I just Beat The GMAT!

Hi everyone,

I'm a 24 year old Canadian, with 3 years of management experience and a degree from the University of Western Ontario. I'm looking at getting in and starting MBA programs for fall 2013. I started studying for the GMAT in July and wrote for the first time in November. I scored a 430. Pretty brutal, but I thought it was just a bad day and moved on from it and booked a re-test for Dec 27 (yesterday).

Over the next 6 weeks I amped up the studying and was doing well enough. I did the practice tests from the GMAC website and scored 560 on one and 590 on the other. For the schools I'm looking at going to in Canada (Ryerson, Ottawa, Dalhousie) a score of 550-600 would make me competitive enough to have a shot at getting in so I was happy with these practices and ready to take the test.

I went in yesterday and scored a 410! I didn't feel nervous or stressed and I have no idea what happened. I know there might be a bit of a drop from practice tests, but to drop that much? I'm honestly at a loss and not sure why there is such a huge gap from my prep and my actual scores. Does anyone have any insight or suggestions? It's getting a bit late to apply now as I'm sure first round spots are starting to get filled and I'm not sure how to get my actual scores up to 550-600?

Any thoughts? I'd really appreciate it if anyone had some advice or possible reasons for such a huge gap between my prep and actual results. I'll probably write it 1 more time at the end of Jan and would appreciate any tips on what to do over the next few weeks to make sure I'm on track. Thanks!

Hey,even i took gmat on 28th december.I scored 630(Q39,V37).I am also planning to retake it end of Jan/1st week feb.
I will suggest u to retake gmatprep several times.
Also,go through gmatquantum site for free og explanations.

Thanks,
Shreeraj

I would also suggest a retake. Funny things happen to people with this exam. Chalk it up to a bad day.

I was going to apply to Ryerson as well but decided I was going to wait until next year. Im also a 24 year old Canadian and I graduated from Guelph.

What was your split in verbal and quant like? I would say focus on your weakness. Also the Manhattan GMAT math and verbal books are golden. I went through them and they are very detailed my friend.

Hope you the best of luck!