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Help Plz - 1st time GMAT 660 (Q 50, V 30)

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Help Plz - 1st time GMAT 660 (Q 50, V 30)

by wisedeer » Fri Dec 24, 2010 5:58 pm
Please can anyone help me?

I am 39 year old non-native speaker (came to the States in 1995 -24 year old then). I would like to apply for the very top Executive MBA program in US and my 1st GMAT score (I took it yesterday) isn't good enough as you can see from the subject line. Please advise me my chance of admission to Wharton and GMAT strategy. Please note rest of my profile below.

Work: Software Engineer (10 yrs - previously worked for two top Aerospace Company for 9 years and currently working for non-profit University Affiliated Research Center)

Academic:
1st BS in Chemistry from South Korea: GPA 3.76/4.00
2nd BS from a State University in US (Comp Eng): GPA 3.59/4.00
Master's in Electrical Engineering (Top 20 Eng): GPA 3.75/4.00

I don't have any management experience and I only had 3 promotions from Aerospace Companies for past 10 years. I knew I really had to do good on GMAT, so, I prepared for verbal section of GMAT for close to 11 months ( First 7 months - about 3 hours of every weekday except weekend. Later 3 months - about 3-4 hours weekday and 6 hours on Saturday only. Last 1 month - weekday 4 hours, weekend 7 hours each on Saturday, Sunday)

For the last 2 weeks I only did CAT (MGMAT, GMATPrep). Here are my scores.

GMATPrep 1st : 640 (Q ?, V 35)
GMATPrep 1st (repeat after reset): 710 (Q 48, V 35)
MGMAT 1st: 680
MGMAT 3rd: 610
MGMAT 4th: 640
MGMAT 5th: 650
MGMAT 6th: 650
GMATPrep 2nd test: 670
GMATPrep 1st (3rd time repeat with reset): 740
GMATPrep 2nd (2nd time repeat with reset): 760
GMATPrep 1 st (4th time repeat with reset): 760
GMATPrep 2nd test (3rd time with reset): 760

I didn't worry too much about MGMAT because I heard it's harder than real GMAT but I repeated GMATPrep again and again for Quantitative practice. I think the real GMAT Quantitative test was about the same level as GMATPrep and the repeats of GMATPrep really helped for Quantitative. Throughout all of these practice CATS, I got 35 or above of Verbal scale score, so, I wasn't too worried about Verbal. However, in real GMAT, I only got 30 for verbal. The following is my real GMAT score.

660 (Q 50, V 30)

When I was taking the test, I knew that I was doing good on Quantitative and I had 1.5 minutes left when I finished the section. However, I wasn't sure about verbal, cause I was losing concentraction and also felt that questions were tougher and new compared with practice test ones. I still managed to answer through 40 questions and left 1 question unanswered. I guess I had many incorrect answers.

I don't know what to do about verbal at this point. Here are the books I did for Verbal prep.

Powerscore CR bible : completed once.
MGMAT SC : 3 times repeat (repeat only with something new to me)
OG 10/12: Completed and then repeated all incorrect ones twice.
SC 1000: Completed and then repeated all incorrect ones twice.
LSAT: latest actual exam 10 sets. Timed.
Economist: Read 1 or 2 articles almost everyday for a month.

I took the real GMAT at 8 am and had to get up at 6 am. I slept about 5 hours or less before the test day. I am guessing the lack of sleep had some effect on my real GMAT score. Also, the GMATPrep repeats for 3 days before exam showed about 10 - 20 repeated verbal questions, so, it might did some bad part too. I guess the first time GMATPrep tests (1st and 2nd practice test: 640, 670) reflected my real GMAT score. But what I don't understand is that for the GMATPrep tests, I always got above 35 of Verbal scale score (even for the first tests when I got 640, 670).

I really appreciate if you are still reading my post up to here . Please advise me about my chance of getting into Wharton EMBA and also help me with my future GMAT strategy. I will retake the GMAT again in 2, 3 months. What shall I do to improve my verbal score in 2, 3 months?

Thanks, and enjoy your holidays![/b]
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by arora007 » Sun Dec 26, 2010 1:07 am
wisedeer, first of all congratulations on that 660 score...

well... I think you should analyse which all questions you went wrong in the MGMATs as well...
are you weak in your CR, RC or SC?

do practice everyday, maybe with different material(since you might remember answers, thus not reflect your correct level.)

lastly, go for the kill, do not wait till you forget part of what you imbibed in the process...

All d best...like your enthusiasm, Wharton is waiting for you!!
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by wisedeer » Sun Dec 26, 2010 7:00 am
Thanks for your cheers, arora007!

I guess I am weak in SC. By going through LSAT, I got cofidence for CR and RC. However, even for RC/CR, I think I need to study with new materials cause I can remember answers for the questions I repeated. I also went through MGMAT SC twice, but I might have to dig it more.

Thanks again for your reply!
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by rishi raj » Mon Dec 27, 2010 12:31 am
Your quant score seems to be almost perfect ,and if you're able to hold on to a 50 on the Quant, you need to just score another 6-7 points on the Verbal section to break through the 700 level and if you can go beyond that, the better it is for your candidature to the school.
I am quite an active member on this community and after reading your post, I somehow have a gut feeling that you'll break through the 700 score.

As you said that you have run of the material, I think you may want to look for some more quality material as you have 2-3 months for the next attempt. For RC, you may want to go through RC99. The book is quite helpful as the passages, number of questions,and the question are quite on the GMAT pattern and you have a comprehensive number of passages to practice.

For SC, I'd suggest that you go through MGMAT SC Guide once more. In addition, I'd strongly recommend SC Grail .I think you should be able to tackle SC with these resources.

For CR : Powerscore CR Bible is the best book.
I think what is incredibly important in verbal is that you focus on quality rather than on the quantity of questions. You have to become so good at concepts and their application that they become second natured to you.
I'd also highly recommend using an error log . All the best and keep us informed here on the community. In fact ,keep participating in discussions here on the Verbal forums.You'll find that helpful.
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by wisedeer » Mon Dec 27, 2010 5:09 am
Thank you so much, Rishi!

Yes, I should completely digest MGMAT SC and POWER SCORE CR. I was also thinking about getting more advanced books for verbal. RC99 and SC Grail are new to me. I will take a look.

I will definitely keep my result posted. This online community really encourage me and I really appreciate for that.

Thanks again and have a good rest of holiday season!

rishi raj wrote:Your quant score seems to be almost perfect ,and if you're able to hold on to a 50 on the Quant, you need to just score another 6-7 points on the Verbal section to break through the 700 level and if you can go beyond that, the better it is for your candidature to the school.
I am quite an active member on this community and after reading your post, I somehow have a gut feeling that you'll break through the 700 score.

As you said that you have run of the material, I think you may want to look for some more quality material as you have 2-3 months for the next attempt. For RC, you may want to go through RC99. The book is quite helpful as the passages, number of questions,and the question are quite on the GMAT pattern and you have a comprehensive number of passages to practice.

For SC, I'd suggest that you go through MGMAT SC Guide once more. In addition, I'd strongly recommend SC Grail .I think you should be able to tackle SC with these resources.

For CR : Powerscore CR Bible is the best book.
I think what is incredibly important in verbal is that you focus on quality rather than on the quantity of questions. You have to become so good at concepts and their application that they become second natured to you.
I'd also highly recommend using an error log . All the best and keep us informed here on the community. In fact ,keep participating in discussions here on the Verbal forums.You'll find that helpful.
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