Actual GMAT score VS GMAT Official Practice Exam scores

Question

Hi everyone,

Just took my GMAT today and ended up with a score of 710, which was quite a disappointment given my target score of 760 and scores for the GMAT official practice exams.

Wanted to hear your experience with the difficulty levels of quant and verbal sections on actual GMAT vs GMAT official practice exams, and any advice on retaking the GMAT in a few weeks' time. 
  
 Baseline: 
Exam 1 on 18 Oct 2020: 660 (Q44 V37) IR4

After a month of intermittent studying focused mostly on quant: 
Exam 2 on 15 Nov 2020: 710 (Q48 V38) IR4 - saw that quant improved, hence decided to focus on verbal next (focused on SC and CR)

After about 2 months of studying (about 10-15 hours per week) focused on verbal: 
Exam 1 Second attempt on 13 Dec 2020: 750 (Q48 V44) IR5

2 weeks before actual GMAT: 
Exam 3 on 19 Dec 2020: 750 (Q48 V45) IR8
Exam 4 on 20 Dec 2020: 730 (Q49 V40) IR7 - made quite a few silly mistakes, hence the dip as compared with Exam 3
Exam 5 on 23 Dec 2020: 770 (Q50 V46) IR8 
Exam 6 on 25 Dec 2020: 760 (Q49 V42) IR7

Actual GMAT exam on 28 Dec: 710 (Q49 V38) IR6, against target score of 760.
 Quant score was within my expected range, but I felt that verbal could've been much better. I felt that I've understood the patterns in Verbal by the time I took my third practice exam, and was in fact more confident in verbal than quant by the time I was about to take the actual exam. However, my verbal score in actual GMAT is almost as bad as my baseline when I did practice exam 1 (without any studying), which was shocking to me given the time I've put into improving verbal.

I did feel the verbal questions for the actual GMAT was much more difficult than those in any of the practice exams I've taken, especially RC (I felt that the answer options for each RC question were much more convoluted and ambiguous). However, I'm not sure if there's really a significant discrepancy in difficulty levels between the actual GMAT vs the official practice exams (I purchased the extra practice exam packs so that I can get a consistent score range and better predict my actual GMAT score, but it turned out that they were not a good predictor).   Would anyone shed some light on this?

Three additional factors for consideration: 
1.  Sleep:  I didn't really sleep the night before the actual GMAT (not that I didn't want to, but couldn't fall asleep as much as I wanted to, despite knowing the importance of a good night's rest prior to the exam).
2.  Timing:  I struggled with the time management for verbal - perhaps due to the lack of sleep, my attention was not as focused and I took longer to process each question (having to reread once or twice). As a result, I had 1 minute on average for the last 10 questions or so. 
3.  Environment:  I didn't feel particularly nervous during the actual exam at the test centre, but was a bit distracted by the movement of people and the person beside me breathing loudly. Perhaps this coupled with the lack of sleep really affected my attention.

I am now planning for my retake in a few weeks' time, and wanted to see if anyone's had similar experiences and could share any insights/advice based on their own experience with the actual GMAT vs practice exams. Any advice on the retake and the prep leading up to the retake would also be greatly appreciated. 
  
Thank you so much!

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

It seems your Verbal score fluctuates a bit 45 40 46 42 . Is there some area you are a bit slippery on but get lucky with (main idea RC questions perhaps?)

Aceofhearts1 · Answer

Thanks for the reply! I would say CR was my weakness previously but after tons of practice it’s become a lot more manageable.

For RC, I have not done much practice because I didn’t think it’ll get better with practice, as compared with CR and SC which are very much rules-based and there are patterns that are more easily recognisable the more practice one does. Happy to hear alternative perspectives!

Posted from my mobile device

AlekhyaDungala · Answer

hey...i'm a first time test taker and in the initial stage of preparation. Where did you get those many mocks? I found two free mocks in official website.

Aceofhearts1 · Answer

I bought them! You can buy the additional mocks on the official website.

Posted from my mobile device

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Aceofhearts1,

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 710. 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!

