Huge score drop on GMAT as compared to GMAC Mocks

Question

Just today, I gave my first ever GMAT after some fine preparations. However, the result has hurt my self confidence to the core as I scored a 640 (Q 44 V 34). I had scored a 680 (Q 49 V 34) in the 1st GMAT PREP MOCK, which I had attempted just prior to preparing for GMAT, and a 710 (Q 50 V 36) in the 2nd GMAT PREP MOCK. One may argue that I may be nervous as this was my first GMAT, admittedly, I was nervous but not to the extent to ruin my performance. When I had finished my verbal as well as quant, I was expecting a better score (730-740) than my mocks,mainly because it was the first time that I had reached to the last question of verbal with guessing only a couple of questions. Furthermore, I am not able to make out anything of the quant score, which is very poor. I don't even know how to go about it as I had been scoring 49,50s in the mocks. Someone, please guide me as my dream of 720+ seems distant after today's performance.

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EducationAisle · Answer

Indeed, Quant score seems to be almost an outlier, considering the Quant scores you've been hitting in mocks.

What was the section sequence that you chose?

NITUNKUMAR2018 · Answer

Verbal, quant, IR & AWA. This was the same as my second mock.

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NITUNKUMAR2018 · Answer

Verbal, quant, IR & AWA. This was the same as my second mock.

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi NITUNKUMAR2018,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day did not go as well as hoped. Before we discuss the potential causes of your score drop, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

1) How long have you studied?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
5) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

You might 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 (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

egmat · Answer

Hi NITUNKUMAR2018 , I can understand why you feel so disappointed. Getting the ESR and analyzing it would be a good place to start to understand what exactly happened on the test day. You may find the following articles useful in analyzing your ESR and carving out your retake strategy. - ESR Analysis - Retake Strategy If you have any further doubts, please feel free to write to us at support@e-gmat.com. Regards, Aditee

NITUNKUMAR2018 · Answer

1) How long have you studied?

I started once 2 years back and finished the Manhattan SC and powerscore CR Bible followed by OG for SC and CR. Didn't do anything additional back then for quant as I was quite confident about it as I was always good with maths and an engineering graduate for a top college of India, the entry to which required some skills in maths. But due to certain circumstances didn't give the GMAT back then.

I started my preparations again from the last week of August 18 with a couple of weeks break, in between, on account of official tours.

2) What study materials have you used so far?

During this period, I did the following:

A. Manhattan quant books
B. Manhattan SC & RC
C. Powerscore CR Bible
D. OG for SC and CR only
E. Few questions on random basis from GMAT prep and Beat the GMAT
F. 2 mocks prior to and after the above preparations

3) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

1st mock without preparation - 680 (Q 49 V 34)

2nd mock after preparation - 710 (Q 50 V 36)

4) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

2019 batch

5) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

ISB
IIM A EPGPX
IIM B EPGPX

Other relevant details for profile evaluation:
1. Work exp-8+ years
2. Working with IOCL in 3 different plants 
3. Present Designation-Plant incharge/factory occupier
4. CGPA/graduation %-80 (Branch topper) 
5. Graduated from-NSIT DELHI

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CAMANISHPARMAR · Answer

This can happen due to multiple reasons. I can understand this this is disappointing for you to have such an experience.

But let this not disappoint you. It could be helpful to order an ESR (i.e. enhanced score report, if not bought already) from mba.com. You would get enough data points to work on. Then you may pose specific questions in this forum. Maybe we might be able to help you further with specific feedback.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi NITUNKUMAR2018,

To start, with a 640, you're actually not that far from a 680 (or a 710). The fact that your Verbal Scaled Scores are almost identical across these 3 Scores implies that you might have just made a number of little mistakes in the Quant section on Test Day. If that's truly the case, then you wouldn't necessarily need to study too much longer before you retest. However, there are other factors to consider: things that were unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day. As such, I'd like to know a bit more about how you took your practice CATs:

1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (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 when you took 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 (including during your prior studies)? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE (re: on a prior CAT, in an online forum or in a practice set)?

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Nitunkumar2018,

I’m sorry to hear how things went with your GMAT, but 640 is not a total disaster, right? I mean, you scored a V34, which is only 2 points below your latest mock. I know your quant fell, but let’s try to look at the glass as half full rather than half empty.

Now, regarding your score drop (especially in quant), I think nerves could have played a more significant role in your test-day performance than you may think they did. Also, it’s quite possible that you had some lingering quant weaknesses that were exposed on test day. In any case, I’m happy to help get you on the right path, but first I’d like to learn more about your situation with the GMAT. Once you respond to the question already asked, I can provide some further advice.

aakash13111989 · Answer

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ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

NITUNKUMAR2018

I’m sorry to hear how things went with your GMAT. Assuming that you took your official practice exams under realistic testing conditions, the results show that, on a good day, you are capable of scoring higher than 640. Thus, it’s quite possible that nerves, stress, tiredness, or a combination of all three negatively affected your test-day performance. However, it’s also possible that you have some lingering weaknesses that were exposed on test day. Although I’m unsure of how you prepared, it’s possible that, in your preparation, particularly in verbal, you did not really learn to do what you have to do in order to score high on the actual GMAT. Rather, you picked up on some patterns that were effective in getting you relatively high scores on practice tests. So, for you to hit your score goal, your preparation, particularly for verbal, probably needs to be more complete, meaning that you have to go through the various types of GMAT questions carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills.

For verbal specifically, you have to become more skilled at clearly defining the differences between trap choices and correct answers. Otherwise, you will get stuck guessing between two choices or be surprised to find that you incorrectly answered questions that you thought you answered correctly. Becoming more skilled in this way takes carefully analyzing all of the answer choices to lots of verbal questions to develop an eye for the logical differences between the choices. In other words, you have to go beyond answering practice questions and reading explanations to doing deep analysis of questions to learn to see everything that is going on in them.

In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new quant and verbal materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the  best quant  and  verbal courses .

You also may find it helpful to read the following articles:

how to score a 700+ on the GMAT

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

If you’d like more specific advice on how to improve your quant and verbal skills, feel free to reach back out. Good luck!

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