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High score on the practice test, low score on the actualGMAT

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High score on the practice test, low score on the actualGMAT

by Carioca » Thu Aug 06, 2009 5:52 pm
Hey folks,

I’m very frustrated right now. I thought maybe one of you guys could share some experience that would help me to improve my score.

Here are my story.

Attempt #1
Preparation: 2 months

I did the OG from the first page to the last page. I thought I was ready for it…

Actual score on the GMAT: 580 Q 46 V 25

Attempt #2

Preparation: 3 months
Kaplan Course:

I averaged 680 on the CATs, with lowest score 640 and highest 710

GMAC official software
Test 1 : 680
Test 2 : 710


On the CATS my highest score (separately) on the Quantitative part was 50 and my highest score on the Verbal part was 42

Everyone says that the Kaplan’s CAT are harder than the actual test then thought that I was well prepared for the actual test.


Actual score on the GMAT: 600 Q 40 V 32


Depression and frustration came along together.

I’m foreigner with background in business. I was always good on math so I had to work a little bit harder on my verbal witch I could improve from 25 to 32, but even 32 was quite low compared to the verbal scores I had on the practice tests.


All my classmates from Kaplan got their actual scores aligned with their CAT, but I got 100 points lower.



I believe I don’t really work well under pressure or something. I don’t know why I can’t get a decent score while I can consistently get high scores on the practice tests.

My target score is something between 680 to 700.
Going to the 3rd attempt in 2 months.

Advices are welcome!

Thanks
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by dmateer25 » Thu Aug 06, 2009 6:36 pm
Your Quant dropped pretty significantly from your first test to your second test. Did you not spend much time studying for quant before the second test?

Where do you struggle in verbal? Do you have trouble understanding the RC passages?
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by Carioca » Fri Aug 07, 2009 9:24 am
I don’t really know why my quant dropped. I think maybe it was foolish self-confidence that made me do the quant part way to fast, I don’t really know.

As far as the verbal, I do struggle in RC. Not that I don’t understand, actually I do understand, but when I’m doing well in the test, the difficulty level increase drastically making me lose precious time understanding the passage, since English is my 2nd language I need an extra effort to understand the most complex RC, it doesn’t come natural.

I don’t believe that I can learn RC. I can do a ton of exercises and get familiar with the passages and questions, but I can’t change the fact I’m foreigner. So I have to be perfect on SC and CR instead.

Do you have any book suggestions for SC specifically?
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by yogami » Fri Aug 07, 2009 9:46 am
Looks like another inner game problem. I am not the one who is an expert but I definitely haven't experienced the actual test but I am sure that I will not panic in the actual one as I have been so much through in life that GMAT is merely a jalapeno compared to the habaneros and mirchis I have had in my past. All I can say is that the key to handle high pressure situations is to totally become outcome independent. Search for inner game threads on this board and find out how people deal with high pressure. You have a good grasp on your fundamentals based on your prep scores but the only problem is the actual test. So its got nothing to do your intelligence. Its your confidence. And confidence is the key to anything in life (including chics :P).
Breathing exercises are invaluable and if you can do that few minutes before your actual test then it will calm you down and get you grounded.
200 or 800. It don't matter no more.
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by gmat_dest » Fri Aug 07, 2009 10:48 am
@Yogami,

hey dude, looks like u have attained nirvana....

any tips to keep calm and dont worry about outcome..have my test in 10 days... i have screwed up in the real test before when I was scoring 700+ in all mocks....
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