that i had done well in the same and even finished in time.I want to know if there are any other members who have faced this kind of issue after taking their GMAT where there was a staggering difference between their expected and reported score. My quants score was in the 79th percentile and and verbal score was in the 43rd percentile!!

Just to give you a brief background of my prep stats, i had taken MGMAT tests,GMAT Prep and GMATPrepExamPack Tests.My scores in the MGMAT tests were in the range of 680 to 730 and my last two GMAT Prep scores were 720 and 750(Q 50 V 40).

I am finding it very difficult to accept this score because i know i couldn't have performed so bad as to get a V 26.I was able to maintain my timing and could see some tough CR questions hinting that i must be on the right track(Even got a boldface which people consider an indicator of good performance).

I have written to the Pearson GMAT support as well as GMAC regarding my situation .Lets see if they can do something for me, but more than that i am really hoping to get some kind of explanation/insights on this from you guys.

P.S: I am in Kuala Lumpur and strangely i was the only one taking the GMAT at my centre today.

TheEconomistGMATTutor · Answer

Hmmm... perhaps it was something other than lack of knowledge that contributed to your score if you scored much higher on your practice tests. Were you stressed out? How did you do with timing?

AlexanderSupertramp · Answer

Hi Beth,

Actually i managed my timing pretty well.In quants i was consistently ahead of time by atleast 2-3 mins and finished the section with 2 mins remaining.Although i did wonder as to why they were not giving me tougher questions because i was able to confidently solve the ones i was given except maybe a few.But even after this my quants score is in the 79th percentile with a score of 49.Feels like a resolve the paradox CR question.

In Verbal i would have to say i managed my timing in a much better way than i had in my mock tests.As always i paid more attention to the first 15-20 questions and so i was a little time crunched towards the end, but i still had 1.5 mins for each of the last 15 questions.I finished the section 3 seconds before time so that rules out the possibility of a penalty.

As for stress, yes i was a bit nervous and anxious before the test, but once i saw that blue screen i was in the game.I completed my AWA smoothly and as always IR was a fight against time and i had to skip the last 2 questions.Strangely i got an 8 in IR!!

OfficialGMAT · Answer

Hello, Saket2160. Rebecca from GMAC here. I think we have already touched base over email but I wanted to give you a reply here, too.

First-I'm sorry you did not perform as well as you expected. I know that can be very frustrating, especially after spending hours studying! I want to assure you that we here at GMAC take testing integrity very seriously. We have several mechanisms in place to ensure that test scores are valid. Your GMAT exam is scored three times using two separate scoring algorithms. If there is any discrepancy in your score, your exam is immediately place under review and manually scored.

Further, any bug in the software would affect all exams administered, not just one specific exam, or one specific test center. GMAC regularly reviews scoring patterns for any abnormalities that would indicate an issue with the scoring software or algorithm.

Thank you for flagging your concerns for us. If you have any more questions, please let me know. I wish you the best of luck!

Rebecca

AlexanderSupertramp · Answer

Hi Rebecca,

Thank you very much for the response.I have sent you a message which contains some additional details about my case.Would request you to have a look at the same.

Regards,

Shashank

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear saket2160 , I'm happy to respond. :-)

My friend, I am going to give you some hard advice. Unfortunately, it's much more common than people expect to have a real GMAT performance that is 50 or even 100 points below the level of practice GMATs. This is very common for a variety of reasons. You seem to think that GMAC did something wrong or made a mistake. I realize this may be hard to accept, but I believe the very best way for you to move forward is to take full personal responsibility for this outcome. For whatever reason, you were not able to perform at your maximum potential when it really mattered. That's it. Placing blame on anyone else is not going to help you one iota. Accept this outcome fully, accept it as entirely due to you, and resolve to do better next time. I realize this may not be easy to accept, but I really believe it is the route that will lead most quickly to improvement for you. I don't know whether English is your first language, but if it is a second language, keep in mind that stress can significantly impact one's command of and comfort with a second language. Stress, that is to say, the activity of Sympathetic Nervous System, operates at several levels, and even when we don't consciously "feel" stressed, it still can impact our behavior, especially as regards complex skills, such as command of a second language. I assume a retake is in your future. I have a few pieces of advice. First of all, to boost your Verbal, you need to develop a habit of reading. Read every day. Read at least an hour a day, over and above any GMAT preparations. Read hard, challenging, sophisticated material in English. I assume, since you are taking the GMAT, that you intend to get an MBA. If that is the case, you already should be reading the Wall Street Journal every day and the Economist magazine from cover to cover every week. If you don't have a background in the natural sciences, you should read Scientific American from cover to cover every month. Here are some more suggestions: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-reading-list/ A habit of reading is the only way to pick up all the subtleties of sophisticated writing, those aspects of English that are so core and yet so hard to formulate as explicit rules. That kind of sense of English is invaluable on the GMAT. Here's a free set of GMAT Idiom flashcards, which you can use on the web or download on a mobile device: https://gmat.magoosh.com/flashcards/idioms Here's a 3-month study plan for improving Verbal: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-gm ... l-focused/ Finally, I am going to guess that, in preparing for the GMAT, you spend a great deal of time learning content and study strategies, but spent virtually no significant effort on stress management skills. Here is a series of articles that addresses this concern: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/overcome-g ... y-breathe/ https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/beating-gmat-stress/ https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/the-gmat-b ... g-picture/ https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/zen-boot-c ... -the-gmat/ https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/curiosity- ... n-success/ My friend, one characteristic of the great human beings in all times and places is their willingness to take full responsibility for the consequences of their actions, both intention and unintentional. My wish for you is nothing less than greatness. Mike :-)

