Need instructor help V27 (1st) -> V24 (2nd)

[alvin8139]

I just came back from my 2nd GMAT attempt today and was very disappointed & suprised with the result I got - 630 (M50 V24). My verbal was even decreased from 1st attempt (V27). I have to list up my situations and hope instructors can offer some analysis / advice, since I was really confused with what went wrong with my verbal.

1st attempt:
Before real test, PREP mock test average 650 and real test was lower with 620 and Verbal also slower. During the test, I found that I was not sure of the answer I chose, especially with sentence corrections. And I also found problems with stamina, since i started to have headache when it came to verbal and cannot really digest while reading. Therefore, I was not too surprised with the low Verbal 27, plus, I didn't fully prepared for verbal.

In 2nd attempt preparation:
Then, I studied really hard for 3 additional months (part-time) for preparations. I did OG 11 & 12 another two times, I also read and learn a lot on this forum. And I did feel my Sentence Correction improved a lot by learning from MGMAT forum (especially from Ron's posts). I also made a error log as suggested and kept trace of all my mistakes. I reviewed error logs several times before the real test. Concerning stamina problem, I also took suggestion of writing AWA during mock exam, and I took mock tests in the exact time slot to the real exam.

So, below is my performances in the mock tests:
(there are some repeated questions in PREP, so I admit scores are bit inflated). I started mock exam around 2 months before real test day and below is my performance (listed from 2 months before till latest)
1. PREP 1 - 690 (M50 V34)
2. PREP 2 - 730 (M49 V40)
3. MGMAT free test 1: 640 (M43 V35)
4. GMAT paper test 14: 720 (M46 V43)
5. PREP 1 again - 760 (M50 V41)
6. PREP 2 again - 750 (M51 V40)
(in the repeated PREP tests, I didn't study where I got wrong in previous ones).

I clearly feel that I improved a lot in verbal (SC, CR, RC) during the 3 additional months preparations. And improvements were also reflected in the mock tests. Pace was much better than before. Now here comes my confusion in the real 2nd attempt today.

2nd attempt feelings:
AWA topics are not that difficult and I also feel that I did pretty good with math (M50). What's more, I improved my stamina and feel that I'm in relatively good energy when it came to verbal. I was also not that nervous since I had expected anyhow I could get better in verbal than 1st attempt.

The first 2 questions are SC and I'm pretty convinced that I did it right. Unlike my first attempt, this time I can identify what's being tested with SC. Then came 3rd with CR, and I'm also pretty sure. Then 1st RC, I also felt well with my answers. After 1st RC, it came to Question 7, which is a fully underlined SC. So, I thought I was doing pretty well previously and I shouldn't be given easier questions afterwards. Overall, I felt I did much better than my first time. I also had the feeling from 1st attempt that CAT will offer you similar type questions once you did wrong in a previous such wrong. (e.g. if you did one CR - assumption Qs wrong, then they gave you another assumption one). And in the 2nd attempt, whenever I was given a certain type in CR, the next came with a SC, more intermingled. Therefore, I assumed during the test that I for sure can score better than my first attempt. Of course, I see some short SCs in the 20s of the questions, I was bothered much at that time since I had similar experience with PREP, and in the end it turned out that the score is not that bad. Therefore, when it came to the report score page, I was quite confident that I can gain higher Verbal score than 1st attempt and Verbal score shall at least be above 30s.

Then it was the big astonishment...Sorry for the long post, but I was really confused and INSTRUCTOR, PLS HELP WITH SOME ANALYSIS OR POSSIBLE IDEAS. I've basically studied all materials I have several times and I believe 'no pains, no gains', but I was really lost what went wrong and how I could beat verbal (I thought I did in my preparations). In the 1st attempt, I knew what I was lack of, and now I don't know what went wrong and how to prepare further....really depressing.

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry you're having a tough time with the test. (Though nice job on the quant!)

First, did you take one of our classes or guided self study programs? If so, you're eligible for a free Post-Exam Assessment - a phone call with an instructor to figure out what went wrong and set up a game plan for your re-take. If you'd like to do this (I strongly recommend it!), send an email to studentservices@manhattangmat.com and ask for a Post-Exam Assessment.

Did you see repeated questions on all of the practice tests you posted? Or only on some? When you did see repeated questions, how did you handle them? Did you answer them more quickly than you would have if you'd been seeing them for the first time? (This would give you an artificial time advantage, which can lead to score inflation.) Did you answer correctly even when you got the question wrong the first time? (This would inflate your score directly.)

Your first MGMAT test would not have had repeated questions, and that one showed a verbal score of 35, so let's assume that your non-artificially-inflated range was somewhere in the mid 30s. (You did the essays on that test, right?) Your real test still dropped by quite a bit, so I'd like you to read this article and do the analysis described (for the verbal section):

http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/10/26 ... went-wrong

Can you also do the analysis described in this article on your MGMAT test?

http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/09/23 ... tice-tests

And please let me know if you deviated from official conditions in *any* way on that MGMAT test.

Also, just FYI - the paragraph where you describe the verbal and what you expected to see in terms of difficulty or whether you got things right or wrong... the test doesn't work that way at all. If you get a CR assumption wrong, that does not mean they'll give you another CR assumption. If you're doing well, that does not mean that you won't see easier ones. (In fact, the better you're doing, the more likely you are to see some easier ones during the experimentals.) Short underlines on SC can be easier but they can also be quite difficult. And so on.

I'm telling all of this to you because it seems as though you're spending a lot of mental energy trying to figure out how you're doing while you're taking the test. That's a really bad idea; it distracts you from what you should be concentrating on - the test itself! Plus, it's next to impossible to tell how you're doing while you take the test.