Results of real test lower than GMATPrep tests-what now?

[noravoningersleben]

Hi all,

I took the GMAT yesterday and the result was not what I had hoped for.

I was really surprised / disappointed when I got my score as I had taken the second MBA.com GMATPrep test (under realistic conditions) two days before the real test and gotten a score of 740, with 47 in Quant and 45 in Verbal. (I had also taken several - reset - MGMAT CATs in the days before the actual test and gotten a 730 on each of them).

A much lower score on the actual test than on the GMATPrep test seems weird. Has the test become harder? Or is a drop like this more normal than I think?

I'm kind of wondering if it makes sense for me to take the test again...? If what happened yesterday is any indication, then it seems like even pretty high scores in the practice test won't mean that I'll do very well on the actual test.

Also, I'm kind of running out of materials to practice with, especially CAT tests. Are there any other prep tests besides the MBA.com GMATPrep tests, the MGMAT CATs and the 800Score.com tests out there that you would recommend? Also, are there any other prep materials besides the OG (12th ed), MGMAT books and Official Quant and Verbal guides I should use?

Thank you very much in advance for any advice you might have!

[StaceyKoprince]

You don't mention what you did score. Did your quant and verbal both drop or only one? How much did they drop?

When someone scores decently lower (>50 points) or much lower (>100 points) on the real thing, there's usually some combination of nerves, timing, and stamina going on.

What is your history with standardized tests? Do you tend to perform to your expected level? Or have you had other incidents of underperformance on high-pressure tests? This can indicate a nerves / anxiety issue.

How was your timing? Did you generally move steadily through the test, giving appropriate time and attention to each question? (2m for quant, 1 to 1.5m for SC, 2m for CR, 2-4m to read a passage, 1m for general RC questions, 1.5 to 2m for specific RC questions) Or did you have to rush at times and possibly make random guesses? If you did have to rush and/or make random guesses, on how many questions would you say you did that? Did you do it on a lot of questions in a row or were the guesses scattered? Alternatively, did you move too quickly and finish with a lot of time (>3min) left over?

How was your stamina? You already have one red flag in your post: you took a practice test 2 days before and you took "several" others "in the days before" the test. That's like running practice marathons right before you run the real marathon. If you do that, you're pretty much guaranteed to run out of gas on the real thing. Also, when you took your practice tests, did you always do the essays, fully and to the best of your ability (not just on your last practice test)? If you didn't, that would be another red flag - people who aren't prepared for the full length of the test often run out of mental and physical steam during the verbal section.

The answers to those questions will help you to decide whether to take the test again and also how to prepare - so let us know!

[noravoningersleben]

Hi Stacey,

Thank you very much for your reply!

My score dropped by a whole 140 points from the second GMATPrep test; I ended up getting 35 for the verbal section (as opposed to 45 for the verbal section in the GMATPrep test) and 36 for the math section (as opposed to 47 for the math section in the GMATPrep test). My score overall on the real test was a 600 (GMATPrep: 740), and I found out yesterday that I got a 6.0 for the AWA essays (at least one piece of good news ;)).

Re your question about my history with standardized tests, I actually don't have one. I'm European and the GMAT is my first U.S. standardized test ever (however, I did have a bit of an issue with test anxiety when I was in grad school in the UK getting my MSc).

About my timing on the test: In the math section, I got a few extremely hard questions right in the beginning. I spent a lot of time on those questions, meaning that I fell a little behind the timing guidelines. I remember being at question 17 when I was supposed to be closer to question 20, and at question 19 when I was supposed to be at question 21 - 22. When I hit the 15 minute mark, I was at question 26 (instead of 28 - 29). As a result, I moved very quickly through the last 11 questions, taking about a minute to a minute and a half for each and just choosing what seemed like the most reasonable answer after that amount of time. For the last question, I had to guess randomly. Also, I feel like I got about nine extremely hard questions during the math section, and I could answer only about four of them (even though I spent a lot of time on all hard problems apart from the ones that were among the last 11 questions).

