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Improved my GMAT score, but huge verbal drop

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Improved my GMAT score, but huge verbal drop

by DivineLegacy » Fri Sep 09, 2016 3:28 pm
Hi,

I took the GMAT twice. The first time I scored a 700 (q47, v40), and the second 710 (q50, v35). Between my first and second takes, I focused 75% of my study effort on improving the quant score as I never scored below a v38 in practice, and I am American-Born, so I was confident not scoring low at verbal. Test day came and I witnessed my lowest verbal score to date! I honestly don't know how I ended up scoring a v35....I understand my score is good, but it has me a bit worried about not getting into the programs I want (I am aiming for top 10 and nothing below). I also am Indian-American, so I'm also worried I'll be stuck in the highly competitive Indian applicant pool despite being born and raised in the US. I graduated from a top 5 undergraduate business program with a 3.6 GPA and have been working in consulting for the past 2.5 years.

I would consider a retake, but I'm really really low on time. I was low on time for my last retake. I suppose I could try to squeeze another take in, but I'm not sure if that's better spent researching programs, making campus visits, and brushing up my extracurricular involvement. I'm applying Round 2.

Advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
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by Bara » Fri Sep 09, 2016 4:29 pm
B-school admissions folk don't only look at your score improvement just like they don't just look at your score, however, your application speaks of the 'narrative' of who you are and what your process is. Your quant went up, your verbal went down. If you believe you can keep your quant up AND improve your verbal, I'd recommend you do just that, especially since you have time on your side. Even though you think you don't...

That said, there is a misconception that if you're a native English speaker, that you should score great on Verbal. And for example, the Sentence Correction questions concentrate on FORMAL written English, as well as clarity and meaning. We give our students a quiz, which is also in our book, that helps identify how a student should go about studying for the sentence correction: for some, it's straight memorizing of rules and deep engagement of meaning and clarity. For others, it's following one's intuition because they are accustomed to close nuanced reading. Where do you fit in this spectrum? I don't know.

For Reading, a student can improve his or her score by learning how to read faster. This is an easy skill to learn (3 - 5 hours to read up to 5x faster). Students who read faster typically spend more time on the things that get them points: answering questions correctly. We see significant improvements after students read faster and get more focused.

We also offer evaluations of one's performance, which help to guide self-study or indicate how work with a tutor might help. If you're 'almost there,' working with a professional might get you over the hump and would do so with far greater speed than your doing it by yourself.

Also, you have a whole host of amazing admissions consultants here who will help to guide you in answering 'this.' Again: it also helps to work with someone who knows what you're hoping to gain by attending b-school, what your requirements are for programs/locations/etc., and what your stats are. They help you to shape yourself so your candidacy shines. Are you working with someone on that?

Keep us posted!
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by [email protected] » Fri Sep 09, 2016 5:20 pm
Hi DivineLegacy,

First off, both of you scores are outstanding scores (they're both right around the 90th percentile overall), so you can apply to any Business Schools that interest you. As such, a retest is probably not necessary. Since you're planning to apply to some competitive Schools, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile. There's a Forum full of them here:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/ask-an-mba-a ... t-f40.html

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by MartyMurray » Sun Sep 11, 2016 1:37 pm
Hi DivineLegacy.

Please correct me if for some reason I don't have this right, but don't you have months before R2 deadlines?

If you do, I bet that with some truly effective preparation, maybe not even all that much preparation, you could lock in a verbal score above 40, and so taking a little time to tighten up how you get answers to verbal questions, stay on top of quant and take the test again seems worth your while.

You might very well get a significantly higher score within a few weeks.
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by DivineLegacy » Sun Sep 11, 2016 4:25 pm
Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback. I am strongly considering the retake, but it will be my 4th take (I cancelled the first score). I never achieved Q50 in practice...my highest was Q49, so I'm not sure if I can achieve the same quant performance. With that said, I don't think in a few weeks I may be able to improve past 20-30 points. I've gotten mixed reviews about how helpful a point increase like that will help my overall candidacy, but if it actually may mean the difference between getting in and not getting in, then the retake is probably worth it. Advice would be appreciated.

As an FYI, I've extinguished GMATPREP 1-6, so I'd have no realistic practice tests to gauge my performance.
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