What went wrong in 2nd attempt (ESR Attached)

Question

So,
  Background:   I have been preparing for GMAT since the start of this year. 
1. After 1st hasty attempt in March, I got a  690 (Q50 V32) . 
2. But then I followed everything the mentors said, especially GmatNinja (massive kudos to him). Worked on my weakness, SC & maintained an error log. My mock scores:
Kaplan Mock-1: 730 (Q50 V40)
Kaplan Mock-2: 720 (Q50 V39)
Kaplan Mock-3: 720 (Q49 V40)
Official Mock-1: 750 (Q49 V42)
Official Mock-2: 760 (Q51 V41)
But then I did see repeats from my 1st attempt prep. So I went ahead and bought the official mocks 3,4,5,6
Official Mock-3: 750 (Q50 V41)
Official Mock-4: 730 (Q50 V40)
Official Mock-5: 770 (Q51 V42)

But on exam day, my scores again tanked with  700 (Q50 V35) . So I am not able to decide what went wrong here. I do have a few theories.
1. I got too fixated on the 1st ten verbal questions and put in a lot more time than needed. So I had to guess on a couple of RC questions at last.
2. The quant section was way more challenging than I had seen on any of my mocks. I am happy with 50 but would love to know if any improvements can be made.

I have a hard deadline of Jan end for my final GMAT attempt since I am planning for deferred applications.
My Extended Score Report for the 2nd attempt can be found here: rebrand.ly/arnesh-gmat-esr

Suraj0184 · Answer

Congratulations on scoring an excellent score of 700. To improve RC accuracy, I'd suggest to practice the various difficulty level questions on Forum Quiz.

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

For Verbal, if you feel your fundamentals are solid, consider working on your solving approach. May boost your score a bit.  Had a 6-hour student, for example, who improved 4 points on a quick retake . Perhaps work with a study buddy who has ace Verbal skills to see how they approach the section. You could teach them Quant in return. Nice Q50 by the way.

5 Verbal tips

EducationAisle · Answer

Curious to know how you concluded that; your ESR shows 1:45 minutes per question in the first quarter. That seems quite ok to me.

egmat · Answer

TheFatBandit

Hi Arnesh,

Congratulations on scoring a 700 in the GMAT! To help you evaluate your ESR, I’ve recorded a video with my analysis of the data points in your ESR. Here is the link:

Arnesh | ESR Analysis - Watch Video

Here is the summary of the video:

Your Verbal score indicates some gaps (Conceptual/Application) in Reading Comprehension (50 %ile) and Critical Reasoning (69 %ile). To target a V40+ score, we need to fix the gaps in these subsections by cementing your skills in each.
The current approach in RC doesn’t seem to be working out. You need to change your methodology here. Here is an article on tips for improving RC.
In Quant, you need more data at a topic-wise level (at least 60 questions per subsection) to identify your topic-wise weaknesses and to cover those gaps.
You also need a more recent measure of your ability. You can take a free SIGma-X mock test that will provide you an ESR analysis. Here is the link.

Time Commitment: We'd also like to know how much time (per day or per week) you can commit to your prep till Jan-end?

Next Steps:

Take a SIGma-X mock
Get on a one-on-one Strategy call with us by reaching out to us at [email protected].

Motivation:
Below are a couple of examples of students who improved their scores from a similar situation. I do hope you find these examples helpful.

Hope this helps!

-Vaibhav

TheFatBandit · Answer

Hey Vaibhav,
Thanks for taking the time to make the video and help me understand things better. You rightly mentioned the ESR. I had to take a break from my prep due to academic responsibilities. I will give the Sigma-X mock as per your suggestion and will let you know how it goes.

Here are a couple of additional pointers that might help you understand my then performance:
1. I have maintained an error log for all my practice and test attempts. I have tagged things as best I could then. I hope it helps.
rebrand.ly/arnesh-practice-log
rebrand.ly/arnesh-test-log
2.  Time Commitment:  I am free from any academic responsibility and can devote as much time as required.

Regards,
Arnesh

TheFatBandit · Answer

Sorry. I wrote that statement a bit vaguely. I was talking about the 2nd quarter timings where I averaged a 2:20 per question in verbal.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi TheFatBandit.

Your ESR indicates that you missed a relatively easy question in the last quartile of the verbal section. So, it could be that your guesses at the end did work against you a little. However, your performance in that quartile was pretty strong, with just one missed question.

What hurt your verbal score more was missing two questions in the first quartile, including at least one rather easy one, and missing three in the second quartile.

To get some insights into what you could do to increase your verbal score, you could watch this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyyPP9XQBxI

Regarding quant, I bet you can get from the following post some ideas that you can use to get to Q51.

How to Get a Perfect 800 GMAT Score

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Arnesh, I've sent you a PM with some notes and additional questions. GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made, Rich Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

HI TheFatBandit,

700 is certainly a solid score, but yes, it's below where you were scoring on your official GMAC practice exams. That said, do you think nerves played any sort of role in the verbal section?

TheFatBandit · Answer

Hey Scott,
Yeah, I think so. I was not the same relaxed as I was during my mocks and did panic a bit about the questions at last. But again I am not too sure on that.

egmat · Answer

TheFatBandit Hey Arnesh, Thank you for writing back and sharing your error log. I have recorded a video to capture my advice on your improvement strategy. Please find it below. Arnesh | Next steps - Watch Video https://e-gmat.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Picture2.png Here is a summary of the video: To improve upon each sub-section and various weaker topics within the sub-sections, we need your recent attempts data (at least 60 questions per sub-section). With both accuracy and timing data for all the sub-sections across easy, medium, and hard difficulties, we would be able to identify whether it’s an ability issue or a timing issue, or both that you’re facing in various areas. Once you’ve completed your SIGma-X mock, please share your results at support@e-gmat.com so that we can set up a Strategy call to help you with your mock analysis and the improvement strategy. Hope this helps. -Vaibhav

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Arnesh, I've sent you a PM with an analysis of your ESR. GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made, Rich Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

What went wrong in 2nd attempt (ESR Attached)

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