I just Beat The GMAT!

took the gmat earlier this evening..

section - scaled score - percentile
quantitative - 45 - 77
verbal - 41 - 93
total - 710 - 93

the lady at the testing center (42nd + 5th ave in nyc) was very impressed, however, i'm unhappy with my quantitative score. my target is Columbia Fall '09 early decision, what do you guys think about how I stand? my undergrad is only 3.0 from a state school that doesn't have a strong reputation, and i have 2 years work experience as a money market trader at a small foreign bank.

thanks for your input.

[edit] by the way, i used MANY books, but the focus was always on the OG, both the double and the quant. FYI, I believe the test quant to be MUCH more challenging than what is provided in these books. I had the SAME experience with the 2 free practice test software available at mba.com... the questions just seem much harder and brand new.

I studed for a month casually about a year ago and then 2 months fairly hardcore before taking the test.

You could have score 750/760, had you got a perfect quant score.

Find out how below.

wow thanks for the advice mr spam

LOL! nice reply.

Generally schools say that they want an 80, 80 breakdown in the percentiles (meaning percentile greater than 80 in each section). However, I think that 710 with a Quant percentile of a 77% is nothing to worry about. One thing that could be important is your undergraduate degree. If you have a quantitative undergraduate degree then I think this is understandable. Hope this helps!

BTW, what other schools are you applying to? I live and work in nyc as well.

thanks for the information.

my 1st choice is CBS early decision. if i get in there, i'm set and happy and i won't have to apply for any other programs. i imagine that CBS will get me into GS S&T, so it doesn't matter what path i take to get there.

if i don't get into CBS ED, i'm going to apply to harvard, wharton, mit, chicago, nyu, probably yale. if i don't get into CBS ED i'll probably retake the gmat to get an outstanding score since my undergrad institution and gpa blow.

where are you applying?

Hi Bank,
I'm going to be applying for Fall 2009 as well. I'm shooting for the Early Decision at Tuck. I'll be applying to MIT, HBS, LBS, INSEAD and Stanford as well. I'm looking at management consulting or alternative energy positions and I think these are the schools that fit my profile. Good Luck with your application! There is a meetup group in nyc and I think it is mostly for GMAT we should try and setup a group in nyc so we can meet and exchange information for prospective MBA Applicants as well.

sounds cool.. reply to this or send me an aim with more info about the meetup

I had a similar question about my quant performance today. I scored 740: 44Q (72 percentile) and 47V (99 percentile). I'm a bit concerned about my quant score being too low for some programs. I do have somewhat of a quantitative background (Finance undergrad, CFA L1, structured finance job), so I'm not sure if that will help the adcoms overlook my percentile.

I think you should be fine on the quant front Meddling. I dont think anyone who has cleared CFA L1 can be questioned on their quantitative ability

i don't understand how our quant can be so low yet our overall be (in your case especially) so high

BankBank wrote:i don't understand how our quant can be so low yet our overall be (in your case especially) so high

44 and 45 are still halfway decent scores for quant. You have to realize that alot of people taking this test have serious quant skill, but may be lacking on the verbal side. Thus, many of them will score 49, 50, 51 on quant (driving down the percentiles) while scoring low on verbal (which partially explains why 99th percentile for verbal starts at 46).

BankBank wrote:wow thanks for the advice mr spam

Thank you for the title, lord.

https://www.urch.com/forums/just-finishe ... 1-v41.html
https://www.pagalguy.com/forum/gmat-and- ... aug07.html

What I told you is the upward potential of your ability. By practicing little more quant you could reach a much higher score. Probably, for the schools you are targeting or your profile, you don't need such a high score.

In any case, I hope it helps those who have the ability of score a 41 on verbal and WANT to score > 750.

Hello BankBank and Parore,

I am in NYC and will be applying for Fall 2009. Do you guys have a meet up or something ? I would love to be a part of it and I confused as hell about the whole application procedure..
e-mail me at kallu79 at yahoo

Kalyan

Cool Kalyan will keep you posted! Check out the meetup forums as well to see if others are organizing events around this area.

hello all,

need some advice / thoughts - took the test today and scored 710:

Q - 48 (85%)
V - 40 (89%)
T - 710 (93%)

I think my Quant score was largely in the ballpark - that's roughly what the GMAT Focus diagnostic had predicted (new Quant software from the official monopolists!!), and 49 was the highest I had ever socred on a practice test anyway (although, therefore, I would have been happier with a 49 !)

Verbal was bit of a let down given that I had been scoring higher (at least 42 in practice tests, went up to 47 as well).

Needles to say, 710 is not a brilliant score, but I personally don't think it's that bad either.

It's only been a few hours since I finished the test, so haven't entirely made up my mind yet: should I retake the test? I don't think I'll do significantly better in Quant (maybe a point more at the most I think), but Verbal, chances are I can. This means I can get my score to c. 740 - 750 with a better performance in Verbal.

Apart from the given increase in the overall score, and the overall percentile, will a skew in my potential re-take individual scores (potential c. 95% in Verbal and 85%-ish in Quant) make the score look worse than it is now (when the scores are more balanced?)

Any thoughts would be helpful.

Cheers

P.S. Obviously, there's always a chance I get a lower score if I re-take. Hence, the conundrum