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17 Sep 2021, 08:39
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Hi all,
I took my first real GMAT exam today and received a 660 score with (V41,Q39, IR 6), and it came as a real punch in the gut. For context, I took the my first practice GMAT (GMAC Practice test #1) cold approximately three weeks ago and received a 710 (V40,Q46), again, this was with zero studying. I subsequently took three more practice exams over the past few weeks, the results of which are listed below:
Practice exam #1 (Aug 25th) : 710 (V40,Q46, IR 7)
Practice exam #2 (Aug 28th): 700 (V45,Q40, IR 8)
Practice exam #3 (Sep 13th): 740 (V45, Q47, IR 8)
Practice exam #4: (Sep 15th): 770 (V51, Q47, IR 7)
As you can see my actual exam score was well below the +/- 30 range usually given for practice exams, as it was 70 points below my practice exam average, and a whooping 110 points lower than my last practice exam.
I spent the time between practice exams 2 and 3 working to shore up my quant (or so I thought) through TTP and the OG question bank. I also solved 100+ "Hard" CR/SC/RC OG Qs to maintain accuracy and got ~90% right.
I will add that I have tried to approximate test conditions as much as possible during my practice exams. I have only used the two "authorized" 8-minute breaks, did all sections in one siting (except AWA on exams 1&2) I have not used notes, a calculator, the pause button on hard questions etc. during any of my practice exams. Only difference between my practice exams and the real deal was that I took the practice exams at home at my desk and used paper instead of a whiteboard for my calcs. To be perfectly honest I didn't notice much of a difference between the whiteboard and the paper, so don't think that was much of a factor.
I took the exam in the following order (as I have done on all my practice exams):
1. Verbal
2. Quant
3. IRI
4. AWA
Couple of things I know threw me on the exam:
1. Because the interface is different on the real GMAT v. the practice tests (at least v. my laptop) I didn't see the last paragraph of a RC question until I was on Q3 of a 4Q question set relating to the paragraph (basically you had to scroll very carefully or you'd miss that paragraph and go back to the beginning on the passage). Not only did this quite probably cost me at least 1 (quite possibly 2) correct answers, but it also cost me A LOT of time, as the previous Qs that I think I missed didn't make a ton of sense without that paragraph. What's more this occurred in the early "teens" of the verbal section, leaving me short on time for the remainder of the section, to the point where I had to basically just guess on 2/3 of the last three questions, and spend considerably less time than I wanted to on the rest. I'd note that I usually have between 5-10 minutes remaining once I'm done with all verbal questions on my practice exams.
2. The quant score was much more surprising, in that I didn't "feel" as off whilst working through it, however, I definitely spent too much time on some Qs (double-checking answers I basically knew were right) to be "sure", leaving me short on time for other Qs, though I will say I didn't anticipate quite so poor a score (Q39), as that was lower than ANY of my practice test scores. Now having said that I know how much the GMAT tries to "trick" you in quant, and so I do wonder if in combination with my already shattered confidence from verbal (knowing already I'd missed that paragraph) plus the time crunch, I simply missed key details which led me to miss even "medium" questions, which I almost never miss in practice (90-95% accuracy on OG medium practice Qs).
3. At least in verbal, there were at least a couple of question types that I've never come across before. This makes me wonder how accurate the practice exams are, I've been reading different accounts both here and elsewhere suggesting the practice exams are old and unrepresentative of current materials, and this seemed true to a point.
In any event, it seems that looking at this objectively, I should have been able to have done much better and that poor time management, caused by stress of this being the "real thing" was the main culprit here. Does this sound like a reasonable analysis based on the information provided above (including practice test scores) that I have provided, or does it look more like wishcasting? Alternatively, are the practice exams just not representative of the real thing anymore, and so I read too much into my practice results?
I wanted to wrap with a question to the community, given my circumstances, do you believe it would make sense to schedule a retake exam in three weeks time (earliest date I can get)? Or are my practice exam scores just wholly unrepresentative, meaning I'll need more time? In sum, was my poor score due to stress causing poor time management or something else? And if it was stress, any strategies that you could suggest to help deal with it?
I will note that I cancelled my scores out of frustration, so there won't be an ESR. In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have done that, but it is what it is.
I took my first real GMAT exam today and received a 660 score with (V41,Q39, IR 6), and it came as a real punch in the gut. For context, I took the my first practice GMAT (GMAC Practice test #1) cold approximately three weeks ago and received a 710 (V40,Q46), again, this was with zero studying. I subsequently took three more practice exams over the past few weeks, the results of which are listed below:
Practice exam #1 (Aug 25th) : 710 (V40,Q46, IR 7)
Practice exam #2 (Aug 28th): 700 (V45,Q40, IR 8)
Practice exam #3 (Sep 13th): 740 (V45, Q47, IR 8)
Practice exam #4: (Sep 15th): 770 (V51, Q47, IR 7)
As you can see my actual exam score was well below the +/- 30 range usually given for practice exams, as it was 70 points below my practice exam average, and a whooping 110 points lower than my last practice exam.
