First test 490, after 6 months of prep scored 470. please help

Question

Hi All,

I have been following gmatclub for my preparation for quite some time but this is the first time I am posting anything. 
When I first appeared for the test in 2014, I had only one month time at hand to start from scratch and appear for the exam. Ideally, I shouldn't been disappointed because I was not well prepared but I got disheartened and gave up the idea. In 2016, I did finally came to terms with the fact that because I was not prepared, it was obvious to get a poor score. I finally appeared for the exam again on 9th June 2017. This time, I was preparing for quite some time (5-6 months) and that had started showing on my practice tests. 
I was scoring 590-610 at my MGMAT tests and 640 at my GmatPrep practice tests. I was not expecting a very high score but was not expecting it to be that bad either (470). After my quant section I had a good feeling because I felt I did well. However, by the time I started doing verbal, my mind was exhausted and I had to re-read questions. I use experience this during my practice tests as well but still managed to score at least between 590 and 640. I really don't know what went wrong. I had achieved 80 % accuracy in sentence correction at my practice tests. I scored around 41-45 in Quant. I don't know how to comprehend this kind of failure.
I am hopelessly lost now. 
My final score was 470 (Q39,V19)
Please advice.

Thankyou,
Urvi

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Urvi,

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. If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out:

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 when you took 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? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE?

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

urvi470 · Answer

Hi Rich,

Thank you for your reply.

Answers to your questions :

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)? 
I did not take entire tests in the beginning but later on, closer to the test date, I had started taking the entire CAT
2) Did you take them at home? 
Yes. All tests. 
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as when you took your Official GMAT?
No, not at all times. Few tests were taken at the same time. 
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.)? 
In the beginning, when I use to take full length tests at once, I was scoring around 560-580. This made me feel very nervous and I started getting anxious during my verbal sections(I use to have severe anxiety issues, which are somewhat in control now). Therefore, I decided to take sectional tests after preparing for each section separately.
Towards the test day, again, I had started taking full length tests. 
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE?
No. I did not take the same CAT more than once. However, sometimes, I use to get questions which I had done before during practice.

Do you think I should think about preparing again?
I don't think even a 700 at practice test will put my confidence back.

ydmuley · Answer

Hello Urvi,

Looks like you are disappointed by your score and it is natural to be. However, please note there is always a next chance.

But, in order to make that next chance as your best shot there are few things which you will have to remember.

1) Though Mocs are a good indication of your actual score, they are not always correct
2) Even if you are getting 770+ on mocs but in case your mental state on the day of the exam is not good, you may even land in 500 range score (And trust me I have know few people)
3) Don't rely too much on what mocs say, use them mainly from the point of view to build stamina
4) Get your ESR reports so that you can understand where did you go wrong
5) Maintain and use your error log to work on areas where you get your answers wrong.

Lastly, stay positive, remove the feeling of low score from your mind, just take the experience of GMAT exam forward and leave everything else back. Attempt the next exam with a fresh mindset. And off course, practice, practice and practice.

Hope this helps to you to score your dream score.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Urvi,

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 practice scores can become - and that's what happened here. By skipping sections, taking the CATs at home, taking them at different times of day, etc., you weren't properly training for the FULL GMAT 'experience.' By extension, your practice CAT scores were not accurate.

The GMAT is remarkably good at giving Test Takers the score that they EARN. With this recent Exam, you did enough work to earn a 470. While you probably have the skills to score higher, you haven't properly trained to deliver that overall 'higher score performance' yet. To score at a much higher level consistently, you're going to have to make significant changes to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections.

1) What is your goal score?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
3) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

urvi470 · Answer

Hi, 
I guess I learned it the hard way that a good score at moc does not really mean that the same will replicate in the actual test. 
I have requested for an ESR, lets see what that can tell. I am trying to stay positive. I just did not even remotely expect to do that bad.

Thank you

urvi470 · Answer

Hi Rich, I agree with what you say but it is too difficult to believe that after 6 months of preparation I was actually prepared for only a 470. Wasn't I doing better than this with no preparation at all? I scored 490 with almost no prep. I know it is no use thinking about it like that

1) What is your goal score? - Really? I am too negative to think about a "goal score" right now. Atleast a 650 may be? 2) When are you planning to apply to Business School? -I was hoping to get through this year. 3) What Schools are you planning to apply to? -There are a few schools in India that accept GMAT score. Anything above 650 is good for me. And let me tell you, it is not just about the mocs. I use to take small tests of say 20 to 30 questions and I had achieved good accuracy (80 %, I am assuming 80% is good ). :lol:

I think I can conveniently say that stamina and timing are the two things that were clearly not on my side. If I were to build a plan again, what do I focus more on? What should be that one thing that should be the focus right from the first day of prep? Accuracy or timing? Thank you once again. Urvi

ydmuley · Answer

Well said - Stay positive and use mocs for stamina. All the best for your next attempt.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Hi

you should pay special attention to your verbal, learn the concepts tested on GMAT
After learning, practice your learned section with timed practice
You can also take quizzes to meet the pace of GMAT

1 Month for learning concepts and 15 days of practice and same with the verbal
when completed all the concepts learning and handsome practice
Take full lenght CATs, know your estimated score

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$)
2. Manhattan GMAT (49$)(10 $ these days until July 10)
3. GMAT Club Quant CATs (80$)
4. Veritas CATs (49$ but you can buy at 15-20$ During sale period)

above Mock exams are as important as ranked

Good Luck
Cheers

rohan2345 · Answer

Hi urvi470 ,

Do not be disheartened. GMAT does tests your perseverance. I think you should chanI would hig dedicate around 3 months to achieve your dream score. You should take a GMATPREP test and see how you perform. You can know your weaknesses and work on them. If you are willing to study dedicatedly for Three months, you are sure to achieve your goal. I believe you may benefit from taking a GMATPREP course. If you are willing, there are some great GMAT prep companies that can help you with your preparation. Although MGMAT is good, you should also look at other online companies for your preparation.

In order to make an informed decision I would highly encourage you to go to their websites and try on their free trial and decide for yourself which one do you like better. You try out free access to EmpowerGMAT, Magoosh and Optimus Prep as they have great reviews on GMATCLUB.

You can also try out the MGMAT guides they are phenomenal and cover the entire syllabus really well. I must add that if you are particularly looking to discover and improve on your weak areas in Quant; a subscription to GMATCLUB tests is the best way to do that. They are indeed phenomenal and will not only pinpoint your weak areas but also help you improve on them.

Further taking multiple mocks might help. Apart from the GMATPREP, Manhattan GMAT tests and Veritas Prep Tests in my experience have good verbal and Quant section and will certainly help you point out and improve your weak areas.

Further another advantage of taking many mocks is to build up your stamina. Apart from the GMATPREP tests, taking practise tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that.

I would also encourage you practice all the questions twice from the latest version of OG and the verbal review. Here is a link that will help you with your decision.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-ve ... 68383.html

Lastly, you can check out a very interesting article by Mike McGarry from Magoosh detailing a 3 month study plan

https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-g ... -students/. You will find it very helpful as it gives out a study plan as per your needs.

Hope this helps. All the best.

First test 490, after 6 months of prep scored 470. please help

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