I just Beat The GMAT!

Writing this post with mixed feelings.

I am unpleasantly surprised by my quant score of 44 (68 percentile) - I was consistently scoring 49 to 51 on quant in my practice exams. The verbal score is in the realm of what I was scoring on practice exams. The cause could be the fact that I could not get much sleep the night before, and the PS questions were tiring me out during the exam.

Realistically, I was expecting a GMAT score of 730~740. I would have definitely written it again if I had scored below 700, but 700 puts me on the fence.

Should I bother to write the exam again? Or is a 740 vs a 700 not going to make much of a difference considering my profile?

Some background: I am an engineer, working in the Management Consulting industry in Canada. I have about 6 years of work experience. Target schools are INSEAD, Harvard, Booth, and Wharton.

Would really appreciate some input.

Thanks.

Congrats! Good score. As you got digit 7 in your score so you can't say that GMAT beat you. Surely you beat the GMAT.

beatingit:

What is the situation of Canada for B -School? Are there some B schools worth comparable to Wharton, Harvard? In your list I don't see any top reputed Business School which is located up there. If people from third world countries keep Wharton, Harvard in thier list then it makes sense but a Canadian or Canada resident who has no Canadian school in his list somehow doesn't make sense. It is hard to digest Canada has no single school which can symbolize a pride, a honor, a high profile alumni databse, a great B school to build relations just as US located Top schools do for its students.

beatingit, great score! 700 is very good. please share with us how you approached quant and verbaland what materials you used. thanks.

Victory_GMAT:

There are indeed world class business schools in Canada. Ivey (University of Western Ontario), Rotman (University of Toronto), Queen's (Queen's University), and Schulich (York University), to name a few, are all great schools.

However, the reason I did not include them in my list is that I would prefer to get some international exposure. It's a matter of personal choice.

Victory_GMAT wrote:beatingit:

What is the situation of Canada for B -School? Are there some B schools worth comparable to Wharton, Harvard? In your list I don't see any top reputed Business School which is located up there. If people from third world countries keep Wharton, Harvard in thier list then it makes sense but a Canadian or Canada resident who has no Canadian school in his list somehow doesn't make sense. It is hard to digest Canada has no single school which can symbolize a pride, a honor, a high profile alumni databse, a great B school to build relations just as US located Top schools do for its students.

Thanks for the kudos guys

My prep strategy was pretty straight forward:

- Tried studying for the exam about 3 years ago (went though some Princeton Review pages), so knew the basic structure and "how" to study
- Decided to study for the exam about 2 weeks ago, booked it, and started preparing for it this time around
- Quickly reviewed MGMAT quant books, MGMAT SC book, and CR Bible on weekday evenings -- knew all the material well before I started practicing
- Read articles on this forum (especially for the AWA that I crammed 3 or 4 days before the exam) - this forum rocks!
- Went through the OG 11 problems over the weekend
- Did a couple of MGMAT CATs 4 / 5 days before the exam (640, 690) -- totally lacked method to the madness, was trying to solve everything - trying to be a perfectionist is definitely not the way to go, had to switch gears, figured out timing strategy for myself
- Did the GMATPREP CATs over the last two days before the exam (730, 740) -- complete exams under exam conditions (in a library, with random people around me)

Note that I had bought all kinds of material 3 years ago for my preperation but actually did not end up using it. This included Kaplan Premier, Kaplan 800, Princeton Review, OG Verbal & OG Quant books. Other than the OG books, I think the rest of the stuff does not add much value.

Some self reflection:

I must admit that when I started off, I thought I will not get much out of this. I just wanted to get it over with. But having gone through the experience, I think I have actually learnt a lot, specially on the verbal side.

If I were to do this again, I would simply practice more - more CATs and more OG questions. I tried using brute efficiency to get through this exam and it seemed to be working, specially after I wrote the two GMATPREP CATs.

