From 570 to 550! Sad and Bad GMAT story. Please advice

Question

Hi all, I just got back from GMAT center and I can't be more disappointed and frustrated by the score that I got – 550!! (Q: 49 V: 17 !!!!!).

To tell you the truth – I honestly lost complete confidence in my ability to perform on the test day. When I saw the score on the screen, I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry!! Especially because it was even lower than the first time!! I took the first GMAT on January last year got a horrible score (570, Q: 46, V:23, AWA 5.0) although I must admit that I wasn't really prepared to it as I thought I was today (seriously, I thought so).

I don't know what went wrong – everything was just one big mess!! I really believe that my test day performance, obviously in the verbal part, drops to such a low level that I can't even explain. So I summed up my GMAT story with hopes that you could help me to decide how to go from here.

Here is my complete GMAT debrief:

My background: 
I have a degree in Information Systems engineering and I have been working in the Healthcare industry (GE) for the past couple of years. I am not a native English speaker but I am using English on a daily basis. I was even accepted to a student exchange program during my undergraduate degree and studied a semester at the University of Toronto, with no particular language barriers. Co-workers that I have been working with closely, either in my home country or in the US, always tell me that my English is very good.

After my first GMAT crush, I decided that in my second attempt, I would be fully dedicated to the test. Since my company is in transition between 2 products that we are developing, I have managed to convince my manager to release me for an 8 weeks unpaid vacation solely for the purpose of study for the GMAT (my manager, as well as other colleagues from work, are well aware that I plan to go abroad and pursue my MBA. They even encourage me to do so..).

Although I had a slow start in the first couple of weeks, during the entire period I managed to study many hours a day and put all my effort in the exam. I knew that I had to improve my verbal section and I put it as a goal to get around 35 in the actual exam (which obviously I failed for the second time…). I knew that my strength was always, and probably will always be, my quantitative part.
 
I registered to Master GMAT course and spent around 2-3 weeks to complete about 80 % of the course material (80 hours total). It has a "unique" interactive algorithm that decides for you on your weak areas and provides questions respectively. In my personal opinion -this course was a complete waste of time and I can't even understand why I signed for it at the first place. There are numerous of problems with the way the algorithm teaches you:
 
 First – you can't really "tell" the algorithm (apart from which section you wish to work on – Verbal or Quantitative) that you want to work on specific area (only SC / RC / CR, not even talking on specific subject in each area), because according to Master GMAT - the "software knows better than you what you need to study".
 
 Second – their questions pool is very poor. 
 
 Third – Master GMAT assumes that without really knowing a lot – you can actually succeed in the GMAT, which, in my humble opinion, is the wrong way to go if you want to score a good grade.

After I have realized that I am not on the right path, I took a turn and went to a complete different direction – work with well known books and become an active member of GMAT Club. After I read couple of debriefs, it gave me a good understanding on how I should study. Apparently, I was not doing enough and I need to start working harder. 
During my next 3-4 weeks I have adopted an extensive work and practice patterns that included:
 
  Reading articles in recommended websites for about ~ 1 hour daily (NYTimes, Science News). 
  Maintaining vocabulary document of every word I encountered and didn't know the exact meaning. I tried to memorize and review them almost every day. I have become really obsessive to this list and ended up with learning ~ 500 new words. 
  Following couple of GMAT Club Quantitative section moderators to maintain my level and learn new more tricks. 
  I even started to run almost every day 4-5 km at the beach at 5 pm exactly. This helped me lose ~ 5 kg and my performance increased especially after.   
 
 During my preparation I have used the following materials: 
 
1. Manhattan SC –a very good reference. Every question that I didn't solve right, I searched both in GMAT Club forum and in Manhattan forum and got pretty good explanations for the concepts tested in the question. There was a positive change in my SC performance only when I solved a document with 200 Gmat Prep SC questions, twice!! After each and every question I have read the explanations (especially in Manhattan website) and understood the concepts. 
2. GMAT Critical Reasoning bible - PowerScore. Read this amazing book twice (all the 300 + pages). But still, I wasn't able to master these questions and always had less confidence in it. 
3. OG11 – solved all SC / CR / RC. In my opinion, although these questions are very helpful, they are not an indication whatsoever to the real GMAT. The majority of the questions are not hard – especially in the CR section. I have managed to hit 85% of the questions (timed) but never felt like I am really proficient in CR. 
4. OG 12 – same.
5. GMAT Club forums – I have adopted a daily routine to solve about 10 new CR questions and few new math questions. 
6. GMAT Club Math tests – so far – the best advice I got was to start solving these since they provide you questions that require specific tricks to solve them quickly. These exams kept me "warm" in the math section and a lot of the questions were very challenging. In most tests (I have completed 10) I have managed to score 80-95 %, although I had couple of falls (~60-80 %). 
7. Manhattan tests
Except for the free MGMAT CAT that I did ~ 1 month before the exam, I purchased the 6 CAT package ~ 12 days before my test date. These were my scores. 
9/29/2010 free – 670 (Q 50, V 33)
10/15/2010 – MGMAT2 740 (Q 51, V 41)
10/17/2010 – MGMAT3 680 (Q 49, V 34)
10/20/2010 – MGMAT4 640 (Q45, V 33)
23/10/2010 – MGMAT5 680 (Q50, v 33)
8. Gmat Prep - 2 weeks before the exam I took GMAT Prep1 – got 720 (Q49, V 38), 2 days before the exam I took GMAT Prep2 – got 630 (Q50, V 28 )  This really really really slump my confidence in the verbal section.

