Devastated by gmat score

Question

I am devastated. I need help 
I took my gmat on January 3rd and I got 600. I prepared more and I got 540. 
There is no correlation between quantity of work and the final score on the GMAT

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GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Consider getting the ESR to see what may have happened. Thinking over what you may have done differently compared to before could be helpful. Perhaps, for example, you notice you spent a lot more time on RC questions than you normally do.

joohwangie · Answer

Do not give up and maybe see where we got wrong. Is it lack of sleep or careless mistake?

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi facdan.

Many factors can affect your GMAT score. So, people's scores do fluctuate or decrease even if their skills have in general improved. Also, with effective prep, you can certainly achieve your GMAT score goal. So, while it's a drag to see your score decrease, there is a bright side to this situation.

At this point your move is to figure out how to prepare effectively to achieve your goal, because effective preparation does work.

To learn how to prepare effectively for the Quant and Verbal sections of the GMAT, you could read these posts.

How to Increase Your GMAT Quant Score: Top 25 Tips

How to Score High on GMAT Verbal

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi facdan,

I'm sorry to hear that your 2nd attempt didn't go as well as hoped. 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 potential issues though, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) On what dates did you take your 2 Official GMATs and what were your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each attempt?
2) How long have you studied in total? How many hours do you typically study each week?
3) What study materials have you used so far? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
4) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

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

If you took your Official GMAT at a Test Center, then 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 on Test Day (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

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

Andrey3 · Answer

I have the same problem. 590 in august (online) and 440 in january (online)...
My mistakes on second attempt were:
- self-confidence about quant section. I didn't revised and practice between two attempts;
- bad level on RC questions (the most difficult for me). I faced more these questions and lost a lot of time on them;
- tirediness and lack of sleep => spent much more time on questions => went out of time on all sections;
After that i purchased some exams and additional questions on official web site and kept on doing more and more questions and reading all the explanations.
I feel now much more confident but still lack time, especially on RC.

bb · Answer

I’m sorry to report that it’s very common for people who do well on one section to neglect it and do poorly in the next attempt. It’s one of the biggest mistakes that re takers make.

skillset on the GMAT, it’s a perishable skill so you cannot assume and take your score for granted, you have to continuously keep your skill set fresh. This means perhaps spending 20% of your time or maybe 10-15 if you are really good but you need to spend some.

Sorry about your guises experience. I wish I were sooner to give this advice, now it’s kind of useless 😢

Posted from my mobile device

facdan · Answer

Andrey3,
We had the same experience.
- I was way too confident about my quant. I was just solving 700 problems because I thought I was very strong in quant. I neglected my execution skills and brushed over basic concepts.
-I solved hundreds of SC and CR questions but my RC was bad and I neglected to address that issue.
-Also my time management was horrendous. I brushed questions at the end because I had more questions than minutes!!!!!
-Finally I did not practice full tests between my exams

Posted from my mobile device

LokeshReddy98 · Answer

Don't be disheartened. It took me 5 attempts to finally reach my target score. My journey taught me that Quality matters more over quantity. Don't just go on practicing questions..focus more on the fact that you are using the right methodology for solving the questions and sticking to it. Work on your mistakes then and there. And don't be afraid of asking for help.

The fact that you got a lower score despite working hard is a clear indication that there is an underlying issue - be it your timing or your approach to solve the questions. Get your ESR evaluated or speak to a mentor about your next steps. All the best.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi facdan,

I'm sorry to hear about your GMAT. I'm happy to provide some advice, but can you clarify exactly how and for how long you prepared for your GMAT? Once I have that information, I can provide some guidance.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi  facdan

Sorry to hear about your experience with GMAT. The key to scoring well on GMAT is to focusing on the right aspects. If your score doesn't improve even after months of prep, then that means that there's something wrong with the preparation strategy. First let us understand the right way to prepare for GMAT.

How to prepare for GMAT in the right way?  
Before you start preparing for any test, it's important to understand the structure of the test, what is tested on it and then prepare accordingly. In this case, GMAT is a test which focuses on your application skills along with the conceptual knowledge. So, just learning the concepts and practicing questions without focusing on the right methodology will not do any good. So, I suggest you to first focus on the methodology to solve questions of a particular topic and only then move to practicing questions of that topic.

So, the right way to prepare would be to first

learn the concepts of a topic,  
 learn the right methodology to solve questions of that topic 
 practice a few questions of that topic to solidify your learning and then move to the nest topic 
 Repeat the process for all the topics

And working on weak areas is equally important. You move to the next topic only if you get a decent accuracy in the previous topic. If not, you revisit the concepts, fill the conceptual gaps and then move to the next topic only when you are 100% confident. There are a couple of articles which you might find helpful.

How to effectively plan your studies for GMAT

How to score 700+ on GMAT

How to start preparing for GMAT

And you can go through the recording below to understand how to strategize your GMAT prep in an effective way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65n8_LIbPIM

What might have gone wrong?  
As we have understood the right way to prepare, now let's analyze what could have gone wrong with your previous attempt. You must have learnt the concepts of the topics and you must have practiced questions as well.  But did you focus on the methodology part? Did you focus on working your weak areas?

These two could be the major reasons for you not scoring well on GMAT. So, this time make sure you do your prep in the right way by focusing on all the above parameters. Having said that, it would be too early to conclude anything without knowing the actual reason. To understand what could have led to low scores and to suggest you the plan of action, I need a little more information about your GMAT preparation. I would like to know more about

the way you prepared till now (your study strategy) 
 your weak areas 
 your approach of solving questions 
 the resources you have used

Answers to these questions will help me guide you in a better way. And I personally suggest to go for the retake only after you prepared well and are 100% confident.

Regarding how to proceed further and the study strategy, I think it would be better if we can get in touch over a call and discuss the same as I would like to ask a few questions about your current preparation strategy. You can use the below link to get in touch with me.

Click here to schedule a call

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Devastated by gmat score

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