What in the world happened ?

[lilpetunia]

So I took GMAT today. I used OG 11 + Verbal and Quant Review, plus Kaplan 800 and MGMAT study guides + MGMAT CAT tests and GMAT Prep. I studies consistently for about 2 months ( 2 hrs on weeknights, 5 hrs on weekends). I took practice tests with results between 650-710. I was consistently scoring better on verbal (mid-high 80th %) than math (low-mid 70th %).

Today was D-day. I rested yesterday, went to bed early, had plenty of sleep, had good beakfast. AWA was ok, topics were not quite up my alley, but nothing scary. Took a break. Started quant, first Q was easy, 2nd threw me off a bit but I think I got it right in the end. About mid way through the exam ( around Q 20) I ran out of space, tried to get proctor's attention, to no awail. Tried three more times, eventually banging against the partition to get his attention ( sorry, guy who was sitting next to me, I wasn't sure what to do after I waved my hand, and waved the booklet).Finally a**hole came with new booklet. I def lost some time here, but finished the section in time.

Verbal, had three readings, one on some sort of black holes, which was pretty tough, other than that nothing that would strike me as particularly difficult. I had to guess one Q towards the end since I started running short on time. In the end I fininshed maybe 1 minute before the time was up.

I didn't think I did amazingly well, but I also didn't think I bombed it ( I thought maybe 660-690). Well, I did 620 (Q44 - 70%, V31-58%). WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED ???? This is lower than any of my practice scores. My quant was along the lines where I tested, but what happened with verbal ? I am pretty frustrated. I am going to re-take in a month, but the fact that I scored much higher on verbal on my practice exams than I did on actual test is disturbing. :shock:

Anybody has advice how to up my verbal ?

[Guest]

Same thing happened to me. Something is up!!!!

[matg800]

There is something surely with GMAT takers in July...! I know so many people who felt the verbal was kinda easy....but got low scores.....!!

[mdinerstein]

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to chime in here and provide some feedback in this thread. It has been my experience that students who feel that a particular section of the exam is easy actually do tend to score below their ability level. This is because the GMAT, being a computer adaptive exam, is intended to be difficult the entire way through. If you are at a 650 ability level and you feel the questions are difficult, then the GMAT is doing its job providing you with questions around your true ability level. You get slightly easier questions right and slightly harder questions wrong before settling in on your final score.

However, if you are at a 650 ability level and you feel the test is easy, the GMAT is not providing you with difficult enough questions for you to reach your true ability level. This is most likely due to some missteps on the easier questions. Hence, in this scenario, you would be handed with a 640 level question, get it wrong, and then dip down to a 620. You might be able to get this one right, allowing you to step back up for a bit, but the next question would still seem just as simple. Therefore, the test would seem simple, but due to the adaptive nature of the test, you are actually performing below your true level!

What I would recommend from here would be to take a Practice Test and run the Assessment Reports to analyze your performance on the verbal section. See which areas are suspiciously below your ability level. Also look for sub-sections with a lower "Percentage Correct" ratio, as this indicates some careless mistakes, which could be lowering your score on that portion of the test.

I hope this helps!

Best,

Michael Dinerstein
Marketing & Student Services Associate
michael@manhattangmat.com
800-576-4628
212-721-7400

[caramel3536]

Okay, I agree with everyone who's posted that something is fishy with their verbal results. I took the GMAT in June, got a 40 in verbal. Decided to retake the test, studied harder, got a tutor and used all MGMAT books (even for the verbal even thought it was already my strong point). Guess what today I got a 35 in the final exam. I employed all strategies in the practice books. Granted the questions were a little more difficult, but I'd had a lot of experience answering these verbal questions and I felt i did ok. At a minimum I expected a 40.

I've heard a couple of people saying that GMAT may have changed it's scoring algorithm or question types after the Scoretop fiasco. Before I took my exam I didn't believe this, but now I do. I'm hoping someone can do further research on this and provide real answers. No offense to anyone but we all know about the adaptiveness of the exam, and this is not what the REAL exam used to be before, it's not even the same as the GMAT Prep CD. Something is different, and I wish GMAC could tell us what they did so that we could all stop this speculation, the scoring is indeed different.

[matg800]

I thought I was the only one...but it seems that a number of test takers have faced the same issue...I really felt good in verbal and landed up with 25..which is like IMPOSSIBLE....even in Kaplan tests and tough verbal test before even starting my prep I used to be around 32 - 35.

I wrote back to GMAT but obviously they will not re check the scores....:(

[1]

Same exact experience. One month ago I scored 44Q and 29V on the actual test. Today I scored a 45Q and 28V on the another attempt. On my practice tests over the past month my verbal scores were in the mid 40's and I've been consistently scoring in the high 30's and mid 40's for the past four months on both the manhattan gmat and the gmatprep tests. From day one, my strength was in verbal, however it really does seem as though something is going on because the verbal scores just aren't adding up and this is becoming inexplicable. It's as if knowing the material front and back doesn't mean you will score well in verbal and if mastering the material doesn't work than what does? I'm completely at a loss. This just doesn't seem to be a fluke.

