Why some people get high GMATprep but low in the real test?

torofish wrote:What could be the cause of this disappointment?

Nervous?

or the difference between questions difficulty in the real test and the prep?




Thank you

Lots of people cheat themselves during their practice tests.

1) Not writing essays
2) Taking long breaks between and during the test
3) Getting across with the OG or GMAT PREP questions that they solved before and USING that extra time to create EXTRA time for the rest of the test.

How do I know all of these ? I have done all of these mistakes during my prep.

And also during the practice test, you are more comfortable with yourself and the test. On the other hand, your EVERY mistakes COUNT in the real test. GMAT is not only a knowledge test, but an ENDURANCE test.

Can you stay FOCUSED for almost 4 hrs ? And just as in a video game, you need to kill the V-monster at the end of the game when you are TIRED and EXHAUSTED.

GMAT also tests what you do under time pressure and in panic. It asks you couple of toughies from outer space , like punches you get when you least expect them, and tests how you stay in balance and good shape.

The more I spend time with GMAT, the more I respect it.

It is a true BEAST and like every beasts, it has a soft belly! If you ever played God of the War, you know what I am talking out!

Good luck,

I'll highlight one of the points made above: a really bad habit that lots of GMAT aspirants have is that they don't write the essays before practice tests. Your brain is in a very different place after spending an hour writing relatively dull essays vs. diving straight into the quant with a fresh head. Remember that the point of practice tests is to simulate the actual GMAT experience ... which includes essays! Do them!

Other than that, I think another huge factor is the pressure of knowing that "this time it counts" when you're taking the real GMAT vs. a practice test. That added pressure makes people more likely to freak out, or to obsess about a particularly tough question rather than simply moving on and forgetting about it. I liken it to skiing. A good skier can hit a little bump, be off balance for a second, but then be okay. A bad skier will hit the bump, start flailing around, then get a face full of snow. Staying calm and not freaking out when you hit a bump is key!

I'm assuming that people who don't take the writing portion of the practice exams are either lazy or dread writing. I'm part of the latter category, but I've recently started doing the writing portion of the exam. Even though it's painstaking, I find it helps "awaken" my brain. I think a lot clearer during the entire test, which has helped increase my practice CAT scores tremendously.

So my advice for those taking practice CAT's is to not skip out on the writing portion. Treat them as a warm up for the test. A GMATer is no different from any athlete, warming up is paramount for success.

I understand the above comments about the essay, but there must be other reasons why people do worse on the real thing as well.

Do you guys have any additional thoughts? What about level of difficulty or style of questions in the current GMAT tests?

Has anyone written in the past 12 months? Do you feel that GMAT Prep is exactly the same as real thing? Any thoughts on how the GMAT may be harder, easier or different the GMAT Prep material? Any content emphasized more then others?

I guess everyone's experience can be different because of personal strengths/weaknesses and how the CAT algorithm works, but it would be good to get some perspectives on the subject.