Looking for an answer to my GMAT failure

Question

Dear experts,
I started my GMAT Prep a couple of months ago. 
I attended classes, practised from MGMAT, tutor material and from GMATClub customizable quizzes.
All was good. My mocks showed a steady increase.
MGMAT 1 - 590
MGMAT 2 - 630
MGMAT 3 - 660
MGMAT 4 - 700
GMAT Prep 1 - 720
MGMAT 5 - 700
MGMAT 6 - 720
GMAT Prep 2 - 750 - This was 2 days before my actual exam.
My strength is Verbal and in the last 3 mocks, my Verbal score was always above 42.
Also, in all my mocks, the repeats were not more than 4 per section. I measured it all.
My pacing is good too, I always have time left.

The day before the exam, I just revised theory, had accumulated a few questions to revise during my prep and revised those.
Ate well, slept well. 
And I am a very calm standardized test taker. No nerves, no butterflies.

Then, on test day, woke up leisurely, ate a hearty breakfast, reached the centre well within time and was well hydrated. 
Again, no nervousness, as my efforts were good and my mocks were showing a good position.

During the test, all was going well. I was pacing well, had 4 minutes left on the quant section and 9 left on the verbal section(as I mentioned, verbal is my forte).
Honestly, the questions in verbal seemed pretty basic to me, a few of them had very obvious answers.
But then the results came and I scored a 590! Q-35 and V-36!

It was the shock of my life!
I am still unable to figure out why such a huge variation in my score!
Can someone please help me figure it out?
I am taking the test again in a few days and want to know what went so abysmally wrong that I jumped from being a 700+ candidate to a 500+ candidate.

Looking for answers, please let me know of any thoughts any of you may have!
Thanks!
racquetgirl

KarishmaB · Answer

Hi racquetgirl, Sorry to hear about your unexpected GMAT score. The first step that comes to mind is that you should get your ESR. It is not necessary that it will be helpful but sometimes it can guide - especially in cases where all seems to have gone well. You said that some questions seemed very basic to you and had obvious answers. Perhaps they were trick options and you fell for them - we can't really say. Your ESR might show you an obvious weakness. The practice tests you have already taken will not be of much help since you scored 700+ in the recent ones. Take a fresh practice test from a different source. You can take our free practice test here: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/ The link is available on this page. See how you score in it. Another 700+ score could mean that perhaps the GMAT test day just wasn't your day (though such a huge variation usually has strong reasons).

redfield · Answer

I cannot help you more than lending a sympathetic shoulder as I just had a similar, slightly less dramatic, dip myself. Consistently getting in the 720-750 range towards the end of my prep and got a 650 on actual. I also felt calm and did not feel like I was doing anything differently on the actual test (though I did go to the wrong testing center and had to haul it to the correct center but felt the AWA and IR sufficiently calmed me down).

All I can say is that for us, it's possible there was in fact some test anxiety. You may feel calm but you forgot to test a negative case here or miss a comma there; and on the GMAT a couple silly mistakes on easy questions you rush through can absolutely kill you. I don't know for you but for me I'm quite certain if I were to look back at the questions I missed I would be able to answer several of them correctly. I actually felt that way immediately after the test. We're so lucky to be on this side of the GMAT test timeline with the ability to cancel our score after seeing it.

I retake in a couple weeks and am just doing loads of practice problems and brushing up on my quant with a tutor (in which I take problems I missed to him and we work over them together) as my strength like yours is the verbal section. My advice especially if you're retaking so soon is just do lots of official problems and make sure, absolutely POSITIVE, that you are getting nearly every single sub-700 level question correct and be sure to note any patterns of question types you may be struggling with.

Best of luck to the two of us, hopefully our first attempts were the outliers!

arirux92 · Answer

Hi, The first thing that comes to my mind is what were your first 11 questions like? Did you find them too easy?

I don't think you fell for traps. What I feel is you were getting easy questions because your performance in the first 33% pulled down the level of questions and hence you found the rest of them very obvious and easy.

Don't let it pull you down, as your prep scores are very high. Everyone has a bad day at the office. Don't worry too much and give the GMAT again, but this time be a little more careful about your initial answers. Pacing is great, but it's not of much use at the cost of accuracy(especially in the first 33%)

racquetgirl · Answer

I am a little confused about this because my last 7 questions had combinatorics and all my RC passages were the lengthy ones.

racquetgirl · Answer

Best of luck to you too buddy!
I am actually applying in the third deadline and hence, taking the test again, within a month's time.

arirux92 · Answer

Hi  racquetgirl , topics don't usually mean anything.

