Hi all,
To keep this as short as possible, I took for the Manhattan GMAT course, followed the syllabus and practiced on my own each day, and my last practice CAT was 620. I took the official exam today and scored a dismal 500. I have no idea what went wrong, but during the test I felt well.
Obviously I am taking the exam again in a month or two, if anybody has any pointers, feel free to shoot them my way. A little help goes a long way.
Marcos
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After 3 months and MGMAT course --> dismal 500
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mcavassuto
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Brent@GMATPrepNow
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I'm sorry to hear that things didn't go so well for you on test day. Your practice tests suggest that these most recent test results are not indicative with your abilities.
To help determine what caused this, it might be useful to answer a few questions:
- When you wrote the practice tests, did you complete ALL sections, including the AWA and IR sections?
- How did your time management during the practice tests compare with your time management during the official test?
- Did you consistently take practice tests at the same time as your scheduled official test?
- During the test, did you feel anxious/tired/angry/hungry/frustrated/confident?
- Were the conditions at the test center adequate?
- Did you sleep well before the test?
Once we identify the reason(s) for this significant score decrease, we'll be able to determine the best course of action.
Cheers,
Brent
To help determine what caused this, it might be useful to answer a few questions:
- When you wrote the practice tests, did you complete ALL sections, including the AWA and IR sections?
- How did your time management during the practice tests compare with your time management during the official test?
- Did you consistently take practice tests at the same time as your scheduled official test?
- During the test, did you feel anxious/tired/angry/hungry/frustrated/confident?
- Were the conditions at the test center adequate?
- Did you sleep well before the test?
Once we identify the reason(s) for this significant score decrease, we'll be able to determine the best course of action.
Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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mcavassuto
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Hi Brent,
I'll try to answer your questions as short as possible.
I took all practice tests under test conditions, taking only indicated breaks etc.
My time management on the test seemed good, where I ended Quant with 50 seconds to spare and Verbal with 30.
I always took practice tests at noon, just when my official test was scheduled.
I felt fine during the test, the Quant format was different to what I was accustomed to, I guess this made me nervous/anxious etc.
Test conditions were fine, no noise and just a few people.
I slept very well the night before, so I know this wasn't an issue.
Marcos
I'll try to answer your questions as short as possible.
I took all practice tests under test conditions, taking only indicated breaks etc.
My time management on the test seemed good, where I ended Quant with 50 seconds to spare and Verbal with 30.
I always took practice tests at noon, just when my official test was scheduled.
I felt fine during the test, the Quant format was different to what I was accustomed to, I guess this made me nervous/anxious etc.
Test conditions were fine, no noise and just a few people.
I slept very well the night before, so I know this wasn't an issue.
Marcos
GMAT/MBA Expert
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Brent@GMATPrepNow
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Hi Marcos,
Wow, those weren't the answers I was expecting. When there's a 130-point drop, there's usually something that could be identified as the cause.
Were your other practice tests in the 620 range?
Were any of those tests official practice tests (aka GMATPrep tests)?
What do you mean when you say the "Quant format was different to what I was accustomed to"?
Finally, what were your breakdowns (Quant/Verbal) for the practice tests and today's official test?
Cheers,
Brent
Wow, those weren't the answers I was expecting. When there's a 130-point drop, there's usually something that could be identified as the cause.
Were your other practice tests in the 620 range?
Were any of those tests official practice tests (aka GMATPrep tests)?
What do you mean when you say the "Quant format was different to what I was accustomed to"?
Finally, what were your breakdowns (Quant/Verbal) for the practice tests and today's official test?
Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
GMAT/MBA Expert
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[email protected]
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Hi Marcos,
Brent's asked many of the questions that I would have asked, but I have a few additional questions that I'm hoping that you can answer:
1) What were your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores on your Official GMAT?
2) What were these scores on your practice CATs?
3) How long did you study?
4) Which "brand" of CATs did you take?
5) Did you take any of these CATs more than once?
