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Scored 740 in GMAT Prep 5 days back but 580 in Real GMAT.

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Scored 740 in GMAT Prep 5 days back but 580 in Real GMAT.

by puneetgrover » Fri Aug 21, 2015 5:12 am
I had taken a GMAT prep test 5 days back and scored 740 ( Q48, V44 ). Just took the real GMAT scored 580 ( Q44,V26) and finished the test on time. I had encountered so many difficult problems in both Quant and Verbal Section. I had done 5 months intense preparation and has scored 690 and 700's in last few mock tests.

One friend of mine who was also scoring consistently in mock test in 700's took the GMAT and scored 570. He challenged the score.

There was no anxiety as I had given so many mocks in last couple of months but this is a huge surprise. I had prepared from various sources and forums.

Experts please help me figure out this. I have no clue what happened.
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Fri Aug 21, 2015 6:31 am
There are a few possible explanations:

Sometimes nerves get the better of test-takers; questions of moderate difficulty feel more challenging than they are - this can lead to a domino effect in which the test-taker has lost confidence, begins to panic, and fails to pull himself out of the spiral.

Sometimes test-takers neglect to do the AWA and IR on practice exams, which can lead to stamina issues on the real test, particularly on the verbal. (As hard as quant may have felt to you, if you'd received the same verbal as your previous practice exam, you'd still have been at about 700.)

Last, and most likely, is that statistical anomalies are inevitable. Spend some time on the forums, and you'll see similar stories to your own, but you'll also see stories of test-takers who receive a score higher than any practice test they've ever taken. If this is the case, there's every reason to believe that your next attempt will be dramatically better.
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by [email protected] » Fri Aug 21, 2015 9:05 am
Hi puneetgrover,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. When these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day.

If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out. Let's start with how you took your CATs:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?
5) You mentioned that you took "SO MANY" CATs over the last couple of months. Did you ever take a CAT more than once?

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by bonetlobo » Sun Aug 23, 2015 12:04 am
puneetgrover wrote:One friend of mine who was also scoring consistently in mock test in 700's took the GMAT and scored 570. He challenged the score.
Hello Puneet, can you let me know how can one "challenge" the score. It's not that I have the need to do so, but I have actually never heard of this.
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Sun Aug 23, 2015 6:48 am
Hello Puneet, can you let me know how can one "challenge" the score. It's not that I have the need to do so, but I have actually never heard of this.
Page 23 of the GMAT handbook discusses how you can express a concern to GMAC: https://www.mba.com/us/the-gmat-exam/pre ... dbook.aspx

(Do know that the likelihood of your score actually changing in response is pretty much nil. The one exception is the AWA, which they do offer to re-score for a $45 fee.)
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by krutik » Wed Sep 02, 2015 10:23 am
Hi all..I experienced a similar situation...my scores were in the 710 range for all of the GMATPreps,which I had taken in official condition..But i scored a mere 640 on the actual test with awa 5.0 and IR 6.0 .Can I get some help in terms of what should I do for my retake? Also,is there any possibility that the score may changes if we express a concern and is it worth? I have already scheduled my retake.
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Wed Sep 02, 2015 3:49 pm
Hi all..I experienced a similar situation...my scores were in the 710 range for all of the GMATPreps,which I had taken in official condition..But i scored a mere 640 on the actual test with awa 5.0 and IR 6.0 .Can I get some help in terms of what should I do for my retake? Also,is there any possibility that the score may changes if we express a concern and is it worth? I have already scheduled my retake.
The probability of your score changing is so low that it really isn't worth considering. The good news is that most test-takers in your situation will sit for the exam again as soon as possible and get a score that is more in line with their practice tests. As far as additional prep goes, I'd certainly recommend completing the additional official exams as well as the question pack if you haven't done so yet: https://www.mba.com/us/store/store-catal ... ction.aspx

And if you'd like additional material, check out our free question bank: https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-question-bank/
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by [email protected] » Wed Sep 02, 2015 5:56 pm
Hi krutik,

What were your Scaled Scores on your Official GMAT and on each of your CATs?

The broader questions that I would ask you about your CAT scores are the same ones that I asked puneetgrover:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once?
6) Did you ever see CAT questions BEFORE you saw them on a CAT (in a PDF, on a website, etc.)?