For example, there are very difficult questions in algebra and very easy questions in permutations, combinations and probability.
Also, I've found that the hardest RC passages are often very short, with all inference questions compared to long RC passages with obvious answers.

But good news is you have somewhere to start :

Maybe you should focus this time on P&C in quants. The luck of the draw means we may be exposed to more questions on the topics we aren't prepared very well compared to mock tests. There is no solution, except to be 100% in every topic.

Best.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi racquetgirl,

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.

If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? 
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once?

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

bhamini1 · Answer

I have been trying to get some advise on how I can devise a good study plan for the next 20 days to improve my Quant score for the exam but so far have not received any reply from anyone so heres hoping that you would help me with that piece of advice.
I am a medico and I have been studying rigorously for the past 2 months for the Gmat exam.Quant has been a little difficult to catch up with after 11 years but I have tried my best however,yesterday when I gave my first GMAT prep, it showed me the mirror of no improvement made over the last 2months with exactly the same score I earned in my diagnostic test before I started my prep of 460. During all Jamboree CAT tests,I was scoring between 42-44 and MGMAT 1 I got 45 but this score in GMAT Prep was a shocker.I am extremely out of ideas and lost as to how I can still possibly put up a good performance on the scheduled GMAt exam on 25th March'16 with all my efforts.I have identified my weaknesses but transforming a 23 to 45 is definitely difficult but not impossible and I want to give it my best shot only if I have a good study plan.Please help me by shedding some light on how I can still make it for the D day which is only 20 days away.I do not want to not put up a good fight but I need navigation.
Regards,
Bhamini Thukral

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Bhamini,

Since this is your first post, it's not clear what you mean when you say that you've "not received any reply from anyone." Who have you asked for advice/help? When and where did you ask?

In addition, I'd like to know a bit more about your studies so far and your goals:

1) What materials have you been using?
2) What is your goal score?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

Unfortunately, 20 days is not a lot of additional study time, so you might want to consider pushing back your Test Date. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

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

bhamini1 · Answer

Dear Rich,

Thank you for the response.
1) I had taken a 5.5 week study course of Jamboree to learn the concepts from scratch for Quant only.Also have been using their study material along with OG 2016.
2) My goal score is 650
3) Colleges I am trying to get into would be NUS,ISB,Cornell(Ithaca Program) and British Columbia.

I also thought I could share my initial analysis of what went wrong with my first GMAT Prep with you so that may be you could share your views on the same.

I got 18 qsns incorrect.Out of these 18 :- in 8 qsns i made silly calculation mistakes which obviously cannot be excused,2 qsns I raced through due to paucity of time and 8 qsns I got wrong due to conceptual gap in 3 particular topics word problems(4 out of 8 were from this topic) ,fractions and %.

I would really appreciate if you could share your thoughts on this and advise how I could proceed further.

Regards,
Bhamini

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Bhamini,

Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so it's likely that you have not put in enough time and effort yet. You've also admitted that you have not honed your skills enough yet to score higher (to score at a high level, you can't afford to make so many silly/little mistakes).

With a score goal of 650+, you'll need to improve your latest CAT score by 190+ points. With less than 3 weeks of study time remaining, it's not likely that you'll be able to make the necessary adjustments and improve your scores enough in that time. As such, you should push back your Test Date and continue studying. Based on everything that you describe, I think that you're going to need at least another 2-3 months of consistent, guided study to hit your goals. You'll also likely need to invest in some new study materials.

1) You've listed the Schools that interest you, but WHEN are you planning to apply?

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

AjiteshArun · Answer

Wow. That's just bad luck. Also, don't worry too much about your first attempt. It is very common for test takers to underperform the first time they take the GMAT.

All the best for the second attempt.

bhamini1 · Answer

Hi Rich,

Well,thank you for your thoughts.I think you are right,I would need to invest more time of guided study.So which study materials would you suggest for the same?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi bhamini1,

If you can commit to a consistent study routine starting this week, then you could reasonably be ready for the Official GMAT in early June. As far as study resources are concerned, most GMAT Companies offer some type of free materials (practice problems, Trial Accounts, videos, etc.) that you can use to 'test out' a product before you buy it. We have a variety of those resources at out site (www.empowergmat.com). I suggest that you take advantage of all of them then choose the one that best matches your personality, timeline and budget.

If you have any additional question, then just let me know.

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

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