760 99% (Q 47 V 47) Well, I almost destroyed the GMAT...

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(Excuse any typos, too tired to proofread too much!)

I gained so much from this forum the last month or two that I felt, at the very least, I owe a debrief on my experience with the GMAT - especially since this section was one of the most inspirational for me during my studies. I may have spent more time reading about the psychology behind the test and recounts of people's experiences than actually studying!

My story is a bit unconventional, and I cannot say my study patterns will help anyone, especially regarding my odd results... BUT I do have some suggestions at the end that I DO think can help.

I decided to look into grad schools about 6 months ago. I heard about the GMAT, so I decided to see how I would do. I took the GMATPrep1 on a slow day at work. I scored a 720 (maybe around 41V/46Q?). Only thing is, I used a calculator during that math. I didn't know you couldn't (seriously). I found out after, so I figured my score was inflated, but still a great sign that I had potential.

I got busy with work and decided to start studying for the GMAT over the summer. I booked the test for September 10th (today, what do you know...)

Prep

I began studying around August 1st. I practiced first with Kaplan's book...

Kaplan Premier 2010

I knew I didn't really have to worry about verbal, but I decided to start with it anyway. I skimmed a few chapters in the book on it, then took one of the Kaplan tests (but the written one, not a CAT, and only the verbal half). I ended up with something very disappointing to me... like around the 75 percentile or something. I got pissed off and never looked at the verbal section again.

I knew my weak spot was math. I went through the entire Kaplan "Math Refresher" section, and it was a great help. They broke down permutations and combinations nicely, along with a bunch of other topics I had forgotten about in the 8 years since high school.

First Real Practice Test Attempt

After going through this whole section, I took the GMATPrep2. I scored another 720. This actually made me feel great. It was the first time I had taken the test since my first attempt (with the calculator). I was a lot weaker in Math than Verbal, but I still had about two weeks of hardcore studying left.

OG 11th Edition

I spent the next week doing OG Math problems, specifically DS ones. They are, and always will be, the bane of my GMAT existence. I hate them with all my heart. However, once I had done about 200 of them in a few days, they started to be more manageable (keyword: "started").

Second Real Practice Test Attempt

It had been about 6 months since I attempted GMATPrep1, and I definitely didn't remember any of it. I had another slow day at work last week and decided to retake it after several days of straight DS practice... and it totally paid off. I got a 760 - with a 50 on Quant! I was stunned. I even had to interrupt the Quant section a few times to answer phone calls. I remember my immediate reaction was "There weren't as many DS questions this time." I quickly realized this was because I was used to them.

Days Before Test

Unfortunately, I had a lot to do this week, so I did hardly any studying. I reviewed some math concepts that I sometimes forget and tried to keep my mind sharp. I had only spent about two hours total on Verbal, so I decided to review as many idioms as I could find. There are some great sites that just list common GMAT idioms and I found them to be a nice distraction from DS problems.

The Test

A few days before the test, I thought about what score would make me happy... and decided on what my reactions should be to different scores. (I have been in the habit of trying to think ultra-logically lately...)

less than 700 -> miserable
700-720 -> accepting
720-750 -> thrilled
+750 -> ecstatic

Ok, here's where things got weird. I got to the test center feeling great. I had never done an AWA, so I had some concern about that, but I had read the "13 sentences" articles on this site (thanks BTG!) and felt good.

I started the test with the AWAs. No worries here. The first question was really simple and it wasn't tough to come up with good examples. I ended up with 10 minutes left to proofread. The next one required some thought, but I still had plenty of time. I took my break and felt confident going in to the Quant.

The first five questions of Quant were a breeze. I seriously had no doubts that I got all 5 right. And then... a wall. The sixth question was something that I had never seen. I spent about 5 minutes on it then gave up. My confidence still felt good because the difficulty of that question meant I was probably doing well. And then... the next question was just as tough. This continued for the next series of questions. Even the easier ones were on topics I hadn't practiced a lot. There was one question that I knew I could figure out... but it took me about 6 minutes. When there was about 5 questions left, I had about 7 minutes to spare. I had -never- had an issue with time before. I usually was close, but always had a couple minutes at the end of the test. I sped through the final questions (which I could see were not extremely hard, but I couldn't figure them all out for sure). I raised my hand and took my break, dejected.

I was freaking out. I knew it was the worst I had ever done in Quant, but couldn't tell exactly how bad. I had decided that if the Verbal went terribly, I would not submit my scores. If it went well, I would submit them, but still most likely have to retake. I decided that if I got 700 on the test, it would be a triumph after that Quant performance.

I started Verbal with no motivation. I knew I didn't need to really worry about time, because I had always finished this half of the test with 15-20 minutes left. I seriously daydreamed half the test. I remember noticing a few questions that I really enjoyed - they were extremely tricky grammar problems that I had never seen before... but I figured them out. I didn't think much of it, expecting the same score I always got - 90ish percentile. The questions didn't feel tougher than normal - in general. I had about 12 minutes left with two problems to go. They were both CR problems, and I spent about 6 minutes on each. I knew I had them right when I clicked it, but took the full time to make sure of it. My initial guesses at both questions were wrong, so I was thankful for the extra time I had.

I filled out the rest of the test and remembered that I had decided to send my scores to three Ivy Leaguers (HBS, Yale, Wharton), as well as Kellogg. Great, I thought. Clearly, I was way too confident.

The score popped up, and I was shocked:

Q 47 77%
V 47 99%
T 760 99%


The first number I saw was the 77% on Quant. Before I could react, I saw the two 99%. I was thrilled... or was I? Immediately, the thoughts of the 80/80 split needed to get into top schools entered my mind. I walked out of the testing center in a complete daze.

