I took the Kaplan course in the classroom, followed by the online course. I felt very confident going into the actual exam and scored a 510. I did everything by the book (as described by Kaplan) but it did not show in my score. During the Kaplan class, on both occasions, my scores on the practice test steadily increased toward 600+. Now, I am stuck with this 510 and don't know what to do next.
I felt the actual test was so much harder than the practice. Please help with any ideas...
My studying methods were as follows:
2-3 hours per day including weekends
- lessons on demand
- sample questions
- additional lessons for specific topics ie DS, SC, PS...
My goal was in the 650-700 range but I am so far removed from that. I just want my score to be somewhat respectable.
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Took Kaplan Class Twice - Scored very low on actual GMAT
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tmagill510720
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KapTeacherEli
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Hi tmagill,
I'm sorry that your Kaplan course didn't show the improvement you were hoping for, but I'm glad you haven't given up hope!
Have you spoken with your Kaplan instructor? I'm happy to give you advice, but ultimately it will be a lot of guesswork; your Kaplan teacher, on the other hand, has had you in class and can look at your individual test performance, and so will give much more personalized advice than I am capable of.
That said, whenever I see a student consistently score very well on practice tests but then disappoint on Test Day, my first two suspects are always stress and exhaustion. After all, you've proven that you are capable of getting a score that you consider 'respectable'; that means something specific had to go wrong on the real thing to keep you off 100% performance.
I'd advise taking a look at Kaplan's stress management workshop, which is part of your online syllabus; also, make sure that you are tapering off your studying in the days immediately leading up to the exam, and try not studying at all the day before. However, this advice is (I'll admit) pretty generic. Do you have any specific questions about how to prep, or specific concerns about your test performance? See if you can still reach out to your Kaplan instructor, but if not, feel free to ask here or PM and I'll do my best to answer!
Best of luck reprepping.
I'm sorry that your Kaplan course didn't show the improvement you were hoping for, but I'm glad you haven't given up hope!
Have you spoken with your Kaplan instructor? I'm happy to give you advice, but ultimately it will be a lot of guesswork; your Kaplan teacher, on the other hand, has had you in class and can look at your individual test performance, and so will give much more personalized advice than I am capable of.
That said, whenever I see a student consistently score very well on practice tests but then disappoint on Test Day, my first two suspects are always stress and exhaustion. After all, you've proven that you are capable of getting a score that you consider 'respectable'; that means something specific had to go wrong on the real thing to keep you off 100% performance.
I'd advise taking a look at Kaplan's stress management workshop, which is part of your online syllabus; also, make sure that you are tapering off your studying in the days immediately leading up to the exam, and try not studying at all the day before. However, this advice is (I'll admit) pretty generic. Do you have any specific questions about how to prep, or specific concerns about your test performance? See if you can still reach out to your Kaplan instructor, but if not, feel free to ask here or PM and I'll do my best to answer!
Best of luck reprepping.
