I just Beat The GMAT!

Hi all,

Many thanks for all of the helpful posts on studying approach, timing strategy, etc. These forums are extremely helpful and motivating.

A bit about my background:

I am planning to apply to attend Fall of 2014 and am interested in top-10 programs (Stanford is my dream choice, Kellogg, HBS, Columbia, UChicago are others in which I'm very interested). Assuming I apply this fall, I will have 3.5 years of strategy consulting experience at a large mid to top tier (depending on who you ask) consulting firm. I am a 24-year old white male with a degree in finance and international business from a top-20 university with a 3.6 GPA. I will likely have sponsorship to attend b-school from my current firm. I have a solid extra curricular activities/community involvement, above average leadership experience (compared to most candidates coming from consulting) and am confident in my recommenders and my "why B-school" story.


My GMAT experience:

I recently scored 710 on my first attempt at the GMAT with a 44V(97%)/44Q(63%) split. I improved my quant score from my first diagnostic 660-44V/Q39 (Knewton), but fared lower on the actual test than I had hoped, as my last diagnostic I scored a 760-Q49/V46 (GMAT.com), and I had scored a 99% on verbal on every other practice test except the diagnostic. I am definitely happy to have notched in the 700s, but I can't help but feel that I left points on the table, and that I might not be considered competitive with this score, particularly with my low quant percentile, at the schools I am looking at.

In terms of preparation, I took the Knewton GMAT course, which I would recommend only to those who are not familiar with the test/want to improve verbal. For me, I think there is too much focus on verbal and not enough focus on quantitative concepts. Also, be sure to make note of the 4 month window Knewton gives you to use their program. I had to push back my test and in order to have Knewton reinstate my access, they made me surrender the money back guarantee. In addition to the Knewton course, I used the MGMAT Word Translation strategy guide, Kaplan 800, and the MGMAT advance quant. In retrospect, I think focusing on the OG could have potentially helped me improve quant further, and if I retake I plan to focus on OG much more.

A few questions for the readers:

Considering my situation, would you recommend I retake?
If I were to retake, would a lower score hurt my chances, or do schools generally look at the highest score?
How important a factor is the quant/verbal split, and how much can a low quant score be made up for by focusing on my heavily quantitative consulting work?

Overall, I am leaning towards taking the test one more time to see if I can't up my quant/verbal scores a few raw points each.

Thanks again for all of the help!

710 is good enough, I wish I could get it! And Congrats!

mhammel50 wrote: I am definitely happy to have notched in the 700s, but I can't help but feel that I left points on the table, and that I might not be considered competitive with this score, particularly with my low quant percentile, at the schools I am looking at.

A few questions for the readers:

Considering my situation, would you recommend I retake?
If I were to retake, would a lower score hurt my chances, or do schools generally look at the highest score?

Overall, I am leaning towards taking the test one more time to see if I can't up my quant/verbal scores a few raw points each.

Thanks again for all of the help!

Congrats on the score! If you're applying Round 1, and you feel like you left points on the table, I would go ahead and take it agin. You've got the luxury of time to take another stab at it, and worst case scenario if you do worse, you still have that 710. Schools consider your highest score and don't care if you did worse the 2nd time.

You don't want to submit your application in October then start wondering if your Quant score is going to keep you out - go ahead and take care of business now and remove that doubt.

Good luck!

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the input!

I think I might take one more stab at it.

mhammel50,

I'm in a similar boat in terms of score. I sat my GMAT this morning and got a 690 (Q44, V40) and was extremely disappointed. My previous diagnostics were:

• GMAT Diagnostic 1 - 710 (Q47 and V40)
  GMAT Diagnostic 2 - 740, (Q45 and V47)
  Kaplan GMAT - 710 (Q 92 %ile and V 92 %ile)

I thought I'd pulled my Quant up as I'd done a fair amount of work on it, but today was not good. I know I have an issue with Data Sufficiency, which I thought I had improved; I suspect that was my downfall today. I knew Quant hadn't gone well as i was finding the Problem Solving Quant questions at the end very easy!!

I had planned to apply to Round 3 for HBS, but with this score I don't think I can justify it. Like you I feel like I left a lot of points on the table. I feel pretty comfortable that 740/750 is achievable.

On that basis I will probably resit in August/September (when I know I have some time to study) with a view to applying for 2014 entry rather than 2013. I will also only sit it one more time, so either I beat it or I'm applying to the top-schools with a slightly uneven 690 and hoping my profile will help pull me through!

One thing I would like to know, like you, is how the low Quant score is perceived if someone comes from a consulting / financial background? I have also heard that top schools want to see 80+ percentiles for both Quant and Verbal. Is there any evidence or support of this?

I'm pretty comfortable with my profile, but I do want to get a strong GMAT score to help counter a weaker GPA.

Cheers,

JTL

--JTL-- wrote: I have also heard that top schools want to see 80+ percentiles for both Quant and Verbal. Is there any evidence or support of this?

This is a bit of a myth. If schools had a hard and fast rule that you needed an 80/80 split, they wouldn't admit anyone with a GMAT lower than 710...which they obviously do. Consider it a "nice to have" as in if you hit that 80/80 split and get WL or denied, you'll know it wasn't because of your GMAT.

Just like it's possible to get admitted with a 680, it's possible to get admitted without an 80/80 split. Again, different subscribed groups are judged on the GMAT differently, but it's still just one part of the application.