I’m getting significantly higher scores on the official mocks vs the GMAT club tests (50+ point difference…). Which one is reliable from a test day readiness perspective? Nervous about going in for the actual test and not ending up with a good score. Would it be more advisable to master the gmat club tests and then take the actual exam? Or should I just go for it?

Today after 6+ months of prep and after going from an Official Mock score of 555 to 655, i finally tanked my real test score at 575. So basically my real improvement was always worth just 20 points. Don't know whether to cry or laugh at this performance.

The main problem I was always facing and that I could never figure out till date is pacing. There was never a single mock test where I didn't have to blind guess on at least the last 6 questions in Verbal and last 5 questions in DI. No matter how good I am at solving all the questions untimed, with the timer ticking the best I could ever do was to reach the 18th question in verbal by the time just 1.5 minutes are left or on the 16th question in DI by the time 1.5 minutes are left.

I'm just too slow for the test. I understand that the basic skill being tested in GMAT is not just "What" you can solve but also "How fast" you can solve. Now after 6 months of grinding with a full time toxic job and roller coaster of life's other problems, it just feels like I'm not built for this test.

I have achieved 100% accuracy in Quant untimed, 85+ in verbal and DI but of what use?

At this point I don't even know what I can consider an accurate predictor of my real test performance because I was getting 655 in both attempts of Official Mock 5 (without repeated questions) that I took last.

My mock scores till date in two attempts:

Mock 1 - (555, 555)

Mock 2 - (695, 645)

Mock 3 - (615, 615)

Mock 4 - (575, 575) (Actually predicted right)

Mock 5 - (655, 655)

Also, doesn't it seem a bit strange that in 4 out of the 5 mocks I got the exact aame scores in both the attempts that I gave?!

Looking for advice on how to proceed now. Any help appreciated 🙏🏻

Just took the GMAT and finished at a 715 (V84, Q90, DI82), first attempt. Writing up what actually worked, since my prep was on and off over about a year and some of it might help someone who's strong in one section and stuck in another.

Quick background. Quant was always my comfortable side and verbal was a mess. My first full mock last November came in somewhere in the mid 630s, with verbal clearly the problem and Data Insights a coin flip depending on the day. I started with the official books, but they didn't really lay out step-by-step ways to attack a question, and that's how I learn best. So I moved to prep materials that did, and worked through the verbal and DI lessons from January to May, fitting it around work. I didn't revisit quant content much because my fundamentals were already there.

Quant (swinging in the 80s, then a 90)

I didn't keep an error log for quant because it was my best section. Big mistake. My timed quant sections started bouncing anywhere between 80 and 90 and I couldn't tell why. Eventually I sat down, went back through several sections at once, and wrote down every question I'd missed. Wait a second, five questions of the same type, all wrong because of the same wording. Prime number questions and range questions where I'd skip past a small word kept showing up, and "must be true" questions were in there four separate times.

Once I saw that, I slowed down on those phrasings and did extra targeted practice on those types. The swings stopped and I got a 90 on test day. The annoying part is that if I'd logged after every section instead of in one big batch, I'd have made far fewer repeat mistakes.

What my error log ended up looking like, because this changed everything for me:

- A failure type for each miss instead of writing "silly error." I had someone more experienced go through my log with me early on, and a lot of my "silly" mistakes turned out to have an actual pattern.

- Short entries. Mine got so long I stopped reading it, so I collapsed it into the failure type and what I'd do differently next time.

- A confidence column. I marked how sure I felt on each question. In quant I was usually sure and still wrong, which meant small fixes. In verbal I was unsure on almost everything, and that told me where the real work was.

Data Insights

DI ended up fine but it took some fixing. Data sufficiency was hit or miss because my process could get too long. Two-part analysis had a lot of reading up front, but at some point I realized those questions aren't trying to trick you the way verbal does. So I'd skim, then either write equations if it was quant-flavored or run the same negation approach I used in CR if it was verbal-flavored. Verbal-type DI questions I used to guess on started coming fairly quickly once CR clicked.

