I just Beat The GMAT!

Hi,
My GMAT score is 750 (51q, 39v). Does my low verbal score (39v) affects my application?

Additionally,
1. Even though the applications for Fall 2009 are expected to be out in early Jul 08 (i am guessing) what can I do in the meantime towards creating a strong application?
2. What are your top picks in the US for MBA in finance?

Thanks for your help. I appreciate this effort from you.

how did you get such a high score on quant man???

give some tips..

how many probability, permutation, combinatrics, sets, co-ordinate geometry questions did u see/???


boss....

Honestly speaking, I never got that high score in any of my practice exams, and never did I get such low score in verbal for that matter.

However, what I found was that whenever I took practice test, i made lots of silly mistakes in quant. I honestly found all the questions solvable. The key was to be careful with my weakness. My weakness was with data sufficiency questions. I was able to analyze the questions but would usually miss out on checking all aspects of the question. For example, I used to start assuming that both statement A and B are sufficient together (option C) and then work backwards (towards option A, B, D, E). It is a wrong strategy. Always assess the first statement by itself, then second by itself and then both of them together. This sounds very obvious but it took a careful consideration for me to figure it out.

I was good at word problems. So I took the liberty of solving word problem in one go and never revised the answers (i mean you usually check your answer twice before confirming the answer). This saved me time for data sufficiency. There is no need to study hardcore permutations and combination or probability. I am not a big fan of using formulas, because even though they help you in some cases, they may as well lead you to wrong answer if applied incorrectly.

All probability question that I solved was on the count basis. You use basic rule like nCn, nPn, but that's it. Use venn diagram as much as you can. And GMAT doesn't throw a problem in set theory or probability which need complicated calculations. So the key is to find your weakness and assign more time to in the exam.

I wish I would have done the same in Verbal. I was stupid enough in verbal. Partly because i missed to answer the last question, even when I had 3 mins to answer it. I had the answer in my mind but I was trying to confirm it and in the meantime forgot to check the clock and suddenly the test said 'time up'. I was devastated but I am glad that maths saved me.

Great Score. Congratulations!
Your strategy on quantitative is a good input. Did you get your AWA score? What was your experience on AWA?

praslee wrote:Hi,
My GMAT score is 750 (51q, 39v). Does my low verbal score (39v) affects my application?

Additionally,
1. Even though the applications for Fall 2009 are expected to be out in early Jul 08 (i am guessing) what can I do in the meantime towards creating a strong application?
2. What are your top picks in the US for MBA in finance?

Thanks for your help. I appreciate this effort from you.

Congrats 750 is a great score!
39 in verbal is considered good score as well. (check your percentile ranking in verbal). It's not a low score.

1] **For pre-application phase: you can review last years essay questions of your desired b-schools.
**You can revive your relations with your prospective references which you're going to use in your application coming fall! (send some email, call them sometime and tell them your career development meantime 8) )

2] Wharton, Chicago GSB, NYU Stern are traditionally top Finance MBA programs

forgot to add:
Essays usually dont change.. so you can prepare those and even in case if they change: it will be a good practise for you; plus will help you ^introspect^ But dont spend much time on it though.

You can learn some international Languages in meantime.

& Most importantly you can do some homework if you have spare time: spend reading blogs of Stacy Blackman Co, clearadmit, accepted.com, etc.
includint BusinessWeek Online!

Thanks a lot for the input. It helps. I have started to check the essays and also write my Statement of Purpose. That should help, as you say, to introspect.

My dream school is Chicago GSB. I will try my best to go for it. And surely I am a regular reader of various postings made on this site and others. Thanks.

sandy29 wrote:Great Score. Congratulations!
Your strategy on quantitative is a good input. Did you get your AWA score? What was your experience on AWA?

I got my AWA and it is 5.0/6.0. Not impressive, but I guess it should be good enough. My experience is AWA suggests that, no matter what, you should revise your essays in the end. Leave time for it. I didn't revise the second essay completely, so may be i lost a point there. Getting 5 shouldn't be that hard as I am not a great writer myself. Hope this helps.