90 Points Deviation from OG prep test

Question

Hey everyone,

I'm new here although I have been passively reading many sections over the last month.

After studying extensively for the last month, I took the second OG prep test last Sunday and scored a 700 (Q 46/V40). I felt at ease with basic topics and well prepared for the real thing. My first evaluation like 2 month ago was 530 (although I took the test at the end of a long work day).

Today during the test itself I felt like everything was going my way, the first few quant questions did not catch me off guard and about verbal I was not too worried. 
However, I only scored a 610 (Q 35 /V 39/IR 7). Something must have happened during the quant section that is rather unexplainable to me.

Did anyone encounter similar situations?

I'm currently thinking about retaking the test in a few weeks time, however I don't know how representative of my capabilities the prep test score is, or if I cannot expect a significantly better result next time.

Any thoughts are appreciated, moral support even more as I feel quiet frustrated at the moment. 
All the best,

Jo

Ps: I'm trying to get into WU Vienna (one of the top 50 european business schools)

DisciplinedPrep · Answer

Several experts would say that the real GMAT score differs from that of GMAT practices test scores by 30 points. However, we must always keep in mind whether the practices tests were taken in ideal testing conditions. In other words, you must not have paused the exam, taken breaks, or sipped water during the test. Moreover, several test takers feel tremendous test anxiety and that could impact test scores. Let's no speculate what went wrong at this point in time. Therefore, I advise you to purchase the ESR. Even though the ESR does not provide very many data points, you can comfortably find out what exactly went wrong in the Quant section. More importantly, the Quant section in the GMAT does not test high-level math concepts and therefore you do not necessarily need to sweat it. Score improvement in Quant is relatively easy. All the best.

Berlin92 · Answer

Hey man,

thank you for the reply. I'll look into the ESR, did not even know it existed. It will be funny to explain my quant performance to business schools, really don't know what could have gone wrong as I was familiar with all the questions asked and knew how to solve them as well. DS has always been problematic. Would you say that messing up every DS question and getting all the PS questions right could have produced a score of Q35?

Again, thanks for the reply!

descendents1 · Answer

I think you think you're more prepared than you actually are.

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Berlin92 · Answer

Possible, at least it was my first real Gmat experience. But then again I'm not particularly anxious in test situations and to go from Q46 to Q35 seems strange to me. Yet again, the purpose of my post was exactly to understand better whether these deviations happen often, in other words the prep test is a good indicator of skill, or whether I just panicked because of other reasons.

descendents1 · Answer

Do you have a formal approach to each problem? What study tools are you using?

How many official practice exams did you do?

There are many ways the exam is built to trick you, so you may want to study both math and verbal to max both scores.

I only had bad misses from my target when a) I had too much anxiety or b) didn't know how to take the test consistently.

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Jo,

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. Before we discuss any of those issues though, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs/mocks (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
6) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Berlin92 · Answer

Hey Rich,

I answered a few of the questions above. As a Recap

1 og prep test (Q33, V34 - 530 TS) but I did not take the test under serious circumstances.
2 og prep test one month later (Q45,V41 - 700 TS) taken under real exam conditions.

Studied mainly the OG18 book and on blogs or free websites. Compiled a list for myself with the most important topics for quant that I took from the math review in the official guide.

Don't really have timing issues except for maybe being too quick on some questions as I finished the quant section 6 minutes before.

I am a Business & Economics student, so generally my analytical skills are not that horrible and I was able to achieve top grades in courses such as Econometrics and Statistics which make me doubt even more that 35 is a good representation of ma analytical thinking skills.

I have one deadline tomorrow so that's going to be the 610 regardless, otherwise within the next 1-2 months.

Schools like Bocconi, ESCP Europe, WU Vienna.

Cheers,

Josua

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Jo,

I have a few follow-up questions:

1) When you say that you took the "og prep test(s)" are you referring to the 2 free CATs available from www.mba.com or are you referring to 2 other Exams? Did you take two DIFFERENT CATs or did you retake the first CAT a second time?

2) What is your Score Goal? This is important because that Goal would help to define what you would need to work on (and for how long)?

3) What are the exact application deadlines for each of the Schools that you plan to apply to?

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Berlin92,

I’m sorry to hear how things went with your GMAT. To answer your first question, yes, many test-takers find themselves in your exact situation. The good news is that with some more work, you CAN improve your GMAT score, so hang in there, my friend.

