From 500 to 620 in one day?

[len.canoot]

Hello friends,

Yesterday I did my first diagnostic GMAT. Today is my last day of practice since I'll take the actual GMAT tomorrow *ahem*.
Don't worry, I'm not aiming at any top b-school, I just need to get in one..

Anyway, yesterday I did my first GMAT and scored 500. The entry for the b-school I'm aiming at is 500, so this was pretty close.

Later that day I did a diagnostic GMAT again and scored 550.

And today, I could concentrate better, and scored 620.

Is it normal to have a ca. 120 difference in scores, only due to concentration? I'm worried that I might have concentration issues, so does anyone have any tips for me?

Thanks a ton in advance!

Len

BTW. Conditions were similar; conditions were also kind of similar to test conditions.

[StaceyKoprince]

Note: original post is from 2 days ago. You said you're taking the test tomorrow (so, yesterday now). I'm still going to answer because... well, because that's what I do. :) But hopefully you did well and don't need any advice any longer.

Also, for future reference (and for others reading this), please don't post time-sensitive or urgent requests on the forums - questions in this thread take about 3 to 5 business days to receive a reply. Sometimes you get lucky and get an answer the next day, but most of the time it takes longer than that.

It's not too common to have that kind of difference over one day, no. So let's talk some more about the data.

Were these practice test all of the same type / by the same maker? (If not, that could account for part of the difference.)

Did you take the tests under exactly the same conditions? If not, what varied? (Even if you think it wouldn't have mattered.)

Did you take the tests under 100% official GMAT conditions? It sounds like you didn't exactly - how did you differ from official conditions?

If you, for example, skipped the essays, took longer breaks than are allowed, ate or drink during the test section, paused the test... or anything else not allowed on test day, then that could have inflated your score.

In general, if you're looking for something in the 500 range and you scored 620, I'd say that sounds pretty good, assuming you didn't take the test under wildly non-official conditions that gave you major advantages you'd never have on test day. :)