What Happened? 710 - 580

Question

I started studying in March, I took the MGMAT class live online. I recently scored 700 on my Kaplan prep test and 710 on Manhattan's CAT . I took the test today and scored

IR : 6
Q: 32
V:37
580

I did not study for IR, Can someone help me shed light on what happened?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Mco100,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. 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. If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out:

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 your CATs in the same "order" as you took the sections on the Official GMAT?
4) Did you take your CATs at the same time of day as when you took the Official GMAT?
5) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? 
6) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE?

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

HKD1710 · Answer

Hi Mco100 , First of all mock scores except GMATPrep are not so reliable. But it is clear that there were issues in Quant section. When we score well in mocks but test day gives a really different picture then ESR can help you know the mistakes. To know how ESR looks like and howmuch helping can it be, please see this - https://gmatclub.com/forum/information-on-new-gmat-esr-report-beta-221111.html Upload your ESR on the abobe link to get it reviewed by experts. You will then know what so different happened at the test day. Please ask if there is any specific information i can help you with.

Mco100 · Answer

1. Skipped IR and Essay on last two CATs
2. 2 in the office, 700 at home, 710 in the office 
3. Took the first two in the old order, took the 700 scores in the same order at test Q, V, IR, E
4. No. Took real exam at 8am earliest I've ever taken any cat 
5. Never paused, took longer on exam day q 1
6. No

At Test I felt confident I was getting it right. In 700 scores I felt I was failing it. Got frozen on 1st question in quant on exam, not because I did not know it

CAT 1 - 5/9/17 Manhattan
Q 36 V 30 finished on time

CAT 2 - 06/07/2017 Manhattan
IR 0 Q 33 V 30

CAT 3 - 06/24/2017 Manhattan
IR 0 Q 27 V 36 Did not finish on time, guessed rush on last 6 in Q ran out of time on last 3

CAT 4 - Kaplan 07/08/2017
IR 5 Q45 V 41 finished on time, least nervous

CAT 5 - Manhattan 07/21/2017
IR 1.63 Q41 V 45 finished on time

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Mco100,

From your prior post, there were a couple of 'red flags' in terms of how you took your CATs. Before we discuss those issues though, I have a few additional questions about the lead-up to Test Day and Test Day itself:

1) What did you do in the 3 days before your GMAT?
2) How did you sleep the night before your Test?
3) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home?
4) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test?
5) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
6) Did you finish any sections early?
7) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)?

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

Mco100 · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC

See attached. Type indicates GMAT and GRE conversion. Independent is isolated Q or V practice set of 37 Questions timed

What is happening, what do I need to focus on?

Mco100 · Answer

mcelroytutoring  what do you recommend?

mcelroytutoring · Answer

Hi  Mco100 , I recommend that you start taking real GMATPrep tests, as they are a much better gauge of your actual GMAT score than Kap. or Manhattan tests (or any third-party tests for that matter). Taking full, uninterrupted and appropriately timed practice tests is of course important as well, as others have noted.

Also, providing an ESR would help us experts immensely. I can tell you from your score of Q32 that your Quant preparation let you down big time. You must have struggled on the crucial first 10-12 questions of the Quant...and it's all downhill from there, no matter how well you perform on the remainder of the section.  Yes, you can still order an ESR, even if you've cancelled your score !

Some GMAT test-takers do see score variations of 100 points or more. They are simply inconsistent by nature. If you can score 710 once, then you can do so again. However, you might need several tries to get there--and you can't trust a best-guess score from a synthetic, third-party test.

Remember that you get up to 8 lifetime GMAT attempts. Try, try again.

Mco100 · Answer

mcelroytutoring  I took the official GMAT Prep exam today. I got

Results
Q:47 I had less than 30 seconds for the final 4-5 questions and guessed them before that I random guessed 2-3 before I spent a lot of time on the first question. Flasshback nerves 
V:34 I finished with 4 minutes left
660

Also see the chart I included from excel for all past exams

Mco100 · Answer

Any insights?

GMATNinja · Answer

Sorry, I know that I'm late to the party here... but a few chunks of this article certainly apply to you, especially reasons #1, #5, and maybe #6 or #7: https://gmatclub.com/forum/experts-topi ... 46658.html

I hope this helps, and good luck with your retake!

Mco100 · Answer

Thanks. What is a correct way to address #5? Take tests every so often? Apply the same techniques whenever I take tests or is there something else I am missing?

GMATNinja · Answer

Under #5 in that article, check out the links to the SC, RC, and CR guides for beginners (also in my signature below). The articles don't necessarily talk explicitly about consistency, but the idea is that you need to have an approach to every question type that you do EVERY time. You should be reading with the same pace and intensity and attention to detail EVERY time. Regardless of whether you're doing a practice test, a real test, or just some homework out of the OG or whatever.

If you're being 100% consistent in your approach, then 100% consistent results will follow. One reason why I sometimes advocate using LSAT materials for CR & RC is that each LSAT section is roughly of the same difficulty, so your results should be basically the same every time you do an LSAT section -- both in terms of the number of questions you miss, and the amount of time you take on each section. The LSAT has its flaws as a resource for the GMAT (more on that  here ), but if you do five LSAT sections and your results are bouncing all over the place, it's a sign that you haven't mastered the art of finding a consistent approach to CR & RC yet.

On quant, I usually recommend waiting a day or two after doing each set (or practice test), and then redo your errors from scratch, pretending that you've never seen those questions before in your life. Whenever you say "holy poop on a stick, how the fork did I miss THAT one?!", make a note of it. That's a sign that you're being sloppy and inconsistent, and you need to address the fact that you're doing a lousy job of reading the question carefully and rechecking your work.

Once your homework is 100% consistent, see if you can get 100% consistent results on your practice tests. And if you can do that, odds are good that you'll do the same on the actual exam -- even if you're a little bit geeked up because it's showtime.

I hope this helps!

Mco100 · Answer

Hi  EMPOWERgmatRichC , the practice tests I took on GMATPrep2 were 710 Q 44 V41 (Dec 23) and GMATPrep1 690 Q47 V37 (Nov) I scored Q41-47 on Magoosh and other practice tests. Scored 710 Q44 on MGMAT and in the exam Scored a 660 Q39 V41. I was running out of time on Quant for the last 10 or so questions. I thought it was time but my ESR seems to indicate there was a problem from the beginning. I would like feedback to know what I can do to get a Q44+ on the real exam!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Mco100,

Before we discuss your ESR, it would help if you answered my questions from the prior post:

1) What did you do in the 3 days before your GMAT?
2) How did you sleep the night before your Test?
3) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home?
4) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test?
5) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
6) Did you finish any sections early?
7) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)?

In addition, I'd like to see the FULL ESR. If you'd rather not post it all here, then you can feel free to PM or email it to me.

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

Mco100 · Answer

Sent PM.

1. I don't recall doing anything different, I studied for the 3 days before the test and and tried to go over all the concepts I had in a notebook. 
2. Timed sleep - tests were in the morning before 9am
3. 1st GMAT <4min drive, 2nd GMAT <4min Uber
4. None I knew
5. Came out thinking about sections I missed
6. No
7. Yes badly

What Happened? 710 - 580

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