I wanted to give it a shot ASAP and was prepared to do it again after a few more weekends of practice. I had told myself that my cut-off would be 700: if I score below that, I would reappear. However, now that I have scored 700, its the quant 68 percentile that is killing me!

So still not sure whether I should do it again. I really wonder how badly this 68 percentile in quant will reflect on my applications. Any comments / experience to share?

which were the best books you found helpful?

Hi beatingit

Firstly congrats on your score!

I had a 700 last year and was facing the same dilemma. The breakup was similar. I asked around on the forums and was advised by people (experts who I believe provide good advice) that though overall 700 was a decent score, I would need to get my quant score up (I had a 70 percentile) given my background (engineer, India, mgmt consulting, undergrad was above avg but nothing exceptional) if I wanted to take a serious shot at my reach schools (Harvard, Stanford, INSEAD etc)


Having said that, there a few things I should mention:

1. In the past year I have noted candidates with similar profiles (and sometimes a lower score) getting through top schools (ok maybe not a Harvard but def schools like Duke, INSEAD, LBS, UCLA etc)

2. I retook the GMAT recently and scored a 690 (quant went up but verbal fell drastically ). So, in retrospect, if I was to apply this year I would def be applying with my 700. (I do not intend applying this year so am thinking of retaking it)

3. In my research I found that experts were generally of the view that a candidate should not take the gmat more than thrice (and it would actually be better if they were spread out).

Hope this helps...and please share your views on the above too.

All the best!
S

beatingit,

My situation is similar, but I had always intended to take the test more than once regardless of the score (unless it was *really* good). I studied for about a month, beginning with a Kaplan sample test as a control (which I would not recommend as it is nothing like the real GMAT). My result was also a 700 with 42v (95th percentile)/43q (67th percentile).

My "round 1" goal was 700, so I'm generally pleased with the score - Hitting a goal spot-on is always satisfying. That said, I think at your list of schools a 700 will not be terribly impressive (just a few years ago it would have been considered excellent) and I think the quant in particular is an issue among the competition with other management consultants going back for their MBA at a top 10 school. If the rest of your experience is spotless and you have a few special, differentiating characteristics (military service, charity work, competitive sports, etc), you could be fine but like me, I think a better margin of safety on quant is called for. Even though I've heard a high verbal score contributes more to a higher combined score, quant appears to be much more important to schools and consulting firms.

Since you only spent two weeks preparing, I think you could do much better with a more substantial quant study plan. I plan to do the same and take the test again in a couple of months.

Hi BeatingIt,

700 is a good score. I've talked with a friend who was on the admissions committee at Tuck, and according to him, the GMAT and Academic experience is just one pillar of your application. He was mainly looking to make sure that GMAT scores didn't bring down the average.

It looks like your quant numbers can be greatly improved. This is especially true given your technical background. I have been bruised by the quant in my practice, and am keenly aware of the room for improvement. For me, the biggest way to improve is to get FASTER. I have found frequently that I need to guess on a few questions in order to keep pace. How do you find the pace of the quant section?

You still have lots of time before R1/R2 cutoffs, and from what I understand most schools will consider only your best score. The real question is how much extra work are you willing to put into your study, and what will the reward of that work be? I've been studying solidly for the past month and I'm really not sure how much good an entire additional month of study will do me.

I'm not sure how you would perform again given more studying. I've had similar results in my prep. I'm writing this Saturday.

Kap:
660
680
720
700

MGMAT
650
680
700

GMATPrep
700
770

PowerPrep
740


I have a similar background to you (Engineering, Canadian) except I've spent the last 6 years working in sales and marketing for a tech company. I'm gunning for ~700 also but will be tickled with a score above 720. Sounds like we're of a similar age.. where did you do your undergrad? I graduated from Waterloo in 2004 (Computer Engineering). I know two Tuck admitees who scored 720 and 770 with Waterloo Engineering backgrounds. Admitted in 2007 and 2009 respectively. The 770 friend of mine was waitlisted at Wharton, and ignored by Harvard. I have another Waterloo Engineering friend at INSEAD who scored 770.


