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700s in practice but 580 on the real GMAT! Please Help!

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700s in practice but 580 on the real GMAT! Please Help!

by kiddles » Mon Dec 21, 2009 6:11 pm
Hi there,

Well, I got completely owned by the GMAT today. I started preparing four months ago and have been mainly using the MGMAT guides and OGs.

MGMAT 10/12/2009: 600 Q43 V31
MGMAT 11/7/2009: 680 Q48 V34
GMATPrep: 11/14/2009: 640
MGMAT 11/21/2009: 710 Q47 V40
GMATPrep: 12/05/2009: 690
MGMAT 12/12/2009: 750 Q48 V44
MGMAT 12/18/2009: 730 Q49 V41

REAL GMAT: 12/21/2009: 580 Q42 V27 !!!!

I was so shocked. I know I usually don't score as well on my verbals compared to my quants, but I seemed to have be doing okay on verbals over the last month or so. I've never scored that low on verbals before. It may have been my nerves (since it's only the most important academic test of my life so far) or it could be that I didn't manage time well. I've been studying almost every weekday and every Saturday for the last 3-4 months, mainly doing OG questions as per the Manhattan GMAT assignment guides. I walked in to the test feeling fairly confident based on my three 700+ MGMAT practice tests and then was ripped to shreds.

Do any of you have any suggestions? What should be my strategy moving forward? Now that I've seen the MGMAT tests, which ones should I use? How do I improve on my verbals? Other than my Gmat score, my profile for bschool is quite compelling. I really need my 700+ score to complete my profile. Any help is much appreciated!!

Thank you.
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by vivecan2005 » Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:10 pm
kiddles wrote:Hi there,

Well, I got completely owned by the GMAT today. I started preparing four months ago and have been mainly using the MGMAT guides and OGs.

MGMAT 10/12/2009: 600 Q43 V31
MGMAT 11/7/2009: 680 Q48 V34
GMATPrep: 11/14/2009: 640
MGMAT 11/21/2009: 710 Q47 V40
GMATPrep: 12/05/2009: 690
MGMAT 12/12/2009: 750 Q48 V44
MGMAT 12/18/2009: 730 Q49 V41

REAL GMAT: 12/21/2009: 580 Q42 V27 !!!!

I was so shocked. I know I usually don't score as well on my verbals compared to my quants, but I seemed to have be doing okay on verbals over the last month or so. I've never scored that low on verbals before. It may have been my nerves (since it's only the most important academic test of my life so far) or it could be that I didn't manage time well. I've been studying almost every weekday and every Saturday for the last 3-4 months, mainly doing OG questions as per the Manhattan GMAT assignment guides. I walked in to the test feeling fairly confident based on my three 700+ MGMAT practice tests and then was ripped to shreds.

Do any of you have any suggestions? What should be my strategy moving forward? Now that I've seen the MGMAT tests, which ones should I use? How do I improve on my verbals? Other than my Gmat score, my profile for bschool is quite compelling. I really need my 700+ score to complete my profile. Any help is much appreciated!!

Thank you.
Firstly, I think while you were doing MGMAT at home during practice you didn't maintain discipline as in exam.

Secondly it seems you studied and start doing test right after study. In these case where you study quant/verbal and start doing test right after study, your score may go a bit higher than actual worth because somehow you are able to apply fresh memory of formulas, methods and get questions right.

Third thing is that doing again and again MGMAT test actually repeats the same questions where you start getting good score but in actual exams you underperform

Fourth reason could be that you scheduled your test against your cycle like some people are habitual of being smart and active during evening but if they schedule the test in morning hours, they may not perform well.

Fifth reason could be that in practice tests you mostly applied guessing styles and tricky things (eliminating options) and didn't focus much on concepts of beating test and as a result, In practice tests you were able to perform well but not in actual one.

Sixth reason could be that you are habitual of quite and alone environment and didn't feel well at that cubie style GMAT center's atmosphere where many students are lined up on various stations. I have experienced certain people who perform great in closed door office but if they are left in call center/BPO style big room where many others are working on small cubies, they can't perform well.