Once I got in my car, the realization of my score hit me. I was in the 99%. I had destroyed my expectations. I should be jumping up and down. In the few hours since then, I've started to wrap my head around the score. I keep thinking about what my score would have been if I had done as well on the Quant as I had a couple days earlier, but I know that's ungrateful thinking. Also, for some reason, when everyone has asked me how I did, I always tell them I didn't do well on the Quant. I better stop doing that...

Lessons I Learned

1) (Biggest one...) Practice as close to the real exam as possible, especially for math. Specifically, try to find the yellow, graph paper-style notebooks that are given out. If anyone knows where to buy something like that, get it, then practice on it. I practiced on an erasable white board, but it wasn't close enough. It was very hard for me to get used to looking at my numbers on graph paper.

2) Give yourself more time at Math than you think you need. What happened to me was frightening as hell!

3) Kaplan Verbal was not a good indicator of my verbal ability - I imagine I am not alone.

4) Practice what you are bad at. I knew I was great at Verbal, so I didn't study it. If I hadn't studied Quant as much as I had, I may have ended up with a split that was embarassingly bad (instead of slightly embarassingly bad, ha).

5) Do NOT let yourself spend 5 minutes on a Quant question, unless you have time to spare. I did it twice. It probably cost me at least two other questions at the end.

My Question

Does anyone have any advice or experience on the way AdCom looks at scores like mine? Should the 77% in Quant prevent me from applying to a school like HBS or Wharton? Or am I unnecessarily worrying? I unfortunately do not have any impresive Quant undergrad career. It frustrates me because I know I was capable of higher than I got (but am clearly equally happy that I got a Verbal score that was near perfect). Any advice would be greatly appreciated! (As if BTG has not provided me enough support already!)

Thanks

For those who post regularly on these boards, I greatly appreciate the motivation and practice you have provided. I hope to contribute to the forum in the future as my own form of payment and gratitude. Hearing stories of successes and setbacks, as well as new techniques (of course), helps many people on their GMAT journeys.

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by anoctave » Sat Sep 11, 2010 12:18 am
Congrates!! :-)

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by jeremy8 » Sat Sep 11, 2010 1:52 am
Great job, congratulations! You got the score I wanted ;)

I'm also interested in what people think of the 77% percentile in Quant.
I got Q47 V45 (740) and was kind of worried about whether it could negatively impact my chances of getting into certain top schools.

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by wharton750 » Sat Sep 11, 2010 10:20 am
Congratulations!

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by skins81 » Sun Sep 12, 2010 10:29 am
wow great score! how did you prepare for quant? what books did you use?

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by uprightcitizen » Sun Sep 12, 2010 10:39 am
Skins - from my score on Quant (which was significantly lower than I hoped), I can suggest one thing: practice extensively from the OG, but do not rely on the OG for explanations. I did almost the whole OG DS section, but, once I began the real test, I realized that the explanations I received (while accurate) were not nearly quick enough to diagnose and solve a problem in the time necessary. There is a major difference between understanding a problem and being able to plow through 37 of them. I "understood" all the concepts, but I did not master them enough to fly through them.

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by skins81 » Tue Sep 14, 2010 4:18 pm
thanks Citizen. how do you suggest I study for verbal?

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by uprightcitizen » Tue Sep 14, 2010 5:49 pm
Skins, I am not the best person to ask, because I did not study more than an hour or two for Verbal. I have spent a lifetime enjoying grammar and reading and arguing - which are the main ideas of the Verbal section. Specifically, learning to diagram sentences was a great help in SC; there are many books on that. Punctuation (another part of SC) is easily learned by the entertaining book "Eats Shoots and Leaves." Finally, make sure to learn GMAT's common idioms (a Google search is sufficient to find a good reference). Obviously, these are mainly resources to learn how to be good at the skills SC tests, rather than just learning specific GMAT problems. But, it worked for me. The other sections I cannot give any advice on, I never reviewed them. Good luck!

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by 1uponGMAT » Sat Sep 18, 2010 9:47 am
Hi -

I just took the GMAT and am in a similar boat - 44Q 46V with a 730 overall. Verbal is no doubt strong, but I am also concerned about the Quant. To be honest, I do not think it will matter much. A 760 is a great score anyway you look at it. It will raise the MBA program's average/median scores so they should be happy. I can't give you the full answer you are looking for, perhaps a MBA admissions counselor or MBA admissions prep company would be more helpful.

But I feel your pain! Very excited about one part of the exam, but just shy of total bliss thanks to another part! Let me know if you find out more about this issue.

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by uprightcitizen » Mon Oct 25, 2010 2:50 pm
1uponGMAT wrote: Let me know if you find out more about this issue.
From early results, it appears the split has not had any detrimental effect on my application. So, don't worry.

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by 1uponGMAT » Mon Oct 25, 2010 2:55 pm
Cool, thanks for the update. Keep me posted and best of luck with your applications!

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by gocard » Tue Oct 26, 2010 7:19 am
as a rule of thumb, I've heard at least 80%. If you can show through your essays or job (e.g. if you have a quant job I wouldn't worry about 77%) that you have strong analytical skills and can handle the quantitative "rigors" of an MBA program, I think that's what they're looking for. You should def apply to any school you'd like.
Kathy
MBA Student, Wharton

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by uprightcitizen » Tue Oct 26, 2010 7:27 am
I do not have a quant job and did not talk about it in my essays. I don't think the 3% difference between 77 and 80 is going to make any impact now.

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by bacchewar_prashant » Tue Oct 26, 2010 7:43 am
What material will you recommend for Maths as it seems OG is not good enough.

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by 1uponGMAT » Tue Oct 26, 2010 9:34 am
its only hard because of the timing, get this down and you will be okay. skip questions you cant solve dont spend more than 2 min on them.