Please solve my dilemma

[bakul_123]

Hi instructors,

I really need your advice on this. Please help me understand my GMAT performance.

I gave MGMAT's practice test and scored Q45 V37, 680.

I was OK with my verbal score and i gave quant section without much care so I thought I will get around, q48, v37, 710(approx) in real GMAT.

This thought was again reinforced by GMAT prep when I got Q48, V46, 760. I blamed my unusual high verbal score to my 3rd repetitive attempt to GMAT prep. But i thought that I will get around V37 in real GMAT as indicated by MGMAT.

But, today when I attempted official GMAT, I got Q48, V31, 640. ????

Q48 can be expected for me but V31 clearly denies my MGMAT as well as GMAT prep score.

Also, I gave my practice tests with conditions as with official conditions such as 8 min break etc.

Was I really prepared for V37-V38 score ?? Or was I the victim of official GMAT stress ??

Please help me understand.

Bakul

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm just going to check on your "official conditions" comment because people tell me every day, "I took the practice tests under official conditions except I skipped the essay." (or something similar)

Official conditions = 100% official conditions. So you did do the essay and IR sections? You took those two sections just as seriously / spent just as much mental brainpower as you did on the real test?

I already know that there's one way in which you might have artificially inflated your score on our practice test: you sort of blew off the quant section. You didn't, then, use full brain power, which means you went into verbal at least a little more alert / aware than you would on the real test.

For GMATprep, the IR sections don't change - they're identical. So you would have seen exactly the same questions a third time? Again, must less brainpower / mental effort, leaving you more awake / aware / alert during verbal. That would be helped even more by the repeated questions you saw in quant and verbal.

As a result, it's tough for me to say whether your "true" level is 31 or whether the stress of the test got to you and brought your performance down. It's probably the case that your practice performance was a little inflated and it's also probably the case that the stress of the real thing got to you a bit.

Do you have any clean MGMAT practice tests that you can take (ones that won't show you repeated questions)? You could try taking one under true 100% official conditions, including full brain power on all sections.

Also assume that the anxiety did affect you; here's something you can try:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... mat-score/

The other thing I'd look at is timing issues - these can cause serious problems on test day because small bad habits tend to get blown out of proportion on test day. If you tend to take a bit too much time on certain questions, and rush just a bit on others to make up for it, you'll tend to spend even more time on the real thing, and then rush even more on others to make up for it, leading to more careless mistakes than usual.

Alternatively, maybe you're often a little too fast, especially as you get more mentally fatigued. Then you'd likely rush even more on the real test, again leading to careless mistakes. Look through your test data to see whether you can spot any timing issues, even mild ones (almost everyone has some timing issues... so if you don't find anything, you probably aren't looking hard enough :)
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

[bakul_123]

Hi Stacey,

First, Thanks for the reply.

So you did do the essay and IR sections? You took those two sections just as seriously / spent just as much mental brainpower as you did on the real test?

Yes.. i did the IR section and essay in each practice test. Total timing was close to 4 hrs. but i agree with your "blew off the quant" theory. It is possible that i was not that much stressed in verbal section during MGMAT practice(V37) as i was in real test(V31).

Actually i have been thinking about one thing about my study habit. When i did questions during study, i planned them each time in 2 sections: verbal & quant(41 & 37 question respectively). So while studying i practiced for 2.5 hrs each time. I believe that i slowly became habitual to 2.5 hrs session. But in real test, when the real thing came for 3.5 hrs + breaks, i found it hard to handle my verbal section every time(In practice tests as well as in real GMAT). During 2.5 hr study sessions, which had average as well as difficult past GMAT questions, my average number of wrong verbal answers were nearly close to 12-14, but this number must have been at least 19-20 in real GMAT that fetched me V31

The worst thing is that, in real GMAT, i had 3 CR questions at end with 3 mins left, but i could not even understand any of them. I was reading and rereading the questions but my brain was almost jammed. I think this jamming started after finishing my quant section. It was probably all along during whole verbal section and peaked as i raced to the last question.

And regarding your article on anxiety, i must say that i faced a real mental fatigue, which is not equivalent to loss of concentration. May be the reason for all timing issues, careless mistakes etc was this fatigue. I think i knew this since i started my full length practice tests, but i don't know what to do to solve this stamina problem?. I never thought that Concentrating on one thing continuously for 3.5 hrs with 8 min breaks would be such a problematic issue.

Apart from this, i will definitely analyze and post my results after i do my next practice test. I wont leave this GMAT race.

[StaceyKoprince]

my average number of wrong verbal answers were nearly close to 12-14, but this number must have been at least 19-20 in real GMAT that fetched me V31

No - the test is not scored based upon percentage correct. You likely answered about the same # of questions right, but you were getting easier questions wrong than you usually got wrong.

It would help for you to understand how the scoring works, because this affects how you make decisions when taking the test. Right now, you are prioritizing accuracy over timing. If you continue to do that, you will continue to struggle with the test.

Read this:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/

Then read the Scoring section of our free e-book The GMAT Uncovered Guide. You've already got a copy in your student center. You can skip the part that talks about ICCs (item characteristic curves) in detail, but read the rest.

Next, do NOT NOT NOT set up 4-hour-long study sessions. If you are studying correctly, then your study should be MORE tiring than taking a test, because you should be constantly trying to create new memories, not just retrieve old ones (which is what you're doing during the test). If you set up your study sessions so that most of the focus is on retrieving memories, then you are not learning how to get better. You're only practicing what you already know.

One study session should be a max of 2 hours, but most of that time (at least 3/4) should be spent on analyzing what you've done / analyzing what the test writers wrote, not merely doing problems.

Read this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

That's how you learn. Is that what you're doing now?

Here's an article on minimizing decision fatigue:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... you-crazy/

For study sessions, plan out what you're going to do over a 2-hour period. Then GO for 1 hour, no stopping, no checking email, no getting up for something to eat, etc. Make sure that most of that study time is spent analyzing / creating new memories (as discussed in the 2nd Level of Learning article above). Take a 10-15 minute break, then GO again for 1 hour. Then take a more substantial break.

(Note: again, I'm specifically NOT recommending that you do what I just described for 3-4 hours. It should be *more* mentally taxing to study than to take a test.)

Finally, don't discount the anxiety. A low-grade anxiety for several hours (days, really, because you start getting anxious at least the night before!) can really affect your mental stamina. So look into that meditation material.