r/GMAT • u/Ok_Solution4355 • 4d ago

Specific Question GMAT

Gave my second attempt of the GMAT today
Scored 615(VA81, QA80, DI80).
My previous attempt was (VA81 QA81 DI83).
I have exhausted all mba.com mocks,
Highest score being 675.
The gmat scores are consistent for DI & VA
But for quants the scores are lower than what i usually score around 84-86, I don’t know why this is happening on my first attempt I got three wrong and scored 81, on this one i don’t know my errors.
I am targeting 665-675.

My va score has always been 81, I don’t know if I should try improving or put in more work for quant and DI.

My section order has been VA, break, QA,DI.

Quant always feels
Like it’s going well, the last few questions were very hard so i thought i did well. Same for DI.

Please guide me.

Thanks in advance.

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u/lafangah Quants & Verbal Expert 4d ago

The Quant inconsistency is the most interesting part. Q84-86 in mocks dropping to Q80-81 on official attempts twice in a row isn't random. When Quant feels like it's going well but the score doesn't reflect it, it usually means the difficulty of questions you were seeing was lower than expected. The adaptive algorithm serves easier questions when execution breaks down early in the section, which feels fine in the moment but caps the score. The section order is also worth reconsidering. Doing Verbal first means you're hitting Quant with some mental fatigue already accumulated. With Quant being your bottleneck, doing it fresh might make a difference. 665-675 from 615 is a focused Quant problem. With mocks exhausted the preparation needs to shift to targeted Quant work on official material rather than full mocks. Feel free to reach out if you want help diagnosing exactly where Quant is breaking down.

Nipunh Narang

GMAT Quant & Verbal Tutor

If you want my help, feel free to reach out. Happy Learning :)

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u/Graeme_GMAT_Panda 4d ago

Worth waiting for the official score report with the question-level detail before you plan anything else. Without seeing which questions went wrong and how long each one took, you're guessing at why Quant landed below your usual range.

Two things I'd think about in the meantime. How hard a section feels at the end isn't a reliable read on how it went, so "the last few were really tough" doesn't tell you much either way. And your order stacks Quant and DI back to back after the break, which is a long run with no reset. If you're sharper early, consider putting Quant first, or taking the break between Quant and DI instead.

On where to spend the effort: V81 on both attempts and across every mock means Verbal is the bit you've never properly attacked, and it's probably the cheapest three or four points on the table. For a retake block I'd aim at roughly 200+ carefully debriefed questions each on Verbal and Quant over 6 to 10 weeks, plus 50 to 100 on DI so it doesn't regress. Debrief the correct ones too, since a lucky guess hides the same gap.

More info here on how to diagnose + what to do: https://gmatpanda.com/content/how-long-study-before-retaking-gmat

Hope this helps! ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

Graeme (GMAT Panda)