GMAT Strategy

Hi,
I gave the GMAT today and I got a score of 600 ( Quant : 47, Verbal : 26). I am deeply disappointed. I am a working professional and I have 1 year and 5 months of work experience in IT consulting. I had planned on applying for Fall 2012.

My doubt is that should I retake the exam in October and then take TOEFL? or should I go ahead and take the TOEFL? Is it worth applying to universities in the US and Singapore with this score? Or should I improve the score and then apply. As of now, no dates in September are available.


Please help.

Hi Kriti,

I am no expert but still this is what I think.

1. I don't understand why are you tying the TOEFL with the GMAT. Go ahead give the TOEFL (if you have already booked a date) and put it aside so that you can focus on GMAT and the rest next.

2. Now look at what are your target universities, that determines how good your current GMAT score is.

3. If you are targeting anything in the top 25-30 then retake. I say this for the following reasons:

(a) A one year work-ex doesn't add a whole lot to the resume. I have spent one year in Infosys so I know how one year goes. This means you will have to make the rest of your application strong, which makes GMAT a whole lot more important for you.

(b) The Indian IT profile is the most received profile in B-Schools today. Although you are a female so that might turn the screws slightly in your favor but still it is commonly said that Indian IT people need a little high score to get the required attention.

Now I want to provide you with my two cents. Don't rush into things, I consider work experience is the most important part of your MBA application. It is not the number of years but the quality of your experience. You have time, with just one year experience and that too IT you make your chances very low. Take time give your best to build a profile right now. Do community service, go out of your way to show that you are different and side by side also prepare for your GMAT. Let your MBA dreams rest for a year or two so that you can strengthen your overall application.

Again my aim is not to discourage you and all of this depends on the schools you are targeting and my assumption that you don't have any other work experience. If you already have a strong profile or if your target schools don't require these things go ahead but for the best schools just the GMAT won't do. You will have to put in more. The students that get admitted with low GMAT scores are the ones that have exceptional profiles that differentiates them from the rest.

I hope it helps and I am sorry for being a little on the pessimistic side. I just wanted you to weigh your options and want you to get to the best school possible. I have written the post with that in mind.

Hi Akhil,

I value your advice. Most people have been telling me that I need to build my profile and I understand that. But, I want to finish my postgrad. So I am weighing my options and I do plan to retake the GMAT. These are the universities that I am targeting:
Nanyang
SMU, singapore
Booth
Tepper
Tuck

I realise that in the actual GMAT you score 20-30 points less. On practice tests , I was scoring between 630-640. And verbal is my weakpoint. I even approached verbal differently when my friend told me that just getting the correct answer is not enough. So i strategized. I went through the basic rules of grammar. I reviewed each question marked wrong. And, I feel that the OG questions are too easy. So are ones on GMAT Prep. Now, I am confused. I don't know how to attack my weaknesses. What did I do wrong? The RC passages were pretty challenging. And out of the 4 I got, 3 of them were long passages.

I did not take any classes. It was all self-study. So do you think I should go in for classes?

Secondly, I haven't chosen a date for TOEFL. So should I target GMAT first?

Hi Kriti,

If you have sort of gotten stagnant in your progress then it makes complete sense to change your study style. Getting classes might be a good idea. I have no idea what part of India are you from so I can't really suggest classroom programs. Anyways in India it is just Jamboree that I have heard good things about.

I would suggest you to take a look at some online programs also. Knewton.com offers you a 50 point increase on your last GMAT score. It has tied up with MBACrystalball.com in India and is offering the course for just 12k in India. So that is almost half than any classroom and a 50 point guarantee. You can also check other options online like MasterGMAT and the rest. I was suggesting this for the 50 point guarantee as that makes your money safe.

Also, what is it that you are getting wrong in your verbal. Are you mistakes well distributed or is it one area. I am myself a little slow with grammar and have tried to develop the other two. People always ask you to target your weakness but targeting your strength and making it flawless is another way to look at things.

Frankly, your targeted schools are a long shot right with your current score. But that said your score can improve. The score is also pretty skewed, adcoms look for a balanced score in both verbal and quant so work towards that. I will be a waste to apply with your current score. Again forgive me for my frankness.

Verbal can be improved. I believe all questions can be done by Process of Ellimination, so go ahead work on it. Don't get disheartened, give it your best shot and leave the rest.

Again don't rush to give the GMAT. Take your time and be sure about it and then give it. Make the second one count. You are familiar with the test now make full use of that. Regarding TOEFL I don't know if I will be able to guide you because I never really prepared for it. I just got up one day and gave it. I believe it is not much of a problem. Their is sort of a practice test on the TOEFL website. Give that and see if you really have to prepare for it. If you don't give it whenever, if you don't then don't let it mess with the real beast(GMAT). I would say concentrate on the GMAT then.

I will be looking out for your post on the i beat the gmat forum in sometime from now.

I hope it helps.

Cheers!!

Thanks Akhil. I am from Mumbai. So can you suggest some classes here?

And what was your score on the GMAT? Are you from India too?

Hi Kriti,

I have not really tried any classes so I would not be the right person to suggest you a class in Mumbai.

What I have tried in knewton.com and I am still doing my preparation with them. I scored a 600 (Q35; V40) with them on my first mock and have been showing consistent improvement. In my last mock I scored a 710 (Q46; V40). Although my verbal seems stagnant, my number of mistakes actually went down from 11 to 6. So as far as knewton is concerned I am all for it as it has really helped me. They start from very basics and have great lessons to get you thinking the GMAT way. Also because they are only online you know that you will have the best teachers (as teachers will not be spread to different centers).

Yes I am from India (Delhi). Currently my dad(who is an army officer) is posted in Sikkim so I am here with him preparing for my GMAT. I am between jobs and have some free time, so I decided to make full use of it. This is also why I chose an online service provider because I did not have access to the other ones and frankly I don't regret my decision.

I am planning to give my GMAT sometime in October if everything goes well.

I am sorry I could not provide you with any details of prep companies in Mumbai as I have never dealt with these. I hope my experience with an online provider helps you,

Cheers!!

So your targeting Fall 2012 or Fall 2013? Won't October be too late for Fall 2012?

Hi Kriti,

I am not planning to apply anytime soon. I was free so I decided to give the GMAT and get it out of the way before the format changes. I will apply for fall 2013/14, I am in no hurry right now. I will make full use of the 5 yr validity of my score.

I am currently trying to make a switch from IT do give my profile something different from the majority of Indian applicants.

Oh ok..that's good then..so how many years of work experience do you have? That is one of the criterias that I do not really like. ..

Currently I have around 15 months of experience and that is why I am in no hurry to apply. It sure is a pain specially for us Indian students who want to get the study part out of the way as soon as possible!!
But then that is how it is and we will have to live with it.

Hey,

The E-GMAT course so far is going good. I have just started with Critical Reasoning. Have you never given the Indian MBA exams like NMAT, SNAP, CAT and CET? That is kinda surprising..the quant section in these exams is slightly tougher as compared to the section on the GMAT.The verbal is definitely easier. The preparation for these exams would be slightly different as they have data interpreatation, logical ability and visual reasoning. some of them have a GK section as well.

You did not know about the January intakes of the schools in Singapore?


E-gmat has tied up with Grockit. So that combo works well.

Do you have any idea of where I can take practice tests from? We have the Manhattan CATs but my friend told me that the scores are pretty skewed on those. SO the best practice tests that I can probably purchase online would be great.

Hope you can help me out.

Thanks.

No I know it is funny but I haven't ever given an Indian exam. I also did not know about the second intake because I have not started looking into all date. It will be about 2 years after which I will do my MBA so I did not feel the need right now.

I am biased against Indian tests as they focus too much on quant. I don't think I need such great quant skills to be a good manager. I have a very decent extra curricular profile and I want to leverage that, and in India all that matters is marks (although they are not too bad either). But these are some reasons I did not ever give the Indian exams.

The fact is if you go around and check, MGMAT's are considered the best after GMATprep. If someone really skews the score down then it is Kaplan. Their is a poll in the strategy forum that discusses the best tests, check it. Also no test will be a good predictor. Use the tests to practice your strategy and learn from them. Take time to review them. I usually give 2 days to a test review itself.

I hope I made some sense.

Take care and all the best!!

I have heard that the MGMAT's inflate the scores. Kaplan skews them down. Does Knewton have a practice tests package or something?

kriti87 wrote:I have heard that the MGMAT's inflate the scores. Kaplan skews them down. Does Knewton have a practice tests package or something?

No, you get the knewton tests only if you take the course. And anyways even the knewton algorithm has its problems. It is known to skew down as well, specially quant. It is hard to find the perfect test!!

Hello all,

I teach at Escape Velocity India a prep-test company www.escapevelocityindia.com that solely deals with one-to-one GMAT (and SAT) prep at your home.

I've taught at every single major prep-test company in Mumbai prior to this. I was disappointed in the quality of the prep and so started my own place.

At Escape Velocity India, you will get the quality of Verbal and Quant prep you need and deserve. You can call me up on 9619504825 to find out more. We also offer individual course selections (either Verbal or Quant) for a flat rate. We have a limited number of students we accept every year as we allocate a lot of time for each new student and cannot accomodate more than a particular number each month.

Yours Sincerely

Aniceto Pereira
[email protected]