Perplexed by my 550

Find out how Beat The GMAT members tackled GMAT test prep with positive results. Get tips on GMAT test prep materials, online courses, study tips, and more.
This topic has expert replies
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2007 10:10 am
Location: North Carolina

Perplexed by my 550

by PaulyPrime » Thu Jul 26, 2007 8:06 am
I took the GMAT two weeks ago after three months of intense study. I used Kaplan, Kaplan 800, OG11, and GMATPrep as my prep materials. I scored in the high 500s on the Kaplan test (seems to be a normal thing) and scored 710 and 690 on the two GMATPrep tests. My quant score was 43rd percentile and verbal was 62nd percentile. I scored in the 99th percentile in verbal on both of the GMATPrep tests.

In addition, I "lurked" on these boards and gleaned as much as I could from the wisdom and experiences of others.


I did not feel the least bit nervous during test. In fact, I may have felt overly relaxed. I did notice that I didn't get any function, work, or mixture problems which stikes me as odd in retrospect as those seemed to be emphasized in all of my prep material.

At the completion of the test I expected to see a score no lower than 680 pop up on the screen. Instead, a dreaded 550 appeared, lower than any of my practice tests, including Kaplan.

Is this occurence normal? Are there other explanations aside from the standard "nerves" theory which doesn't seem to fit my situation? My wife thinks it was a fluke, but my confidence is shot.

I'm planning on taking the test again at the end of August/beginning of September.

Thanks in advance,

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 80
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 4:51 pm

by fsar45 » Tue Jul 31, 2007 11:13 am
Sorry to hear it...must have been quite a shock to the system. If you were doing well in your prep, it could have just been a bad day. I know it's shaken your confidence, but get right back in there with your prep and work hard toward your goal. You can do it!

Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2007 12:39 pm
Location: London, UK

by GMAT Newbie » Mon Sep 10, 2007 10:43 am
Hey all, I am in the exact same boat!!!
I had a strategy for every type of question and I didn't feel nervous in the exam. I didn't get any of the standard questions!!! Ended up with a 610 when I was expecting a 700.

Don't know how to approach the 2nd round of my studying.

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
Site Admin
Posts: 6773
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:30 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Thanked: 1249 times
Followed by:994 members

by beatthegmat » Mon Sep 10, 2007 12:48 pm
Obviously, there seems to be a big disconnect between the practice test scores you are all reporting vs. your actual GMAT performance.

Before you can successfully launch your second round of studying, it will be critical for you to do some self assessment and pinpoint as best you can what went wrong during your real test...

Was it nerves? Lack of sleep? Etc...
Beat The GMAT | The MBA Social Network
Community Management Team

Research Top GMAT Prep Courses:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/gmat-prep-courses

Research The World's Top MBA Programs:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/school

Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 8:06 pm
Location: Federal Way, WA

by Icemastr » Tue Sep 11, 2007 9:29 pm
On a GMAT Prep practice test I scored 39Q and 39V 640 and I did not miss a single CR or RC problem, but I did miss 14 SC problems so you might have missed more RC and CR quesitons than you thought. I know when I was about midway through my practicing RC and CR I was missing quite a few that I felt confident I had gotten right. I recommend working on SC until you have them down where you are missing hardly any and also work on RC and CR a bit. For me the verbal section seems like it has so much time it is easy to get the RC and CR problems right. SC problems can be done quick, but even with tons of time if you don't know how to solve them, all the time in the world doesn't seem to help me get them right.

Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2007 4:53 pm

by huaone » Sun Sep 16, 2007 12:31 pm
the samething happened to me, except it happened 3 days before the test. i was doing well on my practice tests, scoring around 700-750 on my last few prac tests. 4 days before the test, i scored a 610 on a kaplan test. that's pretty typical of kaplan tests, though it was still a bit low for me. 3 days before the test i took a mgmat prac exam and scored a 530 (around 20th percentile in math). 2 days before the test, i freaked out. i didn't do anything all day and just watched tv. i figured i might have been exhausted from doing too many problems and not eating enough. i ate like a pig leading up to the exam. 1 day before the test, i took another mgmat prac exam and scored a 720 (untimed quant section q50 v38), and on the exam day i scored a 740 (q49 v41).

for some reason i've had success with taking the mgmat quant section untimed. the first time i did this, i scored a 710. the day after, i scored a 750 on gmatprep. and mentioned above, the second time i got a 720 and 740 the day after.

Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2007 7:56 pm

Same Experience

by whatashock » Sun Sep 16, 2007 7:57 pm
Well, the same thing happen to me too!!! I took GMAT yesterday and got 47 Q, and 24V. I've never got verbal lower than 37 in any of MGMAT tests and/or GMATPrep. My test scores are

GMATPrep 1: 48Q, 38V
GMATPrep 2: 47Q, 39V

MGMAT CAT 1: 47Q, 38V
MGMAT CAT 2: 48Q, 37V
MGMAT CAT 3: 48Q, 38V

I was so shocked to see 24V score. I've never got this low of a verbal score, so I don't know what to think. What surprises me ... I thought I was doing fine while taking the test...meaning questions seemed to be in the range of 600-800...I'm just totally lost...???

I guess it's unlikely that GMAT system made an error...don't know.

Does anyone know if there is a way to request Pearson VUE to check for system error in calculation or some other way to just double check the calculated score?

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
Site Admin
Posts: 6773
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:30 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Thanked: 1249 times
Followed by:994 members

by beatthegmat » Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:09 pm
Unfortunately, I hear that getting your test re-scored is pretty much impossible...
Beat The GMAT | The MBA Social Network
Community Management Team

Research Top GMAT Prep Courses:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/gmat-prep-courses

Research The World's Top MBA Programs:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/school