shock on gmat!

[manish]

i gave gmat on 31st of march 08 and scored shocking 450(this was my 4th attempt) before that i scored 400, 540, 500. i was scoring good in my practice-
my practice scores are(before my 4th attempt)
mgmat 1 - 630
mgmat 2 - 640
mgmat 3 - 690(41v, 43q)
mgmat 4 - 670(48q, 37v)
mgmat 5 - 660
mgmat 6 - 660
mgmat 7 - 760
my verbal score was b/w 33 - 42 but on real gmat it was 18-24
i practiced with awa every time but did face some back pain in verbal sec this time.
i want to take gmat again in aug 08 but fail to understand where i went wrong. my qant was also fine but may made some silly mistake but got just 31, i dont face problems in math but on test day i dont know.

[StaceyKoprince]

How was your timing? Did you run out of time and either leave questions blank or have to guess randomly on questions at the end? Did you run low on time and have to work more quickly than you would have liked on some number of questions at the end?

Also, how have you done on past standardized tests? Do you have a history of underperformance on big tests? If so, stress / nerves could also be a big factor.

[manish]

hi! stacy, thanks for the reply, let me responed by saying i din't face any issue with the time,moreover i finished verbal with 10 min to spare. although i did felt pain in my back at around 34th ques on verbal but noting major.
i started quant with a simple ques and contiue to get eiz ques though did face some tough ones but i think now when i look back i can remamber that i finished 9 ques of quant in first 15 mins and thats where i missed out.
in verbal i was completly confident and was doing fine dint face any problem but shocked 2 see my score :oops:
yes, i do get nervous at taking gmat(thats why u see 4 attempts)but this time i was not.
i also want to know that do your previous low score effects your current one, i know people will say how can it be as gmat is a standardize test but can the algorithem of the test do so.
i dont want to give up and take it one more time, i am working and plan to take gmat in aug will review my entire gmat prep. can u plz help me out and give me some advise on this issue.

[StaceyKoprince]

Hmm, it sounds like you were going too fast, then. Was your timing like this on your practice tests as well? I asked about running out of time because that's how most people have timing problems, but it can be equally bad to go too fast, because then you make careless mistakes that you don't even know you made. And you tend to go fastest on the problems you think are easiest, so that's where you make those careless mistakes, and it is FAR more detrimental to your score to get an easier question wrong than it is to get a harder question wrong. If you're doing that, you'll just never be able to lift yourself higher because you'll constantly be undermining your score through frequent careless mistakes.

If there's literally no difference that you can see between your practice tests and the official test - then you may need to take a class or work with a tutor to understand what's going on here. I'm sorry I don't have the "magic answer" for you as to what's going on, but right now I'm as baffled as you are! Basically, there has to be at least ONE substantive difference in order for you to perform so much lower on the official test than you do on practice tests, but - so far - we haven't figured out what that is.

I forgot to mention, if you took one of our classes or tutoring packages, you can sign up for a free Post GMAT Assessment to debrief from the official test and make a plan for taking it again - so please call 800.576.GMAT or email studentservices@manhattangmat.com to sign up for that if you qualify. Then you can start to dig more deeply into what's going on.

Also, you said that you do get nervous and tend to underperform but that you "this time I was not." What changed so drastically that you didn't get nervous at all this time? I've actually never talked to someone who did used to get nervous but completely fixed that problem - usually, people find a way to manage it somewhat but they are still nervous and still don't perform as well as they know they can on practice tests.

To answer your question: your previous scores have absolutely no impact on a new score as far as the test / algorithm is concerned. You have a clean slate when you sit and take a new test. (Your previous scores can be indicative of a new score, though, as it's still you taking the test, of course!)

[manish]

thanks stacey for ur reply,
regarding any difference in real test and practice tests i can say on practice tests i was taking longer breaks and that i think contributed in my back pain later in verbal.
the second diff i can make out is that on real test i was in a hurry to do the ques as i wasted my earlier attempts bec of time issue and i think this time fobia on gmat made me committe simple mistakes and thats why i dint reach 650 and beyond level.
i just need some advice about how to improve this tendancy to make silly mistakes as i am good in tackalling 600-700 level stuff.
in verbal i am completelly :shock: and i dont know what went wrong as i faced no problem in cr and rc, but did face difficulty in sc but thats always been the case in the practice tests.

[StaceyKoprince]

Okay, so two things here - first, you didn't take the tests under the exact same conditions, which means you weren't prepared for the stamina issue. It is VERY difficult to maintain a high level of performance for four straight hours, so it will hurt you if you're not prepared for that.

Second, you did actually get pretty nervous during the test and that affected you as well - if you had a "phobia" about the time that caused you to work more quickly than you are comfortable working, then you probably also weren't thinking as cleanly and clearly as you do when it's not an official test. The effects of this could me mild or severe, depending upon how much you succumbed to this "timing phobia." You may be overcompensating for the "don't spend more than 2 minutes" edict by actually spending too little time and lowering your score in the process!

Keep a careless error log. Every time you make a careless error, note (1) WHAT that error was, (2) WHY you made the error, and (3) what habit you can put into place to minimize the chances of making that same type of error in future.

Take practice tests under official conditions.

Force yourself to spend at least one minute on every problem - you're not allowed to move on in less than a minute! Go back and check your work.

Go to the Interact and Learn section of our website and look under the ManhattanGMAT Strategy Annex for an article on Stress Management. Check out the techniques discussed and see whether any might work for you.