I bombed my test after almost 1 year of studying

Question

Hi all, this is my first post on here but I’ve been lurking for a while but I’m looking for some advice on what to do next after a horror show of a test this morning, scoring 510 Q33 V27. My goal is a 600.

A bit of background about me: I’ve been studying for the GMAT since January when I took a practise test and scored 350. I left high school 8 years ago which was the last time I ever did anything maths related so I knew I had a lot of work to do. I studied for 2hours a day (bumped up to 6hours a day for the last month) for 10months learning the basics again through exampal, the Manhattan books and on here and in October I was scoring 570-600 on the Manhattan practise tests and 650 on the GMAT practise tests, Quant scores were consistently at 42 and Verbal was varied around 31-35. So I decided I was ready to take the real test.

My nearest test centre is 2hours away so I drove down the night before and stayed in a hotel nearby, which was supposed to help relax and get enough rest before the test. However due to nerves I barely slept, which may have been a factor about my poor score.

Anyway during the test I stuck to my timings and finished both sections with seconds to spare. However the questions I was getting were not at the level of what I had been practising (I had been doing the 600 level questions on here and scoring 70% right). In the entire test I got 1 geometry question and no probability, combinatorics, rate/work, or line geometry questions. All of which I’d been hammering in my studying as they were originally my weakest parts.

Anyway without going on too much, I’m not sure where to go from here. Was it a one off poor score or do I need to get back to basics before going for the exam again?

The test centre told me I can’t get a copy of my answers to review where I went wrong either.

Hoping someone can give me some advice as I feel like I’m at a real low point. Thanks

Posted from my mobile device

prabsahi · Answer

I would suggest try ORION by Veritas.It has 10 days free trial.Write their Diagnostic and see of that helps. https://learnwithorion.com/

tuttifrutti453 · Answer

You cannot review your answers as you would a practice test, true, but you can order the ESR which is better than nothing. It'll let you know your individual scores for PS, DS, CR, SC and RC that way you'll know where you can focus your efforts for next time. It's also proven that test takers do better the second time around because you know what to expect now. Whatever you do though, don't lose hope. You're too close to give up now, give yourself time to regroup and try again.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi iAmCiaran,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. The long drive the day before your Exam, spending the night in a 'strange' environment and a poor night's sleep could all have impacted your performance on Test Day. There are other factors to consider though. 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) Over the last 2 months, on what dates did you take your practice CATs and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
2) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
3) Did you take them at home?
4) Did you take them at the same time of day as when you took your Official GMAT?
5) 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.)? 
6) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE (re: on a prior CAT, in an online forum or in a practice set)?

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

iAmCiaran · Answer

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the reply. 
1. I took the CATs every Thursday morning at 8am (same time as I took my real test). My score breakdowns are:
Manhattan CATs - 570(Q35/V33), 580(Q40/V31), 600(Q39/V34), 550(Q38/V28), 590(Q42/V31), 560(Q36/V31). 
Official CATs: 650(Q42/V38) and 640(Q42/V35)

2. In the last month I took the entire CAT minus the essay. My order for the test has been Verbal, Quant, IR, Essay. I felt like I perform better doing the verbal first followed by the quant. I tried to do quant first then verbal but I noticed my verbal scores suffered and my quant showed no change.

3, 4 & 5. I take them at home, no distractions and stick to the 8 minute break times, often cutting them to 5minutes. Never paused the test midway through. 
Each practise test I took at 8am as my closest test centre only seems to offer tests at 8am.

6. The only CATs I took more than once were the official ones which I’d taken one time before in July/August time but I scored 650 and 650 on those too. If there were repeats of questions; I didn’t notice or didn’t remember the answers or methods to answer them.

Only other thing to note is when I was doing the test yesterday there was a fire alarm that went off every 10minutes for the last 2hours of the exam. The test centre said they couldn’t do anything about it. At the time I didn’t really notice it affecting me but every time it went off, my concentration broke.

Thanks

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi iAmCiaran,

The repeating fire alarm certainly could have impacted your performance in the Quant section, Essay and IR - but from what you describe, the alarm wasn't going off during your first section (the Verbal section), so that wouldn't have been a factor in your drop in Verbal Scaled Score.

From your prior post, there were some 'red flags' in terms of how you took your CATs. Before we discuss those issues though, I have a few additional questions about the lead-up to Test Day and Test Day itself:

1) What did you do in the 3 days before your GMAT?
2) Can you go into a bit more detail about how you slept the night before your Test? When you say you 'barely slept', what does that mean exactly?
3) How long was the travel time to the Test Center from the hotel?
4) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test besides the fire alarm?
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)?

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

iAmCiaran · Answer

1. On the third and second day I studied for around 6hours, and the day before the exam I reviewed my notes for around an hour but took the rest of the day off to try relax.

2. I woke up every 30min-1hour so my sleep was broken. Eventually I got up an hour before my alarm was due to go off.

3. The test centre was a 2minute walk. I got there at 7:20 but the centre didn’t open until 7:45 and my test was due to start at 8.

4. There were no other distractions.

5. I ate a snickers bar and sipped some water on each of the breaks.

6. I finished both the tests on time, on the quant I was a bit ahead of schedule - I had 7minutes to answer the last 3 questions - but I used up all the time.

7. I didn’t guess any to make up time or rush to finish.

Thanks

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi iAmCiaran,

I've sent you a PM with some additional notes and questions.

You might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn't provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

I’m sorry to hear how things went with your GMAT. The one thing that stands out to me regarding your story is “due to nerves I barely sleep…” Since you were scoring as high as 650 on practice tests, it seems as though nerves negatively affected your performance on test day. Thus, you need to put this latest test behind you and focus on your retake. A big key to success on your retake will be keeping your anxiety at bay. One great way to do so is to develop a positive attitude and be confident. Look, you’ve scored 600+ on multiple practice GMATs, right? So, look in the mirror and tell yourself that you CAN hit your score goal!

To help further manage your nerves, you could try some visualization techniques. Imagine various test-day scenarios such as getting stuck on a question, issues in the testing center, feeling pressed for time, or worrying that you’re underperforming. As you feel your stress responses start to kick in when thinking about these things, practice pulling yourself together and visualize focusing on getting correct answers.

When taking the GMAT, the best way to deal with stress is to get busy answering the question in front of you, focusing completely on the task at hand so that you redirect all of that nervous energy and naturally calm down. In other words, you distract yourself with a goal. Just tell yourself that all that matters is getting the correct answer to the question in front of you, and then when you have finished that question, take the same attitude toward the next one. Focus on winning each “mini-battle” and you won't have time for anxiety. If you can win enough of those battles, you can win the GMAT war, right?

I wrote an article that provides some more detailed advice about  how to limit GMAT anxiety .

Please reach out with any further questions.

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