Real GMAT Score Went Down by 100 Points from GMATPrep

[KenCen]

Dear Manhattan GMAT Forum members,

I think some of us have gone through this: scoring solidly in the last practice CAT and then completely bombed it in the real GMAT.

Today, I just finished my first real GMAT and scored... 560. Here is the breakdown:

Unofficial GMAT 1 Score
IR 8 / 93%
Q 47 / 70%
V 20 / 21%
T 560 / 49%

Of course I was caught off-guard. Firstly, I never scored that high in IR (I constantly scored between 4 and 5 in all of my practice tests). Secondly, I never scored that low in Verbal (the lowest I have scored in my practice exams was 43%).

Of course, this is a huge bummer for me, as my scores in practice tests that I did had been increasing and shown positive progresses. The following were my progress:

MGMAT CAT 1 -- December 2013
Q 42 / 57%
V 27 / 43%
T 570 / 53%

MGMAT CAT 2 -- February 2014
IR 3.6599998
Q 43 / 61%
V 29 / 54%
T 590 / 59%

MGMAT CAT 3 -- March 2014
AWA 6.0
IR 4.36
Q 40 / 52%
V 35 / 74%
T 620 / 69%

GMATPrep 1 -- April 2014 (one week before the real GMAT)
AWA 6.0
IR 5 / 52%
Q 48 / 78%
V 34 / 69%
T 660 / 80%

Having a 100-point drop between my last GMAT practice exam and my real GMAT really hit me hard. I thought I was off for a good progress as my scores have been increasing pretty well.

I am to score between 650 to 700, but it looks like I have to relearn everything that I have been learning in the past three months.

With that being said, I do have a couple of questions:

1) I am planning to apply for MBA in the Fall 2014 semester, preferably either Round 1 or 2. If this is the case, what would be the most ideal time frame to retake my GMAT?

2) I am literally shocked by how greatly I performed in IR, yet how horribly I did in Verbal. For both components of the exam, I reach new extremes: high for IR (8 / 93%) and low for Verbal (20 / 21%). I was caught off-guard because I thought I completely blew the IR yet did okay in Verbal (just like how I did last week). Has any of you guys ever experienced this and happen to know the reason why this happened?

3) One of the things that my friends told me that might have happened is... mental fatigue. She pointed out that my performance pretty much went down from IR to Verbal -- 93rd percentile to 21st percentile. As such, could you guys please give me some tips in dealing with mental fatigue? I did have water and chocolate with me that I consumed during the two optional breaks throughout the test. Apparently they did not help :(

All advice would be much appreciated. Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Adriel

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry you had a rough test-day experience. Yes, this happens sometimes - you are not alone. The interesting thing is that, on this test, you can feel like you're doing terribly when you're actually doing quite well, and vice versa.

If you plan to apply in the Sep to Dec 2014 timeframe, then ideally you'd want to be done with the GMAT by the time you have to start working on apps (usually July or August). Obviously, things happen - but that's the goal.

Your friend may be right about the mental fatigue, especially because you did so well on IR! It's possible that you used more mental energy that you were used to, not just on that section but on the whole thing - since you knew it really counted now. That would add up so that, by the end of the test, you wouldn't be as alert as you normally were.

Read this - do any of the symptoms sound familiar?
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... you-crazy/

That article will also give you some ways to help reduce your mental fatigue as you take the test.

Next, be aware that decisions you're making throughout the earlier portions of the test are going to impact you later. Next time, don't spend time on the 2 hardest IR questions - save that mental energy for later in the test.

Also, think about how you're spending your energy on quant. It's very common for me to see at least 2 or 3 questions in a student's quant section for which s/he spent 3+ minutes (and the corresponding mental energy) and got them wrong anyway. Try to cut those off faster and, again, save that mental energy for later.

There are other reasons for score drops, so take a look here to see whether any apply to you:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... t-wrong-2/

Then come back and tell me what you think.

You can also use study sessions to help you build stamina. Let's say that you're going to sit down for a 2-hour study session. In advance, figure out what you're going to do for the entire 2 hours. In fact, plan extra, just in case you finish early.

Then GO for 1 hour without stopping. No checking email, no chatting with a friend, etc. Take a 10-15 minute break, then GO again for another hour, no stopping.

Then stop. Don't do the above for 4 hours straight. It's actually a lot more mentally fatiguing to study than to take a test. When studying, you're both recalling existing memories and trying to create new memories to use in future. When taking a test, you're only trying to recall existing memories.

So if you try to study for 4 hours straight, you'll be so mentally fatigued for the last couple of hours that you won't make very good memories... and your study time will be very inefficient.

In terms of what to study for the re-take, that will partially depend on what you tell me you think the issues were after reading the above articles. You can also use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT (this should take you a minimum of 1 hour):
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... ts-part-1/

Figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as what you think you should do based on that analysis. Then come back here and tell us; we'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)

[KenCen]

Hi Stacey,

Thank you very much for the advice. I would like to let you know that the Official Score has been released. The result is...

Unofficial GMAT 1 Score
IR 8 / 93%
AWA 6 / 91%
Q 47 / 70%
V 20 / 21%
T 560 / 49%

Looking back at the exam day, I found some mistakes that might contribute to my tragic failure in my GMAT. Here was how it went:

The day before GMAT, I studied neither Quant nor Verbal. Instead, I studied Integrated Reasoning from GMAT's Official Book, which is ridiculously hard. This made me very nervous and I had a difficult time sleeping. I finally slept at around 4:00am that night.

In the morning, at around 9:30 am, I had a breakfast consisting of a ham-egg-cheese bagel and -- you can yell at me for doing this -- Red Bull. In the previous two practice tests, I have been drinking Red Bull to increase my focus and I thought it worked well. I scored 620 and 660 in my practice tests with Red Bull, so I thought the drink helped me stayed focus.

The exam took place at exactly 12:00pm EST.

Integrated Reasoning was very tough in my opinion. The questions were unlike I had ever seen in previous practices that I did in both Manhattan GMAT and GMAC's practice books. Yet, I went through all of the questions by ensuring that I did it on time. Some of the questions were very tricky, making me spend at least 5 minutes on those questions. However, I did skip two questions as I knew it was way too tough for me to solve within the recommended time range. After finishing the section, I felt crushed, knowing that I had just bombed the section. "I think that would make it a 4 or 5," I assured myself.

AWA went very smoothly, although I must acknowledge that the question was trickier compared to the questions GMAT Write. "Oh no... I will probably get a 5.0 or 5.5 on this... I will just do my best," I thought in my head. As usual, I listed all of the possibilities that I can use to discuss in the essay. Point 1, point 2, point 3... DONE! And then I wrote the essay. Twenty minutes later, I clicked "Next" and finished the section (I spent approximately 25 out of 30 minutes for the section).

First break, I drank another can of Red Bull, which was what I had done in my previous two practice tests. In addition, I ate some chocolate.

Quant section was very tricky, especially because in the real GMAT, the experimental questions are included. This never happened to me in the practice tests! A lot of times, when I did a row of difficult questions, an easy question suddenly popped out of nowhere. While this is supposed to be understood, it did make me panic a bit because it made me think, "Oh my God, my score is probably in the 20th percentile right now! What am I supposed to do!?" Yet I managed to go through the section within 70 minutes (out of the maximum 75).

Second break, I ate the rest of the chocolate, did some stretching, and drank water as well.

Verbal section felt... weird. I did not know what to feel about it. Sentence Correction went smoothly. Reading Comprehension was trickier than what I have been practicing with. By the time I reached the 15th or 16th question, I became overwhelmed by the sheer information I face that I literally just skipped a lot of questions. I could not be bothered to take notes, could not be bothered to carefully analyze each Critical Reasoning question, as well as the passages, especially the long-reading passage. In the past two practice tests, I skipped questions that I know I would get wrong anyways and scored well (35 and 34) so I thought the same time would happen to the real exam.

I filled out the survey form, click "Next," and... BOOM. 560. FAIL.

Evaluating further on my performance that day, I think the biggest mistake is not getting enough sleep as well as the fatigue on Verbal section, mainly due to the panic caused by the experimental questions in the Quant section and because -- I admit -- of the crash due to the Red Bull.

I think my biggest problem is how to relax myself. I have always been a nervous test-taker. Same thing happened to me when I took my SAT four years ago. Maybe I can get some advice on how to handle this situation? I have read your posts on reducing test/stress/anxiety. None of them really work for me though :(

[StaceyKoprince]

Wow - great job on IR.

Yep, what you described for your thinking during verbal is classic mental fatigue. Your brain was struggling in a major way at that point.

You know some really good things now for next time, though. First, you don't have to spend as much mental energy on IR - you got an 8! Go for a 6 next time and save that mental energy for verbal.

Second, EXPECT the test to feel hard / kick your butt. If you're doing what you should be doing, you should feel like you're being stretched to the limit. You're an elite athlete at the Olympics; do you expect your competition to be easy? Of course not - in fact, it'd be pretty disappointing. You want to feel like the test is your toughest competitor ever... but you're going to win a few more points than him and eke out the win.

So a big part of this goes back to your basic mindset when approaching the test. You need to internalize the idea that this is NOT an academic test, and they do not even want you to get everything right. In fact, they've stacked the deck against you to make sure you won't!

I know you "know" that, but a decent part of your stress is that you're still fighting it a bit underneath, almost subconsciously. eg, if you've totally internalized how the test works, you don't care that you suddently get a problem that seems easier. It won't throw you at all.

What they do want to know is whether you're going to be a good business person. Can you assess various opportunities and make the calls as to which are good ones and which aren't worth your time? Do you have the discipline to make those kinds of decisions - actually letting some opportunities go? Can you manage your scarce resources (time, mental energy)? Etc.

If you haven't already, read this:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/

Print it out and read it every day. Read it until you're not trying to "convince" yourself to let stuff go (or whatever). Read it until you have fully internalized how this test works.

On the other stuff: I'm actually okay with the Red Bull as long as it's part of your normal daily routine. But, as you found out, you're going to get a natural adrenaline boost just from knowing that it's the real thing this time - so caffeine and sugar can then burn through your system and, bam, you crash before you're done.

You don't normally start your day with Red Bull, so don't on test day either. If you have a cup of coffee normally, have it on test day. But don't do more than you normally do.

I think I've done 3 different articles on anxiety over the years - have you read all of them? The most recent one is on meditation, and you don't have to become a new-age guru. It's like 10 minutes, two or three times a week. And the idea is just to give your brain a way to remain calm so that you can do what you know how to do.

Here it is, in case you haven't seen it:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... mat-score/

You'll also find it a little easier to go in next time because you know what to expect now. That does help. I also had another student once who watched the video on "what to expect on test day" on the GMAC site like 50 times so that she became desensitized to the anxiety that would kick up as soon as she walked into the test center. That might help, too.

And one more: train yourself to take a big breath after every problem / before the next. Take as deep a breath as you can (fill your lungs! expand your chest), open your mouth, and slowly blow it out as you start to read the next problem. It's amazing how much just taking a deep breath helps calm you down.

Finally: do you think you're going to find another reason to be nervous and stay up till 4am next time? I know you said it was because of IR last time, but it could just be that you would have found something no matter what. :)

Keep in mind that a bad night's sleep affects you most two days later, not the next day. So it's not horrible if you have trouble sleeping the night before. (It's better, of course, to be able to sleep.) Figure out what makes your body tired / helps you go to sleep. Exercise? Staying home and watching movies the night before? Eating certain kinds of foods? Do those things the day before to help.

So if you can address all of those things, then you'll be back at your pre-official test level, and you can look to try to push your performance closer to 700.

Try the stuff that I talk about here and in my last post (in terms of helping to build mental stamina) and come back here to tell us how it goes.