Ass handed to me by GMAT.....not giving up (610). Advice?

Sakina · Last edited by Sakina on Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:44 pm; edited 1 time in total

I got a 600 on my gmat the first time, several months ago. I took it without any prep. I was going to attend a really average mba program at the time, since my dad works there and I get free tuition. But a few weeks into the classes, I realized I was selling myself short, and that the free tuition wasn't worth underselling myself by so much.

I was on the 95th %tile on verbal, but only the 33rd on math. Never been good at math. So I started studying during the last two months, first the Kaplan workbooks, then just practice practice practice. Literally, I studied 7-8 hours a day. I could do most of the problems in the Official Gmat review smoothly. I retook the GMAT yesterday, and I was in shock when I saw my score had only gone up 10 points!!!!!!!!!!

My verbal actually dropped, going down to the 84th%tile, while my math went up a little to the 48th%. Overall, I was in the 71st %tile.

For 24 hours, I didn't even want to look at anything GMAT related. Its too late for me to retake it and get the scores in on time to most schools. But I plan on retaking it anyway, just for my own peace of mind--I wont let it defeat me like this!

So Firstly, any idea how I could have dropped 13%tiles in verbal? During the test, I felt like the verbal was going well because they were shooting out really hard questions. During all of my practices I barely got any wrong. Just a case of bad luck? Does GMAT have that much margin for error?

As for the math, on the one hand the test felt like it was going well as I wasn't stumped by any of the questions, but at the same time, I thought the questions were maybe too easy. I dont know if it's just my impaired perception or if they were easy because I was making stupid mistakes and getting them wrong. I had to guess through the last 5 because I ran out of time.

What do you guys suggest? Since I can't go up that much in verbal, I have to go up a lot in quant.

PS--Im still gonna dance with my 610 and apply to the top b-schools. Yeah, its a long shot, but SOMEONE makes up that bottom 15% of their GMAT scores and why not me? Im a young entrepreneur with my own business and lots to say. Very Happy

beatthegmat · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:16 pm Post subject:

Hi Sakina:

Sorry to hear about your experience today. Before you decide to re-take, I would do an inventory of the other elements of your candidacy that you have to offer to b-school adcoms. If you have solid work experience, good college performance, good recs, and believe you can write compelling essays--you may find that those qualities will make up for a weaker GMAT score.

With regard to your drop in verbal score--it does sound like a pretty big drop, but not an outlier drop from what I've read in the past. Even though quant is a major focus of your prep, be sure to do at least some verbal prep to keep your mind conditioned.

With regard to quant, you can make a lot of progress by tracking your errors while you go through practice sets. There are a lot of resources on this website about tracking errors to assist you in this process. It's tedious but pays off.

Finally one point about careless errors--this often happens because folks are moving through the test too quickly. The best cure for careless mistakes is slowing down! Work on your pacing by going through practice sets with a timer, it really helps.

It seems like you're a very driven person and I admire that. Don't give up your b-school dreams because of some stupid test!

Good luck!

Sakina · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:49 pm Post subject:

Thanks Eric, for your vote of confidence. Like I said, it's too late to retake in time to make these deadlines, so I'm going to go with what I've got. My grades are decent but not great, but I worked 3 jobs through all of college. I worked a full time marketing job while starting my own company and even bartending on the side. To top that off, I wrote a book over the course of three years in college (a personal memoir, editing it now and prepping my book proposal to publishers). The biggest thing that I think makes me stand out is something that could work for or against me--but it's the truth and I'm not going to shy away from it. I was a juvenile delinquent during my teens, in and out of trouble, going to charter schools where everyone had issues. From this background I defeated all odds, turned my life around, worked my way through college, and am now striving for top b-schools. I think an open minded admissions team will realize just how much leadership, motivation, and academic ability that takes. At least I hope so. Only one way to find out Very Happy

beatthegmat · Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 9:28 pm Post subject:

It definitely sounds like you have a unique perspective to share! Good luck with your applications, and please let us know how it goes!

aim-wsc · Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:59 am Post subject:

Very interesting & could be an inspiring story, Sakina Smile

I hope you very best & not require you to study for GMAT again.

All the best for the application / admission

Sakina · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:40 am Post subject: update

I just want to give you an update....with my 610 score, I applied to Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia, and Rice.
I had an interview with Rice today, and just got invited to interview with Cornell....even though I applied at the last day of the last deadline, when it's supposed to be ridiculously competitive.

So study hard, do your best, and don't give up!

Sakina · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:41 am Post subject:

Also..havent heard from Dartmouth or Columbia yet...so there could be more interviews to come!

Razz