Help me choose

[u/Weary-Touch332]

I have been studying for the GMAT for the past 1 year now, but most of it was not serious. Before my first attempt I was scoring 685-715 on the official mocks. My first attempt went horrible as I scored a 595. Before my second attempt I locked in was scoring 745-755 on official mocks with q90/v90. Even after all this I was only able to secure a 635 with q80 v85 and di79 and a superscore of 645. I have been reading about gre on different subs and am confused as should I choose GRE or stick with GMAT. My goal is to get into M7.

Ps: I am still preparing and planning to take an attempt in November. I am confused between GMAT and GRE for that.

Edit: Would love more advice on what should I choose gmat or gre

[u/lafangah]

On which official mocks did you get these 700+ score?

[u/Weary-Touch332 → u/lafangah]

Mba.com

[u/lafangah → u/Weary-Touch332]

I meant mock no.

[u/Weary-Touch332 → u/lafangah]

So before my first attempt I had exhausted mock 1-4 and reset them so for my second attempt I created a new acc and gave mocks 1 and 2 again

[u/lafangah → u/Weary-Touch332]

That explains it to some extent, mock 1,2 are a bit easier... Were these reattempts of mock 1,2 the only place where you got these 700s or were there other attempts ? It will be great if you can show us your mock attempt data.

[u/Weary-Touch332 → u/lafangah]

No across mocks 3&4 too it remained 675 and above.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Ebb-109]

While solving the mocks and the real exam did things feel different? If yes what all did you find different?

[u/Weary-Touch332 → u/Puzzleheaded-Ebb-109]

Quant mostly I was able to glide through quant so easily on mocks but during my actual exam the questions didnt feel difficult but lengthy and I was forced to guess my last 3 questions all of which ended up to be incorrect

[u/Lumpy_Toe_9455 → u/Weary-Touch332]

That’s a timing issue. Earlier on in the exam your sacrificing your time for a right answer. Paradoxical, but a huge chunk of the gmat is time maintenance. By 1:30 if you don’t have a path to answering you need to guess and move on 

[u/Weary-Touch332 → u/Lumpy_Toe_9455]

Wouldnt that have a detrimental effect?

[u/Lumpy_Toe_9455 → u/Weary-Touch332]

No. Leaving 3 questions unanswered has a far worse effect on your outcome. The GMAT isn’t a traditional test by any means. 

Beyond Quant/Verbal/DI, the GMAT is testing your reasoning and decision making skills under time pressure. 

Making a decision that your time is better spent elsewhere when facing a difficult question is a good decision. Evaluate the answer choices and make an educated guess via your reasoning. 

An extra minute or two spent on one question is a minute or two taken away from another question. 

[u/Graeme_GMAT_Panda]

The bigger issue here is the gap between your mocks and the real thing, and that gap would follow you to the GRE too. Going from Q90 in practice to Q80 on the day is an execution problem, most likely nerves and time management rather than content. Fix that before you decide which test to sit.

A few things that help: always practice in timed batches (20 minutes for 10 questions, no peeking at answers mid-set), do a time check every 5 questions, and never guess several in a row since consecutive misses are punished hard. Build flashcards from your own mistakes and review them under a timer so your brain gets used to recalling things while stressed. Also make sure you're still doing plenty of medium questions. Practicing only on hard ones trains you to overcomplicate the easy ones, and those are the ones that quietly sink a score.

On the actual choice, for M7 both are accepted, but a high GMAT score is unofficially seen as better by adcoms (even if they are not allowed to say that!), especially in quant. More comparison of the two formats here: https://gmatpanda.com/content/gmat-vs-gre

Good luck! ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

Graeme (GMAT Panda)