GMAT/MBA Expert
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beatthegmat
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- Posts: 6778
- Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:30 am
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Posting on behalf of guest user 'A':
***
Hi people,
This is a bloody awesome group. On numerous occasions over the last two months of my prep time, I have drawn inspiration from the joys and the rants of people that have written here. I have experienced, at least to a limited extent, the road to near perfection, the joys of scoring high, the uncertainties of scoring in the middle, the insecurities of people that think the GMAT is all encompassing and could make or break your life, and finally, the frustrations of people that simply can't figure it out. I would like to give back some of what I got out of you guys by sharing some of my own experiences.
Some of my own background
I have a pretty strong quantitative background having been educated in Engineering, and advanced degrees in Physics and Rocket Science. My verbal background is only so-so; I did a lot of fiction growing up, but never paid attention to grammatical nuances. So at best, I only have a good ear for the right stuff. To make things worse, I was educated in the English system and have only been in the US for four years; hence some effort was needed to adjust to the American rhetoric (and no, I still haven't picked up Strunk's Elements
Approach
From my experience with the GRE (although things are different with MBA admissions), I knew that the GMAT wasn't make-or-break-your application. While I appreciate the passion of some of the people that went all the way to score very high, I chose to approach the problem in a slightly different way. Given the amount of time I spend on my full time R&D job (>55 hrs/week) and my girlfriend (and biking, and gym, and...., I decided to put just enough effort to score slightly above the mean of the normal distribution for most top-10 schools (which happens to be between 700-720).
Prep period
I took GMATprep #1 right away and scored a 680 (47Q, 35/36 in V, can't remember) - so I knew I was there. I checked out a bunch of books from the library (ARCO, Barron's, GMAT-800, Kaplan training material, OG-11) and started going through all of them at a leisurely pace- somewhere along the way, I lost focus, and momentum. I took a couple more practice tests and did really badly (620 in GMATprep #2, and 630 on a Princeton Review test), but I guess it was my ego that led me to believe that these scores were not true indicators of what I would score on the actual GMAT exam, and that I would have no problems figure it out in the real situation.
First inning
Things got worse in the final week before the exam when I realized with a sinking feeling that I could not answer many of the harder problems. To top it all, on the day of the exam, I forgot to take my passport to the testing center, and had to run back to my place to get it. I did badly in math, much to my chagrin. I only got easy questions (as I obviously messed up some of my first questions) and rushed into making some silly errors. My timing was way off and I finished my math section with 15 minutes to spare! I ended up with an unenviable 660 (Q44-72%, V36-84%), although my AWA turned out to be a saving grace at 6.0.
Sililoquey
Time to soul search. I went online to understand what others in my situation were doing. After all, I said to myself, the GMAT score was only a component of the whole application packet, and the tail of the distribution at the top schools started at around 630. I even found a forum consisting entirely of 600-somethings that managed to get into the top schools. I slept over it, and I guess it was my ego again (definitely not what people on forums such as this said about retaking tests) that made me decide that the score I got might have reflected my preparation, but not my true abilities.
I called GMAC and asked for another appointment at the earliest.
Prep again
This time, I decided to take it easy, but maintain focus throughout. Clearly my problematic areas were CR and RC (and I needed some practice in the data sufficiency, which I regard as *$%$#% pestilential). I did only 30-40 problems a day, but concentrated on quality. I guess I learnt to take a step back and detach myself from the problem, so that I could attack it in an unbiased matter, and it was this approach that gave me the final boost.
During the last three days leading to the exam, I took the three CAT tests and scored as follows:
GMATprep #1: 720 (49Q, 40V)
Kaplan CAT#4: 610 (??)- didn't need to pay any attention to this score.
GMATprep #2: 710 (48Q, 39V)
Second inning
There! I had stabilized my scores and was all set. Everything went like clockwork in the actual exam- I saw a lot of tough questions that I knew I didn't get right, but I wasn't worried as I knew I was doing okay. I ended up with a 710 (49Q, 39V), which is exactly what I wanted to get: not too high, not too low.
Lessons learned
1. The GMAT is not a big deal- you don't need to live like a monk to score in the 700s: all it takes is a strengthening of the foundations in English grammar, and basic math (damn! I wish we had calculus on the exam
2. Concentrate on quality rather than quantity during prepping. It is too easy to gloss over a thousand problems and feel good about it, but nothing will come out of all that if you don't exactly know what you are doing.
3. Time the exam right- in my experience, not having enough time to do a good job on all the answers is actually better than being left with too much time remaining in the end.
4. You've heard this before, but let me repeat: Kaplan is good. GMAT-800 is good, Barrons sucks, OG is the bible, ARCO is okayish with an excellent math section, GMAT CAT in 24 hrs has an excellent Verbal section, Princeton Review is excellent if you are aiming in the 600s (we all love Joe Bloggs)
5. Do at least four practice essays- two of each kind.
What I make of the scores
In my opinion, it is best to aim for consistency in percentiles. Admission directors at more than one good school have been quoted as saying that their cutoffs are in the percentiles, and there's some explaining to do if the applicant scores significantly below the 80th percentile, either in Verbal, or in Math.