After that it was mostly a timing problem. What helped:

- Graphs and tables were naturally fast for me, so I let those buy time for the slower stuff.

- Multi-source reasoning was the killer. In some mocks one set ate eight or nine minutes and I rushed everything after it. I capped it at roughly six minutes, then bookmarked and moved on.

- On test day I was unsure on two of the three MSR questions, bookmarked them, finished the rest, and came back with a few minutes to change my answers.

Critical Reasoning

CR was my lowest area for the longest time. I'd read the argument half paying attention, go straight to the answers, and pick whatever felt right. When it came down to two choices I picked the wrong one a lot, mostly out of doubt. Doing the lessons helped a bit, but nothing in my education had asked me to think like this, so I just did a lot of official-style practice questions with explanations.

The switch was realizing CR is basically a quant problem written in words. Before checking the options I'd figure out what I was looking for, meaning the conclusion and what it rests on, then think about how I'd negate it. Suddenly it felt like math, which I'm comfortable with. Assumption questions took me the longest. Patterns from older questions helped, but applying an old pattern in a rush often got me burned by one word, so reading carefully and sticking to the process mattered more than speed. Verbal went from the mid 70s in May to 84 on test day.

Section order

Quant, then verbal, then the break, then DI. I used the same order from my very first mock and never changed it. Starting with quant warmed me up and gave me confidence for verbal. By the time DI came around I'd already done a mix of both kinds of thinking.

Mock tests

My full mocks went roughly mid 630s, mid 670s, mid 680s, low 720s, then 715 on the real thing. There are only six official mocks, so I saved them and did timed sections back to back in between. After every mock I redid the error log and drilled whatever was failing. From May on I did a full mock about every two weeks.

About a week out, after doing sections every single day, my CR dipped and I kind of panicked. I hadn't even booked the test. Instead of cramming, I took two or three days completely off, saw friends, just worked. Did one last mock four or five days before, then took the final two to three days off. The only thing I looked at was my error log, lightly, on the morning of the exam.

Wrap-up

There's no shortcut. Put in the hours, and review your mistakes so they don't happen twice. Test day itself felt like any other practice day once the online check-in bumps were sorted, and since it was my first attempt I wasn't chasing a number.

Happy to answer any questions.

This is my personal experience. Your mileage may vary.

This is a bit of a vent but I'm also genuinely looking for advice, so bear with me.

Quick background. I come from a high finance background, been in private equity for almost 6 years now, including about a year of international experience. Bachelor's and Master's were both in accounting and finance, GPA 3.83 and 4.0/4.0. So I'm not someone who struggles with numbers or exams in general.

My attempts so far:

- June 2024: 535

- June 2025: 585

- July 2026: 575

- Oct 2026 (last week): 575, Q75 V80 DI80

So two 575s three months apart, and my best is still the 585 from last year.

After July I went all in. Hired a private tutor, tracked every single set I did, and between August and October alone I did around 4,500 questions in 75 days. That's roughly 60 a day. I was putting in 4 to 5 hours on working weekdays and full days on weekends. Tutor sheets at the 90th and 99th percentile level, OG practice questions, GMAT Club sectionals, 9 full length mocks. I have honestly never studied this hard for anything in my life.

And the mocks went well. Like, really well. My first two officials in this phase were 695 and 675, then I hit 765 and 745 on fresh attempts, and 755 and 735 on retakes. Sectionals mostly in the 85 to 90 range.

Then exam day. 575 again.

Every single time it's the same story. At home I'm fine. The second I sit down at the test center something just switches off. I start rushing, second guessing, 2 minutes feels like 30 seconds, and all three sections fall apart together.

It gets physical too. Somewhere in the middle of the exam my throat goes completely dry and I start coughing, and you can't drink water during the sections, so I just sit there trying to hold it in while the clock runs. Once that starts my focus is gone and I'm basically fighting my own body for the rest of the section. None of this ever happens at home.

It's honestly not a content issue at this point, I know the material.

On the brighter side I've received GMAT waivers from 5 or 6 schools. But I'm not very hopeful about actually converting those, and even less hopeful about scholarships without a score.