[guest]

If this is indeed true, one would struggle to score 650, let alone 700. I have my GMAT a week after next, and this hasnt helped my morale at all. My target currently is 700+. I have scored a 700 in MGMAT's test 6 last week with a modest 38 in verbal.

[YJ]

I had the similar experience. I took the GMAT in both July and August. The first score is 650 (Q49, V28), and the second is 660 (Q51, 28). What it beats me is: Most of my Verbal scores in Manhattan exams are between 35 and 41, and my real score is about 8-10 points lower than my sample exam. After the first exam, I searched various GMAT forums for potential problem, and think I may have been penalized harder in early questions and lacked stability in verbal. So in the second exam, I spent a little more time on early questions in the verbal section and start to catch on as I move on. Although I felt much time pressure near the end, I managed to finish all questions. The verbal score is again 28. Even worse than that, I felt pretty comfortable with both verbal exams and I think the difficult level is just similar to manhattan and less difficult than kaplan. So I just don't know what's going on and don't know how to fix the problem since I don't even know what the root problem is. The scores of my five manhattan exam in the last two months are consistently between 690-730, while my score in kaplan is between 650-660. It seems kaplan becomes a better indicator now. But the conventional saying is that kaplan is harder than official exam, and I do feel so based on m experience.

One thing I want to ask is, the number of questions I answered wrong in the verbal section of manhattan is between 12-18. How many wrong questions in average I need to reduce in the verbal in order to achive a score above 690 since my quantitative score is pretty stable?

Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Do I need to consider a personal tutor?

Thx.

YJ

[Monkey]

I agree, I took it on 31 July and I was crushed by my verbal. I kept getting in the 90th percentile in all my practice tests and in my actual GMAT got 69%. it was so insanely hard which I thought I was doing AWESOME!

Have people written to GMAC?

[vonage]

SAME THING FOR ME!

I think everyone should write GMAC and express their concern! I have and am hoping others will too. GMAC needs to take responsibility for this as it's unethical to change the test suddenly. It's unfair to not provide test takers with material if they're going to make a substantial departure from their regular verbal problems.

I'll make it easy for you.... Everyone should write to the address below!

GMATCandidateServicesAmericas@pearson.com

[Ruben]

Same story here. In the real test, I score520 (27V 34Q) yesterday after scoring 640 in the real gmat a year ago (43 Verbal) and averagin 690 in both GmatPrep and Manhattan(43M and 42V) over the last weeks.

Especially during the verbal I felt I was crusing but still challenged. I can recognise when questions are 500 level as I have practiced a lot, took MGMAT class. Those I saw yesterday were not! This is puzzling!

[Guest]

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to chime in here and provide some feedback in this thread. It has been my experience that students who feel that a particular section of the exam is easy actually do tend to score below their ability level. This is because the GMAT, being a computer adaptive exam, is intended to be difficult the entire way through. If you are at a 650 ability level and you feel the questions are difficult, then the GMAT is doing its job providing you with questions around your true ability level. You get slightly easier questions right and slightly harder questions wrong before settling in on your final score.

..................................
Michael Dinerstein
Marketing & Student Services Associate
michael@manhattangmat.com
800-576-4628
212-721-7400

I agree with the post by Mike. I don't think that GMAC has changed anything. I took the test for the first time in June and got a 600 (Q50/V23). I actually guessed on the last 15 questions. I found the test extremely hard and I was really hungry during the verbal section. Both these factors I think played into vaporizing my hopes of a B-school. In retrospect, I had completely overlooked the fact that I could've guessed and moved on, also I could have brought some food and drinks - GMAC does allow a 10 minute break between Q and V so why not use it.

Anyways I took the test last week and scored Q50 / V 38.

So what helped me:

1. Also I had a small energy drink and a cereal bar.

2. There wasn't any difference in the test (compared with June) as far as I could tell. But this time I was prepared to sacrifice a few % points to get to the end of the Verbal without panic. For timing I have to thank MGMAT. Please read http://www.manhattangmat.com/strategy-s ... g-pace.cfm : Transition to Benchmarks. This single paragraph made all the difference. Believe it or not I didn't put any effort for extra preparation than last time but I wrote down what question I should be on at a given time on the scratch pad- the same as in the article. The test was hard once again but I kept my cool, guessed and moved on. I made sure followed the chunks of questions and hit those timing milestones. In the end I finished the test clicked the I agree I won't disclose your precious bank of questions till I am on my deathbed and crossed my fingers. I saw 730 and V38. I had GMAT prep scores of (Q51/V44) and (Q51/V42) so I did score lower than I could've but if you factor in nervousness I did ok. I am pleased overall as a 750 wouldn't have made any difference. I work as a management consultant I even have to work on weekends sometimes. My tired self didn't have anything more to give to this wretched test. It's done and is history.

Anyways the test hasn't changed. Recognize your weaknesses mine was timing and inability to concentrate for 4 hours without any food. Perhaps yours is nerves. Ok my score isn't fantastic but definitely something I can work with.

Good luck!