My disappointing first take on the GMAT

[ale_434]

Hi guys,

I took the GMAT for the first time last Thursday and it didn't go as expected. I had been getting around q35-40 and v31-36 on my practice tests. Surprisingly on test day, I managed to score q42 but I only got v15, and I couldn't figure out what went so wrong, as I didn't feel nervous, confused at all. Maybe my focused had lowered without me even noticing? Any ideas about what could have happened? I was quite broken as I had done my best quant ever and it was all wasted.

Of course I'm not giving up yet and I'm positive I'll eventually get that 650. I'm planning to retake the GMAT end January. What do you guys think I should do next?

Thanks in advance!

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

I'm sorry to that you had such a drop in your verbal score.

I know that you felt that things were going fine on test day, but one of the paradoxical features of the GMAT is that feeling that things are going well can sometimes mean that things are going poorly.

Here's what I mean: if, for example, you got the first 2 questions wrong, the GMAT scoring algorithm would have presented you with an easier question for question #3. One of the problems with easier questions is that we may sometimes answer them a little too quickly (since they seem easy, we don't really focus on the question) and sometimes, in our haste, make careless mistakes or miss key pieces of information. If this happened to you on question 3 and you got it wrong, question 4 would have been even easier, and so on.

I'm not certain that this is what happened to you, but I have heard very similar stories from other students.

The good thing is that your practice tests suggest that you can do better, so achieving that kind of score on your next attempt should be a reasonable expectation. The key is to remain focused and CAREFULLY read and solve every question regardless of how easy it may seem. Remember, the GMAT test-makers are skilled in trickery. For example, they may present you a lot of information about the number of females at a school, and then ask you to determine the number of males. Or they may ask you to find Bill's age . . . . 5 years from now. If you're not 100% focused, you may incorrectly select the answer choice that corresponds to the number of females or Bill's PRESENT age. The same applies to Verbal questions.

I suggest that you take some practice tests until you have successfully achieved your target score least 2 times.

I hope that helps.

Cheers,
Brent

[ale_434]

I'm sorry to that you had such a drop in your verbal score.

I know that you felt that things were going fine on test day, but one of the paradoxical features of the GMAT is that feeling that things are going well can sometimes mean that things are going poorly.

Here's what I mean: if, for example, you got the first 2 questions wrong, the GMAT scoring algorithm would have presented you with an easier question for question #3. One of the problems with easier questions is that we may sometimes answer them a little too quickly (since they seem easy, we don't really focus on the question) and sometimes, in our haste, make careless mistakes or miss key pieces of information. If this happened to you on question 3 and you got it wrong, question 4 would have been even easier, and so on.

I'm not certain that this is what happened to you, but I have heard very similar stories from other students.

The good thing is that your practice tests suggest that you can do better, so achieving that kind of score on your next attempt should be a reasonable expectation. The key is to remain focused and CAREFULLY read and solve every question regardless of how easy it may seem. Remember, the GMAT test-makers are skilled in trickery. For example, they may present you a lot of information about the number of females at a school, and then ask you to determine the number of males. Or they may ask you to find Bill's age . . . . 5 years from now. If you're not 100% focused, you may incorrectly select the answer choice that corresponds to the number of females or Bill's PRESENT age. The same applies to Verbal questions.

I suggest that you take some practice tests until you have successfully achieved your target score least 2 times.

I hope that helps.

Cheers,
Brent

Thank you so much Brent, I will. As I have time until my next take on the test, I will also try to boost my quant score a little bit.

[[email protected]]

Hi ale_434,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. When these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day.

If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[ale_434]

Hi ale_434,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. When these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day.

If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Hi Rich,

What's most surprising about my result is that all the CATs I did were taken reallistically, having done all the sections and having taken the usual 8 minute breaks. Let me answer all of your questions:

1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
Yes I did, on all 5 CATs I took.

2) Did you take them at home?
Yes, all of them.

3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
Well, mostly: test day starting hour was 10 am and I started my CATs at 9 am.

4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?
Not at all, but I believe the second break I took during the official exam was a bit shorter, probably just 5 minutes.

5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once?
Not at all. I took every CAT just once.

Thanks for your help Rich!