Okay, so how much is 50 points worth?
This is strictly my (cold) opinion: if you want to really use this table to influence your decision to retake, do so at your own risk. I think this is a useful exercise to go through, as I'm not aware of anyone else doing it, and I found myself looking for such a table myself when I was doing my soul searching.
510:
510 is a score, a non-zero score (I'm not making fun of anyone here!). Demonstrates to the school that the applicant is willing to go through the trouble of taking the GMAT. This score will work if the schools needs a GMAT score, any score to do the paperwork.
560:
All right, the candidate has gone through a certain amount of preparation, and may be bogged down by a certain aspect (V/Q). People that get stuck around this number need a step up in the quality of preparation, a certain amount of improvement in the fundamentals (training courses, books), and a spa vacation (just kidding!). Definitely retake if you are looking at established schools.
610:
We are getting serious here. Fundamentals are probably okay, but some specific aspect isn't (ratios?/geometry?/SC?). Try and focus on the problem area and keep on doing it.. Competent score if you are applying to a third-tier/local school, worthy of consideration at some second-tier schools, but unless you are a super-star of some kind, you don't stand a chance in the top 10.
660
My first score- this is in the 'uncertain' region. As I mention above, there will be a bunch of questions asked, and justifications given, if you are to be admitted to a top school. I guess the question is not so much about your basic abilities, as long as your academic credentials are solid, but more about your inability to do well on standardized tests. You can bitch about it (just like I did) and say that you are simply a poor standardized test taker, but that excuse has been heard a million times and evaluators are probably tired of it by now.
If you are insecure about your score, go ahead and retake if you think you can do better. Keep in mind that the questions will only get harder from here on. It's kinda easy to get stuck at this score over repeated attempts, but don't worry: you haven't lost your mojo! All I can say is that there have been people that have gotten away with a score in this region, but there will be a lot of uncertainty throughout the application process (assuming again, that it is only the top schools that interest you) and my personal take on it is that, this anxiety is simply not worth it. So yes, I would recommend retaking.
710
Nirvana! Well, not quite, but in my opinion, good enough to not be a factor during admissions. Should I retake and get a 760? Go ahead, but ask yourself what would the 760 convey (compared to the 710) to the evaluator.
780-800:
The applicant is dorky and nerdy and geeky and is just a jerk (just kidding I'm so envious of some of you guys!).
Anyways, this is the second longest email that I have ever written. I have poured my heart out: hope all this helps some of you out there!
Good luck!
A
***
Hi people,
This is a bloody awesome group. On numerous occasions over the last two months of my prep time, I have drawn inspiration from the joys and the rants of people that have written here. I have experienced, at least to a limited extent, the road to near perfection, the joys of scoring high, the uncertainties of scoring in the middle, the insecurities of people that think the GMAT is all encompassing and could make or break your life, and finally, the frustrations of people that simply can't figure it out. I would like to give back some of what I got out of you guys by sharing some of my own experiences.
Some of my own background
I have a pretty strong quantitative background having been educated in Engineering, and advanced degrees in Physics and Rocket Science. My verbal background is only so-so; I did a lot of fiction growing up, but never paid attention to grammatical nuances. So at best, I only have a good ear for the right stuff. To make things worse, I was educated in the English system and have only been in the US for four years; hence some effort was needed to adjust to the American rhetoric (and no, I still haven't picked up Strunk's Elements
Approach
From my experience with the GRE (although things are different with MBA admissions), I knew that the GMAT wasn't make-or-break-your application. While I appreciate the passion of some of the people that went all the way to score very high, I chose to approach the problem in a slightly different way. Given the amount of time I spend on my full time R&D job (>55 hrs/week) and my girlfriend (and biking, and gym, and....
, I decided to put just enough effort to score slightly above the mean of the normal distribution for most top-10 schools (which happens to be between 700-720). Prep period
I took GMATprep #1 right away and scored a 680 (47Q, 35/36 in V, can't remember) - so I knew I was there. I checked out a bunch of books from the library (ARCO, Barron's, GMAT-800, Kaplan training material, OG-11) and started going through all of them at a leisurely pace- somewhere along the way, I lost focus, and momentum. I took a couple more practice tests and did really badly (620 in GMATprep #2, and 630 on a Princeton Review test), but I guess it was my ego that led me to believe that these scores were not true indicators of what I would score on the actual GMAT exam, and that I would have no problems figure it out in the real situation.
First inning
Things got worse in the final week before the exam when I realized with a sinking feeling that I could not answer many of the harder problems. To top it all, on the day of the exam, I forgot to take my passport to the testing center, and had to run back to my place to get it. I did badly in math, much to my chagrin. I only got easy questions (as I obviously messed up some of my first questions) and rushed into making some silly errors. My timing was way off and I finished my math section with 15 minutes to spare! I ended up with an unenviable 660 (Q44-72%, V36-84%), although my AWA turned out to be a saving grace at 6.0.
