610... WHAT HAPPENED?? Need guidance, please.

[alonsoja30]

I've never really been big on posting on these forums even though I've found reading them incredibly helpful. Nevertheless, my confidence is shot and I honestly don't know what to do. I had been preparing for the GMAT for a good 3-4 months now, putting in hundreds of hours. I had stopped drinking and going out. I was very dedicated to really immersing myself in GMAT. I had gone through every MGMAT book, took the course, and so on. I had reached a point where I felt confident, I would go through problems and problems and get them right; I honestly felt ready. my scores seemed to be trending in the right direction too:

MGMAT CAT 1: 610 (Q40/V34)
MGMAT CAT 2: 590 (Q38/V34)
MGMAT CAT 3: 630 (Q41/V35)
MGMAT CAT 4: 580 (Q40/V30) - at which point I freaked out a bit
GMAC CAT 1: 620 (Q44/V31)
MGMAT CAT 5: 650 (Q44/V35)
GMAC CAT 2: 700 (Q47/V39)

Then it came to test day. I felt like I was in the right mental state before the test. Slept as well as I could, ate breakfast. Of course I was very nervous and to be honest was taking the test to try and meet a deadline. The test itself was a little bit of a blur. Almost like a lot of the stuff being tested was very different from what I saw in the CATs, maybe I studied harder problems specifically and just didn't get into that range at all? In the end, I scored a 610 (Q43/V31) and felt crushed. I still do. How did I spend 3-4 months studying and score the same as I did on my first CAT?? All that work can't just disappear can it?

Does anyone have any guidance on what went wrong? What should I do? Where did I go wrong?

On a separate note, will schools be OK with me saying I am planning on re-taking the test? Should I just wait instead?

Please help!

Jose

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry you had a disappointing test experience.

Editing to add: you took the course, right? If so, then you're eligible for a free Post-Exam Assessment (if you haven't done it already). This is a phone call with an instructor to figure out what happened on test day and come up with a plan to re-take the test. If this applies to you, please send an email to gmat@manhattanprep.com and request the Post-Exam Assessment.

You mention feeling like the test was a blur and you weren't recognizing that much. That's a classic sign of mental fatigue. Did it feel like some of the symptoms described in this article?
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... you-crazy/

Is it possible that you burned yourself out / tired yourself out too much leading up to the test? What did you do in the last 2-3 days before the test? (Both studying and otherwise - what was going on at work?)

And / or were you not fully prepared for the mental stamina required for the full test? When you took practice tests, did you take the essay and IR sections (and did you take them as seriously as you did on Real Test day)? Did you stick to the 8-min breaks or did you give yourself longer breaks (or more breaks) than allowed? Did you use the pause button? Etc.

The other common culprit of dropped scores is timing. If your immediate reaction is "My timing is totally fine," then we have to have a conversation, because nobody's timing is totally fine. Some people are better than others, but everyone has at least some small timing issues - that's just how the test is built.

Use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT (#5):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

What's going on with the timing? What about your content strengths and weaknesses?

Also, read the below two articles. Is that how you were approaching the test? If not, that could have contributed to making poor decisions during the test, which can mess up both your timing and your mental stamina.
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

Based on all of the above, figure out what you think was going on. Then come back here and tell us; we'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)

Re: your question about the schools, as far as I know, many schools will accept new scores if they have not already made a decision about your case before you submit the new scores. But I'm not an admissions consultant, so I don't really know - this would be a good question to ask an admissions consultant. We've got a folder here called (Surprise!) Ask An Admissions Consultant - see what they think.