LOW Verbal score...

Question

So I've been studying for the GMAT since September 2022, and I have made a lot of progress; I took the GMAT last year, and with no prep, I got a 490. I was expecting it and decided to give it another try but study seriously this time. I took a mock test in September 2022 to assess my level and got an overall score of 450 ( so you know how low I started). I worked with Official Guide resources (Verbal and Quant) videos on youtube from ManhattanPrep, and GMATNinja (shoutout to these guys, they're the real heroes) and took my second Practice test in December and got a 680 Q50 V30. Still, I didn't want to stop there. I was aiming for a +700 score on the actual exam. 
With intensive practice (more than 5hr a day) for the past month, I took my final Official Practice exam and scored a 780 Q50 V47 and felt very confident that I could achieve at least a 700 on the actual test. 
I recently took the GMAT and was surprised with a 600 Q44 V28. While taking the test, I felt that the verbal was much harder than medium scores and expected at least a V35. I barely finished all the questions on time and can't seem to focus and do well on RC. I need advice on this site. And for the Quantitative part, I came 2 minutes late from the break and finished all the quant questions with 7 minutes left, so I thought I would get a low score since I felt like the questions were easy, but I was surprised with a Q44.
I need to retake the GMAT and would really benefit from your advice and past experiences on improving my RC and achieving my Target score.

Archit3110 · Answer

order an ESR to understand the difficulty level you went upto that got your score down.
exam day anxiety is natural and that too could have impacted the score...
give mgmat mock and also GC tests before next attempt

pintukr · Answer

Use GC Forum Quiz to solve practice questions, in a topic-wise manner. While analyzing, go through the Explanations posted by the Experts to understand the mistakes, and correct way of approaching the questions.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi rreda.

Did you take the GMAT in person? If so, perhaps you could get the ESR to get some insights into what you had trouble with when taking the test.

On another note, what have been your accuracies on easy, medium, and hard quant and verbal practice questions?

Finally, you may get some useful insights regarding why you scored lower on the GMAT than on your practice tests from this post.

Why Was My GMAT Score Lower Than My Practice Test Scores?

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Consider getting the ESR to get more insight into what happened. Perhaps time management was a significant issue, for example. May be worth thinking over what you may have done differently on the exam compared to when you did the mocks. https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-online- ... 68599.html This person retook a V31 to a V40 in about a month. They took a bit of tutoring (6 hours solving approach) for Verbal but mention a variety of resources along their prep journey. Perhaps include a study buddy into your prep path.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi rreda,

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:

1) On what dates did you take your 2 Official GMATs and what were your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores on your 1st attempt?
2) What type of study routine were you following? Besides the last month, how many hours did you typically study each week?
3) Did you use any additional study materials besides the ones that you listed? 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)?
5) 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]

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi rreda,

It sounds as though anxiety could have been an issue for you. With that in mind, here is a great article you can check out:

How to Eliminate GMAT Test-Day Anxiety

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi  rreda

Sorry about how things went with your GMAT. There could be a couple of reasons for the drop in the score. 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. But it would be too early to conclude anything without knowing the actual reason. To understand what could have led to the drop in the score 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

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.

Having said that, I would like to have a one-on-one conversation with you. The discussion would be mostly around the answers to the above questions, the approximate time you have for the next attempt and the plan of action. If you have an ESR with you, that will be even more helpful to get the insights about your performance. You use use the link below to schedule a call with me.

Click here to schedule a call

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