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650 good for a first test?

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650 good for a first test?

by bolkunt » Tue Aug 21, 2012 4:43 pm
Hi,

So I did the Veritas test online and score 650(Q47, V35). Is that a good enough score?

I jumped straight into the OG13 because I thought I would be quite good since I am doing a BSc in Maths and also English is my native language.

I did about a weeks worth of questions and struggled on the verbal(badly!) and got bored so tried out the free test. The RC questions on Veritas was so badly worded I could not be bothered and I thought I was wasting too much time reading the passage like 5 times so just skipped the first bit of RC questions. I found the quant really easy but still got 7 or 8 wrong.

Now I am planning to go back to basics and do Manhattan verbal stuff and MGMAT CAT's.

Do you reckon I can improve much and also I don't know what I need to improve on especially quant.
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by RyanJW » Wed Aug 22, 2012 11:08 am
Awesome job on your first test!

Your quant score is extremely impressive but there are probably ways to improve your verbal! Reading comp is designed to be tricky, wordy, boring, confusing- you just need to get used to reading passages that aren't necessarily the most interesting. Some of them can be interesting, though. You can probably master the sentence correction as well.

Where you're at right now, I'd probably work on getting better at verbal since you're obviously well-equipped for quant (don't forget about quant, just put more emphasis on your verbal stuff).

Also, while it's great to use practice tests to measure how effective your studying is going- they're probably not the best use of your time if you're trying to improve. So I'd probably work on some concepts that you're not so confident with and try to get better at those rather than taking more tests (those tests will likely just tell you that you need to study those concepts more). Once you've hit a higher level of comfort with those concepts you might want to take another practice test (perhaps the official GMATPrep practice test as that's a more accurate test/score indicator).

Anyway, the quant score you have right now is awesome, keep up the good work! Don't get frustrated by the RC- I feel the same way. It's difficult to get into the boring passages but also keep in mind that you're not supposed to memorize the entire passage. Read through it once, get an idea of what the passage is trying to say, and then tackle the questions.
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by machichi » Wed Aug 22, 2012 6:31 pm
The question is never "is it good enough". You want to get the highest score you can. This doesn't mean studying for 3 years, but it does mean studying effectively over a set period of time and getting a great score. How much did you study before taking this test? I started out around that score and was able to jump up 80 points with 2+ months of studying.

Where are you thinking of applying? Obviously a 700+ works anywhere, but a 650 is "good enough" at certain schools.
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by bolkunt » Thu Aug 23, 2012 8:02 am
machichi wrote:The question is never "is it good enough". You want to get the highest score you can. This doesn't mean studying for 3 years, but it does mean studying effectively over a set period of time and getting a great score. How much did you study before taking this test? I started out around that score and was able to jump up 80 points with 2+ months of studying.

Where are you thinking of applying? Obviously a 700+ works anywhere, but a 650 is "good enough" at certain schools.
Yes definitely, i just wanted someone's opinion on how good my score was for first time. I aiming for 700-750 and applying to the best business schools in London. I have about 5 weeks left until my test. I have been studying for about 2 weeks now. I know I have a lot to improve.

Also how long do you recommend studying on AWA and IR? I was thinking a day for each....
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by bolkunt » Thu Aug 23, 2012 8:10 am
RyanJW wrote:Awesome job on your first test!

Your quant score is extremely impressive but there are probably ways to improve your verbal! Reading comp is designed to be tricky, wordy, boring, confusing- you just need to get used to reading passages that aren't necessarily the most interesting. Some of them can be interesting, though. You can probably master the sentence correction as well.

Where you're at right now, I'd probably work on getting better at verbal since you're obviously well-equipped for quant (don't forget about quant, just put more emphasis on your verbal stuff).

Also, while it's great to use practice tests to measure how effective your studying is going- they're probably not the best use of your time if you're trying to improve. So I'd probably work on some concepts that you're not so confident with and try to get better at those rather than taking more tests (those tests will likely just tell you that you need to study those concepts more). Once you've hit a higher level of comfort with those concepts you might want to take another practice test (perhaps the official GMATPrep practice test as that's a more accurate test/score indicator).

Anyway, the quant score you have right now is awesome, keep up the good work! Don't get frustrated by the RC- I feel the same way. It's difficult to get into the boring passages but also keep in mind that you're not supposed to memorize the entire passage. Read through it once, get an idea of what the passage is trying to say, and then tackle the questions.
Thanks very much :)

I think quant is very easy, everything was taught in high school. However the verbal is a real test even for native speakers. I find CR the easiest and SC the hardest. RC is tricky because if I don't understand the passage then I will get a lot of the questions wrong for that passage whereas CR I would only get that 1 question wrong.

I'm just going through the Manhattan verbal books and Powerscore CR, making my own notes and doing the problem sets. Any recommendation on how to approach these books effectively and quickly? I have my test in 5 weeks so really need to study fast. I had wasted a few days doing nothing because sometimes I'm just too lazy but I know I have to work now.
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by NextGreatLeader » Thu Aug 23, 2012 10:11 am
Don't completely leave out quant. You have an amazing starting score, but don't forget that many schools want you to break the 80th percentile barrier in each section. I believe that's typically around Q48 or 49 these days. Improving verbal will bring up your overall score the most, but don't let your strength (quant) become a weakness.
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by machichi » Thu Aug 23, 2012 4:52 pm
I studied for 30 minutes for the AWA and got a 6/6. Just read this and you'll be done: https://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-get-6- ... 64327.html

The IR section started about 2 weeks after I took the exam, so I didn't have to deal with it.
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by machichi » Thu Aug 23, 2012 4:53 pm
I studied for 30 minutes for the AWA and got a 6/6. Just read this and you'll be done: https://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-get-6- ... 64327.html

The IR section started about 2 weeks after I took the exam, so I didn't have to deal with it.
Blogging about the MBA application process. Because I need to do something with all this bschool energy.
https://www.mbabreakaway.com/
Recent post: July 12, "Summer"
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