I just Beat The GMAT!

So my entire GMAT experience has been a little bit of a drama...

I first took the exam a year ago and scored a 570, which was actually 10 points lower than my diagnostic score, so I was obviously very disappointed and very discouraged (hence my user name). In any case, I decided to take it again in February and scored a 620 and a 5.5 on the AWA. While this was an improvement, I did not achieve my goal of scoring 700+ and wanted to take it one last time. I sat for the exam again in April and had the worst experience EVER (see previous post). But in short, the new palm sensor wasn't working and I lost time on both my math and verbal sections, so I cancelled my scores. In the end, GMAC refunded my $$ and I decided to sign up for it again. I just took it yesterday and actually thought I bombed the test because I ran out of time and had to guess on a few questions in both the Math and Verbal sections. I sat staring at the screen for almost 10 minutes trying to decide whether I should cancel my scores, but decided to go for it. I figured that if I really bombed, then perhaps b-school was not in my future. I seriously thought I did worse than my first test. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the 700 on the screen. I had to blink a few times because I didn't think it was possible given the fact that I guessed on a bunch of questions.

Now that I have had time to sleep on this and reflect on my test-day experience, I am nervous about my AWA. I was really stuck on my 2nd essay and I don't think it made much sense. Will it look really bad if I do a lot worse than the 5.5 I got when I scored a 620? Should I consider taking the exam again (I really don't want to because it's been such a long journey and I'm ready to focus on other things at this point)?

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!!

While a significantly low score can hurt your admission chances (but this depends on where you apply) I wouldnt worry too much if I were you.

You already demonstrated an ability to write the essays with your 5.5 while scoring a respectable 620. As long as your admission essays are strong, I don't see any reason why the adcom would have any concerns.

It wouldn't hurt you to use your optional essay to just touch on the fact you did get a 5.5. (if you score below a 4.0 anything higher, I wouldn't have any worries.)

Congratulations on your 700!
I guess you don't have to go for a retake just to improve the AWA score.

from what i've heard, b-schools only use your AWA score to ensure that you were the one that wrote your admission essays. any mark between 4.5-6 is considered a sufficient score. your 700 is the score that really matters (and it is competitive for any b-school in the world). just worry about your admission essays at this point and don't stress about the AWA

good luck with admissions!

Dude,

Will it be possible for you share your GMAT exp in detail..like what books, patterns, strategy you followed to reach 700. My story resembles your in the sense that I have scored 590 in 1st, 570 in 2nd but want to cross 700 in 3rd attempt. Help me man...

Regards and Best of Luck,
Rajib Banerjee.

I'm with the folks above - you don't have anything to worry about. You might get below a 5.5, but odds are that it won't be that much below. Have a look at the percentile chart for the essay section; a 4.0 is something like 35th percentile, so you're in pretty good shape. As mentioned above, most schools only care that you got over a 4.0 - the 700 is what matters.

Report back and let us know how it went - I think you'll be pleasantly surprised again!

Thanks so much for all the great advice. I ended up with a 4.5 on the AWA. While I'm not thrilled with this score, I am relieved and grateful it is within range (according to posts that I've read).

In case you are interested, I thought I would share my strategy with you...

In preparation for my first attempt, I took the Kaplan course and used the OG 11 book. I tried sticking to the study schedule they suggested, but I am a consultant and travel quite a bit, so it was difficult for me to stick to the course. After taking this exam and receiving a score that was lower than my diagnostic, I realized that I really needed to change "something"... It took me about a week to figure out what that "something" was: lack of focus, not understanding why I got a problem wrong and my study materials. I know many people swear by Kaplan and I actually have many friends who took the Kaplan course and did extremely well on the GMAT, but the way the materials were organized and taught just didn't click for me. I needed a course that got down into the basics a little deeper and after lots of research, I decided to order the MGMAT books and online course.

So for my second attempt, I used the MGMAT materials and stuck to the study schedule. It was a lot of work, but I knew that I had to focus. I really liked how MGMAT broke the course into "topics" and had workbooks for each topic. The workbooks also listed the corresponding questions from the OG books, which was helpful because if you have trouble with a particular topic, you would know exactly which OG questions to practice. After using these study materials, I felt pretty confident going into my exam..BUT...I ran out of time on both the math and verbal sections. I realized that while I had completed many of the practice questions, I didn't focus much on my timing (which is just as important as understanding the content). I also did not thoroughly review all the questions or focus on those areas I was most weak in (without losing sight of the other topics).

After my second attempt, it took me another week to refocus and figure out what my new strategy would be. In addition to timing and stamina, I needed to really focus on those topics/problems that I consistently got wrong. MGMAT has these cool spreadsheets that actually track your progress and highlight those areas you are weak in. I didn't really pay much attention to this feature beforehand, but it proved to be very valuable this time around. Not only did it tell me which questions I had trouble in, but it also pointed out which questions I spent most of my time on. I also realized that it wasn't about quantity (how many questions I did), but that it was about quality (whether I understood the question). With this in mind, I spent a lot of time reviewing each problem over and over so that I understood it inside and out. I also spent a lot of time taking full practice exams to work on my stamina.

I hope this helps and good luck!