[[email protected]]

Hi ale_434,

From your prior post, there were a couple of minor 'red flags' (taking the CATs at home and at an hour earlier than your Official GMAT are aspects of your practice that were not realistic). I have a few additional questions about the lead-up to Test Day and Test Day itself:

1) What did you do in the 3 days before your GMAT?
2) How did you sleep the night before your Test?
3) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home?
4) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test?
5) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
6) Did you finish any sections early?
7) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[ale_434]

Hi ale_434,

From your prior post, there were a couple of minor 'red flags' (taking the CATs at home and at an hour earlier than your Official GMAT are aspects of your practice that were not realistic). I have a few additional questions about the lead-up to Test Day and Test Day itself:

1) What did you do in the 3 days before your GMAT?
2) How did you sleep the night before your Test?
3) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home?
4) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test?
5) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
6) Did you finish any sections early?
7) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Hi again Rich,

1) What did you do in the 3 days before your GMAT?
Basically nothing, very light revising work.

2) How did you sleep the night before your Test?
I slept pretty well, I usually don't have any problems of this kind prior test days.

3) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home?
Test Center was in Madrid ( I'm from Valencia), and I travelled there the day before, so I spent a whole day in Madrid ( which added a little stress to the overall process to be honest).

4) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test?
Not really, it was overall very quiet and comfy.

5) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
On the first break I ate a banana, and on the second one I just sat down for a moment of meditation and went back to work.

6) Did you finish any sections early?
Not really, I managed time appropriately, but I wasn't in a hurry either.

7) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)?
Nope.

Thanks for taking the time to analyze my situation Rich, really appreciate it.

[[email protected]]

Hi ale_434,

With the information that you've provided in this post, we have a few more 'red flags' that almost certainly impacted your performance. You can train yourself to perform under any number of conditions, but the key element is consistency - you have to get 'used to' the situation so that you're no longer distracted or impacted by it. Going through a big travel, sleeping in a 'strange' bed, etc. the day right before your GMAT would likely hurt many Test Taker's performances. It also sounds like you didn't do much to properly take advantage of the two 8-minute breaks (on the second break, you went and sat in ANOTHER chair, after just sitting in one for 75 minutes of Quant).

Combined with the other factors from your prior post, there's enough here to properly explain the drop in your performance. Much of this CAN be planned for and dealt with (the travel aspect is probably insurmountable though).

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[ale_434]

Hi ale_434,

With the information that you've provided in this post, we have a few more 'red flags' that almost certainly impacted your performance. You can train yourself to perform under any number of conditions, but the key element is consistency - you have to get 'used to' the situation so that you're no longer distracted or impacted by it. Going through a big travel, sleeping in a 'strange' bed, etc. the day right before your GMAT would likely hurt many Test Taker's performances. It also sounds like you didn't do much to properly take advantage of the two 8-minute breaks (on the second break, you went and sat in ANOTHER chair, after just sitting in one for 75 minutes of Quant).

Combined with the other factors from your prior post, there's enough here to properly explain the drop in your performance. Much of this CAN be planned for and dealt with (the travel aspect is probably insurmountable though).

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Thanks, Rich. Any particular advice on what to do during the 8- min breaks? There was literally nothing else but 2 uncomfortable chairs in the area where we were allowed to be during the breaks.

[[email protected]]

Hi ale_434,

Yes, I do have some suggestions - but I think that this serves as a great critical thinking exercise. What do YOU think you can do during your two breaks that would help you to clear your head and re-energize you for the next section of the GMAT? (hint: sitting down in the lobby is NOT part of the correct answer).

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[ale_434]

Hi ale_434,

Yes, I do have some suggestions - but I think that this serves as a great critical thinking exercise. What do YOU think you can do during your two breaks that would help you to clear your head and re-energize you for the next section of the GMAT? (hint: sitting down in the lobby is NOT part of the correct answer).

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Hi Rich,

Haha, I don't know, maybe some meditation in a stand-up position, some stretching or just walking around in circles in the lobby? I also ate something during the first break but i'm not sure how much of a difference that made. Surely it gave me energy, but...

[[email protected]]

Hi ale_434,

Having a snack/drink during each break is generally a good idea and you should also look to do a bit of physical activity (although it might be better to do that outside of the lobby so that you're not creating a disturbance in the Testing Center). You can decide on the specifics (and on anything else that might help you to get 'pumped up' to face the next section of the Test), but it's important to practice these details when you take your CATs.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich