520 – 540 -540 GMAT rut after months and lots of $$$

Question

First of all I noticed a similar post from August this year which I read in detail and have taken some good points away from it. I felt my circumstances were slightly different and could lend themselves to a different method of solving this problem so I went ahead and posted anyway...what do I have to lose?

Personal background: 
30yo male, native English speaker with 6 years professional experience on 3 continents. Working in a commercial management role for a major shipping company (big ships not DHL or Fedex type shipping). I am targeting European 1yr FT MBA programs outside the global top 10. All the schools I have spoken to have said that with my experience and a good application 650 on the GMAT should be sufficient but obviously a 700 would be safer. Based on my historical GMAT scores I am hoping just to get 650.
International relocations and placements have resulted in large gaps between test times.

GMAT progress to date:
 1st attempt June 2014: V32 Q 34 520 AWA 5.5 IR 4 (Submitted score) 
Strategy: In retrospect it can only be described as ‘no strategy’ as I basically just went through the Princeton review, did the questions, did some OG questions and kept no error log. 
Formal courses: Magoosh only
Textbooks: OG Guide, GMAC practice software and Princeton Review textbook. 
Error log: NO
Exam time: 9am. Flying out on an important business trip directly after the exam and stayed in a strange hotel near the airport the night before. Very little sleep. Everything about the 24hrs prior to the exam was stressful.
 
 2nd attempt May 2015: 540 AWA 6 IR 3.5 (submitted score) 
Strategy:
This time I focused on content from MGMAT and just worked my way thought the books. I started to consistently score around 600 mark after a month which I was satisfied with since my last exam result was a 520. I would work through all the questions in MGMAT then supplement with questions in OG books. All practice questions were times
Error log: YES
Formal courses: Magoosh online lessons/classes
Textbooks: 5th Generation MGMAT books + OG 12 + OG 12 V review + OG 12 Q review
Practice CATS: 
 CAT 1: 590 Q39 V32 15th March 15
 CAT 2 : 600 Q39 V34 29th March 15
 CAT 3: 590 Q37 V34 26th April 15
Exam time: 9am. Night before the exam was dealing with some unpleasant personal news which was dwelling on my mind a lot. Looking at my CATS I was going into the exam thinking at least around 590 which would not have been ideal but at least it showed an improvement on my last attempt. Then of course I see an actual score of 540

3rd Attempt 22 Dec 2015: Q33 V31 540 (cancelled the score) 
Strategy: Follow the 9 week MGMAT course and do all extra questions assigned. At end of course use MGMAT Navigator and CAT results to spend 2 weeks focusing on weak areas. I used flash cards which I tried to review every few days.
Hrs per week: 15 – 20
Formal courses: 9 week MGMAT online course
Error log: Yes 
Practice CATs: All done under full exam conditions with AWA + IR and accurate break timing:
1st CAT 590 Q 40 V 32 4th October ** Before starting prep again for 3rd attempt**
2nd CAT 590 Q36 V34 25th October
This was the baseline test I took before I started studying for my 3rd attempt
3rd CAT 570 Q38 V 30 8th Nov
4th CAT 580 Q37 V32 29th NOV
5th CAT 650 Q44 V35 10th December (Final cat before exam) NOT MGMAT SOFTWARE USING OFFICIAL GMAT software
Comments on CATS:
Between CAT 1 and CAT 4 I was still working my way through the MGMAT course work. Between the 4th and 5th I focused just on weakness areas and OG questions. I also found I was starting to see the same questions again on MGMAT CATS so switched to official GMAC CAT and saw the big increase. All done under official conditions but at home.
Exam time: 1pm

In summary:
I feel like my baseline ability is somewhere between 590 and 620 on a normal day. I also sense that issue could be stress/anxiety related when it comes to game day which is explaining the huge drop in actual score Vs Practice. So the question is how do I address this? There are obvious improvements that can still made in terms of content and understanding concepts but I feel that without trying to understand and resolving the challenges I am facing on the day all the work will be for nothing. I am also considering whether may lack of understanding of the concepts is adding to my stress on the day because deep down I know my knowledge is not ‘complete’.

I was hoping to make a number of school deadlines on the 8th of January but this is obviously going to have to be pushed back by a month. My plan is now to re-sit at the end of January and spend the next week or two between now and NY trying to put together a detailed 1 month study plan.

Any advice welcome!

And finally thank you to anyone who takes the time to read this and provide feedback or advice. I hope the lessons I learn here can provide valuable insights for others in a similar situation.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi mpcroaming,

You'll likely get more of a response, if you post your story in the GMAT Experience Forum too:

share-gmat-experience-8/

Since your 3 Official Scores are so similar, you are likely dealing with Test Day in the same general ways each time (regardless of what you might be doing differently during practice). This means that there's something about Test Day that you're not accounting for during your studies or that the work that you're doing isn't 'sticking.' Given your score goal, any extra study time that you can schedule should be beneficial, but you might have to invest in some new materials and learn/practice some new Tactics.

1) What is the latest that you can schedule your next GMAT?

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

mpcroaming · Answer

I can still make round 4 (of 6) and round 2 (of 6) for two of my top choice schools if I re sit the exam early to mid march this would give me a solid 2 months of study

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi mpcroaming,

That extra study time would almost certainly be useful, but you're really going to have to be organized and efficient with whatever work you choose to do next. Since you've been studying for some time, and your Official Scores are so similar to one another, you've likely developed some 'bad habits' that will take time to fix (and replace with new 'good habits'). Working with the same materials that you used before might be problematic, since you developed those bad habits while you were studying before. A shift in your mindset, Tactics, focus, etc. might be exactly what you need to hit that higher score level that you're after - and that will likely involve investing in some new practice materials.

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

mpcroaming · Answer

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the feedback. I completely agree with your assessment but the question remains as to how I proceed. If you have experience with this kind of situation feel free to PM me if you feel your may have the solution. I am not adverse to investing in a different approach.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi mpcroaming,

Your Official Scores are all based around Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores in the low 30s, so you have the potential to pick up BIG points in BOTH sections of the Test. That having been said, if your goal is 650, you could conceivably find most (if not all) of the missing points that you're looking for in just one section. With a goal score of 700 though, you would have to make some significant improvements to both the Quant and Verbal sections.

With all of that having been said, I think that you probably need the better part of 2 months (or more) of consistent, guided study to hit your goals. You'll have to also adjust your mindset towards this Test (how you 'see' it and the work that you do in response to it). I think that you would find the EMPOWERgmat Total Score Booster to be quite helpful. Most of our clients complete that Study Plan in well under 2 months, so the time commitment wouldn't be that bad. We have a variety of free resources on our site (https://www.empowergmat.com), so you can 'test out' the Course before setting up an account.

If you have any additional questions, then you can feel free to contact me directly.

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

520 – 540 -540 GMAT rut after months and lots of $$$

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