A day before the test:

As was recommended by many GMAT clubbers, I have tried to stay away from solving any question. I went over my formula sheets, idioms, vocabulary, etc. Mostly I tried to calm myself because my anxiety level just burst up. I went to a walk on the beach and went to bed early. However, I did not manage to get one minute of sleep!! My head was solving problems all night! I was checking the clock every half an hour and "woke up" naturally at 6:30 (my alarm was set to 6:45).
 On the test day:
I got to the test center at 7:20. I was extremely nervous and felt not really in focus (the same as it happened on my first GMAT test). Solved couple of problems to warm up my mind before and went inside the testing room.
AWA went OK. Quantitative section was also OK – a bit worse than it usually goes in the simulation tests (I guessed 3 questions because I felt that I am spending more than 3 minutes, even though I knew the way to solve them. Unfortunately I finished the section 3 – 4 minutes before the time and I felt bad for not trying harder on those). I took the 8 minutes break and tried to calm myself before the verbal section. I tried to go over some questions in my head, tried to calm calm myself, but I was so nervous!! I couldn't focus and my mind was just bouncing all over. My heart beat jumped up and I started to lose my confidence. I started with couple of SC, then CR, and then got a hard RC. After the RC, I felt that the questions became easier and I knew I made mistakes in the first passage. I got really nervous and when I reached the second RC, I felt it was very easy (both the passage and the questions). At this point I knew that the test is not going very well. My pace was slow and I have left with less than 10 minutes when I reached question 30… !!! Unfortunately, I had to guess some and solve some, but even the ones that I tried to solve seemed to me at that moment very hard. I couldn't focus and apply the techniques and rules, both in CR and in SC. 
At the end, it crossed my mind to hit – "NO", but eventually clicked on "Yes". When I saw my score, I totally shocked! I have felt like a Loser. I couldn’t explain even how many things ran through my head at that moment – My fiancé, My family, My friends (all I neglected in the past 8 weeks), My co-workers, My boss!! I was a shamed and didn't know what to do with myself after I left the center. I had to sit for 20 minutes in the lobby to relax in order to be able to go on my motorcycle back home. 
I have analyzed it over and over in my head and I couldn't find any other reason for such a huge drop in my verbal score, again, except for me being extremely nervous and not being able to perform properly on the real day. If I had gotten 20-50 points less, I would have said that it was just a bad day. But since I got ~ 100 points less than my average, I have to face it that I have a serious problem – performing on the test day! The stress is killing me...

I am thinking what to do next:
 
1. Signed up for another exam 4-6 weeks from now, but probably I won't make it to the second round. Third round is not an option. However, I need to work more on CR and RC, and solve my stress and performance problem. 
2. Forget about retaking the GMAT and either try to get accepted with either one of my BAD scores to other low ranking MBA programs or forget about MBA dream and change a direction in life.
 
Anyway, this is my very disappointing story, and I wanted to share it with you all! Does anyone have recommendations? Some thoughts? Good tips?

Dreamy · Answer

You have improved your Quant compared to the first GMAT. Thats great. On the verbal you might have done every single RC question wrong in the first RC. May be you lost focus immediately after that RC and started doing all the questions wrong. From medium level score your score might have drastically come down due to that RC.

I would suggest keep practicing for RC while working on both CR and SC. Cheer up, you can work on your verbal make it into your strength by doing more RC focussed preparation.

