I just Beat The GMAT!

Hi everyone,

Although I haven't made many posts thus far, I have been a consistent lurker here on the Beat the GMAT forum and as I have just took the GMAT this morning and am still recovering from a lower than expected score, I wanted to share my experience.

My score this morning was a 710. Q43 V44, and I'm actually quite disappointed with this score. My Verbal is exactly what I had expected and pretty much the same as from when I started (I never dedicated any time to improve it since it was already quite high), but my Quant, although it had improved substantially from my diagnostic test, was not nearly as strong as I had seen in practice exams or had hoped for.

Here's my story as briefly as I can tell it:

When I first decided to take the GMAT back in December I knew that Quant was going to be an issue. I had always breezed through math courses in high school (and through Accounting, Stats, and Finance in college), but I haven't taken a serious math course in over 10 years. It would be an understatement to say that I was very unprepared for this side of the test. I didn't even take my first diagnostic test until after a month of studying the Manhattan Foundations of GMAT Math at which point I scored a Q35. To really put it into perspective, I swear that I didn't know what an integer was when I started studying. I may have learned it once, but that was no longer information I had lying around.

So needless to say, I had a long uphill battle to go. I went through the first five (the quant related) Manhattan study guides, first the regular sections and then back through on the advanced stuff, and then went through their new Advanced GMAT Quant book. I did well on everything including the practice questions until the Workout Sets which straight up kicked my butt; I got maybe 20 - 30% of those right. I also answered every question in the OG12 and the OG Quant Review (Math, never touched verbal except when I wanted a break).

My practice exams were the following:

GMAT Prep 1: 620 - Q35 D40
Manhattan 1: 670 - Q42 V39
Manhattan 2: 720 - Q44 V45
Manhattan 3: 710 - Q45 V41
GMAT Prep 2: 700 - Q44 V41
Manhattan 4: 740 - Q49 V42

So looking at this all together, my score isn't all that surprising. I had just convinced myself that I would score V44 or 45, which I did, but also that I would be able to get a higher Q score than I ended up making. I retook just the Quant portions of the GMAT Prep in the last days coming up to the exam and scored Q49 both times, with only a few repeated questions, so I felt that I should have solidly been at least in the Q45/46 range. I had also taken the Manhattan Test #5 while seriously hungover and scored a Q43 so I got it in my head that it couldn't get worse than that, and it didn't, but I kind of thought it would be better too.

Anyway here's the part everyone is waiting for, here are my tips, especially for people who have strong verbal and need to bring up their math.

1) Don't confuse re-learning math with learning how to take the GMAT Quant section. I felt that I had advanced a lot more than I did simply because I learned a lot of math concepts that I had either forgotten or never learned. I made very good progress on learning all of the information but I confused learning these concepts with the ability to score well on the Quant section. I would have needed a few more weeks to really practice my knowledge and make it relevant for the test. I didn't recognize this, though, because I had been making fairly steady progress on my practice tests.

2) It seems that Manhattan Quant is a little bit easier than the actual GMAT. Add in the effect of using the Manhattan guides to study, so therefore being used to their question and content style, and it's easy to think you're farther along than you really are. The best indicator of your actual score is the GMAT Prep exam. Save one for the end of your studies so you can gauge how you are doing towards the end.

3) Don't think that everything will just work itself out. I worked hard to improve my score but I had an overwhelming confidence throughout the process that I was going to do well. In the past reckless confidence has gotten me very far, but in this case I definitely should have sacrificed more of my social life to make sure I had the exam under control. Honestly I thought I would have a week more to study but the testing center is closed all next week for Peruvian holidays so I had to take it early (the week after that I leave on trips for a month). I should have checked on that earlier but every time I had gone to check the testing dates available there were no closed days so I wasn't worried. And the Peruvian holidays are this week, not next, so what the hell.


As for the exam day itself, I had a mixed experience. I got a stomach bug the night before the test and couldn't sleep because of vomiting and diarrhea and so it's hard to say how much that affected me. I woke up early, went for a run to get my blood flowing and to boost my energy, ate a good breakfast and arrived to the testing center feeling a little nervous but incredibly positive and ready to take the exam. I was calm and relaxed throughout the testing process and actually thought that I had scored really well on my Quant which settled my nerves for the Verbal Section. I brought two powerades, a dark chocolate bar, and cashews which were great energy and snacking food. What made me feel best was exercising in the morning and listening to music that I liked to keep my energy high on the way there.

Anyway I'm not sure how helpful this post will be considering that, at least by the standard of what I was hoping for, my test wasn't that successful. Even if no one reads this it was good to start getting it off my chest so I can start focusing on the next step, applications. My test score is making me reconsider the schools I wanted to apply to (can you apply to Wharton Lauder with a Q43?) but otherwise I'm optimistic and I'm sure I'll end up somewhere.

Thanks for your time, and all encouraging comments are warmly accepted, I definitely need them right now from as many people as giving them out.

Best regards, and good luck with your own studies or applications!!

Brian

710 is a good score. Congrats.

All the best as you continue ur journey to B school.

Thanks man.

For anyone interested in knowing how Wharton views a score like this, I talked to the Admissions director of the Lauder program tonight and she said that a 65th percentile quant score would not necessarily be a deal breaker if I could prove my quant skills elsewhere (coursework, professional experience) and if the rest of my application were solid but if I wanted to not have to worry about it at all I should try to hit at least 80th. That's pretty much what I expected but I thought someone might be interested in hearing a fairly official response on that.

Best,

Brian

Thanks for sharing that, Brian.

710 is a great score, so congrats on that.
I do however understand how you must be feeling since you didn't reach your target; I would be quite miserable really.
However, I do wish you all the best in your applications, and I'm sure wherever you end up, you'll do great.

@ bgphelps: congrats on the score. i would be very happy if i get to 710 on 18august2011 all the best for your application process.

congrats.....

First up, congratulations Brian on your GMAT Score. 710 is no mean feat.

my question - in para 4 , you talk about "Workout Sets" from MGMAT guides - what are you referring to here - the problem set(typically 15 questions) that is available at the end of each chapter or anything else.

thanks and best of luck.

Congrats !! its a good score.Thanks for sharing your success story here .

pinkray wrote:First up, congratulations Brian on your GMAT Score. 710 is no mean feat.

my question - in para 4 , you talk about "Workout Sets" from MGMAT guides - what are you referring to here - the problem set(typically 15 questions) that is available at the end of each chapter or anything else.

thanks and best of luck.

The workout sets are only in the Advanced Quant GMAT Strategy Supplement, not in the other books.