Huge gap in GMATPrep test score and actual GMAT score

[mohit005]

Hi All,

I gave practise GMAT tests (under controlled environment, simulating the test conditions) at home and scored following -

GMATPrep 1 - 770 (11 May 2011)
GMATPrep 2 - 750 (9 May 2011)
Manhattan test 6 - 780 (6 May 2011)
Manhattan test 5 - 750 (5 May 2011)
Manhattan test 4 - 710 (9 May 2011)
Manhattan test 3 - 750 (9 May 2011)
Manhattan test 2 - 750 (9 May 2011)


Though some of the questions in these practise tests were reapeat, I did not remember answer of any of the repeat questions except 3-4 questions.

Still when I gave my actual GMAT on this friday ( 13 May 2011) , my score came out to be - 670 (Q49, V32) :cry:

I am not able to understand why did I get such a low score despite getting wonderful results in mock tests. I found the verbal section in real GMAT very hard as compared to the Manhattan and GMATPrep tests

I want to know -

A) Is there a mismatch between the difficulty level of the GMATPrep and Manhattan tests and the real GMAT test (specially the verbal section) ? If there is a mismatch, what is the way to cope that mismatch to get a good score in real test ?

B) Can anyone please suggest me what went wrong ? I gave all the mock tests under controlled environment. I gave my 100 % at exam and was not distracted by any external factors (like noise etc.)

C) This was my second attempt on GMAT (670, Q49,V32). First time I scored 640 (Q47, V31). I had full preparation this time and had not left anything to prepare. Now that I don't have the score, I don't know how to react and what action to take. I found RCs and SCs very tough in the real exam. I am thinking about working on these 2 segments and giving GMAT third time in 1 month. Will that be a good move ?

Please help me in figuring about these queries. Any help is much appreciated

Thanks,
Mohit

[greystealth]

Hi Mohit, there is indeed a mismatch between the verbal on the real GMAT and the verbal on MGMAT. The GMAT has changed the way they test the verbal material, but the underlying principles are theoretically the same (according to MGMAT). But I am not surprised of your score, many other test takers have experienced the same dip in verbal.

check out beatthegmat . com for more information.

[StaceyKoprince]

Yes, I have been hearing rumblings about this at BTG - people claiming that the test is changing or has just changed and the practice tests, materials, etc, don't help anymore.

The only thing is... I've been hearing these rumblings since 2007, which is when I joined BTG. The test changed! A lot! It didn't look anything like I expected! Every month. For the past 4 years. And yet hundreds... thousands! of students have continued to use the available materials and get 700+ scores. So what's going on?

The test does change in small ways over time, yes, but it has not changed that substantially. First, there are always people who get scores a lot lower than they expected to get - I've been teaching this test for 15 years and that outcome has always been around, unfortunately. Second, whenever I have delved into a particular case, I have found deficits in the way that the person studied, the way that the person took practice tests, etc, that explain score drops.

I agree that thinking the test has changed is a nicer excuse than "I did something wrong" - but that's not going to get you where you really want to get, which is to a better score, right? So the most important thing right now is to figure out what happened - if you don't figure that out, you can't do anything to change the situation next time.

So. You mention that you took the test in a "controlled environment, simulating the test conditions." And then you give other details that tell me that you didn't actually do that 100%. You had repeated questions. You mention that you only remembered "3-4" of the repeats, which implies that you had more repeats than that.

Even 3-4 repeats can result in a score increase (especially if you are talking about both sections). PLUS, how was your timing on those questions? Did you answer them more quickly than you would have if they'd been entirely new? If so, you just gave yourself a boost on other questions as well (more time). Plus, on the ones that were repeated but you didn't entirely remember (and so didn't count them in that 3-4) - did you do those more quickly than you would have if they'd been entirely new? Yet another time boost. That can result in quite substantial score inflation, depending upon the number of questions this affected.

Did you do the essays? Skipping those can also cause a score boost.

Also, whenever possible, try to take the practice tests someplace other than home. You're used to home. It's comfortable. You can control the environment 100%. You're not used to the real test center. You can't control the real test center environment. People will be walking in and out of the room. You may even hear them whispering. You might be too hot or too cold. Where's the bathroom? How long does it take to get there from the testing room, and do you know your way back?

You can never entirely simulate the feeling of the real test center, but you can do it better by not taking the test at home. :)

And there's also the other wildcard that will always be out there: you know the real test counts. Some people thrive under pressure; others don't.

Okay, so mohit, let's figure out what went wrong for you. I want you to read the below two articles, analyze your situation using each, and then come back here and post.

First:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ent-wrong/

Then come back here and post in the General GMAT Strategy Questions folder. Include the info that you gave in your first post above.

