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Should I keep studying or take a break?

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Should I keep studying or take a break?

by Afreddy » Sat Oct 11, 2014 9:31 am
A little background:

1st GMAT: 560
2nd GMAT: 610

Goal: 680+

Most recent scaled score is 41 quant and 34 verbal. Verbal is usually around 41 in practice tests. So I'm trying to figure out if I should keep studying and take it again in a month or take a break for a while. I don't feel the need to improve quant, but I know I can do better on the verbal. I'm thinking about a private tutor as well. Small price to pay to get into a better school.

Thoughts?
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by [email protected] » Sat Oct 11, 2014 11:21 am
Hi Afreddy,

To properly evaluate your situation and plan, I'd like to know a bit more about your studies so far:

1) How long have you been studying?
2) What materials have you used during your studies?
3) What were your CAT scores (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
4) Do you take the ENTIRE CAT every time (including the Essay and IR) or do you skip sections?
5) Are you on any type of deadline?

While you could hit your score goal with a Q41 (if you scored in the V40s), you do have an opportunity to pick up points in the Quant section, so you shouldn't just pass over that possibility.

While a tutor could very well help you to improve overall GMAT score, there are other options that would cost you far less money.

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by David@VeritasPrep » Sun Oct 12, 2014 5:04 am
Most recent scaled score is 41 quant and 34 verbal. Verbal is usually around 41 in practice tests. So I'm trying to figure out if I should keep studying and take it again in a month or take a break for a while. I don't feel the need to improve quant, but I know I can do better on the verbal


Why do you feel that you do not need to improve on Quant? A Quant 41 is right at the 49th percentile, while even a 34 on the verbal side is the 71st percentile and a 41 Verbal is the 94th percentile.

The way the scores are scaled is confusing, but as you stand right now your verbal score is actually much higher than your quant score.

Here is the scoring page from MBA.com https://www.mba.com/us/the-gmat-exam/gma ... -mean.aspx
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by David@VeritasPrep » Sun Oct 12, 2014 5:16 am
So I'm trying to figure out if I should keep studying and take it again in a month or take a break for a while.
Only you can make this call, but I can help you with some things to think about when you make this decision.

1) When you are trying to begin business school? If you want to go in the Fall of 2015 then you know you will need to have your applications in soon, even round two is coming right up in two or three months. So in that case you may need to keep at it.

2) What is your life like outside of GMAT right now? Are you able to productively study or are you overwhelmed?

3) Do you feel burnt-out or do you have some momentum from your studying?

4) Is this the time to take a month off? We are coming up on the holiday season for most of the world. If you take a month off then you are looking at starting back right during the beginning of the holiday season. This could be good (days off work?) or bad (family commitments)

5) Have you been doing other things in your life that you need in order to score well.

There are three things that you must attend to in your life in order to learn properly and perform well on exams: sleep, exercise, and nutrition. If you have been neglecting any of these it might be better to take some time away from studying until you establish a routine that involves

1) at least 30 minutes of good exercise (like jogging) 3-4 times each week.

2) A consistent sleep schedule that includes the same bedtime and wake time every day and that gets you around 8 hours of sleep per night.

3) Good nutrition.

If you do not have these things then you may want to probably establishing better life habits and then come back to the GMAT quite literally better prepared to learn and do you best.


Just some thoughts! The decision is yours to make.
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