I would suggest keep practicing for RC while working on both CR and SC. Cheer up, you can work on your verbal make it into your strength by doing more RC focussed preparation.

eladshus · Answer

Hi Dreamy,

Thanks for cheering me up!
You are absolutely right in couple of things you said - I have managed to improve my Quant score (which I shouldn't take for granted) and I have lost focus right after the first RC. Also the stress and anxiety, plus not sleeping at all a night before, definitely didn't help me on the test day. 
Currently I am leaning towards taking another one next month... I is going to be a waste to throw away all my hard preparation.

I am going to focus mainly on the RC (which, btw, do you have any recommendations for books? I have downloaded Manhattan RC..) and brush up my skills in Quant and SC.

Thanks

bakfed · Answer

Honestly, from what you wrote and the way you wrote it, I can already tell that you don't deserve a V17. Keep at it and the next time you go into the test center, you will kill that beast.

PadawanOfTheGMAT · Answer

I notice you scored higher than me in MGMAT CAT.

In GMATPrep 1 I scored 710, and GMATPrep2 scored 680, which killed my confidence, yet on T-day I managed to nail 710. I admit I had an awful time during the test and got all my energy sucked.

You can definitely score over 700, it's all in your head. Take deep breathes to lower your heart rate, I've been through it during the test.

I suggest you read my logbook, with my debriefing at the end of the topic, it might give you a few ideas.

rafi · Answer

In my opinion it is more than clear that the issue of stress killed your verbal score. Don't give up! 
Winners are the people who suffer a defeat get up, suffer several more blows to the chin and finally hook in a Knock Out standing exhausted but totally satisfied! 
Keep working on the areas you are weak in and on lowering the stress levels and let the GMAT know who is the real winner here.

eladshus · Answer

Hi Guys,

Sorry for my late response... I wanted to stay away from my computer for the weekend, to clean my head, charge my batteries, and lift my energy level to start another battle with the GMAT.
bakfed - thanks for the compliment and indeed I am going to try and kill the beast next time.
PadawanOfTheGMAT - thank you for the tips.. I have already read your logbook and I am definitely going to try and practice the deep breaths technique.
And rafi - thanks for the motivation!!

Guys, I am going to sign up for another one! and I will try to come less stressed and more mentally prepared.

target2010 · Answer

I think instead of having a y=x graph in your scores ,you scores showed a y= -x graph,that is your scores started declining and that's not a good sign ,if you ask me because that is an indicator of the fact that your score can fluctuate a lot and is not steady.
The second observation is that your Verbal score on the MGMAT tests and on the GMAT hasn't been impressive. I'd suggest that you focus absolutely on Verbal for somedays and when you think that you've prepared enough then you should can give it a little less time .
For SC, I'd suggest you to go through MGMAT SC Guide and Aristotle SC Grail at least 5-6 times. Both the books are fantastic. The idea behind doing both the books so many times is that all the concepts should be lurking in your unconscious mind ,for then you'd able to spot errors in a jiffy.
For RC,the only antidote is practice;practice as much as possible because there are hardly any concepts in RC. OGs You may want to refer the OGs and RC99RC99 for RC.
For CR, the OGs are the best source. Just a little resource to help you with CR,you may want to see a very good video GMAT TV Lesson 1 by Grockit https://grockit.com/gmat/video_courses/2 . You may like the approach they give for CR.
Rest ,it all comes down to nerves! Keep us posted about your progress!

whiplash2411 · Answer

I don't think you should give up. This is something that I tell my friends for regular school exams - but there's a difference between just studying and actually understanding. Maybe you thought you understood the concepts but somehow got tensed or burned out? I am not too sure since your practice test scores are clearly much better off.

Take a breather, really. Just don't do GMAT stuff for a week or so and then register for a date. Don't give up hope!

rishiraj · Answer

Stay put ,man! Don't give up. Victory comes to those who dare to stay put!
The lines from Stairway to Heaven say it better.
"A new day will dawn ,for those who stay long and the forests will echo with laughter~

digvijayk · Answer

Read Carefully Friend

In my opinion, the problem is not your verbal. It's the stress. It's your confidence! And your approach to the test.The variation between your scores in the mock tests and your scores in the actual gmat have only this one cause. 1st... why do you put so much importance to the GMAT ? You got a bad score! Big deal. You're still alive and well. The war is not over until you say so.

