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Knitgeek
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Well yesterday was test day and I have to say I am happy to be done with the GMAT and on to focusing on the rest of my application. Now I know a 700 is not an overly impressive score for many on this forum but considering I was initially aiming for a 650 I am more than pleased with my result.
A bit of background on me to put all this in perspective a bit. I'm a 30 year old working mom who is targeting a local part-time MBA for a 2017 start. My husband works afternoons currently so over the course of my GMAT prep I was basically a single mom so fitting in studying was a bit interesting. I signed up for Magoosh's premium subscription which was super helpful for me as its been a long time since I've touched a lot of the math covered by the test. I used Magoosh's 3 month study plan and found the structure worked well for me. Most of my study time was my lunch breaks at work and evenings after my 1 and half year old went to bed.
My first practice CAT was 500 (29Q/31V/7IR) back in May. I was disappointed with my showing in the verbal as I have a background in English though I wasn't too surprised with my quant performance out the gate. I'm pretty good with math but I've never been super fast with mental math and as I said before was super rusty on my concepts. I spent about three weeks plugging through concepts and doing lots of practice before my next CAT but I paid off as I saw my score jump to 650 (sorry I don't have that breakdown in fron of me bu I believe my quant was in the mid 39s and verbal was high 30s). Because of some pre planned vacations and nasty flu that ran through our house I only managed two other practice CATs. Both were 680. My last one the week before my official test had a breakdown of 44Q, 40V and 7IR. I was feeling pretty good going in to test day.
I scaled back my studies the week leading up to the test. Reviewed key concepts that I was weaker with and did a bunch of mixed practice sessions using both Magoosh and OG. The day before I didn't crack any textbooks. Luckily my parents took our little one for the night so I was able to relax a bit and sleep soundly. My exam was at 8am so we were up early and my hubby dropped me off at the testing centre at 7:30. The staff was super nice and got me checked in right away. The test itself went well, I felt my studies had prepared me well for the experience. I'm glad I did full practice CATs despite it being tough to get 4 hour blocks of time to do them. I think that helped come test day as I was ready for just how gruelling the test truly is.
I took all my breaks though not the full 8 minutes. I think I took 6 my first break and just shy of 5 my second. Finished each section on time or with a bit of time to spare (I will note I'm a fast test taker to begin with. I think my test taking style was actually conducive to the GMAT). Overall I felt pretty good. I was a bit worried about my quant performance when I got through that section because I generally felt the questions were easier then I had been seeing in practice. Tried to put that out of my mind and moved on to the verbal. I had a couple of questions were I got hung up between two answers but generally felt pretty good about it.
When my score came up the first thing I saw was my IR and verbal and I wasn't too thrilled. I pulled out a 5 in the IR. While I'm not upset I would have liked at least a six but oh well I'm over that 50th percentile hump. Verbal was 39, obviously those questions I was humming and hawing about two answers hurt my score. Still it's and 89th percentile score and a 8 point jump from my starting point. Then I saw my quant and overall score... I nearly hit the floor. I had managed a 47in quant! That was 3 points better than my best practice score! Overall I had managed to hit 700!
The program I'm applying to has a minimum requirement of 550 and an average of 620ish so I am thrilled with where things came out! Goes to show you that even juggling a career and a young family you can hit your goals. You just have to have a plan that fits your life and some determination!
A bit of background on me to put all this in perspective a bit. I'm a 30 year old working mom who is targeting a local part-time MBA for a 2017 start. My husband works afternoons currently so over the course of my GMAT prep I was basically a single mom so fitting in studying was a bit interesting. I signed up for Magoosh's premium subscription which was super helpful for me as its been a long time since I've touched a lot of the math covered by the test. I used Magoosh's 3 month study plan and found the structure worked well for me. Most of my study time was my lunch breaks at work and evenings after my 1 and half year old went to bed.
My first practice CAT was 500 (29Q/31V/7IR) back in May. I was disappointed with my showing in the verbal as I have a background in English though I wasn't too surprised with my quant performance out the gate. I'm pretty good with math but I've never been super fast with mental math and as I said before was super rusty on my concepts. I spent about three weeks plugging through concepts and doing lots of practice before my next CAT but I paid off as I saw my score jump to 650 (sorry I don't have that breakdown in fron of me bu I believe my quant was in the mid 39s and verbal was high 30s). Because of some pre planned vacations and nasty flu that ran through our house I only managed two other practice CATs. Both were 680. My last one the week before my official test had a breakdown of 44Q, 40V and 7IR. I was feeling pretty good going in to test day.
I scaled back my studies the week leading up to the test. Reviewed key concepts that I was weaker with and did a bunch of mixed practice sessions using both Magoosh and OG. The day before I didn't crack any textbooks. Luckily my parents took our little one for the night so I was able to relax a bit and sleep soundly. My exam was at 8am so we were up early and my hubby dropped me off at the testing centre at 7:30. The staff was super nice and got me checked in right away. The test itself went well, I felt my studies had prepared me well for the experience. I'm glad I did full practice CATs despite it being tough to get 4 hour blocks of time to do them. I think that helped come test day as I was ready for just how gruelling the test truly is.
I took all my breaks though not the full 8 minutes. I think I took 6 my first break and just shy of 5 my second. Finished each section on time or with a bit of time to spare (I will note I'm a fast test taker to begin with. I think my test taking style was actually conducive to the GMAT). Overall I felt pretty good. I was a bit worried about my quant performance when I got through that section because I generally felt the questions were easier then I had been seeing in practice. Tried to put that out of my mind and moved on to the verbal. I had a couple of questions were I got hung up between two answers but generally felt pretty good about it.
When my score came up the first thing I saw was my IR and verbal and I wasn't too thrilled. I pulled out a 5 in the IR. While I'm not upset I would have liked at least a six but oh well I'm over that 50th percentile hump. Verbal was 39, obviously those questions I was humming and hawing about two answers hurt my score. Still it's and 89th percentile score and a 8 point jump from my starting point. Then I saw my quant and overall score... I nearly hit the floor. I had managed a 47in quant! That was 3 points better than my best practice score! Overall I had managed to hit 700!
The program I'm applying to has a minimum requirement of 550 and an average of 620ish so I am thrilled with where things came out! Goes to show you that even juggling a career and a young family you can hit your goals. You just have to have a plan that fits your life and some determination!