The verbal section was pretty much catastrophic. I was extremely exhausted when I got to verbal and could hardly concentrate. Also, I realized suddenly that the verbal section could make or break my score and so I started to freak out. I found the questions pretty hard and spent a lot of time on each of the first 20 problems in order to make sure I would get them right. Then, I all of a sudden was left with more than 20 questions and less than 20 mins on the clock! As a result, I made (more or less) educated guesses for the last 20 questions. (I couldn't answer question 41 as the time had run out.)

I think your analogy to a marathon runner who runs a few marathons right before the real thing is spot-on. When I went in for the real test, I was so tired and exhausted that my head was spinning, and I definitely ran out of steam during the test.

To answer your last question: I took a practice test in the evening before the exam, and I didn't do the essays then (just the math and verbal sections). But for most other practice exams I took, I did do the essays and did them to the best of my ability.

Thank you so much in advance for your take on whether it makes sense for me to take the exam again and, if so, what I should do to prepare.

(Also, sorry for the long analysis, but I thought it might help in giving me advice about what to do next.)

[StaceyKoprince]

It sounds like your first major problem was timing: you spend more time early on and ran out of time towards the end on a significant number of questions. This alone can kill your score (I'll explain below). Second, you then started experiencing anxiety when you realized your timing was off, and that just made things worse.

(1) The earlier questions are not worth more than the later questions. This is a myth. You might know that already but I want to make sure you know that.
(2) The *worst* thing for your score is to have a string of wrong questions in a row. A single question wrong only costs about 1 to 1.5 percentile points (assuming it was not an experimental question). 5 questions wrong in a row will cost about 2 to 2.5 percentile points per question. Yes, the penalty actually increases as you get more wrong in a row! And, unfortunately, you put yourself in a position to have high penalties toward the end of the test.
(3) The worst place to have multiple wrong in a row is at the end, because you have no opportunity to recover (no more questions left!). Again, you were in this position on the test.
(4) When the test times out before you've answered a question (or multiple), the penalty is 3 percentile points per question. So that last verbal question alone cost you 3 percentile points all by itself.
(5) Everybody gets questions they can't do on this test. EVERYbody. You can't avoid it. What you can avoid is spending too long on questions you can't do and then having the lack of time cost you a bunch of points at the end, on questions that you quite possibly could have done. (Certainly, in any string of 11 questions, there should have been a number that you could do, right?) People typically have to guess on 4-7 questions in a section, so you were right on track... except for spending too much time on them... :(

Given what you described (in terms of the number of questions on which you were behind / had to guess), the timing problems + anxiety could have caused the entire drop you reported in your scores.

So. New mindset. Needing to go beyond about 30 seconds over the average for that type of question simply indicates that you don't really know how to do that question. So don't go over - guess and move on. (Part of the skill we need to develop is the ability to tell when we aren't going to get something right - and then guess and move on before we've blown too much time on the problem!) Remind yourself that you ARE going to get things wrong. Remind yourself that the test WILL give you things you cannot do - not in the expected timeframe, anyway. Remind yourself that there's approximately a 25% chance that this hard question on which you want to blow 4 minutes doesn't even count toward your score (experimental). And move on.

If you can fix the timing thing, then that should also help with your anxiety, because your anxiety didn't really kick into high gear until you knew that the timing was messed up. Go back to your last couple of MGMAT practice tests and try to identify when you tend to hang on to long. DS vs. PS? NP vs geom vs alg vs WT vs FDP? Categories within those areas? Certain places on the test? (eg, some people consistently get bogged down 10-15 questions into a section) The first step is just to be conscious of where you tend to slow down so that you can be aware of when you are in a "danger zone."

Then, learn about how long one minute is without looking at a watch or stopwatch. If you don't have one already, buy yourself a stopwatch with lap timing capability. When you go to do a set of problems, start the stopwatch but turn it over so you can't see the time. Every time you think one minute has gone by, push the lap button. When you're done, see how good you were - and whether you tend to over or underestimate. Get yourself to the point where you're within 15 seconds either way on a regular basis (that is, you can generally predict between 45 sec and 1min 15 sec).

