The word "abysmal" means very, bad or very low. You use it to talk about how things like:

• a student's grades in schools
• a company's sales numbers
• a person's ability in a certain sport
• the property values in a neighborhood
• the number of people who turn out for an election

"Abysmal" is an ungradable adjective, which means that you don't usually combine it with words like "very" or "a little". Just use it by itself.