So now I'm stuck between three options:

1. One last attempt, but GMAT Online from home since that's where I actually perform

2. Try the Executive Assessment instead (shorter, online, a few attempts allowed)

3. Stop testing completely and go all in on the waiver applications

A few things I'd love to hear from people here:

Has anyone had this kind of gap between mocks and the real thing and actually closed it? What worked for you? or did switching from the test center to online make a real difference?

If you got in through a waiver, how did it go with admits and scholarships?

Also anyone use the EA for a full time MBA?

I've been at this for about 10 months straight and I'm pretty exhausted. Any honest input would really help.

Hi everyone,

I recently scored 665 on the actual GMAT Focus after around 6 months of on-and-off preparation, (~3.5–4 months of serious prep).

My target is 695+, and I’m looking for advice on when to retake and how to approach my preparation.

Mock scores (chronological order): 655 → 655 → 695 → 765 → 695 → 535 (External) → 695 (External) → 625 (External) → Actual GMAT: 665 (Q83, V82, D84)

Preparation so far:

- Completed close to 2,100 questions on GMAT Club, primarily from the OG, GMAT Classic, and GMAT Focus question banks.
- Used all my official practice exams.
- Maintained an error log during my preparation.

My questions:

1. Should I start preparing for a retake immediately while my preparation is still relatively fresh, or take a 2-month break due to a critical professional engagement and resume afterward?

2. What preparation strategy would you recommend to improve from 665 to 695+? Given my variable mock scores, the volume of questions already completed, and the fact that I’ve exhausted all official mocks, how should I approach my next attempt?

Would especially appreciate insights from people who scored 695+ and GMAT tutors.

Also, would be great to connect with fellow front-end consultants at Big 4 or MBB who have managed GMAT preparation alongside demanding client engagements.

Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

Aiming to take my official GMAT around the 15th of Dec.

Till now:

- 42% of the TTTP course (OnDemandd)

I haven't done any official mocks yet, not used GMAT Club either.

I can put myself full time, for the coming 6/7 weeks. Aiming for atleast 655 (Applying to MiM's in France).

1- How should I plan my mocks? (ex. 1 every week?)
2-Should I combine TTTP with GMATclub?

Any tip is very much appreciated. Either way I am planning to take my first mock this, to see where I am at. Will share my score once finished.

TIA

This is just a complaint, but does anyone else feel this way? Been studying for the GMAT for about 1 month and I feel the questions are worded in the most confusing way possible. Often, simply understanding what the question is asking is harder than actually answering the question.

I want to know whether we can cancel our GMAT scores after a poor attempt? I am planning to apply to INSEAD and I just took my GMAT exam and it was not a very good attempt. Since INSEAD asks you to list all your GMAT/ GRE scores, I don't want to share this one as I don't know how this will be perceived. I have two questions based on this situation:

1) Can I canel this GMAT score as it as not been 72 hours yet since I took the exam
2) If I don't cancel and don't report all my GMAT attempts to INSEAD, will that be taken negatively?

Thanks for your advice and suggestions! ✨

If you hold back a question because it seems too basic, the doubt stays with you, and so do the mistakes it causes. A basic question isn't a stupid one. Whether you ask someone or work it out yourself, pursue it instead of dismissing it as trivial.

In a session, a student once said to me, "I have a question. I know it's a stupid question, but I wanted to ask it."

I asked him, "How can a question be stupid?"

"I mean it's very basic."

"The question could be basic," I said, "but how can it be stupid? A basic question tells me where you are. Then I have two choices: I can call you stupid, or I can help you. Calling you stupid wouldn't help you, so it would be the stupid choice. I don't judge you or your questions, not because it's the morally right thing to do, but because it's the sensible thing to do."

Many students feel tense after a mistake or before a question, worried that I'm judging them. Often, they expect me to judge them because they're judging themselves. They call their doubts stupid, or not worth asking, and that's the same unhelpful choice: calling your doubt stupid doesn't help you close it.

If you have a doubt, it marks a real gap in your understanding, and that gap is exactly what you're preparing to fix.

