So it's come to this... (UPDATED 7/9)

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So it's come to this... (UPDATED 7/9)

by Ludacrispat26 » Wed Apr 28, 2010 4:07 pm
A little background:

I'm currently a junior at a Top-30 University in the US who decided to take the GMAT after hearing about business schools from some friends.

Studying:

I started studying in October, but did so absurdly sporadically until today. It basically consisted of just reading the MGMAT books, doing problems, and taking CATs. I hit my weaknesses hard and relied on my strengths.

Resources:

-Manhattan GMAT 9-session course
-MGMAT Books
-OG12
-Beatthegmat and gmatclub

Practice Tests:

MGMAT 1 (10/15): 640
Kaplan Free (10/18): 640
PR Paper (10/20): 640
MGMAT 2 (11/4): 640
MGMAT 3 (3/8): 700
GMATPREP (3/22): 640
MGMAT 4 (4/22): 720 (Q44,V45)
MGMAT 5 (4/23): 680 (Q40,V42)
MGMAT 6 (4/24): 720 (Q44,V45)
GMATPREP (4/25): 710 (Q48,V40)

Most of these scores were driven by solid performances in Verbal. I consider myself to be really good at sentence correction and CR, but just decent at SC. I thought my last practice test was an anomaly (even though it was GMATPREP) because I had never performed better in Quant than Verbal, and that was a big gap.

Test day:

I decide to take it in Waltham, MA, because I hear it's nice there. Turns out the test center had moved from the address I had googled, so I frantically found the place with a half hour to go (I wisely left with lots of time, but it was still very hectic).

I go in and begin. The AWA's are easy. I don't think I had spent more than five minutes combined in all my studying on those. As a history major at a liberal arts university, I write a lot.

I go straight to the Quant section without a break. Quant has always been my weak point, and I've spent the past week cramming it in hard. After getting some easy ones in the beginning and feeling good, I hit a wall. I barely see any geometry and just a bunch of advanced algebra, which was actually very tough (for me, I figure, but not for relative standards, which is bad). My mind goes frantic, and with about twenty-four minutes to go I have ~14 problems left. Guesstimating becomes necessary, and I finish with roughly 30 seconds left.

At this point I'm pretty sure I scored about a ~38 on Quant, so I realize I need to kill the Verbal to get a decent score. This shouldn't be much of a problem. I again do not take a break. I start out strong, and by the middle I'm getting what I consider to be very challenging questions with advanced tricks. I figure I'm coasting at about a ~44, and I finish with roughly two minutes to go, which was odd considering I had never finished Verbal without less than ~16 minutes left. Anyway, I feel I have salvaged my score and should get ~640.

I sit there and report my score. I didn't think about cancelling it just because of the randomness of the test.

Unofficial GMAT Score:

Quantitative: 43 (67th percentile)
Verbal: 40 (89th percentile)
Total: 680 (86th percentile)


So weird. I'm thrilled to see the score, but have no idea how I did so relatively well in quant/poorly in verbal. Anyway, what i took from all this:

-I need to study more in verbal, despite getting 43-45 in most of my MGMAT CATs
-I'm possibly better in quant than I am giving myself credit for

But most importantly:

-I can break 700. It's possible.

Now on to relaxing, but soon enough, back to studying and to try again!
Last edited by Ludacrispat26 on Fri Jul 09, 2010 7:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by money9111 » Thu Apr 29, 2010 12:54 pm
it will never hurt to study verbal... but! do not neglect your quant score... if you can get that 43 up to 45/46 you'll be in even better shape.
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by Dan@VinciaPrep » Fri Apr 30, 2010 7:21 am
money9111 wrote:it will never hurt to study verbal... but! do not neglect your quant score... if you can get that 43 up to 45/46 you'll be in even better shape.
I agree with money9111. When you are studying you'll probably hit a point of diminishing returns- that is, you'll have to study a lot more for just a little improvement in your score. I don't think you've hit that point quite yet for the math section. However, I also think that most native speakers are quite capable of getting a 45 on the verbal section if they really put their heart into studying for it.
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by Ludacrispat26 » Mon Jun 28, 2010 6:56 am
Update:

Hey everyone, I can use some advice.

So after getting a summer job, signing up for an LSAT course, and trying to enjoy my 21st birthday, I neglected my GMAT prep for the early summer, and last week signed up to take the test a second time on July 9th.