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

I think I see one possible explanation for your performance: "As always i paid more attention to the first 15-20 questions and so i was a little time crunched towards the end, but i still had 1.5 mins for each of the last 15 questions.I finished the section 3 seconds before time so that rules out the possibility of a penalty."

There are a couple of problems here. First, there is no reason to pay more attention to the first problems--they are no more or less valuable than the others, and spending extra time on them leaves you rushing at the end. Second, that rush can be a problem for your score. Sure, you didn't literally time out, but having to hurry at the end of a long, exhausting experience can really do bad things for your performance.

I frequently work with students who have had a frustrating experience on the real test, and one of the most common complaints is that Verbal didn't go the way they expected. Some people find the whole thing very different from what they've seen on practice tests, and they can tell things aren't going well. Others, like you, don't find the material particularly hard and are then shocked to see their low scores! The problem is, it's not always easy to tell when we're doing well. If the answers seem fairly easy and obvious, is that because we're getting them right or because we're falling for traps? If you fall for enough of these traps, you might work your score into a ditch that you can't get out of very easily. Once you're down in "easy town" because you've missed some problems you should have gotten right, you are essentially taking an easier, lower-credit version of the test! Sure, if that's not where you belong, you should climb right back out, but if your accuracy is not where it should be due to nerves, timing, overconfidence, etc., you might fall right back down into those lower-level problems again.

So . . . as you prepare for your retake, work on balancing your performance across the entire section, and pay careful attention to problems where you chose the "easy" or "obvious" answer that turned out to be wrong.

Good luck!

AlexanderSupertramp · Answer

Hi Mike,

Thank you very much for taking the time to analyze my case. Deeply appreciate your advice on me taking responsibility of the outcome.It has been almost a week since the test now and i still find it very difficult to accept the result completely.However, as you have mentioned it is time to move on and prepare with a more robust strategy for my retake which i plan to take within a month.

No, English is not my first language but i never had to struggle with it.You have a very valid point about managing "Stress" and now that i am in the process of introspection i think stress along with anxiety might have unknowingly inhibited my performance levels on D Day.As for reading,unfortunately no i hadn't taken up reading journals such as The Economist or WSJ.I do read from time to time and the last book i was reading was East of Eden,but it went back on the shelf as my prep for GMAT gained momentum.Nevertheless, i have made a note of this along with all the other suggestions made by you for boosting my verbal score.

I have also gone through a lot of retake success stories on this forum and made note of the various techniques that people adopted to improve their score.Till now i have the following action items for the next one month of prep:

> Read more articles online from journals to prep for RC
> Practice SC questions from OG and thoroughly read the answer explanations for each question.
> Purchase the GMATPrep Question Pack to get some more practice on the official questions.(This is based on recommendations from a few people on this forum)
> Go through all the questions i had answered incorrectly during all my mock/prep tests.
> Practice a few old pen paper tests as they are much more time crunched than the current GMAT format.This would help me with managing time better.
> Take atleast 4 full length GMAT mock tests in the last 10 days.
> I have not planned much for Quants as i am fairly confident of the same and will just keep practicing some tests to maintain the momentum.
> Most important is that i need to train my mind to keep calm and not let anxiety get the best of me. I am sure if i am able take the test whilst keeping my cool i will be able to get a score in the same range as my mock tests.

Please feel free to add to this list.Once again thank you very much for your honest suggestions. Your comments truly helped me face and accept the reality.

Regards,

Shashank

AlexanderSupertramp · Answer

Hi Dmitry,

Thank you very much for responding to my post.