The same applies when there's no one to ask. During practice, a small doubt comes up: why this step works, or why an option is wrong. It's easy to tell yourself it's trivial and move on, but a doubt you dismiss stays as a gap.

Basic doubts can also be the most costly ones to leave unresolved, because a lot of what you learn later rests on them. You work around the gap, and the mistakes keep coming without your knowing why.

The next time you think, "This is probably a stupid question" or "This is too small to bother with":

1. If someone can help, ask. Leave out the apology. "I have a question about this" is enough.

2. If no one can, pursue it yourself: go back to the concept, look at a similar question, or work through it until it's clear.

3. If you can't resolve it now, write it down so it doesn't disappear, and come back to it or ask when you can.

For someone who scored 475 in og mock 1 (Q77,V77,DI66), what would you suggest should be the best course for 715 fe in 4 - 6 months of prep?

I already tried looking through GMAT club, GMAT Ninja etc. but found the desperate need of a structured course that could help me out. I can only spend on one course.

hi guys! need your help. i took my first gmat attempt today and scored 615 (was scoring 635–675 in mocks), mainly due to di. i’m planning to apply to isb r2 and feeling quite demotivated. would it be wise to switch to the gre and give it next week, spending a week preparing for verbal, or is that too soon? would really appreciate your advice!

Quant
Verbal
Di
I have attached the graph here
Any suggestion to improvefrom 415 to 700 plus in a m

was getting consistent Q81-82 in gmatclub sectionals but got Q78 in official mock 3, where am I lacking? Ik my concepts are solid, I am able to solve the gestion when i am reviewing.
I struggle to contemplate what the question actually is.
What do I do?
I know my concepts are solid, but what do I do with this.
Aiming at least Q83

Has anyone tried GMAT Point, I am not doing so well in quant and on this sub, people say to ge the easier questions correct rather than going to hard questions, but I feel like I am behind in concepts/foundations, and they are advertising 134 concept videos. Is this much different that egmat, or some of the other major brands.

I keep seeing their youtube thumbnails and videos of really high scores of students generally 700 plus or 690 plus etc. Has anybody had experience with them?

I gave official mock 5 yesterday and got a 705, with q90 in quant, and while giving the mock i could sense that i wasnt getting any 700+ level questions. After cross checking questions on gnat club, that got confirmed. Today i gave mock 6 and got 645, and dropped to a q80, with some early questions incorrect.
This massive swing is making me feel under confident so i wanted to know what a realistic expectation would be for the actual test and whether i should give my second attempts for each of the two mocks although i often find repeat questions during the second attempts. For additional context, my gmatclub mocks suggest around 665 but i do think those are slightly more tough than the actual or og mocks.

The past two times I’ve given the test, my scores were very similar to what i was getting on mocks (1 and 2 for first attempt and 3 and 4 for second attempt). My target is 675+.

Gave the official mock 2 and though I am at peace with the score compared to mock 1(535), I am still far from my desirable GMAT score.

Quant: out of the 4 questions that were incorrect, 2 were because I misread the question. Was able to finish quant with few minutes remaining.

Verbal: I am shit scared with this section. Although untimed I am getting 80-85% accuracy in CR and 80% in RC, but during timed, specially on mocks I go totally blank and generally mark an answer basis gut feeling and not by elimination and other procedures.

DI: I think I can still improve a bit in DI.

Need help from this community on how to go about with Verbal. My exam date is approaching soon.

TIA.

I am using official practice questions from gmac site and GMAT club. I have understood the gist of types of questions that come. I am having a hard time getting all of them correct (in a single question) and having a hard time maintaining the time limit per question. I can solve it but probably take 3-4 more minutes. it's like I am unable to comprehend the data quickly. I wonder why other people don't find the data overwhelmingly time consuming. Would appreciate if someone could help me with this.