Sililoquey
Time to soul search. I went online to understand what others in my situation were doing. After all, I said to myself, the GMAT score was only a component of the whole application packet, and the tail of the distribution at the top schools started at around 630. I even found a forum consisting entirely of 600-somethings that managed to get into the top schools. I slept over it, and I guess it was my ego again (definitely not what people on forums such as this said about retaking tests) that made me decide that the score I got might have reflected my preparation, but not my true abilities.
I called GMAC and asked for another appointment at the earliest.
Prep again
This time, I decided to take it easy, but maintain focus throughout. Clearly my problematic areas were CR and RC (and I needed some practice in the data sufficiency, which I regard as *$%$#% pestilential). I did only 30-40 problems a day, but concentrated on quality. I guess I learnt to take a step back and detach myself from the problem, so that I could attack it in an unbiased matter, and it was this approach that gave me the final boost.
During the last three days leading to the exam, I took the three CAT tests and scored as follows:
GMATprep #1: 720 (49Q, 40V)
Kaplan CAT#4: 610 (??)- didn't need to pay any attention to this score.
GMATprep #2: 710 (48Q, 39V)
Second inning
There! I had stabilized my scores and was all set. Everything went like clockwork in the actual exam- I saw a lot of tough questions that I knew I didn't get right, but I wasn't worried as I knew I was doing okay. I ended up with a 710 (49Q, 39V), which is exactly what I wanted to get: not too high, not too low.
Lessons learned
1. The GMAT is not a big deal- you don't need to live like a monk to score in the 700s: all it takes is a strengthening of the foundations in English grammar, and basic math (damn! I wish we had calculus on the exam
2. Concentrate on quality rather than quantity during prepping. It is too easy to gloss over a thousand problems and feel good about it, but nothing will come out of all that if you don't exactly know what you are doing.
3. Time the exam right- in my experience, not having enough time to do a good job on all the answers is actually better than being left with too much time remaining in the end.
4. You've heard this before, but let me repeat: Kaplan is good. GMAT-800 is good, Barrons sucks, OG is the bible, ARCO is okayish with an excellent math section, GMAT CAT in 24 hrs has an excellent Verbal section, Princeton Review is excellent if you are aiming in the 600s (we all love Joe Bloggs)
5. Do at least four practice essays- two of each kind.
What I make of the scores
In my opinion, it is best to aim for consistency in percentiles. Admission directors at more than one good school have been quoted as saying that their cutoffs are in the percentiles, and there's some explaining to do if the applicant scores significantly below the 80th percentile, either in Verbal, or in Math.
Okay, so how much is 50 points worth?
This is strictly my (cold) opinion: if you want to really use this table to influence your decision to retake, do so at your own risk. I think this is a useful exercise to go through, as I'm not aware of anyone else doing it, and I found myself looking for such a table myself when I was doing my soul searching.
510:
510 is a score, a non-zero score (I'm not making fun of anyone here!). Demonstrates to the school that the applicant is willing to go through the trouble of taking the GMAT. This score will work if the schools needs a GMAT score, any score to do the paperwork.
560:
All right, the candidate has gone through a certain amount of preparation, and may be bogged down by a certain aspect (V/Q). People that get stuck around this number need a step up in the quality of preparation, a certain amount of improvement in the fundamentals (training courses, books), and a spa vacation (just kidding!). Definitely retake if you are looking at established schools.
610:
We are getting serious here. Fundamentals are probably okay, but some specific aspect isn't (ratios?/geometry?/SC?). Try and focus on the problem area and keep on doing it.. Competent score if you are applying to a third-tier/local school, worthy of consideration at some second-tier schools, but unless you are a super-star of some kind, you don't stand a chance in the top 10.
660
My first score- this is in the 'uncertain' region. As I mention above, there will be a bunch of questions asked, and justifications given, if you are to be admitted to a top school. I guess the question is not so much about your basic abilities, as long as your academic credentials are solid, but more about your inability to do well on standardized tests. You can bitch about it (just like I did) and say that you are simply a poor standardized test taker, but that excuse has been heard a million times and evaluators are probably tired of it by now.
If you are insecure about your score, go ahead and retake if you think you can do better. Keep in mind that the questions will only get harder from here on. It's kinda easy to get stuck at this score over repeated attempts, but don't worry: you haven't lost your mojo! All I can say is that there have been people that have gotten away with a score in this region, but there will be a lot of uncertainty throughout the application process (assuming again, that it is only the top schools that interest you) and my personal take on it is that, this anxiety is simply not worth it. So yes, I would recommend retaking.
710
Nirvana! Well, not quite, but in my opinion, good enough to not be a factor during admissions. Should I retake and get a 760? Go ahead, but ask yourself what would the 760 convey (compared to the 710) to the evaluator.
780-800:
The applicant is dorky and nerdy and geeky and is just a jerk (just kidding
I'm so envious of some of you guys!).Anyways, this is the second longest email that I have ever written. I have poured my heart out: hope all this helps some of you out there!
Good luck!
A