Then go do this one:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

For the second one, remember that you also had repeated questions; you're going to have to factor that into your analysis since it can also impact timing. Try to figure out, if you can, whether you think you got an artificial time boost there. (Plus, go back and figure out for how many Qs you really did have even a little bit of an "I remember something here" boost.)

Then come back again and add to your new thread int eh General GMAT Strategy Questions folder. And we'll help you figure out what to do!

[StaceyKoprince]

I was just discussing this phenomenon with Ron (he's been seeing similar posts over at BTG and he's been "debunking" them when he sees them), and he told me an interesting little story. I'll share with you all - see if you can spot the analogy. :)

A while back, he developed a serious but not life-threatening medical problem. He went online to find out more about it, found some forums filled with people who also had this problem, and they all discussed it and etc. He formed the impression that this problem was relatively common because there were enough people that it had its own forum (more than one, actually) online.

A while later, after the problem had been fixed, he discovered that only 50 to 100 people per year in the US develop this same problem. In other words, it was actually a pretty rare problem, but the Internet allowed all these people who had the problem to find each other online. Ron's hypothesis is this: the fact that the problem was pretty rare made it even more likely that people would find each other online to discuss it, because they didn't know anyone else (and noone they knew knew anyone else) who had this same problem.

So this like-minded community grew up online and left people thinking that the problem was much more common than it really is.

What's the analogy? :)

[rjdunn03]

Good evening,

So far I have taken 3 of the manhattan CAT practice exams.

1. 630 - 36Q 40V
2. 700 - 44Q 41V
3. 740 - 47Q 45V

Is this normal

[dentobizz]

Hi Stacey ,
By how much can ones scores be inflated--
[1]by not doing the essays (the breaks, conditions,etc remaining the same)
[2]by Repeat questions-- I have solved my Manhattan cats ,and I will be solving the reset mocks now, so if they contain some repeat questions then how can I account for that in my score?

Please help, Thanks.

Yes, I have been hearing rumblings about this at BTG - people claiming that the test is changing or has just changed and the practice tests, materials, etc, don't help anymore.

The only thing is... I've been hearing these rumblings since 2007, which is when I joined BTG. The test changed! A lot! It didn't look anything like I expected! Every month. For the past 4 years. And yet hundreds... thousands! of students have continued to use the available materials and get 700+ scores. So what's going on?

The test does change in small ways over time, yes, but it has not changed that substantially. First, there are always people who get scores a lot lower than they expected to get - I've been teaching this test for 15 years and that outcome has always been around, unfortunately. Second, whenever I have delved into a particular case, I have found deficits in the way that the person studied, the way that the person took practice tests, etc, that explain score drops.

I agree that thinking the test has changed is a nicer excuse than "I did something wrong" - but that's not going to get you where you really want to get, which is to a better score, right? So the most important thing right now is to figure out what happened - if you don't figure that out, you can't do anything to change the situation next time.

So. You mention that you took the test in a "controlled environment, simulating the test conditions." And then you give other details that tell me that you didn't actually do that 100%. You had repeated questions. You mention that you only remembered "3-4" of the repeats, which implies that you had more repeats than that.

Even 3-4 repeats can result in a score increase (especially if you are talking about both sections). PLUS, how was your timing on those questions? Did you answer them more quickly than you would have if they'd been entirely new? If so, you just gave yourself a boost on other questions as well (more time). Plus, on the ones that were repeated but you didn't entirely remember (and so didn't count them in that 3-4) - did you do those more quickly than you would have if they'd been entirely new? Yet another time boost. That can result in quite substantial score inflation, depending upon the number of questions this affected.

Did you do the essays? Skipping those can also cause a score boost.

Also, whenever possible, try to take the practice tests someplace other than home. You're used to home. It's comfortable. You can control the environment 100%. You're not used to the real test center. You can't control the real test center environment. People will be walking in and out of the room. You may even hear them whispering. You might be too hot or too cold. Where's the bathroom? How long does it take to get there from the testing room, and do you know your way back?

You can never entirely simulate the feeling of the real test center, but you can do it better by not taking the test at home. :)

And there's also the other wildcard that will always be out there: you know the real test counts. Some people thrive under pressure; others don't.

Okay, so mohit, let's figure out what went wrong for you. I want you to read the below two articles, analyze your situation using each, and then come back here and post.

First:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ent-wrong/

Then come back here and post in the General GMAT Strategy Questions folder. Include the info that you gave in your first post above.

Then go do this one:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

For the second one, remember that you also had repeated questions; you're going to have to factor that into your analysis since it can also impact timing. Try to figure out, if you can, whether you think you got an artificial time boost there. (Plus, go back and figure out for how many Qs you really did have even a little bit of an "I remember something here" boost.)

Then come back again and add to your new thread int eh General GMAT Strategy Questions folder. And we'll help you figure out what to do!