200 point difference in GMAT Prep Test and GMAT official test

Question

Hi, I need some help. I have been preparing for gmat for the past 3 months. I used to score between 700-740(q:47-49, v:40-42) in my gmat prep exam and expert global test. I gave official GMAT exam yesterday but scored less than 500.(q30,v20) I want to retake the exam in a month. What should I do, I am really confused, if someone could help it will be great. Thank you in advance

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi MittalTrishla,

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.

Approximately 2.5 months ago, you posted that you were scoring in the 500s on your CATs/mocks. Since you have not posted at all since then, before I we discuss any of the issues that may have led to your Score decrease, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) What type of study routine have you been following? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far? What 'brands' of CATs/mocks have you used?
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?

If you took your 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

MittalTrishla · Answer

I worked on my weakness after my last post. I practiced questions from the right sources and was able to improve my score gradually . My quant was very weak but now I was able to solve hard level questions.

Studies:
1) What type of study routine have you been following? How many hours do you typically study each week?- 25-30 hrs/ week
2) What study materials have you used so far? What 'brands' of CATs/mocks have you used? - Gmat Prep, Jamboree and expert global
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)? 
14 Dec- 440 ( Gmat Prep- Q24, V28)
8 Jan-660 ( Experts Global- Q45, V 36)
13 Jan-700( Experts Global- Q47, V 39)
16 Jan-740( Gmat Prep- Q49, V42)
20 Jan-710( Gmat Prep- Q48, V 40)
23 Jan-730( Experts Global-Q47, V 42)

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?- 700+
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to? Fall 2022 for mba and masters in finance : NUS, Hec, Essec, Ut Austin, UCD Smurfit, Imperial and some Indian colleges.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi Trishla,

Sorry about how things went with your GMAT. Do not get discouraged. The ideal thing to do would be to identify what went wrong and work on that. Let me help you here.

The possible reasons for the drop: 
  One reason could be the test day pressure. Even though you have prepared in the right way, the nerves on the test day might have played a part in hampering your concentration. If this is the case, I would suggest you to take a couple of mocks, get used to that time pressure and give the test. 
 The other reason could be your inconsistent application skills. You might have somehow got lucky in the mocks and got the right answer without using the right method. And that obviously didn't happen in the actual test. If this is the case, I suggest you to focus more on learning the right methodology and then give the test.

It would be pre-mature to suggest you any plan of action without knowing the actual reason. I can suggest you in a better way if you can provide me with the details of the way you have prepared till now and the approach you use to solve questions. This information will help understand your concerns and guide you in a better way. A zoom conference call would be better as I can analyze your approach of solving questions, identify the flaw if there's any and suggest you the plan. You can use the below link to get in touch with me.

Click here to schedule a call

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

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 500. 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?

EducationAisle · Answer

How many GMAT prep exams did you give Trishla?

bb · Answer

Your score seems to have gone up from 4:40 to 740 in just three weeks. That is not normal or accurate. Something was wrong with those mock test you were taking. Perhaps you knew the questions? It is very hard to improve 100 points in three weeks so it is absolutely insane to improve 300 points. I would focus on those known data points to figure out what your real score is...

Posted from my mobile device

MittalTrishla · Answer

I gave 6 prep exams

MittalTrishla · Answer

I am redoing all the concepts once again so that there are no conceptual gaps left this time if there were any. I gave in a lot of hours thats why I was able to improve my score and as it was a new test series and I only practiced questions from OG and gmat prep before. There was no repeated question. I also did not believe in this increased score but then I gave more mock tests and the score kept on increasing.

KarishmaB · Answer

Exactly what I thought too. Something is not right here. It usually takes months of effort to increase the score by 250-300 points. The only way I would think this could happen is if your fundamentals were already very strong but you had forgotten them. So the first test or two, your score wasn't up to the mark but it quickly progressed as you reviewed some study material. If this indeed were the case, then I cannot explain less than 500 in the actual GMAT. Most students are stressed and anxious during the actual test and it does impact their score a bit but certainly not to such an extent. In fact, anything more than a 50 point drop is very hard to explain. Then what next? Try our free practice test on the link given below and pm me your login id. I will try to identify what the trouble is. https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/free-g ... tice-test/

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi MittalTrishla,

I've sent you a PM with some additional questions.

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

EducationAisle · Answer

Hmm...your concepts in concision are not in place Trishla

egmat · Answer

Hi MittalTrishla ,

How is your preparation coming along? Are you on-track to take the test again in the next few days as you had initially planned?

Before you go in for the GMAT, I invite you to try a SIGma-X mock test to gauge your preparation level. These tests are designed to give you an accurate assessment of your potential GMAT score but also give you very detailed report of your performance. You will be able to pin-point your strengths and weaknesses and make a precise plan for the remaining of your preparation.

Follow the steps mentioned below to take SIGma-X mock test:
1. Register for free trial on e-GMAT portal
2. After registering, click here to navigate to mock page

Once you take the test, you can write to our team at [email protected] for a detailed analysis of your performance and a plan to reach your target GMAT score.

Regards,
Aditee

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