I spent the time between practice exams 2 and 3 working to shore up my quant (or so I thought) through TTP and the OG question bank. I also solved 100+ "Hard" CR/SC/RC OG Qs to maintain accuracy and got ~90% right.
I will add that I have tried to approximate test conditions as much as possible during my practice exams. I have only used the two "authorized" 8-minute breaks, did all sections in one siting (except AWA on exams 1&2) I have not used notes, a calculator, the pause button on hard questions etc. during any of my practice exams. Only difference between my practice exams and the real deal was that I took the practice exams at home at my desk and used paper instead of a whiteboard for my calcs. To be perfectly honest I didn't notice much of a difference between the whiteboard and the paper, so don't think that was much of a factor.
I took the exam in the following order (as I have done on all my practice exams):
1. Verbal
2. Quant
3. IRI
4. AWA
Couple of things I know threw me on the exam:
1. Because the interface is different on the real GMAT v. the practice tests (at least v. my laptop) I didn't see the last paragraph of a RC question until I was on Q3 of a 4Q question set relating to the paragraph (basically you had to scroll very carefully or you'd miss that paragraph and go back to the beginning on the passage). Not only did this quite probably cost me at least 1 (quite possibly 2) correct answers, but it also cost me A LOT of time, as the previous Qs that I think I missed didn't make a ton of sense without that paragraph. What's more this occurred in the early "teens" of the verbal section, leaving me short on time for the remainder of the section, to the point where I had to basically just guess on 2/3 of the last three questions, and spend considerably less time than I wanted to on the rest. I'd note that I usually have between 5-10 minutes remaining once I'm done with all verbal questions on my practice exams.
2. The quant score was much more surprising, in that I didn't "feel" as off whilst working through it, however, I definitely spent too much time on some Qs (double-checking answers I basically knew were right) to be "sure", leaving me short on time for other Qs, though I will say I didn't anticipate quite so poor a score (Q39), as that was lower than ANY of my practice test scores. Now having said that I know how much the GMAT tries to "trick" you in quant, and so I do wonder if in combination with my already shattered confidence from verbal (knowing already I'd missed that paragraph) plus the time crunch, I simply missed key details which led me to miss even "medium" questions, which I almost never miss in practice (90-95% accuracy on OG medium practice Qs).
3. At least in verbal, there were at least a couple of question types that I've never come across before. This makes me wonder how accurate the practice exams are, I've been reading different accounts both here and elsewhere suggesting the practice exams are old and unrepresentative of current materials, and this seemed true to a point.
In any event, it seems that looking at this objectively, I should have been able to have done much better and that poor time management, caused by stress of this being the "real thing" was the main culprit here. Does this sound like a reasonable analysis based on the information provided above (including practice test scores) that I have provided, or does it look more like wishcasting? Alternatively, are the practice exams just not representative of the real thing anymore, and so I read too much into my practice results?
I wanted to wrap with a question to the community, given my circumstances, do you believe it would make sense to schedule a retake exam in three weeks time (earliest date I can get)? Or are my practice exam scores just wholly unrepresentative, meaning I'll need more time? In sum, was my poor score due to stress causing poor time management or something else? And if it was stress, any strategies that you could suggest to help deal with it?
I will note that I cancelled my scores out of frustration, so there won't be an ESR. In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have done that, but it is what it is.
17 Sep 2021, 11:00
Kudos
Bookmarks
Your GMAC tests are pretty good.. If I were you, I would definitely retake the exam
I would have brushed off this attempt as bad day/ luck and try to take start fresh.
I would start by looking at Enhanced Score report (ESR) and see what exactly went wrong. ESRs are seriously understated, but I found them very useful. The time you spent on each question, your accuracy per block of question - all the statistics are pretty useful to look at
Once I have identified issues, I would go on to practice few more tests, basically build confidence (maybe even give practice tests at the exact timeslot you are planning to re-appear) and start writing test every few days like every 4-5 days and eye like another 4 tests before the actual exam.
I would have brushed off this attempt as bad day/ luck and try to take start fresh.
