Bombed it again.

[Ashish8]

I took the GMAT last year and got a 520, my second attempt was this morning. I got all the Manhattan guides and started studying in August. Below are my practice test scores:

GMAT Prep 1 (640) Took in june
GMAT Prep 2 (640) Took yesterday
Manhattan GMAT exams orderd by date:
600 (43/31)
630 (47/30)
660 (47/33)
620 (42/33)
580 (43/28)
710 (49/38) -- Saw some duplicate questions, so it is inflated.

Took the GMAT today got a abysmal 550(40/25). I have no idea what went wrong. First time I took the exam I used just the OG, now with all the new material I only manage to improve my 30 points. I'm extremely disappointed in myself. Has anyone else had such a deviance from their practice exams to real gmat?

[pemdas]

you had break through August and started prepping again, ok - what did you do besides reading MGMAT and taking CATs? Have you come across any challenges this time around? Have you tried to fill in the gaps since your previous exam? Or you simply put the books in front of yourself and started resuming your prep course from the last year and up to that test day's morning, may be

Usually score change(s) in the exam, about 20-30 points for the intervals mid 400 and high 500s at two successive sittings is an indicator of greater/lesser attention rather than strategic change(s), preparation betterment, or confidence boost.

To attain the latter here what you had to do firsthand:
- review your state of mind and preparation ways since last exam
- recognize weak and strong areas, like ego slack to prevent from moving in the test environment timely, fussy approach to PS and absorbing too much data from the questions instead of reading through the required conditions, etc. verbal-wise focusing on one part of test, SC for example and totally ignoring the CR and RC, or assuming false strategy for RC and assimilating wrong concepts on CR/logical reasoning, etc.
- try to remedy your weaknesses by attending them patiently and consulting several competent sources (it could be BTG experts or certified tutors)
- change the exam prep mood from mechanistic to analytic, people may boast that they knew nothing about OG or haven't studied math since college but hold engineering degrees or have extracurricular activities stimulating their quantitative abilities; it all takes time and for one to drill several hundreds of OG problems won't be enough to compete with another carefully analyzing some 50-60 OG questions one-two weeks before exam. You must learn how and why to analyze.
- all this given your prep must be smart meaning your needs for exam should change with your GMAT abilities' upgrade and moving upward to the next levels. At the level of 20s for verbal you are mainly reading for general comprehension, but the level of 40s requires you to trace the model of passage or its structure, meaning how the passage starts and continues to evolve the author's idea.

Please try to come up with these and several more points of self-analysis first and then seek questions from others likewise why such a strong deviation in scores would occur. Finally your situation stands very close to that addressed in Powerscore's CR Bible under the chapter 9 'Resolve the paradox' - my take is that no one will disprove your practice test scores and encourage you to challenge real GMAT score, but one will try to explain that two scores can comfortably co-exist by being just incidental in your case. The reason of low GMAT score is rooted somewhere else, and you need to address facts of your preparation here.

[Ashish8]

Pemdas, up till august of this year I didn't do focus much on studying. Every now and then I would just look at stuff. I scheduled the exam for today in August and I started to get back into routine. I went through all the Manhattan GMAT books (except RC). I finished all the OG sections except RC and left about 10% of SC incomplete. Verbal has always been my weakness, I felt I had learned a lot from the Manhattan Guides especially in SC, but there is no way I can memorize every rule. Because of this reason I tried to focus very heavily in math because I felt that is where I could make significant improvements. My average math had been around 46 on all my practice exams. Got a 40 on the real thing. I really don't know what to do at this moment. I'm just a little bit in disbelief that I could get a 520 by just doing OG problems back to back, and after studying all the Manhattan strategies, which are great BTW and my practice exam scores definitely would agree, I only increase by 30 points on the real thing.

[pemdas]

How your exam went? Did you run short on time close to the end? If you start weak, then your ending will be weak. To start weak means to screw 50% of the first 10 questions in math and to answer incorrectly on most RC questions of the first passage.

I understand that MGMAT concepts were "revelations" during your GMAT prep window, and that's the whole point. The test takers must be aware of these tricks and concepts long before sitting and doing OGs, they should touch questions wisely. Even a simple question may grab your attention when it's worded differently or you suspect that a change in the question's text may force you to choose different answer.

You need to continue, don't stop. Believe me, this time around or next time you will crack the thing. My sincere advice to you - continue studying but do this regularly, without prolonged breaks. Do some two-three problems in three-four times a week and don't schedule your next exam until and after you feel that any question solved incorrectly or left without your attention makes you to feel curious. Then GMAT will be your five fingers to count on, and you will only need to practice and pace yourself in the exam.

[Ashish8]

Thanks for the encouraging words. The last problem in Math I had to guess because I ran out of time. Besides that, I got one probability problem which I completely guessed on, because I was wasting too much time. I'm thinking maybe I should pick up some other resources to help me on my journey. I'm thinking of picking up the Aristotle guides for Verbal, I've also been contemplating if I should sign up for the Beat the GMAT questions or the Master GMAT prep course.

[pemdas]

if you're not afraid of arduous work in English grammar then go for any comprehensive text book, but you must resume with MGMAT SC guide, most importantly you have to stick to MGMAT SC and know every word from this book.

For RC and CR - try introductory videos here https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat- ... prehension and https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat- ... -reasoning

they are only introductory, so you will need to brush up every chapter in Powerscore's CR Bible (better buy the book, I know many pirate copies are wandering around the net, but they are too,too bad copies and only GMAT Verbal fanatic can study from them ) practice OG passages from the 11th and 12 th editions by noting all the tips and hints from videos (linked above)

For math I would recommend you to go through GMAT Club's math book (it's online and free on their website); this source also contains useful examples and you can always ask some guru about applying some specific concept in your work.

Renew your license plate with MGMAT if you like or buy some other serious CATs from Master GMAT or Veritas with online support. You will need CATs only for analyses and "self-downgrading". Be as harsh as possible towards your math instincts in your prep window. Don't allow mechanistic approach ever intrude your GMAT wiz. I think you can retest by the next fall successfully since you start from 500s and not from 400s.