Since you felt good taking the actual exam, it’s possible that the reason for your score drop was that some of your quant weaknesses were exposed when you took the GMAT. In other words, it could be that in your preparation, rather than learning to do what you have to do in order to score high on the actual GMAT, you picked up on some patterns that were effective in getting you relatively high scores on practice tests. Thus, rather than rushing your next GMAT, you should spend the time you need to adequately improve your quant skills. Specifically, you should follow a linear and structured study plan in which you individually learn and practice each quant topic to ensure mastery. By studying in such a way, you can methodically find your knowledge gaps and improve your skills.

Certainly, if you’d like more specific advice on how to study GMAT quant, feel free reach back out. Also, you may find it helpful to read this article about  how to increase your GMAT quant score .

Good luck!

AjiteshArun · Answer

Your GMATPrep score is a pretty good indicator of how well you can do on the actual exam (as the accuracy of your verbal score estimate shows). However, there's always some amount of variation in test scores. Take a few more practice tests if you can. You'll get a better idea about how much your scores can vary.

If I had to guess, I'd say your Q35 is an anomaly, but you should act under the assumption that it was more than just a bad day for you (Q35 is 26%, and that kind of drop should not be dismissed easily).

Berlin92 · Answer

Hey guys,

Sorry for the late reply. I have done another prep test, this time it was Kaplan, and scored again 39 on Verbal and this time 42 on Quant.

I will take your advise to study the next three weeks all the topics in quant that I'm a little rusty in( Arithmetic especially I think) and then hope to score between Q42 and Q45 during the actual exam. Do you think that is a realistic goal given the prep test results that I had?

Unfortunately there is another deadline in three weeks that I don't want to miss. 
My overall goal will be 650-700 range.

All the best;

Josua

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Josua,

Do you have any fresh MBA.com exams that you could take? I’d be curious to see how you score on an official practice exam.

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi Josua,

You can find additional official practice tests  here . You really should take one of these tests soon, and not just for the score estimate. They will give you a better idea of your weaknesses, and that will help you focus on the right things in the time remaining before your exam.

Berlin92 · Answer

Hello everyone,

I could really use some advise at this point as I'm not sure how to go on.

After the above stated prep test results and my real Gmat dissapointment I have taken some time to consolidate all the basics to get a quant score of 43-45. I have used the Manhattan quant books to study and the questions in the forum here.

On the Kaplan prep test I scored a 660 (Q42, V39) and now the quant section of the Gmat CLub test where I scored 47 out of 51.

While I would like to think that I'm gonna get a similar result on the real thing, I have grown somewhat more cautious and need to have a solid plan for the next week. Going to take the Gmat a second time on the 1st of April.

Does anyone know where to go from here? Or where to get a clear idea in which sections I'm still struggling?

Help is so much appreciated guys!!

Sobes4life · Answer

I was getting a fairly wide range of scores on quant earlier in my prep. I think it can indicate that you may be missing core fundamentals and need to just get back to basics (hint: use Target Test Prep)

If you miss a few “easy” questions in a row because you are unfamiliar with the material, your score can take a nose dive quickly. My guess is that you have an aptitude for math but occasionally hit concepts you don’t have a solid enough backing in.

With moderate intelligence Q47+ is very achievable if you put the time in. Only at that level do you start getting the really tricky questions.

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Berlin92 · Answer

Do you have a tip how to understand better which fundamentals I should focus on the next weeks? My intuition tells me to focus further on number properties, divisability etc. as I can usually wrap my head around word problems and the like

Sobes4life · Answer

I’m not sure how much time you have. Absolute best thing you could do would be to do the entire 180 hour Target Test Prep program(I think they have a shortened version too if need be). But if you do not have that kind of time - best idea would be to get your enhanced score report and figure out which categories you are weakest in and really dive in on those.

Number properties are really key to get down. If you really have those down you will not just know the properties, but you will be able to answer certain questions much more quickly. Timing is really key.

Are you applying for round 1 next year? If so, you still have time and I recommend an intensive focus on studying and putting in the time(tons of practice, really learning the concepts, reviewing missed questions in detail). The 200+ hours I spent studying for the GMAT was probably the best hourly rate of my entire life. Got me a full scholarship so we’re talking close to $1000 an hour.

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Sobes4life · Answer

And actually thinking about this more- if you are doing well on word problems then you are good at math. Those problems require less knowledge and more innate math skills. This was my pattern at well. You just don’t have the knowledge base. You really need to go in depth.

Imagine if you were growing up in Singapore or India or China and you had math drilled into you from a young age and school had you start calculus at age 10. That is basically the crash course you need to give yourself before you take the next exam, because those are the people you’re competing against.

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bebs · Answer

Hello. I found your post interesting and was wondering whether you have retaken GMAT. If yes, how did it go?

Best wishes!

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