GMAT Shocker!!!!

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GMAT Score:650

GMAT Shocker!!!!

by Ram1985 » Tue Oct 28, 2014 6:23 am
Hi Everyone,

Took my GMAT exam today. Ended up with a totally unexpected score of 650(Q:48, V:32). I was so frustrated with my score that I chose to cancel it. Absolutely no idea what went wrong.

Preparation : OG 13, Verbal Review 2nd edition, Manhattan Study Guides. Additionally, referred to content from GMAT Club and BeattheGMAT forums.

Mock Tests: GMAT Prep1 690
MGMAT1 : 680
MGMAT2: 720
MGMAT3: 720
Veritas Prep Free test : 710
GMAT Prep2: 760 [last week]

I was very confident of scoring >=50 in Quant. And in Verbal too my score kept improving in the practice tests. So, was kind of hoping to get around 40

However, during the test, I felt this strange feeling of psychic numbness :D Normally after a test, I will be able to recall some questions from the test at least, as in in which all problems I got stuck, a better approach I could have used for a problem etc. This time, other than the last RC passage, I can't pretty much recall anything. I don't know whether it is the same with others as well( I know it is not required of a test taker to remember anything after the test. But I basically felt like wanting to get over the test as soon as possible after I reached Q no: 33 in Verbal). From then onwards, I am sure my brain stopped working altogether.

Can anybody here please advise what can I do to improve my score. I have no idea whether my reduction in score is due to a poor accuracy throughout or is it because I kind of got frustrated at the end of each section and made consecutive mistakes in the last few questions. I feel the latter could be the case with Verbal as I was very confident until the last 10 mins or so, after which I just wanted to run through the questions and mark some answer for the sake of completing the section. No idea what went wrong with Quant [And is it possible to tell how many questions could have gone wrong in both the sections based on the score??)

And regarding the IR section, I ran out of time unable to complete the last two questions. Even in the the first 10 questions, except maybe 5 questions I found others to be very time consuming. Even reading the question stem takes 10 mins in Multi source reasoning. Anyways, I am more worried about how to improve score in the other two sections.

Experts - Pls advise

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by [email protected] » Tue Oct 28, 2014 11:33 am
Hi Ram1985,

These types of score drops on Test Day are usually due to a few different possibilities:

1) Some aspect of your practice did NOT match the FULL Test Day experience.
2) There was something about Test Day that you did not anticipate, so your performance was off.
3) A physical problem occurred - you were not properly rested, fed, etc.
4) You just had a "bad day."

Now YOU have to do some analysis. What about Test Day was "different" from your practice? Think about all the details; sometimes little differences can have a big impact. You mentioned experiencing something of a "fatigue" issue at the end of each of the sections, so my first thought is that you were not ready to face a FULL GMAT. When you took your practice CATs, did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections) or did you just take the Quant and Verbal sections? What time of day was your Official GMAT compared to the times that you took your CATs?

Thankfully, Business Schools don't care if you take the GMAT more than once. Before you schedule your next Test though, you really need to try to define what went wrong, so that you can fix it.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
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