I just Beat The GMAT!

I took GMAT 2 days back and got 710 (Q50(94%) v36(78%)). Waiting for AWA score.

I am planning to apply in 2010, but little bit disappointed with verbal percentile 78%. Is it sufficient to apply to ISB,Hyd and top B-schools in USA.

My profile : I am an Indian, working in bay area, 7yrs+ exp in software and did Btech from IIT.

Should I take it again? Any input or comments would be highly appreciated.

Few suggesitons for GMAT takers:

If you are in bay area, don't plan to take exam at SAN JOSE center. It is very noisy. During my verbal section, it was very hard for me to concentrate. you can hear everything what people talk outside the room. It is really horrible place for any kinds of tests.

I am a non-native speaker, so my weakest part was verbal especially RC. For verbal, I would highly suggest to read Manhattan books. They are really good and if you are non-native, it will help you to understand basics stuffs. But don't blindly follow the Manhattan approach; try to devise your own approach. I found the manhattan approach takes too much time.

If RC content is really dense and hard to understand, the one approach which helped me in RC is to personalize the intent of author. Try to link what you read with what you already know, but only try this if RC is really hard. If you are able to understand it properly , keep going and don't even try to take extensive notes. Sometimes, taking notes is distraction.

For SC, the Manhattan book is sufficient. If your english is as bad as mine. you may need to read this book more than once. I read it 3 times. And do OG at least 2-3 times. Read SC exaplanation on manhattan verbal forum.

For me, CR was not that difficult, but Power score LSAT CR is excellant. If you are making mistakes then refer this book.I found that GMAT books are not very helpful in CR concepts.

I didn't do much preparation for MATH, but I felt GMAT MATH was tougher than GMAT prep. For me, it took about 20mins to solve first 5 Problems, but somehow I managed to complete this section before time. One suggestion on DS: try to solve the problem, dont just guess and be careful about the number properties.

BOOKS :
OG, MANHATTAN SC, CR, and RC
Kaplan

Tests:
Manhattan: ignore its math score.
Kaplan: Ignore its verbal score but useful for practice.
GmatPrep (BEST): I took 2 times each test


Thank you all!

No....you should be happy with your 710. lots of ppl here try to attain what you just got. I am researching schools now, and 710 is at or above above the average of most of the top 10 schools. You verbal is close to 80% and if you are worried about it, you can put that to rest when you do your essays.

just my 2cents.

You're above 700, 710 is a great score so you shouldn't care about retaking the GMAT. If you feel like retaking it, you can do that anytime after you have finished your applications. Albeit, you'll have to show in your applications that your English is superb. And your AWA score should be a 6.0. Then, you don't have to fear anything.

Good luck with your applications,
M.

Hi
You are good to go.
I understand from ur score that the verbal 36 now equals only 78 %ile.
V36 was 81 %ile in December 08.
Concentrate on ur essays... no b-school questions ur gmat score after u've reached 710 [Q50 V36]. If there is one... they are not worth admitting u ok
Good luck