RETAKE GMAT: Got 470 when scoring 620-650 in sample exams

[erikatr]

Hi guys,

I need your advice. I have been preparing for my GMAT exam during a month and a half ( full-time).

I was pretty bad at the beginning as I am a Lawyer and my math skills were pretty low. However, I put a lot of effort and the week before the exam I was scoring between 620 and 650 in the sample exams. I took the exams offered by GMAC and Kaplan CAT. I scored a bit lower on Kaplan than on GMAC but reached 600.

However, I took my exam on Saturday and I was attonished when I got 470. My maths part was so bad. I got nervious, got stucked in a question where I put 6 minutes, then I couldnt concentrate for the next ones, my level was falling down and I was 25 minutes rising my hand asking for more paper with no answer, so I ended up doing my calculations in used paper, having numbers under my new calculations, nervous, and seeing my time going away.
I wasn´t that bad in verbal , but I got percentil 19% in Maths :(. I have decided to retake the exam in one month, but I would really appreaciate your hints. I need 650, so I wasn´t too far from this score before my test. Do you think I could make it? COuld I have a bad day? Or do you consider this really reflects my level?

I am using Kaplan and GMat Official Guide, any recommendation??

Thank you guys... any help is very very appreciated!!

Erika.[/b]

[TedCornell]

Erikatr,

Since you scored 600 on GMATPrep, then went on to score 470 on actual test, and given how terrible your test expeirience was, I would say you probably had a bad day. It's possible that test anxiety hindered your performance.

Test anxiety happens sometimes with people who feel a lot of pressure (you mentioned that everyone was looking at you and expecting you to achieve) and have trouble focusing on the test alone. During your test if you find yourself wondering what others will think, how you're doing terribly, how your time will run out, how you're probably making careless errors etc... You may have high test anxiety. This is debilitating because it keeps you from focusing on the question at hand.

I think everyone gets anxious for the GMAT because whether we admit it or not, it's a big deal. If you think test anxiety might be a major problem for you, have a look at a small book I've used, called Taking the Anxiety Out of Taking Tests by Susan Johnson (ISBN 1-57224-068-7). It's old but it's great .

The Susan Johnson books offers lots of mental and physical excercises that you can do regularly to prepare yourself for the stress of test day. It doesn't claim that the anxiety will go away (it won't), but it teaches how to channel it so that it doesn't blind your performance. Alternatively, you can take a look at a pdf by ETS on dealing with test anxiety, found at https://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/PRAXIS/p ... nxiety.pdf

As far as practice is concerned, divide the math section into specific subtopics, and each day focus on studying one or two of these topics. My math was divided into about 16 subtopics, which you can find at my debrief (www.tinyurl.com/gmatpost). For each subtopic, I would encourage you to go through the Official Guide quant problems with a fine comb using gmatfix's Official Guide Companion. The OG Companion shows specific lessons to be drawn from each Official Guide questions, and 2 or 3 strategies to approach each question. It also breaks the OG questions into these topics for you.

I'm not familiar with the Kaplan materials, but I was pretty impressed with MGMAT guides as teaching tools. They also break down questions by topic and give you good practice.

[pJackson79]

Since anxiety etc. could be a big part of your struggles, you might consider finding and taking as many free practice tests as possible for the GMAT (there are lists in other threads here). This way, you get more used to taking tests and it is more routine when you do the real thing.

[hk]

erikatr,

Here your situtation - you had been scoring in the mid 600s in your practice test and in the real one you scored a 470. I certainly think the main reason for your low score is that you are not prepared for the gmat!!! No offense but preparing for the GMAT does not mean studying all the portions that GMAT tests you. Inorder to ace the GMAT the single most important aspect is your timing strategy... You spent 6 mins on one question, which itself gives evidence that you have not prepared yourself for the GMAT experience.. I strongly believe that there is no one in the planet who aced the gmat spending more than 3 mins on a single question. If he did, so he would definitely run out of time and would definitely make mistakes or would have to guess the answers for many questions..

One suggestion that i would like to give is that after you have studied all the portions for gmat, take a number of practice tests.. There are lots available for free. 1 GMATPrep tests, 1 from Kaplan, 1 from MGMAT, 1 from KNewton, 1 from Princeton Review, 1 from Veritas prep. Also you can take the gmat prep a number of times..

Now when you take the practice tests be sure you manage your time. Here is one tip pal... If you cannot solve a question under 2 mins - Guess and move ahead, even if you can solve the question in 4 mins its simply not worth it!!!! You WILL not have enough time for the later ones..

Hope you prepare towards this, and ace your gmat the next time..

Hope this helped.

Gud luck...

btw, take all the advices that experts in this forum give you..... Believe me they are the kind of advices and tips that you would happily pay for!!!

[ken3233]

Anxiety and stress can definitely incapacitate someone on test day. Sometimes the effects of stress can be subtle, other times they are overt. Either way, there's potential for major damage to a person's score.

The first time I took the GRE, I was especially well prepared, as I had aced all of my practice tests. At test time, however, I found that my mind would not or could not figure out answers to any of the questions. I was nervous and my brain was like a car that would not start when the key is turned. After about 20 consecutive bungled questions, I realized my nerves had gotten the better of me, so I cancelled the test score and went home.

A few months later I took the GRE again, and this time I was better prepared psychologically. As a result, the test was a breeze, and I pulled scores of 800 verbal and 760 quantitative.

If I sense anything funky about my functioning on GMAT test day, I will not hesitate to cancel the score and schedule another test. There's no point in bombing the test just because of nerves.

I'm no expert, but I would advise anyone to feel no compunction about cancelling their own scores if they are convinced they are being sunk by anxiety on test day.