I started seriously prepping for gmat in August and have got a 675 in my first attempt (not the best so still considering a retake) but I want to thank 4 platforms which made it possible without me paying for a single resource (barring the official mocks which I paid for)

1.GMAT Ninja : I followed their 13 week gmat course which was very helpful and structured. I got a verbal 85 - only saw their videos for this. Thanks a ton if y’all are seeing this! Doing gods work! Will def give back when I earn the big bucks (hopefully soon)

2.GMAT Club - need I say more ? This should be every test takers best friend. God bless! GMAT Ninja x GMAT club is the best crossover ever

3.Target Test Prep - if Scott or any of the other TTP mods see this - I am sorry and grateful in advance!! You are the best in business and if someone can afford TTP they should blindly go for this. For me you were way over budget so I had my friends and family create trial accounts and I learnt quant chapters that I had difficulty in through that. Would love to give back (not that y’all need it but god bless!)

1. r/GMAT - to answer any and every question you have! Great community !

If anyone has any questions feel free to reach out, will try to help as many ! :)

(this is a completely non sponsored post)

Dopo circa tre mesi di studio GIORNALIERO utilizzando Manhattan prep ( che ho finito con average exam score di circa 75%);ho sostenuto il GMAT e ho totalizzato un punteggio di 505 molto lontano dal mio obbiettivo di 655+, dopo mesi di quiz non riesco però a capire come correggere i miei soliti errori e cosa migliorare. Ho un test il 2/12 e un il 16/12 in cui vorrei andare sopra il 655 ma ho bisogno di consigli su come studiare su come migliorare gli errori e soprattutto come evitarli, eventualmente anche fonti di studio. DISPONIBILE ANCHE A FARE QUALCHE LEZIONE CON QUALCUNO DI COMPETENTE PERCHÉ SONO DISPERATO

Can anyone help me understand how GMAT scoring works and why on 80/90 my percentile is 64th unable to understand where am I going wrong.Targeting score of around 85+ in quant but what percentile will i achieve need some genuine help in understanding this.This mock test was from gmac.

Thanks a lot in advance

Hi everyone! Hope you’re all well. I’m starting to think about GMAT prep and wanted to ask/get advice on free or even paid and effective species to study. Thank you!!!

For some context, this was my first time taking the GMAT, and I started feeling pretty sick and exhausted during the Data Insights section. I also went into the exam having never practiced a DI question before. I feel fairly confident in my abilities in the other two sections, so I’m wondering if it’s realistic to study consistently for about a month and aim for a 700+ score.

"Why do I keep making these mistakes?" sounds like a question, but many students use it as a complaint. It carries an undertone: I shouldn't be making these mistakes, and yet I am, so what's wrong with me? A complaint gives you nothing to investigate. A real question does.

Many students say things like:

* "Why am I not improving?"
* "Why do I keep making such silly mistakes?"
* "Why can't I get this right? I've already gone through all the concepts."

One student told me about his previous tutor, who would respond to his mistakes with "You're still making these kinds of mistakes." He became afraid of making mistakes in sessions. Many students say this to themselves, and it makes them just as afraid of their mistakes. When you're afraid of your mistakes, you look away from them, and looking at them closely is how you find out why they happen.

If something isn't working, there's a reason. You can look for it, or you can repeat your frustration in different words.

To turn a complaint into a question:

1. Notice the frustration behind it. It's understandable: usually, the need underneath is to see your effort rewarded. Don't try to suppress it, because suppressing an emotion only makes it stronger. Observe it and stay with it. It's uncomfortable, but it passes, and once it does, it's easier to ask what's actually going wrong.

2. Make the question specific. "Why do I keep making silly mistakes?" becomes "At which step do these mistakes happen: reading the question, setting it up, or calculating?" "Why can't I get this right?" becomes "What about this topic do I think I've understood but haven't? Where does my understanding break down?" "Why am I not improving?" becomes "Which kinds of questions am I still getting wrong that I was getting wrong a month ago?"

3. Accept that you may not know the answer yet. Not knowing can feel helpless, and that's fine. You may need time, more questions to look at, or someone's help before you find the answer. A specific question at least gives you somewhere to look.

To tell a complaint from a question, ask yourself what you'd do next to answer it. If the answer is nothing, it's a complaint. If it's something you can do, like going back through your last ten wrong answers to see where each one went wrong, it's a question.