Don't worry. Analyze the problem and try to mitigate all issues in next attempt. Make sure this time you follow these ideas:

Focus on one book that is OG

Then take as a addition supplement MGMAT/Powerscore

Study one day, sleep or watch movie or drive whatever and next day schedule test at home in actual exam conditions like time clock, writing section. Make sure there is a GAP of atleast 24 hours before doing practice test and study for test

Learn the concepts first and then focus on trick and gimmicks

Things will work out. Never think about score/outcome/consequence. Just think how well you are solving means what is your approach to tackle this test.
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by mehravikas » Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:05 pm
It happened exactly the same with me. I was scored in 700's in my GMAT practice tests and I got 570 in my actual exam with my lowest score in verbal.

Were you struggling to finish your verbal section? It happened with me. On question number 22 I got a deadly 4 paragraph long passage, which took a lot of time and by the time I finished the passage I had to attempt 15 questions in appx 15-16 mins...my brain stopped working and I could barely re-check my answers. I kept on moving to the next question to finish the test.

Verbal is not so scoring as Quant. There could be a possibility that you got 27-28 questions correct on verbal but your sectional score was still low. In one of my GMAT Prep I got 29 sectional score and I answered 26-27 questions correctly.

kiddles wrote:Hi there,

Well, I got completely owned by the GMAT today. I started preparing four months ago and have been mainly using the MGMAT guides and OGs.

MGMAT 10/12/2009: 600 Q43 V31
MGMAT 11/7/2009: 680 Q48 V34
GMATPrep: 11/14/2009: 640
MGMAT 11/21/2009: 710 Q47 V40
GMATPrep: 12/05/2009: 690
MGMAT 12/12/2009: 750 Q48 V44
MGMAT 12/18/2009: 730 Q49 V41

REAL GMAT: 12/21/2009: 580 Q42 V27 !!!!

I was so shocked. I know I usually don't score as well on my verbals compared to my quants, but I seemed to have be doing okay on verbals over the last month or so. I've never scored that low on verbals before. It may have been my nerves (since it's only the most important academic test of my life so far) or it could be that I didn't manage time well. I've been studying almost every weekday and every Saturday for the last 3-4 months, mainly doing OG questions as per the Manhattan GMAT assignment guides. I walked in to the test feeling fairly confident based on my three 700+ MGMAT practice tests and then was ripped to shreds.

Do any of you have any suggestions? What should be my strategy moving forward? Now that I've seen the MGMAT tests, which ones should I use? How do I improve on my verbals? Other than my Gmat score, my profile for bschool is quite compelling. I really need my 700+ score to complete my profile. Any help is much appreciated!!

Thank you.
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by dan.gmat » Sat Mar 20, 2010 8:54 pm
Same case here. Just gave the GMAT on 21-Mar-2010 (Yesterday). Got 580 (Q=42 and V=28). Ok I was not getting in 700's. Below are my practice test sores:

Kaplan -1 (540)
Kaplan -2 (550)
GMAT practice -1 (620) (Q=45,V=28)
GMAT practice -2 (640) (Q=45,V=30)

So my score of 580 is not a surprise because I took a guess on 2nd and 4th Quant Qs. What surprises me is the Verbal part. Again not the score on the Verbal part but the pattern in which I got the Verbal Qs.
It started with a series of SC Qs. I think till Qs 7 or 8. Then suddenly 1 or 2 CR Qs. Again SC Qs. I think from Qs 12th or 13th RC started. I got some "Identify the Reasoning Qs" . Usually such Qs appear if you are doing very good which was clearly not my case.

Did someone else also has same kind of experience.
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by kaulnikhil » Sat Mar 20, 2010 9:11 pm
Now i got company ... :-P.Welcome to the club buddy..sailing in the same boat.. As vikas said I guess it is about pacing yourself . I too was confident of the answers but somehow lost time on last nine questions and had to finish them in a rush . I guess that is what bought my score down to 26 (the lowest ever I scored in any verbal exam).

Just relax and give it a next shot. I think that it is not about your basics being in place .Had that been the issue you wouldnt have scored 700 consistently. Also wanted to know did you use the pause button while giving Manhattan tests. In case you did well then there is a problem with speed .. .In fact give a mock test by some other company such as Veritas or Knewton., this in turn will help you to gauge your strengths and weaknesses accurately
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Some tips to improve your verbal score

by BrianR » Sun Mar 21, 2010 5:45 pm
Hmmm....a significant drop in Verbal. My guess is that you were feeling a bit tired by the time you got to the verbal section. Here are some things that will help you before you take the GMAT again:

First, I have an incredible GMAT lessons learned and study guide compiled from 25+ test-takers who all scored above 650 on the GMAT. Email me and I'll send it to you: [email protected]. This offer is good for anyone who reads this. Just email me. No gimmicks, just the study guide.

