Varied scores on Practice Exams

[alyssapremji]

I've been studying for the GMAT for a couple months now and just recently finished the MGMAT course a few weeks ago. I had scored a 710 on both the MGMAT CAT Exam #3 and on the first MBA practice test that mba.com provides about 2 weeks ago. I just took the second MBA practice test and scored 640 (46 Math, 32 Verbal). I had no idea what happened. I was feeling a lot less confident during the test this time around, and it felt a lot more difficult. I am not sure what I should do now as my test day is less than one week away. My goal is 700+.

[StaceyKoprince]

What we need to do know is figure out what happened and why it happened, so we can prevent it from happening again. Did both of your scores drop (quant and verbal) or was the decrease mostly only on one side? What were your quant and verbal breakdowns on the 700+ exams?

Did you time yourself per question on the second GMATPrep practice test? (They don't do this for you; you have to do it on your own if you want the data.)

Did you take all of the tests under full official conditions? (30m each for two essays, 10m break, 75m quant, 10m break, 75m verbal, NO USE of the pause button on the MGMAT test) Did you take them at the same time of day? Were you generally well-rested before each one?

Is there a possibility you were studying too much and burned yourself out before your last test?

On your last test, how was your timing on each section? Did you generally move steadily through the test, giving appropriate time and attention to each question? (2m for quant, 1 to 1.25m 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 does all of that compare on your prior practice tests?

How was your stamina? How did you feel toward the middle and end of the verbal section? Did you have something to eat and drink on the breaks? Did you get up, walk around, and stretch?

What other differences can you think of between the different practice tests? Anything, no matter how small, and no matter whether you think it wouldn't have made a difference to your score. Any differences at all?