I just Beat The GMAT!

Hey all, I've just finished my first attempt at the GMAT and am quite disappointed. I felt that I under performed, and ended up with an annoying score that is just high enough to not really justify retaking it, but low enough to be concerned with.
I devoted 11 full days for exam preparation, and ended up getting a 710: Q48 (75%) V39 (89%) IR8 (92%). In my two exam condition GMAT prep tests taken on day 10 and 11 of preparation, I scored 740 (Q50, V41, IR8) and 760 (Q49, V44, IR8), so was hoping to score at least 730, preferably around 750.

To give a bit of context:

- I'm in my final stage of my European Msc program (Top 80 in the world) in policy/management, and am writing my thesis in a condensed amount of time. This is why I was only able to devote 11 days to GMAT study.

- I have an undergraduate degree in Engineering with a 3.81 GPA from a top non-US/UK English-Speaking Country (Top 30 in the world).

- I will commence full time work later this year at one of the big 3 management consulting firms (McKinsey, Bain, BCG) as an entry-level consultant at one of their asian offices.

- I plan to apply for HBS and Stanford after two years at the firm (will have 2.7 years at commencement of MBA).

I am considering re-taking the exams for the following reasons

- Although it is often said that all you need to do is break the 700 barrier to get into a top school, I was wondering how much this applied to HBS and Stanford, considering their median scores are around 730.. I feel a score of 710 is very marginal, and would require the rest of the application package to be absolutely stellar to stand any chance
My relatively low quant score (75%) concerns me.. I heard this was looked upon unfavourably by admissions. Maybe this could tarnish my relatively strong undergraduate GPA from a quant heavy course?

- As consultants from my firm regularly apply to these schools, I will be in competition with these applicants. Although many aspects of each applicant other than the GMAT score will be taken into consideration, most applicants from the pool will probably have a higher GMAT score (I assume 730+), and hence I will 'lose' on the GMAT aspect.

- I don't know how indicative the GMATprep exams are, but I feel I could have scored higher, at least 730+ (Also, I foolishly did not know until after the exam that leaving questions unanswered lead to a heavier penalty then just guessing the answers, resulting in two unattempted questions in the quant section). I feel that I should be able to increase my score to around the 750 range without a significant amount of extra study, especially considering my initial study period was short and condensed.

Finally, does my GMAT score remain unchanged, even after 2 years? I assume the percentile/score cut off ranges differ slightly every time they are updated with new test-takers scores.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, Thanks!

Hi smp0108,

Congratulations!!!

Your score is fairly decent but I feel HBS expects better score in range of 750 as you have mentioned already.

GMAT PREP is the best indicator of your expected score in actual GMAT. You have much scope of improvement in Quant(3 points) and almost same improvement in Verbal.

All the best!!!

I retook a 700 and got a 750 1 month later because I got 2 760's on GMATPrep and knew I could do better. I think there is a big difference between 710 and 740+, especially at H/S/W. You don't want any part of your application to be lower than the average, so if you have time I would say try it again.

smp0108 wrote:Hey all, I've just finished my first attempt at the GMAT and am quite disappointed. I felt that I under performed, and ended up with an annoying score that is just high enough to not really justify retaking it, but low enough to be concerned with.
I devoted 11 full days for exam preparation, and ended up getting a 710: Q48 (75%) V39 (89%) IR8 (92%). In my two exam condition GMAT prep tests taken on day 10 and 11 of preparation, I scored 740 (Q50, V41, IR8) and 760 (Q49, V44, IR8), so was hoping to score at least 730, preferably around 750.

To give a bit of context:

- I'm in my final stage of my European Msc program (Top 80 in the world) in policy/management, and am writing my thesis in a condensed amount of time. This is why I was only able to devote 11 days to GMAT study.

- I have an undergraduate degree in Engineering with a 3.81 GPA from a top non-US/UK English-Speaking Country (Top 30 in the world).

- I will commence full time work later this year at one of the big 3 management consulting firms (McKinsey, Bain, BCG) as an entry-level consultant at one of their asian offices.

- I plan to apply for HBS and Stanford after two years at the firm (will have 2.7 years at commencement of MBA).