6) What did you do during the last week of your studies?
7) What is your goal score?
Thankfully, Business Schools don't care if you take the GMAT more than once. Also, since the GMAT is a standardized, predictable Exam, you CAN train to CRUSH it.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Brent's asked many of the questions that I would have asked, but I have a few additional questions that I'm hoping that you can answer:
1) What were your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores on your Official GMAT?
2) What were these scores on your practice CATs?
3) How long did you study?
4) Which "brand" of CATs did you take?
5) Did you take any of these CATs more than once?
6) What did you do during the last week of your studies?
7) What is your goal score?
Thankfully, Business Schools don't care if you take the GMAT more than once. Also, since the GMAT is a standardized, predictable Exam, you CAN train to CRUSH it.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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mcavassuto
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Hi Rich,
1) Q was 32 and V was 26.
2) I believe my last practice CAT was Q 39 and V 32. And the previous one 39 and 31.
3) the Manhattan GMAT course began in october and ran through november. Where I studied each day 2 hours after work. Last three weeks I studied 5 hours a day because I left my job.
4) all the CATs i took were Manhattan's.
5) I took in total 4 CATs.
6) Last week was just reviewing a couple hours each day.
7) Given my background, I'd like to score 680+. I'm a long way from doing so but I know I can do this.
Thanks for your help!
Marcos
1) Q was 32 and V was 26.
2) I believe my last practice CAT was Q 39 and V 32. And the previous one 39 and 31.
3) the Manhattan GMAT course began in october and ran through november. Where I studied each day 2 hours after work. Last three weeks I studied 5 hours a day because I left my job.
4) all the CATs i took were Manhattan's.
5) I took in total 4 CATs.
6) Last week was just reviewing a couple hours each day.
7) Given my background, I'd like to score 680+. I'm a long way from doing so but I know I can do this.
Thanks for your help!
Marcos
GMAT/MBA Expert
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[email protected]
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Hi Marcos,
With Scaled Score drops in both the Quant AND Verbal sections, there's at least one factor that you haven't accounted for in your posts. As such, I have some more follow-up questions.
1) You didn't completely answer this question before - did you take the ENTIRE practice CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take any of these CATs more than once?
3) What did you do in the morning before you left for the Testing Center?
4) How long did it take you to get to the Testing Center from your home?
5) Was there anything about Test Day that surprised you or "threw off" your performance? Were you late to the Center, did you come back late from your breaks? Were there any distractions in the computer lab?
6) What did you do during your two 8-minute breaks?
With a 600, you're actually not that far away from scoring 680, but we really have to define why your Test Day performance didn't line up with your CAT performance before you retake the GMAT.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
With Scaled Score drops in both the Quant AND Verbal sections, there's at least one factor that you haven't accounted for in your posts. As such, I have some more follow-up questions.
1) You didn't completely answer this question before - did you take the ENTIRE practice CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take any of these CATs more than once?
3) What did you do in the morning before you left for the Testing Center?
4) How long did it take you to get to the Testing Center from your home?
5) Was there anything about Test Day that surprised you or "threw off" your performance? Were you late to the Center, did you come back late from your breaks? Were there any distractions in the computer lab?
6) What did you do during your two 8-minute breaks?
With a 600, you're actually not that far away from scoring 680, but we really have to define why your Test Day performance didn't line up with your CAT performance before you retake the GMAT.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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MartyMurray
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One thing I have noticed is that the questions on tests made by test prep companies can tend to be subtly different from those on the official test. The questions on official tests tend to be tricky in their own way, and test you in a way that is all their own.
So, it's possible that one thing that is going on here is that you didn't exactly prepare for the GMAT, you prepared for a MGMAT CAT, which is close, but not exactly the same thing.
So maybe the next thing you should do is take an official practice CAT to get a better feel for official GMAT questions and to get a sense of what you need to do to raise your score.
