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Manhattan GMAT score dropped 70 points! What to do?

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Manhattan GMAT score dropped 70 points! What to do?

by csterling » Sat May 22, 2010 11:45 am
Just finished taking my second MGMAT practice test and I my score dropped significantly.

1st time (4/25/2010): Quant 43, Verbal 32 - 620 (Finished quant with 5 minutes left/ Verbal on time)
2nd time (5/22/2010): Quant 39, Verbal 28- 550 (Finished quant with 11 minutes left/ Verbal on time)

I am very confused as to what happened. I will say that in-between taking the two test I almost entirely focused on CR. I feel like i was anxious and forgot some of the math. My score suggest i forgot both.

I have a few questions/ advice if anyone would be willing to answer:

1. Is it necessary to consistently spend time working all types of problems even when you are trying to focus on just one?

2.I was confident that i could get to a 650 before it was all over with but now I'm just not sure. Has this happened to anyone else? If so, how did you bounce back?

3. Should I consider my score of 620 a fluke and not representative of my ability?

One more thing- I took a MGMAT practice test in November of 2009 and scored a 540. Since then i have taken Manhattan's gmat class and have not finished all general and advanced homework.

Thanks
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by grockit_andrea » Sat May 22, 2010 1:35 pm
I can't speak for Manhattan tests or curriculum specifically, but over my years of tutoring I've seen the scores on students' Test 2 drop from scores on Test 1 with probably about 80% of all students. It's so common that I usually tell students ahead of time to expect a decline in the score as part of the learning curve, and not to be alarmed by it. Generally speaking, when you get to your second test, you've learned new methods but haven't yet become adept at applying them in a time-efficient manner, so your overall timing suffers and that produces a lot of anxiety, which then impacts confidence, accuracy, etc. I would absolutely NOT consider this a sign that your studying isn't working, but also don't dismiss it as a fluke; it's an indication that you need to put in the time to master the areas that you've been working on. You're at a normal stage in the test prep process, and now your job is to push through it and continue to fine-tune your understanding of the test's contents
And as far as your concentration on one subject area, it's probably a good idea to spread your studying out a little more among the different topics. Focusing on only one area at a time is going to make it harder to see any overall improvement on your practice tests. Even if you feel like only one area needs real attention, keeping the other areas from getting rusty will benefit you in the long run.
Andrea A.
Grockit Tutor
https://www.grockit.com
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