Studied and scored a 360 after getting much higher on practice

Question

Hi everyone,

I just came back from taking the GMAT today and feel disappointed and also surprised with my score. I believe I got a 360. On the two GMATprep tests I took, I received a 550 and 560. I took one practice before that on Princeton Review, I think, and got a 500. I was never aiming for a 600. I only wanted 500 or more. It was weird because I got a 6 on IR, whereas I never got above a 3 or 4 in practice. I did better in math than verbal, but verbal was really low, which I don't understand, because I felt like I grasped the problems. The only thing is I spent the majority of time on the first 20 questions of verbal, and mostly guessed on the remaining 20. I also didn't answer 1 question.

I have been studying for 2 months, and felt prepared. Only prepped with books like Princeton Review, Manhattan, and did not take a course. I also felt good during the test and was a little dazed by the 360. Any suggestions as to how this happened and how I can improve?

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

A score of 360 shows a clear lack of fundamentals. Also the fact that you guessed the last 20 questions speaks for itself about how you managed the time badly.
Your target score can certainly be achieved, but I would recommend you to start a fresh.

1. How long did you study?
2. Did you take the mock CATs including the AWA and IR?
3. What are your sectional splits?
4. Did you solve the questions from the Official Guide?

You need to build the concepts/fundamentals before you jump in solving the problems. You can do so by choosing one of the following ways:

1. In person classes/private tutoring
2. Online classes
3. Self paced online preparatory course
4. Book heavy approach

Since you have already tried a book heavy approach, I would recommend you to chose another approach. Whatever you choose, make sure that you choose one. Because GMAT tests you on some concepts and fundamentals that you can learn from a course. Most of the prep companies including ours offer a free trial of the course. You can take the trial and see if the course suits you.

In addition to the preparatory material, buy the Official Guides too and the 4 official mock CATs. They should be an indispensable part of your preparation.

You need close to 3 months to prepare well for the GMAT.

1. Understand the concepts and fundamentals before jumping into problem solving
2. Solve full length CATs including AWA and IR. You can get two free GMAT Prep mock CATs and can purchase two more from mba.com
3. Make sure you solve the official questions from the Official Guide

anuarumugam13 · Answer

I know I will get a lot of flack on guessing for last 20, but I honestly thought the last 20 didn't matter. I read in a book that the computer zeroes in on your score after the first 10-20, so I assumed that if I did well on first 20, the last 20 would essentially not matter. Was this wrong? I'm confused about computer adaptive and what it means.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

HI anuarumugam13,

Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) on their studies before they hit their 'peak' scores, so it's likely that you just have not put in enough time and effort yet.

Before we talk about anything else, can you tell me the name of the 'book' that told you the last 20 questions in each section "didn't matter?" If it wasn't a book (maybe it was on a website or from a user), then can you name the source?

When you took your 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 your Official GMAT?
4) Did you do anything that you weren't allowed to do on Test Day (skip sections, pause the CAT, eat/drink while taking it, etc.)?

Using this 360 as a gauge, you have some serious work to do to raise your Official Score to a 500+. Thankfully, that goal is reasonable, but you'll likely need far more 'structure' in your studies and the proper guidance to make sure that you're training in the proper way.

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

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

This fact is as far from the truth as it can be or it is a very distorted version of the fact. It would be interesting to know the source.
The CAT keeps on adjusting your score based on the difficulty of the questions that you get correct.

While it is true that the first few questions play a vital role in building your score, if you guess on the rest of the questions, you score will surely go for a toss (and it did)
Each and every question is important on the GMAT.

AjiteshArun · Answer

As  OptimusPrepJanielle  pointed out, this is incorrect. Take a look at what the OG says about this:

WayneHam · Answer

didn't read all the replies but you should also have read that if you don't finish there's a big penalty, I think that happened to me the first time on my quant, not sure if I hit the confirmation on the last one in time but I also did very poorly on the quant, like 30 something percentile.

Also, what it says about the first 10 questions sounds more like if you want to get 100% on the test you need to get those first 10 questions right...

Also, what it says about the first 10 questions sounds more like if you want to get 100% on the test you need to get those first 10 questions right...

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi WayneHam,

As long as you bubbled one of the five answer choices on the last question in the section, then you received credit for answering it (even if you didn't hit the 'confirm' button before the clock ran out). Even if you had completely run out of time and not answered that last question, the penalty associated with not answering JUST 1 question is minimal, so that would not be enough to explain your overall Scaled Score/percentile in that section.

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

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