To reappear or not to reappear

[NishantB347]

So I gave the GMAT on 18th Mar 2016 and ended up scoring a decent 710(Q-50, V-36, IR-8).However I have something very interesting to share.

I studied for the GMAT for approximately 1.5 months.Finished the OG, 6 Manhattan Tests and 5 Kaplan tests.Results are as follows:-
mgmat 1-580
mgmat 2-590
mgmat3-660(After preparing SC and maths)
mgmat4-680
mgmat5-720
mgamt6-710
Kaplan1-660
kaplan2-680
kaplan3-720
kaplan4-710
kaplan5-740
Gmat prep1-690
Gmat prep2-760
So I was really confident on giving my first Gmat exam on Feb 19th.But Gmat delivered a shocker.I scored 650(Q-51, V-27, IR-5).Don't know what happened to my verbal score.I was consistently scoring above 35 but somehow on the test day, I could only manage a 27. This really depressed me and I gave up on Gmat altogether.However, I thought that I should atleast give another attempt, and fixed a date for March 19th.But I got so busy in my job that I was just not able to study.On the 16th of March I decided to reschedule my exam but found that the rescheduling fee was 250$. So I decided to give the exam and get it over with.Without any preparation this time, I scored a 710. I really could not believe my eyes.

So what explains this discrepancy? I attribute it to stress.On my first attempt with a good amount of prep, I was really anxious because a good score meant a lot to me.The next time I went in with a really relaxed mind and somehow managed a decent score even though I had forgotten quite a few of the SC grammar rules and math formulas.

What should I do?I feel with a better preparation I can definitely score more than 710.But I don't want to go to the centre again with a good amount of prep and fail at acing the test.

[StaceyKoprince]

Great job!

I wouldn't call the second one "without preparation." You still had all of the preparation from before. Your brain doesn't forget it all that quickly.

But I think you're on to something regarding the stress factor. Stress can definitely hurt your performance, as can mental fatigue. And, in fact, a large amount of stress can make you more mentally fatigued towards the end of a hard task...like taking the test...so it's likely that you just crashed by the time you got to verbal.

Two things:
(1) You can do things to learn to manage your stress. eg:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... mat-score/

(2) In Feb and Mar, GMAC ran a pilot that allowed some people to choose a different order for the test sections. 3 of the 4 possible choices but Q and V first, ahead of essay and IR (in various orders). They're crunching all of the data now, but unless something very unexpected happened, my guess is that they will be rolling out this feature to everyone sometime later this year. (If I could bet, I would bet it will happen in the May to July timeframe.

So if they do roll that out, then this might help you with the mental fatigue aspect as well. Something to think about - although we won't know whether it will happen or when until they announce something.

Bigger question: you think you may be able to score higher than 710. Do you need to score higher than 710? You may want to talk to some admissions consultants and do some research yourself. Your 710 might be sufficient for your profile and wherever you plan to apply.

And one final thing: the second GMATPrep test has the same IR questions as the first GMATPrep test. So it's possible that the 760 there was a little bit inflated because you were not as tired out as you would normally have been, since you'd already seen those IR questions before. (I'm assuming that you did the IR sections in practice. If you didn't, then that's another reason your score might be inflated...skipping a section gives you more mental energy for the later ones!)