Gmat Test Experience - Complete Devastation

[kapoor.sam]

Hi folks, I am an MGMAT student who took the actual test today and shockingly got a 520 score. I approached the test with a great amount of confidence having studied for the past 5 months for the test and having gone through at least 12-15 of the Thursdays with ron Sessions and doing tons of practice drills in the OG Archer. My practice test scores were 590, 630 and 610 on the MGMAT CATs and 610 on the GMAT Prep Test.

What is rathar interesting is that when the quant section started I found the questions surprisingly easy, compared to typical problems on the MGMAT CATs. No co-ordinate geometry, no probability, no combinatorics. Just mainly arithmetic, algebra and a few geometry problems. My confidence and self esteem was building as I was pacing through the test. I finished the Quant section with 7 minutes to spare feeling like I have conquered the GMAT and can put my books away. I took a 3-4 minute break and came back for the verbal. Verbal was typical -- one hard RC passage, 1 simple and 1 medium RC, a ton of SC's (not hard) and some tricky CR questions. Overall, nothing out of the ordinary. At the final question in verbal I still had 6 minutes to spare and I was very happy with the test. When I clicked the final submit I was expecting a 640-650 score based on how I felt I was doing. The result flashed up as 520 and my jaw dropped to the floor. I could not believe what I saw. When I took my first practice MGMAT CAT, with practically zero study I got a 590. 6 months later with a ton of studying and practicing how could my score be 70 points lower.

Only thing I can think of is a glitch in the scoring algorithm.
Surprisingly my friend took it the same day and his last GMAT prep practice test score was 720 and he got a 580 in the real test.
Experts out there (Ron/Stacey) -- could this be a scoring glitch in the system or just plain bad luck?

I have re-scheduled my test for a month later and I honestly don't even know what more I can study or do to get my target score of 650.

[StaceyKoprince]

Hi - we've already spoken during your PEA and discussed your situation; I'm just responding here to "close" the thread. (But, of course, please come back and post if you have anything further to discuss.)

For those wondering what a PEA is and why this student actually got to speak to me: 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 went wrong and come up with a plan to re-take the test. If this applies to you, please send an email to studentservices@manhattangmat.com and request the Post-Exam Assessment.

[kapoor.sam]

Thanks Stacey.
Yes we can close this thread!

[StaceyKoprince]

as I said, do come back to post again if you have anything further to discuss! :) You'll re-open the thread simply by adding a new post to it.