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GMAT Prep = 760, but Actual GMAT 680...WHY?

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GMAT Prep = 760, but Actual GMAT 680...WHY?

by Layman24 » Tue Aug 08, 2017 1:33 pm
Hi All,
Hoping for some advice and motivation after a roller-coaster of a week. I sincerely appreciate anyone willing to offer help!
After +500 hours of studying and 6 mock tests (including a GMAT Prep score of 760; I documented my journey here: https://www.beatthegmat.com/520-to-700-n ... tml#796196), I decided I was ready to take the GMAT. Unfortunately, my actual GMAT results from this morning's exam were nowhere near my most recent GMAT Prep mock (I took the GMAT Prep mock 3 days before my actual exam), and I'm now confused and full of self-doubt.
I'm curious, is it possible that my GMAT Prep mock score was a fluke? I've been very good about recreating a testing environment for my mock exams, but certainly nothing compares to the anxiety that I felt last night and today during the test.

I also noticed that I finished both sections in record time (10 minutes left on quant and 8 minutes on verbal), yet historically I've always struggled with timing. Is it possible that stressed/anxiety/lack of sleep resulted in a decline in performance across both Q and V?

I've scheduled a second exam in 2.5 weeks and am hoping that 2 more GMAT Prep mocks and the confidence generated from taking the exam once before will help to improve my score. Has anyone else improved significantly after their first GMAT?

MGMAT CAT #1: 520 (28Q / 34V)
MGMAT CAT #2: 600 (36Q / 36V)...ran out of time on last 5-6 Q questions.
MGMAT CAT #3: 650 (42Q / 37V)
MGMAT CAT #4: 650 (44Q / 35V)
MGMAT CAT #5: 700 (40Q / 45V) - ran out of time on last 5-6 Q questions
GMAT Prep #6: 760 (49Q / 44V)
Actual GMAT #1: 680 (44Q/ 39V); 7 IR

Thank you so much for any help you're able to offer!
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by [email protected] » Tue Aug 08, 2017 2:54 pm
Hi Layman24,

First off - while you could potentially score higher on the Official GMAT, a 680 is a fantastic score (it's right around the 85th percentile overall), so it could very well be enough to get you into your first-choice School. As such, a retest might not be necessary. Depending on the Schools that you plan to apply to, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile. There's a Forum full of them here:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/ask-an-mba-a ... t-f40.html

As far as this Official performance is concerned, your last practice CAT score is something of an 'outlier' relative to all of your other scores, so there's a question as to how accurate that one CAT score is. GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. Assuming a similar 'swing' in how your CATs function, your CAT score results (CATs 3-5) show that you performed in a fairly similar way each time (around 680 +/- a few points) - and your Official Score fits that 'range.'

That having been said, heavy anxiety (and any sleep 'issues' that that may have caused) could have certainly impacted your performance on Test Day. In addition, finishing a section 8-10 minutes early is usually NOT a good thing - it implies that you likely 'rushed' past certain questions instead of doing the proper work (on the pad). You might consider purchasing the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn't provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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by Layman24 » Wed Aug 09, 2017 7:58 am
Rich,

Thank you so much for offer to help and for your kind words! While I agree that my actual results were in the 'range' of my prior mock exams, it certainly felt like a letdown given my performance on the more recent mock exams. I raise this point only because the mock exam scores I listed below were taken over a period of nearly 8 months, so I think it's fair to assume the more recent exams are more indicative of my current ability than the earlier mock results. But then again, if they were more indicative then I wouldn't be in this situation...ugh! :-(

I've attached my ESR report for the exam as I was hoping you might be able to help me with key takeaways. Here's what I have so far:

Verbal:
- CR was 40, RC was 51 (woo!), and SC was 35 . I plan to re-read Manhattan's SC guide and practice idioms...I believe I hit a string of rare idioms around the third quartile of questions that acted to drag my score down. Once I get more repetition with SC I think I can get my Verbal back to 95-99% range. This should help boost my score to 700+ (assuming no or only positive change in quant).

Quant
- PS was 43% vs. 60% for DS. This is frustrating as I'm typically far better at PS questions...I'm starting to think I was overconfident because of my GMAT Prep score and +500 hours of quant studying, so I neglected to catch multi-level PS questions and fell for common traps.
- Timing. My average time in the first two quartiles was less than 1:30 per question...I know it's good to create time on the test, but I think I could have gotten more questions correct in the first two quartiles, where question difficulty was lowest, if I had taken more time. This would have helped my score.
- Endurance. If you look at the avg. difficulty of questions in conjunction with the percent correct, it looks like I trend nicely through the third quartile, but flat-line by the final quartile of the test. I need to build my endurance to ensure I'm staying focused late in the game.