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by krutik » Thu Sep 03, 2015 9:48 am
Hi David,
thanks a lot for the suggestions.I have used up the question pack as well as the additional GMATPrep tests.I would like to know if retaking the official tests would be a good decision ?
Also,for the link that you mentioned-the veritas prep question bank-are the questions official GMAT questions??
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by krutik » Thu Sep 03, 2015 9:56 am
When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)? - yes
2) Did you take them at home?-yes
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?-yes
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? - no(except once when I had a cup of tea during the break)
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? - no
6) Did you ever see CAT questions BEFORE you saw them on a CAT (in a PDF, on a website, etc.)? -no

What were your Scaled Scores on your Official GMAT and on each of your CATs? -
GMATprep1 (Q48,V31)-start of prep
GMATprep2 (Q48,V39)
GMATprep3 (Q49,V35)
GMATprep4 (Q49,V36)

Actual GMAT (q47,v31)
Could you suggest what can be done differently for the retake?
Also,I would admit that I was nervous during my attempt,tried to judge how I was doing(only for a couple of times though),and I felt that getting a 730+ score on the GMAT was the single most important aim of my life.
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Thu Sep 03, 2015 10:38 am
Hi David,
thanks a lot for the suggestions.I have used up the question pack as well as the additional GMATPrep tests.I would like to know if retaking the official tests would be a good decision ?
Also,for the link that you mentioned-the veritas prep question bank-are the questions official GMAT questions??
There's no consensus on the value of retaking GMATPrep tests - you'll see that the tutors on this site have different opinions. My feeling is that a retake is worthwhile, so long as you bear in mind that you can see repeat questions, and thus, the test may artificially inflate your score. The best way to counter this possibility is to allow a full two minutes to tick off if you recognize a question, and to be honest with yourself:if you think you'd miss a similar question on the real test, intentionally get the question wrong. If you feel like you have that concept down, answer correctly.

I'd also suggest going back through the question pack, and not necessarily redoing all the questions, but making mental notes about how you would approach each question ("this one, the algebra was rough, so I should pick numbers; this one I could make my R*T = D table. This one I should have back-solved, etc.)

As for the Veritas question bank, those are not official questions, but are written by the fine people at Veritas.
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by krutik » Thu Sep 03, 2015 11:06 am
Thanks David for the prompt reply.That piece of advice(going back through the question pack) was really helpful.I have already purchased the veritas tests-hoping for a good amt of practice.
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by [email protected] » Thu Sep 03, 2015 6:21 pm
Hi krutik,

From the information that you've provided, there's only one minor 'red flag' - taking your CATs at home is not realistic and doesn't factor all of the things that you have to do to leave your home and travel to the Testing Center, much less work in a different setting, so that could help to account for the stronger performances on your CATs.

I have some additional questions about Test Day itself:

1) What did you do during the last week before your GMAT?
2) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home?
3) What time was your GMAT?
4) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test?
5) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
6) Did you finish any sections early?
7) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)?

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by krutik » Thu Sep 03, 2015 11:58 pm
1) What did you do during the last week before your GMAT?-took 3 tests,and went through the guides
2) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home?-30 mins
3) What time was your GMAT?- 1pm
4) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test?-don't remember any
5) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?-washroom,food,water.
6) Did you finish any sections early?-quants-5 mins early.
7) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)? -awa,IR.
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by [email protected] » Fri Sep 04, 2015 8:53 am
Hi Krutik,

Your last post helps to explain why you had that score drop on Test Day.

First, taking 3 FULL CATs in the week leading up to your Official GMAT was NOT a good idea - that is far too much work in such a short period of time - and it almost certainly caused a bit of mental fatigue or 'burn out' before Test Day. You likely wouldn't even realize there was a problem (since it would have occurred during the Verbal section and no one ever realizes they are making mistakes during Verbal).

Second, having to rush to finish the Essay and IR sections likely impacted your attitude and thinking during the Quant. As a result, you felt the need to rush (rather than risk running out of time in that section) and finished the section early. In most cases, finishing with any significant amount of time on the clock is NOT a good thing - you almost certainly rushed through questions and made some silly/little mistakes along the way (and your Quant score reflects that fact).

Thankfully, all of this can be 'fixed', you can train differently and you can make better choices in the lead-up to Test Day.

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