I am considering re-taking the exams for the following reasons

- Although it is often said that all you need to do is break the 700 barrier to get into a top school, I was wondering how much this applied to HBS and Stanford, considering their median scores are around 730.. I feel a score of 710 is very marginal, and would require the rest of the application package to be absolutely stellar to stand any chance
My relatively low quant score (75%) concerns me.. I heard this was looked upon unfavourably by admissions. Maybe this could tarnish my relatively strong undergraduate GPA from a quant heavy course?

- As consultants from my firm regularly apply to these schools, I will be in competition with these applicants. Although many aspects of each applicant other than the GMAT score will be taken into consideration, most applicants from the pool will probably have a higher GMAT score (I assume 730+), and hence I will 'lose' on the GMAT aspect.

- I don't know how indicative the GMATprep exams are, but I feel I could have scored higher, at least 730+ (Also, I foolishly did not know until after the exam that leaving questions unanswered lead to a heavier penalty then just guessing the answers, resulting in two unattempted questions in the quant section). I feel that I should be able to increase my score to around the 750 range without a significant amount of extra study, especially considering my initial study period was short and condensed.

Finally, does my GMAT score remain unchanged, even after 2 years? I assume the percentile/score cut off ranges differ slightly every time they are updated with new test-takers scores.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, Thanks!

Time for a retake.

HBS and Stanford have plenty of Big 3 consultants applying with 750s, and even some of those will not make it.

You have the potential to score higher, so go and get it.

smp0108 wrote:Hey all, I've just finished my first attempt at the GMAT and am quite disappointed. I felt that I under performed, and ended up with an annoying score that is just high enough to not really justify retaking it, but low enough to be concerned with.
I devoted 11 full days for exam preparation, and ended up getting a 710: Q48 (75%) V39 (89%) IR8 (92%). In my two exam condition GMAT prep tests taken on day 10 and 11 of preparation, I scored 740 (Q50, V41, IR8) and 760 (Q49, V44, IR8), so was hoping to score at least 730, preferably around 750.

To give a bit of context:

- I'm in my final stage of my European Msc program (Top 80 in the world) in policy/management, and am writing my thesis in a condensed amount of time. This is why I was only able to devote 11 days to GMAT study.

- I have an undergraduate degree in Engineering with a 3.81 GPA from a top non-US/UK English-Speaking Country (Top 30 in the world).

- I will commence full time work later this year at one of the big 3 management consulting firms (McKinsey, Bain, BCG) as an entry-level consultant at one of their asian offices.

- I plan to apply for HBS and Stanford after two years at the firm (will have 2.7 years at commencement of MBA).

I am considering re-taking the exams for the following reasons

- Although it is often said that all you need to do is break the 700 barrier to get into a top school, I was wondering how much this applied to HBS and Stanford, considering their median scores are around 730.. I feel a score of 710 is very marginal, and would require the rest of the application package to be absolutely stellar to stand any chance
My relatively low quant score (75%) concerns me.. I heard this was looked upon unfavourably by admissions. Maybe this could tarnish my relatively strong undergraduate GPA from a quant heavy course?

- As consultants from my firm regularly apply to these schools, I will be in competition with these applicants. Although many aspects of each applicant other than the GMAT score will be taken into consideration, most applicants from the pool will probably have a higher GMAT score (I assume 730+), and hence I will 'lose' on the GMAT aspect.

- I don't know how indicative the GMATprep exams are, but I feel I could have scored higher, at least 730+ (Also, I foolishly did not know until after the exam that leaving questions unanswered lead to a heavier penalty then just guessing the answers, resulting in two unattempted questions in the quant section). I feel that I should be able to increase my score to around the 750 range without a significant amount of extra study, especially considering my initial study period was short and condensed.

Finally, does my GMAT score remain unchanged, even after 2 years? I assume the percentile/score cut off ranges differ slightly every time they are updated with new test-takers scores.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, Thanks!

Time for a retake.

HBS and Stanford have plenty of Big 3 consultants applying with 750s, and even some of those will not make it.

You have the potential to score higher, so go and get it.

For your first GMAT, schools will know you're capable of scoring higher, but it'll essentially boil down to your story. 2.7 yrs W/E will require a strong 'why now?' and 'what do you bring to the class?' that's different form the other exceptional test takers.
Keep in mind there are 770+'s who don't get accepted to H/W/S so I'd take that into consideration if you're applying round 1. Your story and essays should be given the most time and attention IMO.

In first attempt, you scored 710(Q48,V39) which is very good but you know that HBS/Stanford require more than it. So, it will be better to try again and hope you will get a brilliant score. Best of luck.