Tonnes of people overcome the odds and get a great score on the gmat every year. Proof--GMATclub. In the end, it is just the test. Recommend you to not tell anyone next time you take the test. So you don't have to tell anyone what you scored except yourself. 2nd... look at your "A day before the test" section- > " I felt that I am spending more than 3 minutes, even though I knew the way to solve them." > "After the RC, I felt that the questions became easier and I knew I made mistakes in the first passage." >" Unfortunately, I had to guess some and solve some, but even the ones that I tried to solve seemed to me at that moment very hard. I couldn't focus and apply the techniques and rules, both in CR and in SC. " Read those again. And please ask yourself: 1. How did it matter if you actually did take more than 3 minutes for some questions ? Some questions are solved within 30 seconds, probably even less. So doesn't the time average out in the end ??? You still scored 49. Staying calm could have helped you score even better

2. You 'felt' the questions became easier. Why do you think about previous questions at all ? It DOES NOT MATTER if you get 3 in a row wrong. You can recover! What matters ? THE QUESTION AT HAND Focus on the question at hand sir. Not the questions you answered, because you can't go back anyways and you definitely can't predict the next question or its difficulty level, so might as well focus on the one in front of you.

Imagine what would happen if tennis players kept thinking about the last serve wich dey "couldn't" take advantage of rather than the ball coming towards them at 90 miles an hour??? So focus on finding the solution to the present problem and not its difficulty level. It could be experimental. Perhaps the GMAT test makers considered it tough. It could be anything. So do not predict while you're in battle. Defend and attack as required

3. Suppose you got some questions wrong in the end, so what ? For all you know, the last few questions matter 'as much as' all the other questions in the test. On GMATPREP (which follows the same algorithm as the original test software), i had got the last 4 questions wrong in the quant section and the last 3 questions wrong in the verbal too, still i scored 700!!! I have faced this too. You know what i did ? I practiced more questions. Beginning with the OG or wichever you find easiest

, do questions in sets of 10,37 or 41. Then ANALYSE . Analysis and re-work is way more important than the source of preparation. The method means everything

My dear friend, you are extremely intelligent, your average on mocks hovers around 680-720. The problem is confidence in yourself. The way i see it, your average score on the verbal is 33! Thanks to the 800score's calculator, if you had just scored V: 33 in this test, with a Q: 49, you'd have reachd 680-690. If you actually keep your nerves next time... you will cross 710

You have done it before man, you can do it again. I'm an atheist, but i read that book called "The Secret", and it did have one good point. "You get out of bed in the morning feeling bad, your whole day goes bad. You get out of bed feeling happy, your whole day seems to go great." Its all in the head really. The GMAT is just another test.So work on your psychology more than your skills. ITS ALL IN YOUR HANDS AND ITS ALL IN YOUR HEAD

Take your time to prepare. You'll do great. All the Best

vwjetty · Answer

keep your head up high man. I bank normally in the 600's and I got the same exact score you got. Don't worry about it. Keep on going.

eladshus · Answer

Guys,

Wow, Frankly speaking, I did not expect such a huge support from members here... This really makes a difference. I kept reading on members that were inspired and motivated by others and eventually managed to score high on the GMAT. This is exactly how I feel now with the apparent willingness from your end to help me..

whiplash2411 - I actually took 3 days of vacation from studying and started once again (not a week, but I think 3 days were enough).

rishiraj - I will keep that in mind.. Usually I am a hard work type of person that does not give up easily. I really believe that from failures we can learn much more than from successes, and failure makes a person appreciate more the victory..

digvijayk - man - how can I even put my appreciation into words? Your analysis just opened my eyes. Everything related to the GMAT needs to be put in the right proportion and I must not overload myself with extra pressure related to the importance of the exam. In the actual exam, I was working more with "feelings" than mechanically, my head was analyzing not only the questions but also the GMAT algorithm. Next time I must come with more confidence.

So guys, thanks again. I will keep you posted on my progress..

And one more thing - let's put it that way - no one is going to know about my next GMAT date except for me, family and GMAT Club!!!

youval100 · Answer

Man, I deeply sympathize with what you are going through.

Analyzing your thorough debrief, I must agree it all sums up to your mental ability in the t-day. You need to separate between the GMAT and the MBA. In fact until completing the GMAT try to forget its existence. I recommend that you start taking control of your thoughts during the preparation for the exam. Every time a negative thought snicks into your mind fight it back.By doing so you will practice your mental skills. This technique really helped me in the t-day because I was already trained to handle bad thoughts. Use 1 or 2 sentences that have an effect on you. practice breathing, and above all do not judge yourself during exams. Practice a bunch of extremely difficult exercises. (don't do it too close to the test day). Experience what goes into your mind when you feel like your are failing. Overcome these negative thoughts and fight back, never surrender even if it feels like there is no use in continuing with the exam.

Reading your last post, I can tell you are on the right track. 
Best of luck,
Youval

From 570 to 550! Sad and Bad GMAT story. Please advice

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