I'm also starting to see a some value in memorizing the math "tricks". Like xy = gcd(x,y) * lcm(x,y) and exterior angle rules, similar triangles rules, etc. These time saving shortcuts could potentially make the difference.

Good luck, let us know what you decide. Feel free to drop me a PM (can you do that on this forum??).

Evan

MGMAT is the way to go (I did not try MGMAT for CR). PowerScore Bible for CR rocks.

skins81 wrote:which were the best books you found helpful?

Thanks for your responses.

In the last 72 hours, I have had all kinds of input from veteran test takers (like some of you guys) and some admission consultants. I am reassured that 700 is actually a very respectable score, with a good chance of getting into top schools, as long as the rest of the profile is strong. It will likely not be the reason for getting kicked out of the pool. However, it will also not be screaming "pick me!" when it comes to acceptances - it will have to be one of the other aspects of your application that will seal the deal. Not sure if I can post links here, so google for "A 700 GMAT score is a nice round number". This article made me feel like a million bucks again.

Since this was my first try, the conclusion I have reached is that it makes sense to give the exam again if I can afford to cough up another $250 and can make some time to either improve my skills or, at the very least, keep whatever I know fresh and polished for another 31 days. Personally, I can not afford to take time off for it and, with my current work load and other commitments, can not commit too much time to it after work on weekdays. Realistically, I can commit to write one CAT per weekend and do some OG questions on weekends and some weeknights, and retake the exam in 5 weeks.

Here are the possible outcomes:

1) Lower than 700, likely with a better quant and definitely with a lower verbal score
This will kind of suck, but atleast I will not have any "what ifs" in my mind. I will be at ease that atleast I gave it another shot (whatever kind of shot I could give with my resource limitations). I will still have my 700 from last time and will not be much worse off than before (except for some lost time and cash). Will definitely not be on the fence any more. Will most likely move on. (I have heard conflicting info on how some universities like INSEAD treat multiple scores - if there are any that actually take you best quant percentile, and best verbal percentile, then increasing your quant at the expense of verbal in this option will still be an okay win!)

2) 700 again, likely with a better quant score and a lower verbal score
Since I do not expect to score a better verbal score (will not be focusing much effort on verbal in my prep, except to try to keep whatever I know fresh), the likely breakdown in case of another 700 will be a stronger quant and a weaker verbal. I think this will be a decent scenerio, as it may give me the 80/80 balance that seems to be the holy grail that everyone keeps on talking about.

3) Higher than 700, likely with a better quant and possibly with a similar verbal
This, obviously, will be awesome! As long as I can move that quant closer to 80, I will feel "mission accomplished!" and will be totally satisfied.

Per the above analysis, assuming I am not killing myself over the next 5 weeks, even the worst option (#1) is not too bad - atleast I will have a clear head and will be ready to move on. Although, it is known as the worst option for a reason - its not as sweet as the other two!

Sudz10: Seems like you lined up with option 1 and you still have your 700 from last time. Have a read of the article I mentioned above. 700 is a pretty respectable score. I am not sure about retaking a third time (have not been in that situation). But I do feel that if it is going to keep you up at night, just do it! Give it a third time and promise yourself that it will be the last time. Good luck!!!

chunkyIPA: Seem like you are hitting the nail straight in, and you plan to do it over a number of blows. More power to you! I wanted to do it in one blow

evanr2: Totally agree with you. I found that I was taking too long on quant question. With the limited amount of time to practice, all I could do was to figure out when to guess and move on and when to keep on solving. You are absolutely right - for people who have done a lot of math through high school and university, the quant material is easy. It is the pace that one needs to work on. I think you should be fine - with your prep, you should have no problems getting a 720. Good luck with your exam! And yes, you can PM on this forum.

So does the logic that I mentioned above make sense? Look forward to hearing more thoughts.