*****

1. Your quant score is strong. Spend the majority of your time in the next month or two preparing for the verbal section.

2. Buy the Manhattan GMAT sentence correction book. It is by far the best sentence correction book on the market (at least for the money)

3. The sentence correction questions and reading comprehension passages (in my opinion) are more difficult on the actual GMAT vs. GMATprep. In addition, OG 11 and OG 12 questions are pretty much maxed at the 650 level.

4. When dealing with critical reasoning questions, try reading the passage first and the question stem second. 90% of test prep companies will tell you that you can save a lot of time doing it the other way around, but I disagree. The problem is that if you read the question stem first and the passage second, you tend to "skim" the passage and look for certain information. Wrong answer choices hurt those who "skim" the passage. Try it and see if it works. It did for me.

5. READ DENSER WORKS than you would normally read. I improved my reading comprehension a ton when I started doing this. These resources will also help you in the sentence correction section. Read 3-5 passages per week from each resource below:

(a) The Economist (magazine)

(b) The Wall Street Journal

(c) Any deep Philosophy book (the one that really helped me was "On Liberty and Utilitarianism" by John Stuart Mill)

As you study/read with these resources, begin asking yourself some questions:

1. What is the topic (subject)?

2. What is the scope of the topic (subject matter)?

3. Why is the author writing about this?

4. What is the overall structure of the passage?

5. What is the author trying to say?

As you do this, use a laminated board and marker and begin writing down the answers to these questions. This will help lead you to the most correct answers on the GMAT. In addition, studying with these resources will help train your brain to understand confusing subjects that you may know nothing about.

A few more tips:

1. Read actively and don't "skim" over passages

2. Find the conclusion statement. This is usually in the first or last paragraph.

3. Paraphrase confusing subjects/statements in your own words. This will help you stay focused on what you really need
to know.
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by mehravikas » Mon Mar 29, 2010 2:35 am
nice post :-)
BrianR wrote:Hmmm....a significant drop in Verbal. My guess is that you were feeling a bit tired by the time you got to the verbal section. Here are some things that will help you before you take the GMAT again:

First, I have an incredible GMAT lessons learned and study guide compiled from 25+ test-takers who all scored above 650 on the GMAT. Email me and I'll send it to you: [email protected]. This offer is good for anyone who reads this. Just email me. No gimmicks, just the study guide.

*****

1. Your quant score is strong. Spend the majority of your time in the next month or two preparing for the verbal section.

2. Buy the Manhattan GMAT sentence correction book. It is by far the best sentence correction book on the market (at least for the money)

3. The sentence correction questions and reading comprehension passages (in my opinion) are more difficult on the actual GMAT vs. GMATprep. In addition, OG 11 and OG 12 questions are pretty much maxed at the 650 level.

4. When dealing with critical reasoning questions, try reading the passage first and the question stem second. 90% of test prep companies will tell you that you can save a lot of time doing it the other way around, but I disagree. The problem is that if you read the question stem first and the passage second, you tend to "skim" the passage and look for certain information. Wrong answer choices hurt those who "skim" the passage. Try it and see if it works. It did for me.

5. READ DENSER WORKS than you would normally read. I improved my reading comprehension a ton when I started doing this. These resources will also help you in the sentence correction section. Read 3-5 passages per week from each resource below:

(a) The Economist (magazine)

(b) The Wall Street Journal

(c) Any deep Philosophy book (the one that really helped me was "On Liberty and Utilitarianism" by John Stuart Mill)

As you study/read with these resources, begin asking yourself some questions:

1. What is the topic (subject)?

2. What is the scope of the topic (subject matter)?

3. Why is the author writing about this?

4. What is the overall structure of the passage?

5. What is the author trying to say?

As you do this, use a laminated board and marker and begin writing down the answers to these questions. This will help lead you to the most correct answers on the GMAT. In addition, studying with these resources will help train your brain to understand confusing subjects that you may know nothing about.

A few more tips:

1. Read actively and don't "skim" over passages

2. Find the conclusion statement. This is usually in the first or last paragraph.

3. Paraphrase confusing subjects/statements in your own words. This will help you stay focused on what you really need
to know.
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