Wrong on test but got it right when practiced

Question

I wanted to know why it happens that sometimes I take the test and I get the question wrong, but while revisiting the question later I can answer it perfectly without revising the concept. Was I nervous during the test? mind was tired? silly mistake?

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi tr123,

You ask a great question. When self-analyzing how you feel during a test, would you say that you are ever nervous? Would you say that at times you are rushing because you are afraid of running out of time? Both of those reasons certainly could be the cause of your mistakes. With that in mind, I have two very helpful articles that you can check out:

How to Eliminate GMAT Test-Day Anxiety

Improving Your Accuracy on the GMAT

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi tr123,

Most silly/little mistakes can be traced back to a lack of proper note-taking. Every time you choose not to take notes, you will greatly increase your chance of making that type of little mistake. Doing work "in your head" is the WORST way to approach a GMAT question, so you should not purposely choose to work that way. You don't have to be a genius or a 'fast reader' to score at a high level on the GMAT, but you have to be organized and efficient with how you approach questions - and to really maximize your performance, you have to train to take advantage of the Tactics, patterns and little 'secrets' of the Exam. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Test, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

Before I can offer you any additional advice for your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
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) On what dates did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

tr123 · Answer

Most silly/little mistakes can be traced back to a lack of proper note-taking. Every time you choose not to take notes, you will greatly increase your chance of making that type of little mistake. Doing work "in your head" is the WORST way to approach a GMAT question, so you should not purposely choose to work that way. You don't have to be a genius or a 'fast reader' to score at a high level on the GMAT, but you have to be organized and efficient with how you approach questions - and to really maximize your performance, you have to train to take advantage of the Tactics, patterns and little 'secrets' of the Exam. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Test, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

Great point, yes note taking is key and I usually do take notes

Before I can offer you any additional advice for your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Sure!

Studies:
1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
 3.5 months - 16 hours a week

2) What study materials have you used so far?
 Gmat official 2013, 2016, 2021, Magoosh, GMAT Club Forum

3) On what dates did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
 
*took them MGMAT 2&3 on a Thursday from 6PM - 10PM after working 10 AM - 4PM
>>probably not the best idea
 
MGMAT 1 on a Sunday afternoon

Diagnostc (before studying) - 410

MGMAT 1 (Official 27th Sept 2020) - score 590 (Q40 V31)
MGMAT 2 (Manhattan 7 Oct 2020) - score 590 (Q39 V 32)
MGMAT 3 (e-GMAT 15 Oct 2020) - score 530 (Q35 V28)

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
740
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
 When I can get a good score..  
 In july 2020 I thought I would take it in Nov 2020 .. but now i dont think so  
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?
 When? - when I get a good gmat score
Where? - i was aiming for HBS, Insead, ISB (India) and etc. ** Dream Schools**

Thank you  EMPOWERgmatRichC

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi tr123,

First off, raising a 410 to a 590 is a significant achievement - and it shows that you have the capacity to learn, adapt and improve. The jump from 590 to 740 will be a bit more challenging though - and you will have to focus on practicing Tactics and eliminating little mistakes from your work. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

Given the similarities in your CAT Scores from Sept. 27th and Oct. 7th, there is a reasonably chance that you have gotten 'stuck' at this particular score level - and you may have developed some 'bad habits' during your prior studies that are keeping you from scoring higher. Besides taking a practice CAT, what type of study routine have you been following over the last several weeks? Are you following a specific study plan or are you just working through random GMAT subjects?

In addition, "review" is an exceptionally important part of the GMAT training process; your ability to define WHY you're getting questions wrong is essential to defining the areas that you need to work on (and the specific things that you need to 'fix'). As such, I'd like to know a bit more about your last CAT. While a full Mistake Tracker would provide a lot more information, there are some basic questions that you should be able to answer (and the more EXACT you can be with your answers, the better):

After reviewing each section of this recent CAT, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math/verbal that you just could not remember how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?
5) How many Verbal questions did you 'narrow down to 2 choices' but still get wrong?

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

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