I would start by looking at Enhanced Score report (ESR) and see what exactly went wrong. ESRs are seriously understated, but I found them very useful. The time you spent on each question, your accuracy per block of question - all the statistics are pretty useful to look at
Once I have identified issues, I would go on to practice few more tests, basically build confidence (maybe even give practice tests at the exact timeslot you are planning to re-appear) and start writing test every few days like every 4-5 days and eye like another 4 tests before the actual exam.
17 Sep 2021, 11:31
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Bookmarks
Hello, SweMAT. There are a few points I would like to touch on from your post. I will say, first off, that a 700+ raw score is outstanding. You definitely have what it takes to reach the 99th percentile. At the same time, 3 weeks is not a lot of study time, so your scores are still in a volatile state, and even a 110-point swing is not inconceivable under such circumstances. If you want to reach the next level of performance, I would urge you to spend more time practicing Easy and Medium questions. Yes, you read that right. The reason is that the GMAT™ punishes mistakes on lower-level questions more than it rewards a strong performance on upper-level questions. In your recent effort, I would guess you flubbed a few questions you would nail in practice at least 9 out of 10 times, but if you can increase your accuracy to 19 out of 20, or 29 out of 30 (or better, of course), then you can place a higher degree of confidence in your practice results.
You also made a common if understandable mistake in according the real exam some sort of special designation, by your own admission taking extra time to check over answers you knew you had in the bag. Just loosen up. You did not do that in practice, right? You have to trust your methods on test day the same way you would in practice, on your mocks. Get rid of all that other mental baggage (i.e. what kind of score you need, what may be riding on the test, how that last question was difficult or unfamiliar). Just keep answering one question at a time—the question right in front of you—and put everything you have into that endeavor, and I promise you that your performance will improve. Keep in mind, roughly a quarter of the questions you see are experimental, so even if something looks "off," different from what you have seen before, the process of tackling that question is no different, and it may not count toward your score at all. Again, just keep moving.
Do not worry about how your practice tests may or may not align with your exam score. Trust me, I read debriefs and work with GMAT™ clients on a regular basis, and for some people, everything fits together like clockwork, while for others, underperformance seems inevitable. But it really is not. When you practice questions on a regular basis and spend time honing your approach to whatever the test throws at you, you can be confident that you have a plan to get yourself out of a sticky situation here or there on the test. (It is no big deal.) You mentioned Target Test Prep. Three weeks is not nearly enough time to utilize such a vast resource. Pour everything you have got into it. Go through the modules that you think are beneath you. Perhaps you will learn a more efficient way to take on a certain question type or topic. You paid for access, so get that return on investment. The TTP team wants you to succeed and is quite supportive.
Finally, in terms of a retake, I think you should be targeting a month. If you put in a lot of quality hours (not just putting in time, but placing an emphasis on engaging with the material to master it) and have the discipline to go through the TTP curriculum, you should be flying high within another month, not leaving things to chance and wondering about how unrepresentative the official mocks may be.
I wish you all the best in your preparation. I hope to read another inspiring debrief at some point in October.
- Andrew
You also made a common if understandable mistake in according the real exam some sort of special designation, by your own admission taking extra time to check over answers you knew you had in the bag. Just loosen up. You did not do that in practice, right? You have to trust your methods on test day the same way you would in practice, on your mocks. Get rid of all that other mental baggage (i.e. what kind of score you need, what may be riding on the test, how that last question was difficult or unfamiliar). Just keep answering one question at a time—the question right in front of you—and put everything you have into that endeavor, and I promise you that your performance will improve. Keep in mind, roughly a quarter of the questions you see are experimental, so even if something looks "off," different from what you have seen before, the process of tackling that question is no different, and it may not count toward your score at all. Again, just keep moving.
Do not worry about how your practice tests may or may not align with your exam score. Trust me, I read debriefs and work with GMAT™ clients on a regular basis, and for some people, everything fits together like clockwork, while for others, underperformance seems inevitable. But it really is not. When you practice questions on a regular basis and spend time honing your approach to whatever the test throws at you, you can be confident that you have a plan to get yourself out of a sticky situation here or there on the test. (It is no big deal.) You mentioned Target Test Prep. Three weeks is not nearly enough time to utilize such a vast resource. Pour everything you have got into it. Go through the modules that you think are beneath you. Perhaps you will learn a more efficient way to take on a certain question type or topic. You paid for access, so get that return on investment. The TTP team wants you to succeed and is quite supportive.
Finally, in terms of a retake, I think you should be targeting a month. If you put in a lot of quality hours (not just putting in time, but placing an emphasis on engaging with the material to master it) and have the discipline to go through the TTP curriculum, you should be flying high within another month, not leaving things to chance and wondering about how unrepresentative the official mocks may be.
I wish you all the best in your preparation. I hope to read another inspiring debrief at some point in October.
- Andrew
