I just Beat The GMAT!

Took my gmat y'day after preparation of 3 months along with my work schedule. Feeling quite dejected since saw my gmat result. I have been scoring 680/690/720/730 on my 4 GMAT Prep tests. If not anything, I had expected 700. But GMAT did me.

I did normal on my quants which have been always in the range of 44-46 in my GMAT Prep. But my verbal really dipped in from 40's to 36. I guess I did some RC questions wrong because I almost breezed through my CR's and SC's except 1 or 2.

I surely can't dream of Ivy Leagues on this score but then I just wanted to be in top 10-15. But now guess I will have to do with top 25 or top 30 schools.

Does it make sense to reappear for GMAT. I feel totally lost at this moment.
Any advice is highly appreciated.

Before I say anything, I have to say that I am just like you. I am just some guy who is studying for the GMAT and preparing to apply to schools. However, I have read A LOT of posts on this site regarding GMAT and what is or is not "good" for a top school.

Based on these stories, I would say that while your GMAT might be a little low, it really depends on how you present the rest of your application. In Richard Montauk's book, a number of admissions officers say that while the GMAT won't get you in, it can keep you out. The reality is that your score is about 40 below ivy average score. However, if you present a strong application, you should HAVE A SHOT at the ivy leagues and be RELATIVELY safe with the top 15 schools. Again, you have to be extremely creative with your essays and get very strong recommendations in order to convince the admissions why your score does not speak for you.

If you have a very average work experience, cannot secure very outstanding recommendation letters, and have a GPA on the lower end (3.0 or lower) then maybe it is a good idea to change your studying strategy a bit and try again for a 700 or more.

Again, I am no admissions consultant, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Thanks for such a concise advice.
It took me 2 days to take this decision. I am going to retake the exam.

Since I have exhausted OG 11th edition, I plan to take on OG10th in my stride this time. I request anyone who has retaken the exam and improved on his/her score to please advise for any additional reference material or/and improvement strategy which has helped them.

I definitely plan to write and review my each weakness this time as well as work on it.

Thanks.

I think based on your practice scores, you are making a smart move by re-taking the exam. I didn't use PowerPrep, but did the 4 princeton review practice exams, and then the two I downloaded from mba.com. My scores on the practice exams just prior to my first attempt were in the mid-700's. I took the exam and got a 620. I ran out of time on the quant section and ended up guessing on the last 3, and also on the verbal guessing on the last 5 or 6. There were also other factors (primarily nerves, and noisy neighbors) that also affected my performance. I took the exam just under 5 weeks later and got a 760 (what I was testing at in the mba.com practice exams).

Here is what I did (though it may not work for you, so do whatever you feel you need to do).

I took two weeks off from looking at anything GMAT related. Unless you have a very short-term memory, you're not going to forget everything you learned.

The last two weeks I got into a habit of studying for a couple hours a night, and looked over concepts, but tried not to burn myself out on problems. (I would do sets of 20 math/20 verbal every couple nights). I also worked on my pacing as I had a poor pacing plan the first exam, spending way too much time on the first 10 problems, not leaving enough time to catch up to finish the section (which also made me nervous and flustered for the remaining ~30 problems in the section). Finally, I wore earplugs during my second attempt as I was easily distracted by noises others were making around me the first time around, not allowing me to concentrate on the problems (this was especially true in verbal).

I think the main thing to remember is be confident, do not stay up through all hours of the night to study, as based on your practice exams (do not know how indicative powerprep is though), you know the material (however some improvement wouldn't hurt). You want to avoid burning out before your second attempt as you sound like you have already put forth a significant effort studying. Be confident and try not to do too much (or anything if possible) the day before the exam, as you'll need your stamina for the exam.

Hope some of this helps, although I understand each individual performs at his or her best under different conditions. Good luck!

Retook GMAT this weekend and improved my score by 20 marks. Not very significant since I still missed the 700 mark but ok for me. This time I improved a lot on Quants but didn't do well on Verbal.

Strange cause I was always comfortable with verbal and was regularly practising it. Perhaps I got overconfident.

Anyways time to move on to application process. But before that would like to thank everyone for their advice and help.

So long !!

GoCubs wrote:I think based on your practice scores, you are making a smart move by re-taking the exam. I didn't use PowerPrep, but did the 4 princeton review practice exams, and then the two I downloaded from mba.com. My scores on the practice exams just prior to my first attempt were in the mid-700's. I took the exam and got a 620. I ran out of time on the quant section and ended up guessing on the last 3, and also on the verbal guessing on the last 5 or 6. There were also other factors (primarily nerves, and noisy neighbors) that also affected my performance. I took the exam just under 5 weeks later and got a 760 (what I was testing at in the mba.com practice exams).

Here is what I did (though it may not work for you, so do whatever you feel you need to do).

I took two weeks off from looking at anything GMAT related. Unless you have a very short-term memory, you're not going to forget everything you learned.

The last two weeks I got into a habit of studying for a couple hours a night, and looked over concepts, but tried not to burn myself out on problems. (I would do sets of 20 math/20 verbal every couple nights). I also worked on my pacing as I had a poor pacing plan the first exam, spending way too much time on the first 10 problems, not leaving enough time to catch up to finish the section (which also made me nervous and flustered for the remaining ~30 problems in the section). Finally, I wore earplugs during my second attempt as I was easily distracted by noises others were making around me the first time around, not allowing me to concentrate on the problems (this was especially true in verbal).

I think the main thing to remember is be confident, do not stay up through all hours of the night to study, as based on your practice exams (do not know how indicative powerprep is though), you know the material (however some improvement wouldn't hurt). You want to avoid burning out before your second attempt as you sound like you have already put forth a significant effort studying. Be confident and try not to do too much (or anything if possible) the day before the exam, as you'll need your stamina for the exam.

Hope some of this helps, although I understand each individual performs at his or her best under different conditions. Good luck!

This is great advice, and although it was meant for trump_gmat, I'm taking it too I have another 4 weeks before my exam and have bogged myself down with problem after problem. I am not particularly looking for Ivy league, but I have my heart set on some competitive schools so GMAT is important to stand out.

Good luck everyone in whatever stage your in for admissions!

GoCubs wrote:mid-700's. I took the exam and got a 620. I ran out of time on the quant section and ended up guessing on the last 3, and also on the verbal guessing on the last 5 or 6. There were also other factors (primarily nerves, and noisy neighbors) that also affected my performance. I took the exam just under 5 weeks later and got a 760 (what I was testing at in the mba.com practice exams).

GoCubs, thanks for sharing this info. It's inspiring to know that it's possible to go from 620 to 760 in five weeks. Just awesome! Very inspiring indeed!

trump_gmat, good luck on getting into your b-school of choice! I know you wanted more, but 680 is pretty nice score. I'm sure there are many on here who'd love to have scored a 680 on their GMAT exam.