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After decent Practice tests, a 570 pops up in front of me

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After decent Practice tests, a 570 pops up in front of me

by JoshuaCO » Wed Sep 05, 2012 6:57 am
I have been casually studying for the past year (that's the friggin' problem); however, I managed to score a 690 on a MGMAT test (43 quant, 40 verb), a 640 on a GMATPrep test (37 quant, 40 verb), yet I got a 570 (36 quant, 32 verbal) today. Yes, I'm going through all the usual "am I smart enough", "am I just plain stupid" and "maybe I should just give up on life" sorts of questions.

But how can the scores be so different? I got a good nights sleep, had some confidence going in. I knew at the end of the quant section that I was not going to get a good score.. but holy shit 32 on the verbal when I had been getting 40s. This is not right. I have resolved (as of right now - I took the test 3 hours ago) to take it in a month and a half. I'm not stupid; and I've performed decently well outside of the test center. I would just like think that I got tested on the things that I'm weakest at. Anyway, suggestions, advice, anything is welcomed. Hope your gmat experience is better than mine so far.
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by machichi » Wed Sep 05, 2012 10:56 am
Most people's GMAT experiences are unpleasant. Even when people do well it is an all-consuming process. I think the major hurdle you faced is not having enough time to practice before the exam. You need to be intimately familiar with the test, you need to be consistently scoring near or above the score you hope to score on the actual exam. The practice exams are predictive if you do them under full testing conditions. Did you do the AWA and IR? Did you take appropriately short breaks only during the allotted time? If the answer is no to any of those, you were giving yourself a leg up during your practice.

The exam is designed to hurt as you take it. It gets progressively harder the better you do, so you will likely feel miserable the whole time.

The other thing you pointed out is that they asked you questions that you're weakest in. The good news is that sentence shows me you know your weaknesses! Double down in those areas and beat the GMAT in 6 weeks!
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:40 am
Sorry to hear that you weren't able to reach your target score on your first attempt.
The 570 sounds like an anomaly. Sometimes a super tough question or insane RC passage can throw you completely off track.
Since you already seem to know the required content, I suggest that you keep taking practice tests until you've perfected your time-management/guessing skills.

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by transfer9858 » Thu Sep 06, 2012 4:07 pm
You think you have it bad, listen to what happened to me!

Test #1

I took the test the first time after studying for about 2 months. I wasn't ready at all but signed up and decided I would take it to get "first time nerves" out of the way. I didn't really care what I was going to get going in so I was pretty relaxed- well as relaxed as you can be for a 4 hour test. I got s 570, 42 quant 27 verbal. I hadn't studied SC at all and it clearly reflected. I didn't know any of the rules and so I didn't deserve any higher. Yet my math was extremely below what my tutor said I should have gotten.

Test #2

So this was in May, 2 months later. I am now up to the point where my tutor said there is nothing left for him to teach me. He said I probably wouldn't get a 51 or 50 on quant just because it is so hard to do but I should get at least a 47-48 and maybe a 49. Additionally, we were going through Verbal and I was hardly getting any wrong. My practice tests scores on manahttan gmat and gmat prep ranged from 700-740.
I said it's all good- I just want to break a 700 and I'll be set. A 610 pops up on the screen... wait for it... A 38 mother #%$^@ quant, and 35 verbal. I thought it was a joke. My tutor had no idea what happened and clearly I have testing issues. The math I knew for this test was ten times more than i did for the first test. I don't know what happens but apparently I freak out a hell of a lot more than I thought I do. Verbal I was annoyed about because i was getting low to mid 40's on my practice test. There was one very hard RC that threw me off and im sure i got all those questions wrong. That im sure was the deciding factor between a 35 and 38/39- Nothing to do to prevent those though.. bad luck.

Anyway... I took a 3 month break and 2 weeks decided to take it one more time. My sitiuation sucks because I clearly deserve a score in the 700's and as im scoring 47 on manhattan gmat quant I am clearly able to do it... People will say breathe, relax, envision... drink tea... none of that stuff works for me... I think i try too hard to do that stuff and it makes it even worse... I'm going to take it one last time but this time im literally going in there and throwing this test away. I am going to sit back, actually not give a *&^% and take it as if i was sitting on the couch. I don't know if i will be able to do that come test time but I'm hoping I will.
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by JoshuaCO » Sat Mar 16, 2013 1:13 pm
I eventually took the test two more times, getting a 680 finally. Got into Georgetown and waiting for more decisions!
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by bpolley00 » Tue Mar 19, 2013 6:13 pm
Joshua,

What do you think the difference was? I am literally having the exact same problem. My Manhattan tests have ranged from a 610 to 680. My Gmat Prep tests have ranged from a 640 to a 680. I have had Q38 to Q49; however, my verbal has hovered anywhere from 29-34. I am finding this test incredulously hard and I have never had previous difficulty in school. Any tips would be great as I have read all the Manhattan books. printed off all the answers and studied how the questions work with their answers and explanations. I mean people have scored a 700+ so it has to be possible.
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by JoshuaCO » Mon Apr 08, 2013 8:25 am
Just be persistent. I think that after taking it a few times your score naturally increases because you consciously and unconsciously know where to spend your time and what to guess on. I remember skipping hard questions within 10 seconds of reading them that I knew I would waste time on and probably get wrong. This increased my score dramatically (110 points in a few months). Also, the importance of a good night's sleep cannot be emphasized enough. 10 hours of sleep worked wonders for me for me.. and coffee :) Integrated reasoning was an 8 and AWA was a 6. Good luck.
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