Big Irony of my GMAT preparation

[Sam07]

Hey Guys,

I am in need of immediate help. Have taken GMAT twice - scored 690 both of the times. But the irony is how i score in the practice exams v/s how i perform in the real GMAT. Took MGMAT exams, which are great source btw, and following are the results of the exams:

MGMAT
CAT 1 - 680 - Was totally derailed by Quant. Excellent set of questions to train you for the real thing
CAT 2 - 740 - Q48, V 41
CAT 3 - 750 - Q 50, V 41
CAT 4 - 720 Q 50, V 36
CAT 5 - 780 Q51, V47
CAT 6 - 780 Q51, V47

GMAT PREP1 - 760
GMAT PREP2 - 760
Must mention that I had seen 10 % of the problems before in both sections.

KAPLAN (Not Recommended)
CAT 1 - 700
CAT 2 - 640
CAT 3 - 640

REAL GMAT
GMAT 690 Q 48, V 37
GMAT 690 Q 49, V 34

Taking the real exam again in less than a week.

Any advice or comment on where i could I be going wrong or am i just letting the real exam play havoc in my mind.
I am taking it again less than a week.

[StaceyKoprince]

Your quant score is mostly holding up relative to your practice test scores. Your verbal score is the one that's dropping a lot.

Often, peoples' verbal scores drop because of timing or stamina issues. Did you take your practice tests under full official conditions? (30m each for two essays, 10m break, 75m quant, 10m break, 75m verbal)

How was your timing in the verbal section? Did you generally move steadily through the test, giving appropriate time and attention to each question? (1 to 1.5m for SC, 2m for CR, 2-4m to read a passage, 1m for general RC questions, 2m for specific RC questions) Or did you have to rush at times and possibly make random guesses? If you did have to rush and/or make random guesses, on how many questions would you say you did that? Did you do it on a lot of questions in a row or were the guesses scattered?

How was your stamina? How did you feel toward the middle and end of the verbal section? Did you have something to eat and drink on the breaks? Did you get up, walk around, and stretch?

Did you take your official test around the same time of day as your practice tests? What other differences can you think of between your practice test experiences and your real test experiences? Anything, no matter how small, and no matter whether you think it wouldn't have made a difference to your score. Any differences at all?

[Sam07]

Your quant score is mostly holding up relative to your practice test scores. Your verbal score is the one that's dropping a lot.

Often, peoples' verbal scores drop because of timing or stamina issues. Did you take your practice tests under full official conditions? (30m each for two essays, 10m break, 75m quant, 10m break, 75m verbal)

How was your timing in the verbal section? Did you generally move steadily through the test, giving appropriate time and attention to each question? (1 to 1.5m for SC, 2m for CR, 2-4m to read a passage, 1m for general RC questions, 2m for specific RC questions) Or did you have to rush at times and possibly make random guesses? If you did have to rush and/or make random guesses, on how many questions would you say you did that? Did you do it on a lot of questions in a row or were the guesses scattered?

How was your stamina? How did you feel toward the middle and end of the verbal section? Did you have something to eat and drink on the breaks? Did you get up, walk around, and stretch?

Did you take your official test around the same time of day as your practice tests? What other differences can you think of between your practice test experiences and your real test experiences? Anything, no matter how small, and no matter whether you think it wouldn't have made a difference to your score. Any differences at all?

Oh boy!! I tried what you suggested and I could get the sense of the things I was getting wrong. I took my GMATPREP exams with essays but never bothered with MGMAT Tests. And since you occasionally stumble upon some questions that you had seen before in GMATPREP, it makes up for the loss of concentration, stamina etc. and loss of stamina.

I took some tests again in FULL Test conditions and could see my verbal falling dramatically to 34 - 37 level. I was just not able to make anything out of the Verbal questions after a while which would have been breezer to me otherwise.

Any suggestions, Stacey, on what can be done in just 3 days before the real exam!!!

Thanks for your reply before. Surely helped me in zeroing on the problem.

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm glad to help you ID the problem. It may be tough to resolve it in just three days. The real fix is to work on stamina over a period of time, but you don't have time.

First, don't take another practice test. This probably sounds counterintuitive - but when you take one of these exams, you don't just tire yourself out that day. It lasts a few days. So I don't want you to be running marathons right before you go in there for the real thing.

Second, think about what you can do to recharge yourself on the breaks. Do you take the full 10 min breaks? Do you get up, walk around, stretch, and have something to eat and drink? Do all of those things on test day. See this post for the kind of stuff to eat and drink: http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/goo ... t5596.html

Third, during the test itself, do things throughout the entire test to keep yourself loose and energized. Occasionally stretch your legs out and point your toes. Stretch your arms behind your back. Roll your neck around. Take deep breaths. (Just don't make so much movement that you distract others!)

Finally, if despite the above, you really feel like you're losing it during the verbal section, wait until the next hard question that you see and decide that you're going to make a totally random guess and instead spend a minute with your eyes shut, rolling your head around, taking deep breaths, and psyching yourself up by telling yourself whatever works to get yourself energized again. Think of it as a mini-nap without the actual falling asleep part. :)

Good luck - let us know how it goes!