In summary:
- I think I was to cavalier on the quant section. This is partially because, after 500+ hours of studying mostly quant, I felt like no question types surprise me any longer. The affect of this was that I made silly mistakes and didn't read questions critically enough.
- I'm definitely in need of some serious SC review.
- I need more mock reps.

Thanks for your thoughts!
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ESR GMAT 1.docx
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by [email protected] » Wed Aug 09, 2017 6:02 pm
Hi Layman24,

I've sent you a PM with some notes/suggestions.

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by Layman24 » Sun Aug 13, 2017 9:16 am
Hey Guys!

Providing a brief update for those interested....

Pursuant to everyone's advice, I took the last few days to focus in on identifying and correcting my knowledge gaps in verbal and quant as well as refining my test taking strategy. This morning, after doing my best to replicate the testing environment (earplugs, generic professional room, 8a start, scheduled breaks, etc.), I took my second GMAT Prep exam. I'm happy to report that I generated a score that was consistent with my first GMAT Prep score. This is great news as it confirms that my first GMAT Prep score wasn't a fluke and that I'm capable of a higher score on the actual exam.

Here's what I've been focusing on since my failed first attempt at the GMAT:

Verbal:
- SC. After some general review I noticed my understanding of subordinating conjunctions (, which applies to both nouns and noun phrases) and comparisons (like vs. as) wasn't quite perfect. Lucky for me, these are easy fixes!
- CR. I now know how to tackle inference problems with 100% accuracy!

Quant:
- Statistics (mean & median with unknowns, constant intervals, etc.)
- General practice - can always use practice to keep the skills sharp.

Test Strategy:
- Don't rush! Read the question critically and make sure you exhaust potential wrong answers.
- Do the work...Rich had great advice here...even if I thought the calculation was easy I wrote it down on the pad.

Test Results:

Mocks:
MGMAT CAT #1: 520 (28Q / 34V)
MGMAT CAT #2: 600 (36Q / 36V)...ran out of time on last 5-6 Q questions.
MGMAT CAT #3: 650 (42Q / 37V)
MGMAT CAT #4: 650 (44Q / 35V)
MGMAT CAT #5: 700 (40Q / 45V)...ran out of time on last 5-6 Q questions
GMAT Prep #1: 760 (49Q / 44V)
GMAT Prep #2: 740 (47Q / 45V); 8 IR

Actual:
Actual GMAT #1: 680 (44Q/ 39V); 7 IR

I'm planning to take another GMAT Prep mock in 7 days (3 total) and another actual GMAT on 8/25. I'll send another update after my next GMAT Prep mock!
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by Bara » Mon Aug 14, 2017 3:53 pm
Wanted to jump in here becuase you've not revisited a couple of things you brought up, namely anxiety/lack of sleep and time management ( you brought this up a little).

No matter how much you study, unless you deal with your MINDSEST, you very well will recreate the same thing that happened before - - feeling anxious and out of sorts when you take the real test. Just wanting to feel less anxious doesn't lead to actually feeling less anxious, typically, so I advise you to consider this aspect of prep. Remember: tests don't only measure what you know but how well you take tests.

Luckily, overcoming test anxiety is the quickest aspect of the study process. Really. You need to identify how exhibits and what modes work best for you, but there is a whole field of science and healing that we use that gets students out of their own way in 1-5 hours. Consistently.

And you can DIY too, if you know where to look. :)

Issue is, most educators and test prep people don't like to touch this aspect of test prep, however, ask any top performing athlete, and they'll tell you the same thing: it not just skill its where their heads at when it counts the most. I'd be happy to hear your particular concerns and offer some suggestions. Consider it sports psychology for student. We do.

In terms of SC: I recommend you check out our SC book. It's one of the best/thorough on the market to get it all down. Now SC is more about meaning than rules but you STILL need to know the rules.

And in terms of time management: consider speed reading. We teach a 1-day/5 hour class where students increase their speed up to 5x and improve on RC an average of 13%. You don't get points for knowing everything you read, just for the correct answers. There are various options for speed reading (though not many for GMAT speed reading, which we do), so see what support is near you that helps you read faster so you gain speed more time for critical thinking and answering correctly. It's a myth that reading faster means comprehending less. In fact, the more you FOCUS on what you read, them ore you actually comprehend!

So get busy!

Let me know if we can be of futher support! Good Luck!
Bara Sapir, MA, CHt, CNLP
Founder/CEO City Test Prep
Maximize your Score, Minimize your Stress!
GMAT Badass and Test Anxiety Relief Expert
SPEEDREADING: https://citytestprep.com/mindflow-workshops/
ANXIETY RELIEF: https://citytestprep.com/mindfulness-therapy/
BOOK: https://tinyurl.com/TPNYSC
TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McA4aqCNS-c
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