GMAT today - 650 Practice - 520 actual =(

[MeeraAmin]

Just took the GMAT today and was soooo dissapointed! This was the second time I took the test. I can relate with the other guy who took it yesterday... I took it in December, got a 510 with just browsing through the Princeton Review book and doing some OG questions. - studying here and there for a month and a half. I was determined to take it again, and so signed up for the MGMAT 9 week session starting late Jan. to mid March, and religiously studied an average of 4-5 hours per day, before and after work, and attended all 9 sessions. I scored a 570 on my first MGMAT PCAT before starting class, then a 620 (3 weeks prior to the test), 610 (2 weeks prior), 640 (1.5 weeks prior), 650 (week prior), 650 on official GMAC PCAT (weekend prior). Today I took the GMAT and scored a 520! Only 10 points more than barely studying for it 3 months ago and a 130 point different than my last 2 PCATS! After all that studying, it was an utter dissapointment. Need some advice possibly from someone who has been in a similar situation....thinking I want to dust it off and try again (sadly this will be #3) - could use some motivation and guidance. Thanks!

[vineeshp]

That is sad.

How badly do you wanna improve? If the answer is very badly, then dont worry that this is the third time.

Prepare even better for it. If you can score consistently in the high 600s in practice, then you can do well on the real test. Maybe you were nervous. (I can relate to that very well.)

The one advantage GMAT has is that you dont need to know high end math or high end vocabulary.

My suggestion is
Start from basics.
1. Learn the basics of SC from Aristotle SC Grail. (You can buy) and also MGMAT SC.
2. Buy the Powerscore CR Bible. It is the best recommended for CR.
3. For Math, I suggest a lot of practice.
4. Redo all the OG Material.

Before all this, give one test now to see exactly what you need to improve.

Also, keep an error log. I have read in the high 600s to high 700 scorers' debriefs that it really helps.

Take lots of practice tests.
Try the MGMAT CATs atleast once and give the GMatPrep tests multiple times. Make sure that you learn the concepts of all the questions when you review your tests. (Reviewing tests is also important)


Read the following GMAT stories.
https://www.beatthegmat.com/580-590-660- ... 79263.html
https://www.beatthegmat.com/from-590-to- ... 79993.html
https://www.beatthegmat.com/490-710-q48- ... 66186.html

And of course
https://www.beatthegmat.com/3-yrs-4-atte ... 72531.html


But first give yourself a short break. It will help you clear up your mind.

I am no expert. This is just my suggestion. Go on. You can do it!

[rishi raj]

vineeshp has given good recommendations. Just to add. When you practice, focus on quality rather than on quantity. Make sure that you spend a good amount of time reading through the explantions of the questions you attempt.

By the way, did you get nervous on the actual exam ? and did you get adequate sleep the night before the exam ?Your practice scores seem good ,so ideally you should have got something in the range of 580-650, so 520 is indeed disappointing.

[uwhusky]

I would do a self-analysis of each topic in GMAT and post it on this forum. Probably in the format of which topic do you think you need work on, and what have you done so far on the topic.

Hopefully it's not much of a struggle for you to do it, else it might be a longer road to identify a better attack plan.

[MeeraAmin]

Thanks Vineesh, uhusky, Rishi, and GMAT Titan for the advice and encouragement...

Yes, I realllyyyy want to beat the GMAT even though I wasnt too happy with facing the fact I need to take it 3 times...

I wasnt nervous, everything was perfect I thought, I practiced the essays and gameplan on my practice tests. Took them around the same time frame as I did the real test, ate healthy, exercised, slept enough, received many well wishes from friends...perfect everything..,kept up with timing benchmarks on real test...have no clue why there is a 130 pt difference!

I definitely need to get to the root of this problem, I cant digest the fact that after 200+ hours of dedicated studying I ended up with nearly the same score as barely studying initially.

Thanks all for the advice - I will definitely look into all of it...