GMAT CATs percentile score drop

[michele_valente]

Hi! I'm trying to understand why my score drops considerably in the last 10 questions on both Verb and Quant, after I get to my target score and keep it for a while.
Any tip on the issue?
Has anyone faced a similar situation and how have you coped with it?
Thanks,

Michele

[StaceyKoprince]

The two most common reasons:
(1) timing
(2) mental fatigue

How is your average timing over those last questions? Are you having to go faster than you are earlier in the section in order to finish on time? If so, then you're going to make more mistakes and your score will drop.

Alternatively, are you going faster even when you don't need to do so? That's a big sign of mental fatigue - you just want to be done, so you speed up and (again) make more mistakes.

How often do you try those questions afterwards and realize that you made a careless mistake? Or you're not even sure what you did / how you got it wrong, once you rest your brain and look at the problem again (and it seems easy)?

Another big sign of mental fatigue: you read something and you have to read it again (and again) because your brain just isn't taking in the information.

So, what do you think - timing? Mental fatigue? Both?

[michele_valente]

Hi Stacey,

Thanks for your reply.

I think it's a combination of the two.
My average time per question speeds up and I also need to guess some of the questions afterwards.
What I also realized is that the same moment I see the timing and I realize I'm behind time, I start to panic and mess up the rest of the questions.

I try to keep track of the timing with the Quant and Verbal grid explained in the time management online course, but I still find time management quite difficult, especially after half of the section.

Any tip on how to cope with time management and mental preassure-fatigue?

Thanks a lot!

Michele

[StaceyKoprince]

The first thing to change is your mindset. Stop trying to get everything right - that's not even what the test wants. :)

Read this:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/

Then come back here and tell me why I'm telling you that the test doesn't actually want you to get everything right!

Here's more specifically on time management, too:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -to-do-it/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... nt-part-1/

and on mental fatigue:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... you-crazy/

And on managing stress:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... mat-score/

[michele_valente]

Hi Stacey,

Thanks for your reply.

The articles are brilliant!
I see that getting everything right is not actually what the test is designed for. Key will be for me to learn within the next few days how to make the decision of what questions to prioritize and what questions to skip...
I have taken a CAT this weekend and I saw some improvement, especially in the Quant part: I could get to my target and I was able to drag it until the last question.
Need a bit more work on the Verb, but I think I'm getting there!
I've also slightly modified the grid I used to keep my time to try to follow a rytme I think is a bit more aligned with my pace.
One week to my first GMAT attempt and I'll see how it will go!

Thanks again and have a nice day,


Michele

[StaceyKoprince]

Great, glad to hear that you found the info helpful! Let us know how it goes - good luck!

[michele_valente]

Hi Stacey,

I took my GMAT this morning, please see below my results:
QUANT 50%, VERB 35%, overall result is 540.

As you can imagine I'm really sad about this results.
(I used to have a GPA of 3.9 - 4.0 and I graduated with honors from my Uni in Italy).
I now feel quite stressed and frustrated, especially after spending so much effort, money and time between the course and the study.

I honestly don't really feel to re-take the test after this experience.
It looks like I have just been wasting time and money for nothing.

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry that you had a disappointing test experience. Don't make any decisions right now - just get a few days away from the experience first and see how you feel.

You are not the first person to have a disappointing test day (and you won't be the last). This is one of those challenges in life for which you can choose to apply yourself and persevere. You just need to give yourself a chance to be upset and disappointed and discouraged... and then to decide that you're not going to let the test win after all.

Did you take our course? If you took our course or one of our Guided Self-Study packages, 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 (PEA).

Let me know if that applies to you - if so, go do the PEA and feel free to come back here to discuss anything you like.

If not, then we'll do a modified PEA here. Tell me your practice test scores (including your Q and V breakdown), as well as your general strengths and weaknesses.

Then, use the below to analyze your most recent 1-2 MGMAT CATs (this should take you a minimum of 1 hour):
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... ts-part-1/

Come back here to tell me that analysis and also tell me how the real test felt like the practice tests and how the real test did NOT feel like the practice tests.

Finally, if your real test represented a big score drop (70+ points from practice), add this to your analysis:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... t-wrong-2/