There are four official practice CATs available. Two of them are included in the GMAT Prep software available at MBA.com and the other two are included in PowerPrep, which is the predecessor to GMAT Prep and which can be downloaded from the Resource Links page of Beat The GMAT.
I can tell you that my scores on GMAT Prep and PowerPrep tests were within 20 points of my actual score, and I definitely noticed the difference between them and practice CATs made by test prep companies.
Another thing you could do, if you have not already, is make your study test centered rather than concepts centered. What I mean by this is take an official practice CAT, or two, and assess from that what you can change to raise your score. You already have exposure to most of the concepts that one might apply on test day. Now focus on developing skill in applying those concepts to getting correct answers.
Now check this out. In a way, this is a test of how many correct answers you can get in a row. In other words, one can get questions right, but, if they are not in a row, then that doesn't raise your score. On practice tests I have seen a person get right significantly more questions than I did, and get a score 150 points lower. So that could be part of what happened in your case. In order to get the higher points awarded to harder questions you need to keep getting questions right as they get more challenging . So by preparing for MGMAT CATs rather than the actual test, you might have just been enough off your game to not get those more challenging questions right.
In addition to using the official CATs and your own assessment of things, you could use other resources such as this forum and other companies' materials. Each person or company has a different take on what it takes to score high on the test and by amalgamating ideas from all of it, you can optimize your preparation.
Finally, it seems that one thing I have been seeing is that often people prepare for this as if they were preparing for a class related test. They study material and learn concepts and then see how they do. The thing is this is not really a test of concepts and rules. While obviously they are useful, the concepts and rules are just building blocks for tricky questions, and in some cases even, questions one runs into on the actual test can be rather different from anything one has seen in preparation. So, just to be clear, what you really need to be doing is getting better at answering tricky questions. This is about you and your skills, more than concepts or rules. So to raise your score focus on that.
So, it's possible that one thing that is going on here is that you didn't exactly prepare for the GMAT, you prepared for a MGMAT CAT, which is close, but not exactly the same thing.
So maybe the next thing you should do is take an official practice CAT to get a better feel for official GMAT questions and to get a sense of what you need to do to raise your score.
There are four official practice CATs available. Two of them are included in the GMAT Prep software available at MBA.com and the other two are included in PowerPrep, which is the predecessor to GMAT Prep and which can be downloaded from the Resource Links page of Beat The GMAT.
I can tell you that my scores on GMAT Prep and PowerPrep tests were within 20 points of my actual score, and I definitely noticed the difference between them and practice CATs made by test prep companies.
Another thing you could do, if you have not already, is make your study test centered rather than concepts centered. What I mean by this is take an official practice CAT, or two, and assess from that what you can change to raise your score. You already have exposure to most of the concepts that one might apply on test day. Now focus on developing skill in applying those concepts to getting correct answers.
Now check this out. In a way, this is a test of how many correct answers you can get in a row. In other words, one can get questions right, but, if they are not in a row, then that doesn't raise your score. On practice tests I have seen a person get right significantly more questions than I did, and get a score 150 points lower. So that could be part of what happened in your case. In order to get the higher points awarded to harder questions you need to keep getting questions right as they get more challenging . So by preparing for MGMAT CATs rather than the actual test, you might have just been enough off your game to not get those more challenging questions right.
In addition to using the official CATs and your own assessment of things, you could use other resources such as this forum and other companies' materials. Each person or company has a different take on what it takes to score high on the test and by amalgamating ideas from all of it, you can optimize your preparation.
Finally, it seems that one thing I have been seeing is that often people prepare for this as if they were preparing for a class related test. They study material and learn concepts and then see how they do. The thing is this is not really a test of concepts and rules. While obviously they are useful, the concepts and rules are just building blocks for tricky questions, and in some cases even, questions one runs into on the actual test can be rather different from anything one has seen in preparation. So, just to be clear, what you really need to be doing is getting better at answering tricky questions. This is about you and your skills, more than concepts or rules. So to raise your score focus on that.
