GMAT Strategy

I took GMAT 2nd time on December 27, 2007 and got a score of 460 (Q 35, V 18), which is way below my scores in GMATprep. In both the GMATprep test my score was more than 600. This score of 460 is shocking for me because when i took GMAT first time in December 2006 my score was 540 (Q 43, V 21). At that time i was not satisfied with my preparation level, and the confidence was very shaky, especially in Quantitative. This time round i prepared a lot for both verbal and quantitative, and practiced a lot; hence my confidence was way up. But i am really shocked to see this low score of 46, which does not reflect my understanding of the subject matter tested in the GMAT; if GMAT tested this, not the understanding of the software!!

One thing that i noticed this time was that the actual test started with very easy questions, both in quant and verbal and gradually increased the difficulty level. This is quite contradictory to what i have heard and noticed in the GMATprep. You people must have heard that GMAT starts with average difficulty question and then adjust you score as the test moves along. And almost certainly if you do well in the initial questions and get the last 5-6 wrong in the end, your score would not come down drastically. But i think this has changed.

Now i think GMAT officials have changed the software for the actual test. It gives you easy questions in the beginning (maybe it starts with 200/300 score instead of average 500/550) and increases the difficulty level and adjusts your score as you move along. In this situation, you get difficult questions in the end carrying most weight in the score. And if you do not manage your time, you are bound to do bad on the last questions - the result is low score.

I would like to add further that one of my friends who gave the GMAT one week before me in December 2007 also faced the similar situation. We saw very easy questions in the beginning. In Verbal GMAT started with initial 3-4 SC to both of us. And these SC questions were not difficult either. We both felt that the level of difficulty increased as we moved along in the test.

One of the most interesting things is that my same friend got 95% in GRE Quant few months before his GMAT,and in GMAT he got 60% in Quant. He was consistently getting 90% in his GMATprep.

One more interesting thing: Just recently Princeton Review has issued GRE alert to all its centers that test takers who are just doin random guessing at the last few question for want of time in the end are getting lowest of the scores.

Any experience/suggestions for my 3rd attempt?

Thanks for the reply. But this low score of 460 has really jolted my confidence in GMAT especially 2nd time i felt that i prepared well and did well on the exam as compared to my first attempt when i got 540. I'm practicing for the 3rd attempt from LSAT and GRE for RC and CR and here my correction rate is above 70% in timed conditions. And same is the case with my math preparation. I am really baffled what will be the result 3rd time especially when I am scoring above 600 consistently in GMATPrep. I still think they have changed the software somehow. My friend experienced the same low score (he got 470) week before me. He was consistently scoring 47/48 in Quant and 30 in Verbal.

quote="snuman"]Any experience/suggestions for my 3rd attempt[/quote]
STRANGE! I'm sorry to hear this. But I'll definitely investigate, find some trends/signs and get back to you.
You've presented two cases so I believe there must be something.

As all of us know GMAC algorithm is "black box" and nobody knows about it. And they like to keep it that way. Still we can see others testimony (like the one you shared with us) and know the trends.

beatthegmat wrote:I have not heard any news/evidence that the GMAT has changed since early 2006. Perhaps you had run into some experimental questions early on that threw you off on the algorithm?

I concur. yet...

Thank you guys.

I have already sent my complaint to the Pearson office. They have escalated it to a higher level for further investigation. Let's see what they come up with.

Nauman

snuman wrote:Thank you guys.

I have already sent my complaint to the Pearson office. They have escalated it to a higher level for further investigation. Let's see what they come up with.

Nauman

Do let us know about it.
& You can always PM us.

Guys,

I just want to add my two cents to this. I sat for the GMAT yesterday and scored a 670. This is way below my scores in the GMATPrep (750 and 770) and MGMAT CATS (started at 680, then consistently 720-750). In my quant practice CATS, I would typically get between 8-12 questions wrong, but still score 48 to 50 (does this seem right to you? or is my software not working correctly?)

I am quite baffled as to why my actual score was so much lower than my practice score, and I really think that there is a change in the system. I am not someone who is overconfident about things in general (actually, I am usually very underconfident) but I came out of the quant section thinking that I had done quite well. In my practice exams, I would typically score between the 85th and 95th percentile in quant. On the actual day, I only managed to get to the 73rd percentile.

Also, in verbal I was only given three RCs - I was expecting four.

Snuman - do you want to discuss our experiences? I am also thinking of investigating it further.

Yeah i had to guess randomly last 3-4 questions in both Verbal and Quant. But that was the case with all my GMATPrep scores. And i never got less than 34 in Verbal GAMTPrep, whereas in my actual i got just 18. Almost same happened with Quant; my lowest score in GMATPrep Quant was 40 with random guessing of last 4-5 questions, whereas in actual i got 35. I had hit 43 in Quant in the actual test a year back, while at that time i was not fully prepared in Quant and was feeling very shaky.

Nauman

Further, as you asked, i started feeling short of time after around 20th questions in both verbal and quantitative. I never left any questions unanswered.

So Stacy what I got from your advice is that one should never spend extra time on hard questions or questions that are beyond one’s capacity – just give it a try and move on without wasting extra time. This way you can maximize your score, which would be more reflective of your level. After all skipping hard questions with educated guess won’t diminish your actual level and capacity to achieve a score that would be more reflective of your level. But still, is GMAT checking our understanding of the software or understand of the subject matter i.e. Quant and verbal skills? It means timing is the key after you have achieved certain level of preparation.

I have another question, why the GMATPrep results seem inconsistent with the actual test results? First time when I got 540 I felt its more or less what I was getting in GMATPrep, but this time my score of 460 is not convincing neither too me nor to others.

Nauman

A quick thought on how to best use your time on test day:

It's too extreme to say "never spend extra time on hard questions". For every question you answer on Test Day, you need to ask yourself "do I get a greater reward using time on this question or on other questions"?

To answer that question accurately, one needs to be intimately aware of one's own strengths and weaknesses. Near-perfect self knowledge is one of the keys to success on the GMAT and is one of the reasons why practice is so important. Only by doing a lot of GMAT questions in advance of test day can one make the most efficient decisions on test day.

When you review your practice tests, pay very close attention to how you spent your time. Most people who struggle with timing find that, if they had just guessed at the 2 questions in each section on which they spent the most time, they would have had time to finish the test. Knowing when to guess is at least as important as knowing how to guess.

So, figure out which types of questions you consistently get wrong and/or on which you waste a lot of time. Guessing on a "bad" question after 20 seconds is vastly preferable to guessing on that question after 3 minutes and 20 seconds. If you can quickly identify and guess on the "stinkers" you can bank that extra time for the questions that you could do if you just had a bit of extra time to spare.

Also, be very aware of timing during the test. Don't fixate on the clock to the point at which you lose focus on the test, but set benchmarks for yourself. For example, "after question 10 I should have 55 minutes left on the clock... after question 20 I shoudl have 35 minutes left on the clock" and so on.

If you set benchmarks, you can adjust your timing mid-test depending on if you're ahead of or behind the clock.