Now, how do you use that when doing problems? If you're not on track by one minute, make an educated guess and move on. (The general idea is that if you're not on track by the halfway mark, you're unlikely to figure out what's holding you back AND have time to do the whole problem in the 1 min you have left. You only have two minutes total!) Also spend some time learning how to make effective educated guesses. When you decide that this one's too hard for you (around 1 min!) then spend the next 30-60 seconds eliminating any wrong answers you can identify, guess, and move on.

It's fantastic that you got a 6.0 on the essays. Next time, get a 5.0 and save some of that brain power for the main event. (Seriously - dumb down your essays a little bit. Spend less time and mental power.)

Let us know how it goes.

[noravoningersleben]

Hi Stacey,

Thank you so much for all the great analysis and advice. I bought a stopwatch and will focus a lot more on my timing this time around when doing practice problems and CATs.

I'll keep you posted on my progress (or lack thereof ;))...

Thank you very much again for your help!

[RonPurewal]

Hi Stacey,

Thank you so much for all the great analysis and advice. I bought a stopwatch and will focus a lot more on my timing this time around when doing practice problems and CATs.

I'll keep you posted on my progress (or lack thereof ;))...

Thank you very much again for your help!

good luck, and be sure to keep us posted on your progress.

[elorber]

Hello,

I took the GMAT for the first time in October 2008 and scored 580 (V - I don't have the report with me and don't recall but Quant was 37 and AWA 5.5). I took the test again last Tuesday May 19 and scored 630 (Q 38 V 38, AWA 5). On practice tests (both the official practice tests from mba.com and MGMAT practice tests) I was scoring above 650 consistently - 700 a few times. I was disappointed that I did not get closer to these numbers on the actual exam and was particularly disappointed that I only improved by one point on the quant section.
When I went in to take the test last week, I felt confident. My confidence actually continued through the end of the test - I thought I was doing much better than I actually did. My pacing was pretty good, I did not feel rushed as I was very conscious of moving forward if I felt I was spending too much time on a question.
So, my question for you. What now? I was pretty set on not taking the test again as it has already taken up a lot of my time this year. My family and friends all think I need to move on with my life and that now I should focus on my applications and making the essays the best they can be. BUT, I am having trouble accepting my score (was hoping for high 600s or 700). What do you think? Is it worth trying again?
Thank you very much. I appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.

[StaceyKoprince]

I can't tell you whether you should try again or move on to the rest of the apps; that's a personal decision. But if you decide you want to try to figure out what's going on, here are some questions to answer.

When you took your practice tests, what were your strengths and weaknesses? You mention scoring "above 650" consistently and sometimes 700. Were you able to determine what the differences were that usually led to a 660-range vs. a 700?

When you took your practice tests, did you do so under full, official test conditions? (essays, 10 min break, quant, 10 min break, verbal) Did you take your practice tests at approximately the same time of day as the real test? If there were differences (sometimes you didn't do the essays, sometimes you took tests earlier in the day vs. later in the day), what were they and when did you tend to do better vs. worse?

Did you see any repeated questions on the practice tests on which you got your best scores? Did you use the pause button (on MGMAT exams), take longer breaks than were allowed, skip the essays? (Any of those things can lead to an inflated score.)

Did you take a practice test (or more than one!) in the couple of days before the real test? Did you regularly skip the essays when taking practice tests? Did you take the real test at a time of day when you weren't used to taking such tests - eg, early morning when your practice tests were all afternoon / evening? (Any of those things can lead to a deflated score on test day.)

What were your quant and verbal subscores on your practice tests vs. your real test? Did both your scores drop or was the drop mostly due just to one section. What were your overall scores on your practice tests? All of these tests have standard deviations of between 30 and 50 points, so if you were mostly scoring, say, 660 or 670, then 630 is actually within the expected range of scores - it doesn't actually represent a drop. If, on the other hand, you were mostly scoring 690-700, then your score did drop some on test day.

What differences, any at all, can you think of between your practice tests and the real thing? Even if you think it's minor - let us know.