GMAT Strategy

Alright, so it is the day after I bombed the GMAT. I am still very bummed out and feel defeated, but atleast my thoughts are slightly more clear. Here is the scenario, please provide your feedback.

After just shy of 4 months of preparation, I hit 650 on my Manhattan practice exam last Thursday (6/25/15). I was pumped as I felt my studying was starting to pay off. My prior practice tests were in the 570-590 range but usually were taken under differing circumstances that probably slightly affected my score. Nevertheless the 650 seemed to be a breeze for me as a rolled through the test and was methodical in every answer I selected. All said, I was confident that I would hit 650 yesterday when I took the real thing. Much to my chagrin that was not the case.

My weekend started with a 2.5 hour drive to an AirBnb I was staying in from Saturday until Monday right before my test at 2:00 PM. I traveled in hopes of taking the test on a Monday after refreshing over the weekend from work. When I arrived Saturday, I picked up some groceries and hunkered down for the evening and the next day studying and preparing for the exam. I made sure I ate the right types of food, exercised Saturday & Sunday and made sure I had plenty of sleep.

When Monday rolled around I tried to sleep in a little, but couldn't and I was up around 8:00 AM. I ate a light breakfast of yogurt and granola, read a little bit, watched some of Wimbledon and ESPN, and then went for about a 15-20 minute run around 10:30 AM. After my run, I relaxed, hydrated, and started to cook a little bigger meal for brunch. After I ate I hoped in the shower and cleaned up and got ready for my exam by about 12:15 PM* which gave me about 45 minutes or an hour just to relax before I walked out the door.

I drove to the test center about 15 minutes away, and when I arrived I had 35 minutes until my exam was expected to start. I waited in line while Pearson struggled to get their check-in equipment to work. They then proceeded to warn us that they were expecting a fire alarm to go off that afternoon and they did not know what time it would occur. They said it would last about a minute and include strobes and sirens, but we did not need to evacuate and we should just proceed on with our test during the alarm. As if my stress about doing well on the exam had not already peaked it kept going up. Finally, I got into the testing room and began my exam. The essay went alright, it was not the strongest assumptions I had every been able to pull together, but the structure was good and would have probably pulled a respectable score. Next, was the IR which went fine. Then it was time for the main show: Quant & Verbal. I had my page setup in grid pattern to help me with my timing through the quant, but had to use the first tow for IR and the Essay, so my timing was thrown off throughout the entire quant section. During the quant section I felt as if I "blacked out" it was almost like I had never seen anything I was being tested on before. During the break, I tried to regroup and pull it together, but my composure was shot. I sat back down for the verbal and started hammering it out. I was doing alright early on and then the problems either were significantly harder or my brain was shutting down. I started second guessing myself and rereading things multiple times. I finally finished and when my score popped up on the screen I was shocked. I knew I had done poorly, but I never in my life expected to only hit 470. I think I looked at my scores for 5 seconds before going to the next slide and cancelling my results.

This is a lot to take in, but someone please give me some advice moving forward.

*It should also be noted that there was external pressure to do well on the exam and be finished with studying as well as other issues that influenced my stress level on test day.

Thanks,
MC

First, know that your experience isn't that uncommon. External stresses can sometimes have an impact. (Which is to say nothing of internal pressure.) People have off-days. Spend a little time on any GMAT forum, and you'll see dozens of stories like this. Just make sure that you also notice the dozens of stories that involve an off-day being one unpleasant moment in a process that culminates with an excellent score.

Going forward, you'll have two primary goals: to raise the average score of your practice tests and to learn to handle the stress of test day a little better. (And one would hope that this is the only time you'll have to deal with an inopportune fire alarm.)

To help you increase your practice test scores, we'll need to know a bit more about your process: when you reviewed your old practice tests, were you able to discern any patterns in terms of the types of questions you tended to miss? Did you assemble a list of strategic takeaways to review after each test? What official material did you complete? (Official Guide? Mba.com Question Pack? GMATPrep practice tests?)

To deal with the stress of test day, I'd encourage you to incorporate some mindfulness meditation into your regimen. There's plenty of good research about how powerful the affects of such a practice can be on standardized test scores.

David/Rich,

Thank you both for responding to my post.

David,

I have scoured the forums and have seen the reassuring post of others failures before success, which has provided a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

Already I have some ways to reduce stress on test day. I think the following tweeks should help:

1) Take the GMAT locally so I am in a familiar environment
2) Schedule the GMAT for the morning since I am a "morning person" and have always done my best early in the day.
3) Know that I can do exactly what I did on Monday - CANCEL the score and/or retake it again 31 days later.
4) I will try mindfulness meditation as well to see what that can do. I have not ever given meditation of any type a chance.

My four month process has been as follows: Late February I began an online Manhattan GMAT course with a small group. I worked the homework and tried to grasp the general strategy and foundation throughout the class. Following the class, I was moved for work so I took about three weeks off, but when I geared back up I began a more problem regimented approach. I completed all the OG PS & DS questions which I was fairly good at (per the Manhattan GMAT Navigator I was averaging around the 600-700 range for correct answers). My verbal studying has been more sporadic as I consistently hit 60 percentile or above on practice tests - still need work but quant has really been my main weakness.

After taking I usually review the quant and rework the problems to better understand the material. I do not typically right a list of the patterns that our occurring, but I do review them to know where to focus my efforts for the next couple of weeks.

As mentioned above I will give the meditation a shot. I wish we could chew gum in the exam as well because that would really calm my nerves and help me hone in on the task at hand.

Rich,

Let me see if I can help you, help me. In response to your questions please see below:

1) Out of the 5 practice exams I took two full exams with IR & Essay (my two highest scores), one exam with just the essay, and two with just quant and verbal.
2) All my exams were taken at a public library with the exception of one which I took at our jobsite office trailer on a Saturday.
3) No, most started anytime between 10AM-12PM.
4) During the 650 and a couple other exams I chewed gum.
5) I never took any CAT more than once.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,
MC

Know that I can do exactly what I did on Monday - CANCEL the score and/or retake it again 31 days later.

Do know that GMAC recently changed their policy about how long you need to wait before retaking the exam. Beginning July 19, you'll only need to wait 16 days for a retake. (I'm not an advocate of only waiting two weeks, but it's good to have up-to-date info.) https://www.mba.com/us/the-gmat-blog-hub ... tures.aspx