{"id":16504,"date":"2018-10-31T18:26:30","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T18:26:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/?p=16504"},"modified":"2019-08-30T17:34:21","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T17:34:21","slug":"official-gmat-score-lower-practice-test-scores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/blog\/official-gmat-score-lower-practice-test-scores\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Was My Official GMAT Score Lower than My Practice Test Scores?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Manhattan<\/p>\n

Hopefully, once you\u2019ve done a couple of GMAT practice tests, nothing will surprise you on test day. That includes your official GMAT score. But what does it mean if your official GMAT score <\/span>doesn\u2019t<\/span><\/i> measure up to your practice tests? Keep reading, and we\u2019ll troubleshoot.<\/span><\/p>\n

First, don\u2019t panic.<\/b><\/h4>\n

It\u2019s fine to take the GMAT twice. It\u2019s fine to take the GMAT three times! If you do better next time, your schools will see that as a positive. If you do worse, you can just cancel your score, and nobody will be the wiser.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why did this happen?<\/b><\/h4>\n

There are three broad reasons to score lower on test day than on your practice tests. Here they are:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. You had bad luck. <\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Something made your practice tests easier. <\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Something made your official test harder. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Let\u2019s address these one by one. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Can bad luck hurt your official GMAT score?<\/b><\/h4>\n

    According to the GMAC, <\/span>the standard error of your official GMAT score is 30-40 points<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Here\u2019s what that means. If you could take the GMAT an infinite number of times, your average score would perfectly reflect your GMAT skills. Sometimes you\u2019d get lucky and see questions that just happened to click for you; sometimes you\u2019d get unlucky and see that one question you were totally dreading. On average, the good luck would balance out the bad luck, and you\u2019d get exactly the score you deserved.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Standard error measures how much a single official GMAT score can be affected by random luck. Since the standard error is 30-40 points, your score on any particular GMAT might be as much as 40 points higher or lower than your actual skill level. <\/span><\/p>\n

    So, you scored a 560. Your actual skill level might be 560. Or it might be as low as 520\u2014and you were just incredibly lucky on test day. Or it could be as high as 600, and you were really unlucky. The downside is that there\u2019s not necessarily any way to tell. After all, to find your \u201creal\u201d GMAT score, you\u2019d have to take the test an infinite number of times.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Did something make your practice tests easier?<\/b><\/h4>\n

    Look back on the practice tests you scored well on. Is it possible that something inflated your score?<\/span><\/p>\n

    Some third-party practice tests just aren\u2019t that accurate. Unfortunately, a lot of the information out there regarding practice test accuracy is anecdotal and contradictory. If you haven\u2019t done so already, take an <\/span>official GMAC practice test from mba.com<\/span><\/a>. If the score is closer to your official GMAT score, you might have your answer: your practice tests scored you incorrectly. You might want to keep using those tests for practice, but you should take the scores with a grain of salt. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Here are some other factors that could have come into play: <\/span><\/p>\n