I took the GMAT two weeks ago after three months of intense study. I used Kaplan, Kaplan 800, OG11, and GMATPrep as my prep materials. I scored in the high 500s on the Kaplan test (seems to be a normal thing) and scored 710 and 690 on the two GMATPrep tests. My quant score was 43rd percentile and verbal was 62nd percentile. I scored in the 99th percentile in verbal on both of the GMATPrep tests.

In addition, I "lurked" on these boards and gleaned as much as I could from the wisdom and experiences of others.


I did not feel the least bit nervous during test. In fact, I may have felt overly relaxed. I did notice that I didn't get any function, work, or mixture problems which stikes me as odd in retrospect as those seemed to be emphasized in all of my prep material.

At the completion of the test I expected to see a score no lower than 680 pop up on the screen. Instead, a dreaded 550 appeared, lower than any of my practice tests, including Kaplan.

Is this occurence normal? Are there other explanations aside from the standard "nerves" theory which doesn't seem to fit my situation? My wife thinks it was a fluke, but my confidence is shot.

I'm planning on taking the test again at the end of August/beginning of September.

Thanks in advance,