Practice Tests Good Test Day Horrible

Question

Hey Guys,

I have recently been reading some GMAT forums about test day experiences and how a lot of people scored lower than expected on test day. This happened to me on Saturday when I took the GMAT after 3 months of studying and doing the veritas prep online course. 1 week before I took the test I received scores of 620 on the veritas prep GMAT simulator test A and B. This gave me a lot of confidence as my target score is only a 600 and I said that I would be happy with a 580. Both GMAT simulator tests I took had 40 quant and then 31 on verbal which surprised me because verbal used to be my strength I figured I over compensated for math and that's why I improved.

I felt that I was doing really well throughout the GMAT and had to guess on a few math questions but they seemed okay for the most part same with reading comp and sentence correction. However at the end of the test my score was a 440. I felt as though I was going to throw up. I quickly skipped to the next screen which I regret and I canceled my scores. I don't remember what I got on verbal and Quant specifically. Because I was in so much shock and just wanted to leave. I got plenty of rest and didn't feel stressed throughout the test. I took twice my normal amount of ADD medicine on test day that I am prescribed. Which I normally do for studying but not on tests at school. This is the only thing I can maybe attribute to causing this fluke. The MOST surprising thing to me is that of the people online that finished the test and slept well no one had this big of a score gap.

I plan on applying to graduate school this fall, I am about to begin my senior year and really need to get a decent score this fall. I am pretty destroyed and I left veritas prep a message about how to proceed. I have one week left of my internship, then I go on vacation for a week, and then I move into school. I almost want to sit for another exam in the next two weeks while everything is fresh but I am not sure that this is the best course of action. I really just feel like I'm out of time and I'm questioning myself and all of my previous GMAT strategies. I really have no desire to spend additional money on prep materials. If anyone could give me some advice I would really appreciate it.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi slich40,

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. Taking a larger dose of ADD medication that you're not 'used to' could have significantly impacted your performance, but there are other common factors in these types of situations, so I have a few questions about how you took your CATs:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (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? Has you seen any of the questions BEFORE?

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

slich40 · Answer

When you took your CATs:
1) Yes I took the entire CATs in order to build endurance
2) No I took one at a library and one at a coffee shop
3) No, I took them a bit later in the day around noon or so. Maybe 10 AM at the earliest my GMAT was at 8AM
4) No I avoided this in order to prepare for the real thing.
5) Some CAT's I had but the two I scored above 600 on I had never taken before.

I'm thinking about taking the official GMAC practice test today or tomorrow and if that is good I'll chalk my official GMAT score up as a fluke and reschedule within a month or in the next 3 weeks.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi slich40,

The inconsistent practice testing locations and inconsistent practice test times, combined with the extra medication that you took on Test Day, could potentially explain the big score drop. Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" your scores can become - and that's likely what happened here - you weren't properly training for the FULL GMAT 'experience.'

That having been said, I have a few additional questions:

1) What did you do in the 3 days before your GMAT?
2) How did you sleep the night before your Test?
3) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home?
4) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test?
5) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
6) Did you finish any sections early?
7) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)?

Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. Since your GMAT was just a few days ago, you should NOT take a new practice CAT yet until you've done some additional practice.

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

slich40 · Answer

1) What did you do in the 3 days before your GMAT? 
I focused on sentence correction since I had been struggling with this and studied at the library for an hour and a half or so. I did this up until the night before. I did nothing that night and ate with my family and went to bed early.
2) How did you sleep the night before your Test? 
I slept fine, really well actually.
3) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home? 
About 30 minutes or so.
4) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test? 
No I really didn’t feel distracted at all.
5) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks? 
I didn’t take the first one. The second one I ate 2 fruit bars went to the bathroom and drank some water. 
6) Did you finish any sections early? 
Yes I finished the verbal section close to 10 minutes early.
7) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)? 
I didn’t finish IR but I didn’t think this was an issue because I knew it didn’t affect my score. Some of the quant I had to guess on a few Data suffiency because I couldn’t come to a clear answer and I guessed on some problem solving because I felt as if I was taking too long. (Mostly educated guesses)

Should I start studying and re teaching myself whole veritas prep lessons?

I really don't want to waste any time and want to recovery from this and hit the ground running.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

To help make better sense of your 440 GMAT score, I agree that you should take an official MBA.com practice exam right away. If your score on that exam falls within your desired range of 600+, then it’s possible that nerves or some other test day phenomenon were the cause of your 440 GMAT score. However, if the score on the MBA.com practice test is similar to that of your most recent GMAT, then you most likely are not “GMAT ready,” and you need futher study.

Before making any further decisions, take the practice exam and then report back with your score breakdown. Once we have that information, we can provide some additional advice.

One other thing to consider (and you don’t have to share this personal information on this forum): There are some clinical diagnoses that make a candidate eligible for test day accommodations, such as extra time or a calculator. I mention this fact because you mentioned ADHD medicine. Over the years, I have worked with many students who have had ADHD. Some of these students saw dramatic score increases once they got the testing accommodations they needed. Only a qualified medical/clinical practitioner can perform the necessary testing, provide the necessary diagnosis, and submit the necessary report to the GMAC. Just to be clear, receiving test day accommodations won’t absolve you from hard work and proper study. However, these accommodations will help to level the playing field if you are in fact eligible. You can feel free to PM me if you’d like to talk further about this.

