The Application Process

Hi,

I took my GMAT exam yesterday and got a 660 (Q49, V31).

My background is - Indian Female (24), Work ex - 2 yrs. School Academics - Really Good. Undergraduate - Engineering with a good GPA (from one of India's top 20 colleges)and some decent extra curricular activities.
I really want to apply this year and wish to be enrolled in a program starting 2014 Fall (US B schools).

Since my work ex is pretty low, I am planning to retake the GMAT. But I have the following questions:
1) I would need another 2 months for preparing and improving my score, will that leave me enough tie to work on my applications this year?

2) Hoping I get a decent score the second time, will it be a disadvantage to have gotten the score on a second attempt?

3) Since I have exhausted a lot of material already (I used 60-Day GMAT Guide for this attempt and already gave each GMAT prep 4 times) I am not sure how would I be able to measure my improvement.


I also need some advise on how can I improve my score. My verbal is really bad. My problem is that almost all the wrong answers I mark appear right to me. This is mostly the case with CR and RC. I am not sure why am I not able to improve on my Verbal Score.

Please Help!!

Hi Swati,

You have a decent profile.

As your work experience is pretty low, retaking GMAT would be the good option for you.

1.) July and August month you would need to prepare for your GMAT, you can only start working for your applications from September month onwards and most of the US Business Schools starts its R1 Round in Sep-Oct month so I don't think you would have enough time to prepare for your essays/recommendations. Here, I would suggest you to seek advice/help of professional consultants so that you can frame your essays on time and can meet R1 deadlines of the business schools.

2.) You have to submit only the best GMAT Score of yours. It will not effect in your application even if it is first attempt or second.

3.) For GMAT Preparation I would suggest you to have Computer adaptive tests/mock tests as much as possible along with your practise questions. You can know more about GMAT here https://tinyurl.com/lonerxj
Feel free to write if you have further queries.

Cheers!!
Vendetta

Your 660 will not work against you when you apply. Do not worry about that. Actually, don't worry about your 1st attempt any more as there is nothing that you can do about it any more. Focus on the future.

People say that you can ONLY work on your applications after you've completed the GMAT and that's definitely not true. I didn't think that I would have to take the GMAT 3 times over the course of a year but I did. As a result, I had to study for the GMAT while doing my essays and such. There are things that you can do now to help you start your application. It just depends on how much time you're willing to devote to the process itself.

Yes - in a best case scenario you would want to submit all of your applications R1 with a phenomenal GMAT score. If you have to study for 2 more months then that MAY not happen, and that's okay.

With regards to your verbal, when you say - "My verbal is really bad. My problem is that almost all the wrong answers I mark appear right to me." That's not the root problem that you're experiencing. Of course the wrong answers that you mark appear right. This is why you chose them. I think what you need to try to do is find the patterns of the things that you're getting wrong. That way you can figure out why the way you're thinking is leading you to the wrong answer. Are you really diving in to your CAT exam results?

660 is not that bad, you should take things in the right perspective... don't think that you're screwed - apparently there's so much you can do with this... see this if you didn't yet: https://www.aringo.com/low_gmat.htm