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I'm calling a truce with the GMAT...for now

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I'm calling a truce with the GMAT...for now

by rjank » Wed Jul 20, 2011 3:06 pm
I returned home from taking the GMAT for the second time not long ago. Here's what my two attempts look like:

GMAT #1: 640 - Q:36 (43rd percentile), V:40 (89th percentile), AWA 6.0
GMAT #2: 650 - Q:35 (38th percentile), V:45 (99th percentile), AWA unknown (probably a 6)

Sooooo LOPSIDED! And the second split was after I dropped verbal like a hot brick and studied only quant for about 2 months. At this point I'm just moving on, at least for this admissions season. I'll just have to do something like MBA Math and hope the other above average portions of my application make up for the fact that I'm no GMAT math whiz.

When I put it in perspective, I realize this is relatively a respectable score. The unofficial score report states that overall I'm in the 79% percentile, and that's sobering. The average of my school of choice is about 680, so I'm well within the 20-80% acceptance range.

Lets hope I get in and I won't be back in the test center next year. Good luck to you all!

Also, if you have questions about the verbal side of test, apparently I can help you out. At least, I can tell you how I approach and solve verbal problems. Don't ever ask me about math, you're better off on your own. :D
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by vineeshp » Wed Jul 20, 2011 6:21 pm
Surely all the best for the app season.

And yes, please tell us how you score a 45 on the verbal without prep! That's incredible.
Vineesh,
Just telling you what I know and think. I am not the expert. :)
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by rjank » Wed Jul 20, 2011 8:18 pm
It's not that I didn't prep for verbal at all, I did before the first attempt. Not nearly so much as the math because I don't need to. Before the second time around I practiced verbal a little bit, at most an hour or two in the three days before I took the test.

IMO almost no one can get a verbal score that high without some talent for dealing with English verbal reasoning the way the GMAT wants you to, the same way that I think almost no one can get a super high quant score without the same sort of talent for math. That said it's definitely possible to get a better than average score on either section even if it doesn't come naturally to you.

For CR I always read the question stem first to set my brain on the right path for what to look for while I'm reading, followed by the problem itself, then start eliminating answers.

For SC I read the sentence first and always look at answer choices vertically. You have to know which ways of putting the phrase together are wrong in the context of the sentence and then you can easily eliminate 2 or 3 answer choices quickly. I hate to admit I can do this often by what "sounds" right and wrong, but that's only because English is my first language and it comes naturally to me, so I've internalized a lot of the rules to the point where I don't have to think about it for more than a second or two. If this isn't true for you then you must drill the rules.

For RC I read the question stem of the first question before I start on the passage, then I read the entire passage. If it's a long or particularly difficult passage I'll make a paragraph map with short notes. If it's short or isn't too hard to understand I'll just read it once and answer the questions. If you're not good at RC, you should probably make a map every time. If I need to refer back briefly to the relevant part of a paragraph to answer the question I will, but if you ever have to read a big portion of the passage again it means you didn't understand it well enough the first time.

The reason I scheduled the GMAT again for today is because last weekend I got a 41 on the quant section (which is good for me) on a GMAT Prep practice test (not a repeat), but unfortunately test day stress tends to slow me down, which is murder for me on the quant section. Also it just feels to me like the quant section in GMAT prep is easier than the real GMAT, but I'm sure that's just my perception because I find that section so difficult. At this point I'd have to pay someone that is talented at it to drill the "right way" to do it into me through lengthy practice so that I do it the best way by rote, because the explanations in the back of the official guide don't do much at all to help me arrive at the best way to solve quant problems.
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