Either way, I’d like to help you reach your goals.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi slich40,

The two 8-minute breaks are remarkably valuable, so you shouldn't ever skip them. Skipping that first break, along with having to guess on (however many) Quant questions AND finishing the Verbal section early - combined with the other details you've already described, can absolutely explain your score drop. There are too many factors, many of which were based on decisions that you made while on too much medication, that impacted your performance. Thankfully, all of this can be properly dealt with, but we really have to make sure that you don't allow any of this to happen again.

I suggest that you wait to take that next CAT until Saturday, and take it under similar conditions to what you faced on Test Day (take the FULL CAT, away from your home, at 8am, etc.). Once you have that score, you should report back here.

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

slich40 · Answer

Update: I had a busy semester and I had studied at all I cut out a significant portion of winter break and I have been studying quant and doing in depth analysis on each question whether I get it wrong or right. I took out a Kaplan book from the library and I have been using that and I have access to their free online CAT's and practice questions. I feel as thought I'm improving a lot and learning a lot more about quant than I previously have. 
At the beginning of break I reset my veritas tests and took the first one and scored :

560 / 46 percentile Quant: 34 / 28 percentile Verbal: 33 / 69 percentile 
Earlier this week after studying for a week 9-4 everyday. I took the Kaplan CAT diagnostic and scored: 
590/ 58 percentile Quant: 38/41 percentile Verbal: 33/ 69 percentile

On the Kaplan test I got the following percentages of each question right: 
Algebra 44% 
Arithmetic 66% 
Geometry 28% 
Number Properties 83% 
Proportions 33% 
Stats 50%

Verbal 
CR: 57% 
RC: 64% 
SC: 38%

I'm not very worried about my verbal section. I've only studied quant so far over the past two weeks. I plan on studying sentence correction at some point. I'm taking the weekend off (may look over some sc tomorrow lib is closed). I plan on taking an official GMAT prep diagnostic on monday morning.

I think I will study sentence correction after that since Quant is getting brutal to keep studying everyday.

My test is January 7th at 8 AM at the same testing center. Deadline for school applications is Feb 1st so this is my last shot.

Not sure if anyone is still following this post I know I went rogue for few months. But I feel like my studies are more pointed and focused this time and I focus what I'm bad at.

If anyone as any advice for this last week or so of studying that would be appreciated.

I really would be thrilled with anything over 600 but I expect more in the 550+ range. At minimum I want to crack 500.

slich40 · Answer

Took the GMAT prep practice today got a 530/40 was a bit disappointed. 
Quant 36/40 
Verbal 27/43 
CR 45% 
SC 53% 
RC 69%

I'm not sure if I had an off day with verbal or what but I struggled with CR and some easy RC's. Hopefully it was just a Christmas hangover practicing verbal a bit this week and taking the gmat prep test next week.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi slich40,

With your score goal, it's important to remember that you don't have to correctly answer ANY questions that you think are too hard or too weird (and sometimes the best choice is to purposely dump the question and move on). After completing a CAT, you should plan to review your performance in detail. While that process can take time, here are some simple things to define:

After reviewing each section, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math/verbal that you just could not remember how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?

Right now, I would bet that you're missing a lot of points because of little mistakes. Eliminating those mistakes from your work would likely be enough to get you to your goal score.

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

slich40 · Answer

Thanks Rich reviewing now most problems I have the know how for but I freeze up or panic because of time. Like you said lots of silly mistakes and timing issues with verbal looking to sharpen up verbal and get the target score I need.

TrevorKleeTutor · Answer

Well, a big part of this story that Scott was hinting at is that you shouldn't take any unofficial practice test, and you certainly shouldn't take them as a serious indication of your score. I think that's a big reason for your disappointment.

See this post on my website for more: https://www.trevorkleetutor.com/how-accurate-are-kaplan-cats-manhattan-cats-veritas/

See this post on my website for more:  https://www.trevorkleetutor.com/how-accurate-are-kaplan-cats-manhattan-cats-veritas/

slich40 · Answer

Read your site Trevor I am reviewing some verbal concepts this week and my test is a week from next Saturday (7th). When should I take my final GMAT Prep CAT test? I thought about taking a VERITAS this weekend just to help with timing and other issues. And the GMAT PREP the day before or mid next week.

TrevorKleeTutor · Answer

Take your GMATPrep test this week, analyze it as soon as you can, and use it to guide your review until your test.

slich40 · Answer

Took 2nd GMAT Prep exam today 530/40

Quant 35/36 
Verbal 27/43

I left one verbal blank and got squeezed for time at the end again. Not happy with my score especially verbal I had been doing really well in CR and SC review 8 days until test day I guess I will review my results and strengthen up weak areas.

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