Aceofhearts1 · Answer

Thank you so much for your kind advice! Will check out the materials

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Aceofhearts1,

First off, a 710/Q49 is an outstanding Score, so you can comfortably apply to any Business Schools that interest you. As such, a retest is probably not necessary. Depending on the Schools that you plan to apply to, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile and plans. Those Experts should be able to answer your Admissions questions and help define the specific areas of your profile that could use some improvement. There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

While you have identified some factors that could account for your decrease in Score, we have to be careful about assuming that those were the only factors. 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. Before we discuss any of those potential issues though, 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? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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 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

anoushki · Answer

Hi  Aceofhearts1 , I had a very similar experience to you the first time I gave my test. I got a 710 despite score high 760s in mocks. I would suggest you get an ESR. It is a worthwhile investment imo, especially when you aren't sure what went wrong. Feel free to drop a text if you need any help!

Aceofhearts1 · Answer

Thanks for your kind suggestion! Did you retake the exam after scoring 710, and what was your score in the second attempt may I ask?

Posted from my mobile device

anoushki · Answer

Hi, sure! I retook the exam after my first score (710 Q50 V36) and got 760 (Q49 V44) in my second attempt. You can read more about my experience here- https://gmatclub.com/forum/my-journey-t ... l#p2670907 !

Aceofhearts1 · Answer

Hi anoushki,

Thanks for your reply! I read your post. Curious to know if you found that there were any difference in difficulty between the 2 GMAT tests you sat for? From your post, it seemed that you breezed through verbal and IR for the second GMAT. Would you say that your score for the first test was lower than your expectations only because the test center setting felt foreign to you, or do you think it was really extra practice that led to the difference?

Based on my experience with the actual GMAT test, I felt that the verbal was more difficult than most of the official practice tests, and the IR was also one of the most difficult. Hence, a part of me is questioning the consistency in difficulty levels of each GMAT test and correspondingly, the extent to which luck plays a role in the score on actual GMAT.

Just wanted to hear about your experience so I can best plan my strategy ahead as I prepare for the retake. Thank you!

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Great! I'm here if you need me.

anoushki · Answer

Hi  Aceofhearts1 ,
1. Yes, the actual exam feels a notch up than mocks. The reason for this is that the GMAC mocks have been out for many years now and a lot of material we refer to has used and made sure to cover the concepts that the mocks test upon. Hence, unknowingly, stuff feels a little different in the actual exams as you may not really be familiar with a particular type/ concept used in a question. So, it feels 'tougher' at the moment because you need to figure things out, which is the real test.
In objective terms, quant may be slightly tougher in the actual test but verbal is more or less the same as GMAT in a standardized test.

2. Now, coming to variation from one attempt to the other. For Q and V, I found the difficulty level to be similar in both attempts. The second attempt was tougher for Verbal, as predicted because it adapted to my performance. 
In my first attempt, yes, I underperformed in Verbal but when I prepared for the second attempt, that's when I realized there were a lot of bases I am yet to cover and I understand in retrospect that even if I hadn't underperformed, I was not prepared for a V44 level anyway. Even if I had the best day the first time, I believe I was more at a V39/V40 level. While after being shattered after the first attempt, my mocks made me believe my score drop was completely attributable to underperformance, the insight that it was attributable to both comes in hindsight, 
So, performing better + greater conceptual clarity and accuracy in preparing the second attempt, both collectively played a part.

3. For IR, I would have to agree with you. It wasn't good for me the first time but was a breeze the second time around. I had not practiced for it, as such between the two attempts and I clearly remember the dense convoluted mind-boggling multi-source question I saw the first time. I hadn't seen anything like that before and after wasting a lot of time on it, I realized it's best to just guess and move ahead. So, I skipped all three questions pertaining to this multi-source. Everything else was pretty standard. The next attempt around, there were no curvy balls like the first time and hence I moved easily through it.

Aceofhearts1 · Answer

Thanks for your detailed reply! For point 2, what did you do to prepare for your second attempt and specifically verbal? I find that RC is not something that I can readily improve on even with more practice questions. Would really appreciate your guidance here!

Toffelfabriken · Answer

Take a look at the big third-party providers of mock tests, like Veritas, Princeton, Manhattan, e-GMAT, The Economist etc. Many of them offer 1 or 2 free mock tests. Note however that these are not perfect substitutes for original mock tests, and that you should take the scores with a grain of salt.

Aceofhearts1 · Answer

For personal tracking:

Kaplan free mock test on 21 Jan: 720 Q47 V41 IR7
Manhattan Prep free mock test on 22 Jan: 720 Q44 V45 IR 8
Princeton Review free mock test on 23 Jan: 730 Q49 V42 IR 3

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