The points you have made hold a lot of merit and i will definitely incorporate them in my prep for the retake. Need to work on maintaining composure throughout the exam and not panic with timing strategies.Also, i plan to do more exhaustive analysis of my practice tests from now on to minimize the chances of them re-occurring in the real test.

Once again thank you for your valuable feedback.

Regards,

Shashank

bb · Answer

So how is it going so far? Was the input and advice helpful?

AlexanderSupertramp · Answer

Hi bb,

My apologies for the delayed response.Yes the advise and inputs were indeed very helpful.I took the GMAT again last month and scored a 710. I was still not completely satisfied with my score but i decided it was time to move on with my applications. I had to jump into my school research and apps prep immediately post my GMAT and hence have not been able to write a debrief.However, i have all the points i wish to highlight in my debrief and will be composing it very soon.

Thank you for your support.

- Shashank

cabel · Answer

HI Saket,
 
Im in kind of a similar situation as you were a few months back, iv been preparing since since last 3 months and was doing a 640-650 on my mocks. 2 days before the exam i got a 680 on my Gmat prep. But on test day (17sept) i scored 600..
my verbal which was hovering around 33-35 dropped to 28. I want to know after your first attempt, how did you go about with your prep. Mainly how did you fight back in verbal.

Any suggestions from experts is welcome.
gmat 600, Q44 V28

AlexanderSupertramp · Answer

Hi Cabel,

Happy to help.After my first attempt it took me a while to figure out what could have possibly wrong in the test for my score to drop to 630 from an average of 700+ in mock tests.Eventually i realized that maybe i was so focused on getting the timing right in the verbal section that i might have ended up up making more mistakes than usual.To prepare for my second attempt i decided to refer to only Official resources.I went through each SC question from OG + Verbal Review + Official question pack along with each answer explanation to further solidify my SC concepts.For CR i just made it a point to practice 700+ level questions in time limits.You can find a bunch of these tough CR questions on GMATClub. For RC i decided to practice at least 3-4 passages with questions each day from official resources and again under time limits. I think after getting your basic concepts right you should stick to Official resources as they are the best way to practice for the real test. I would recommend you buy the official test pack and question pack for practice.
On the final day, i was more relaxed than the previous attempt and decided to pace myself regularly in the verbal section.I was still a little rushed in the last 7-8 questions and unfortunately they had atleast 5 CR questions in them and so i had to guess the answers for them and which is why i think my score dropped below 40.

Let me know if you have any more specific questions.

Best,

Shashank

cabel · Answer

Hi Shashank,

Thanks a lot for your response. 
I agree with you on the point that for the last leg of the preparation it is prudent to stick with the official material.. 
During my earlier attempt i completed the OG-12 , OG-13 and the Verbal review.
When you say  "official test pack and question pack for practice"  are you referring to an additional question bank set ?? Also would there be a great overlap between this set and the material i have already completed (i.e. OG12/13 and Verbal review)
Thanks and Best regards.

Cabel

AlexanderSupertramp · Answer

Hi Cabel,

Yes i am referring to the GMATPrep Question Pack 1 which can be purchased from the GMAC website.

The questions in this set are relatively recent when compared to the questions you will find in OG.And, no there is no overlap.

I found these additional questions to be almost similar to the level of questions in the real test.

Regards,

Shashank

cabel · Answer

Shashank.. Thanks a lot buddy.. definitely helpful inputs.
Best regards..

JTuquero · Answer

Hi Shashank- First, congratulations on improving your verbal score! You certainly had the right approach. Sometimes, people score lower on exam day than they do on their practice tests because of factors that have nothing to do with knowledge skill. It seems that timing was one of the things you mastered the second time around!

Cabel - As you prepare to retake the test, take a look at the Economist GMAT Tutor's blog post "Why is my real GMAT score lower than my practice exam score?" Generally speaking, take several simulation tests in real conditions and at roughly the same hour of day. Come exam day, do exactly what brought you success on the simulation tests. Also, be sure to practice all parts of the exams, not just areas of weakness. While you can focus much of your time on your weakness, you can hone in on your strengths too.

Hope this helps. Best of luck!

cabel · Answer

Hi JTuquero,

Thanks a lot for your inputs shall. Your right I should not be biased only towards my weaknesses. Will be careful about that.

Regards..

OptimusPrep · Answer

I doubt that GMAC made a mistake because they use computers and follow certain guidelines. The most obvious reason is stress and pressure under test conditions vs. practice tests at home.

most likely, you had difficulties due to the pressure you faced and therefore scored not in your actual knowledge level.

you should retake the GMAT after a few weeks and try to keep focused and concentrated during the test. then, you should do well!

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