Scored 640 on actual GMAT despite Official Mock 760. What should i do?

Question

Hello All,

Yesterday I gave my Official GMAT exam and scored a mere 640 (V28 and Q49) and IR8.
This score is way lower than my official mock scores - 1st 710, 2nd 720, 3rd 710, and 4th 760.
I did not expect my official GMAT score to be this low despite scoring consistently 710+ on the official mocks. In all the official mocks I was improving my score in verbal in the order - 1st 31, 2nd 36, 3rd 39, 4th 42. I've always considered verbal to be a weak area for me so throughout my preparation my focus was on improving my verbal.
I gave all the official mocks similar to the actual GMAT i.e did not pause the exam, didn't referr any material in between, and strictly followed the time rules.

But after yesterday's score, I am completely devastated since despite all the continuous efforts and progress made during the preparation I scored miserably. Moreover, I have exhausted all 6 of my official mocks and used official guides to full extent. From yesterday I am having a mental block on how to proceed with my next attempt.
I don't have any clue what happened during the actual GMAT so will be ordering the ESR as soon as possible.

Requesting all the Experts and OG test takers to help me proceed with my preparation. Looking some suggestions on what Study plan to follow and what study material to use.
I am open to all suggestions on and would love to hear back from everyone.

Best Regards,
Vaibhav
  
Never Down, until we decide to stay down

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 souvik101990   GMATNinja   egmat   KarishmaB

KarishmaB · Answer

Hey Vaibhav!

Sorry to hear that the test day did not go as planned.
Get the ESR and hopefully it will provide us with some useful insights. Since your practice test scores were high, your performance there will not help you figure out what went wrong in the actual test. Once we know what you need to work on, then we can discuss how to go about it.

By the way, IR8 and Q49 are great. You could be very well suited to GMAT Focus if it comes to that… But we need your ESR before anything can be said.

Posted from my mobile device

VaibhavGurjar · Answer

Hello  KarishmaB ,

Well Pleased to get a supportive response from you.

Sure, I would get my ESR asap.
I would immediately share the report with you and would be glad if you could help me with finding the root cause and wayforward.
Where do you suggest I should share my ESR with you, please let me know.

Warm Regards,
Vaibhav

Ready to Buckle up & Work Harder !!

KarishmaB · Answer

Vaibhav - you can share it here since other experts can also give their inputs then. But if you are not allowed to put up attachments, you can send it to admin@anaprep.com Posted from my mobile device

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Have suggested Manhattan-Prep's 6th Edition for SC and CR. If you feel your fundamentals are solid, consider working on your solving approach. May boost your score a bit. Had a 6-hour student who went from a V31 to a V40 on a retake, for example, so this type of learning doesn't necessarily have to take very long. Perhaps work with a study buddy who is strong on Verbal. If you can find someone who needs help with Quant, that could be a good fit.

5 Verbal tips

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi VaibhavGurjar,

It is possible that anxiety had a negative effect on your performance, or you just had a "bad day" as it pertains to your verbal score?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Vaibhav,

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 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) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What specific study materials have you used so far? Have you used any other “brands” of CATs/mocks besides the Official ones?
3) 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:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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 (and you can feel free to PM or email it directly to me if you would rather not publicly post it).

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

Contact Rich at: [email protected]
www.empowergmat.com

VaibhavGurjar · Answer

Hello Experts,

I have got my ESR and will be able to post here after this reply (due to a Forum Rule that allows attachment only after 5 posts).

From the initial observations, I got to know that:
• I made lot more mistakes in the 1st quarter as compared to none or one in my official mocks. And this lead to average difficulty of questions to be low which hurt my score.
• I flunked on my strongest suit (i.e CR) on actual GMAT but did relatively good on SC, which I consider is my weakest question type.

These are my takeaways, please feel free to correct and update my understanding of the ESR.

Will be Posting ESR screenshots Soon!!

Best Regards,
Vaibhav

Posted from my mobile device

VaibhavGurjar · Answer

Hello Experts,

Here are screenshots of my verbal section's ESR report.

As mentioned in previous post (quoted below) please provide your valuable insights based on my Official mock history v/s Exam day results.
 
More importantly what should be my Study plan & what study material should I refer to.

Regards,
Vaibhav

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 KarishmaB   ScottTargetTestPrep   souvik101990   GMATNinja   egmat   EMPOWERgmatRichC 
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BrentTargetTestPrep · Answer

Looks like time management was an issue in the Verbal section (39 seconds per question in the 4th quarter of the test). 
You might start here:  GMAT Verbal Timing Strategy

KarishmaB · Answer

PM'ed you my impressions.

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Consider using question/time markers for time management. You spent 39 seconds on average per question during Q4 Verbal, for example. If you were skipping/rushing through a lot of CR questions (compared to SC and RC), you may want to take that average sub-section time with a grain of salt.

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Scored 640 on actual GMAT despite Official Mock 760. What should i do?

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