I took two GMATPrep tests, and it's been long enough since the last time I took them that I didn't remember seeing any obvious repeats. Here were my scores:

31q,45v
39q,47v

I scored a 680 (43q,41v) my first time out, and am looking to push towards 700.

My low quant scores relative to my real test was my general rust. After bombing my first practice, I brushed up a tiny bit and was able to get a boost. I feel like if I can just get a 40-41 on quant (I honestly think I overperformed there on the real thing), I can hopefully do well enough on the verbal to crack 700.

I have less than two weeks to ago. Aside from practice, any general advice for Quant help after a lull in studying? Thanks!
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by pardeep_10sharma » Mon Jun 28, 2010 8:44 am
Congts buddy as u are on border line and it is not far away when u will jump 700+ mark. I wish u gud luck in advance 4 ur gmat.

anyways man i would like 2 ask few things:-
1. How long were SC in ur paper. I mean whether of i line or 2 line.?
2. How many ques do u get in Sc which arefull underlined ?
3. How many of them have just underline part on 1 or 2 words?
4.Does u got any passage on science and history?

I am asking so bcz i have my test on 9th july. Hope u will answer my quereies.

Thanks in advance.
Ludacrispat26 wrote:t;]A little background:

I'm currently a junior at a Top-30 University in the US who decided to take the GMAT after hearing about business schools from some friends.

Studying:

I started studying in October, but did so absurdly sporadically until today. It basically consisted of just reading the MGMAT books, doing problems, and taking CATs. I hit my weaknesses hard and relied on my strengths.

Resources:

-Manhattan GMAT 9-session course
-MGMAT Books
-OG12
-Beatthegmat and gmatclub

Practice Tests:

MGMAT 1 (10/15): 640
Kaplan Free (10/18): 640
PR Paper (10/20): 640
MGMAT 2 (11/4): 640
MGMAT 3 (3/8): 700
GMATPREP (3/22): 640
MGMAT 4 (4/22): 720 (Q44,V45)
MGMAT 5 (4/23): 680 (Q40,V42)
MGMAT 6 (4/24): 720 (Q44,V45)
GMATPREP (4/25): 710 (Q48,V40)

Most of these scores were driven by solid performances in Verbal. I consider myself to be really good at sentence correction and CR, but just decent at SC. I thought my last practice test was an anomaly (even though it was GMATPREP) because I had never performed better in Quant than Verbal, and that was a big gap.

Test day:

I decide to take it in Waltham, MA, because I hear it's nice there. Turns out the test center had moved from the address I had googled, so I frantically found the place with a half hour to go (I wisely left with lots of time, but it was still very hectic).

I go in and begin. The AWA's are easy. I don't think I had spent more than five minutes combined in all my studying on those. As a history major at a liberal arts university, I write a lot.

I go straight to the Quant section without a break. Quant has always been my weak point, and I've spent the past week cramming it in hard. After getting some easy ones in the beginning and feeling good, I hit a wall. I barely see any geometry and just a bunch of advanced algebra, which was actually very tough (for me, I figure, but not for relative standards, which is bad). My mind goes frantic, and with about twenty-four minutes to go I have ~14 problems left. Guesstimating becomes necessary, and I finish with roughly 30 seconds left.

At this point I'm pretty sure I scored about a ~38 on Quant, so I realize I need to kill the Verbal to get a decent score. This shouldn't be much of a problem. I again do not take a break. I start out strong, and by the middle I'm getting what I consider to be very challenging questions with advanced tricks. I figure I'm coasting at about a ~44, and I finish with roughly two minutes to go, which was odd considering I had never finished Verbal without less than ~16 minutes left. Anyway, I feel I have salvaged my score and should get ~640.

I sit there and report my score. I didn't think about cancelling it just because of the randomness of the test.

Unofficial GMAT Score:

Quantitative: 43 (67th percentile)
Verbal: 40 (89th percentile)
Total: 680 (86th percentile)


So weird. I'm thrilled to see the score, but have no idea how I did so relatively well in quant/poorly in verbal. Anyway, what i took from all this:

-I need to study more in verbal, despite getting 43-45 in most of my MGMAT CATs
-I'm possibly better in quant than I am giving myself credit for

But most importantly:

-I can break 700. It's possible.

Now on to relaxing, but soon enough, back to studying and to try again!

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by Ludacrispat26 » Fri Jul 09, 2010 7:09 pm
Took the GMAT for the 2nd time today:

690 (42Q, 41 V)

So yeah, still haven't reached that 700 mark.

Question: Should I retake a third time? Is it worth it? Do admissions officers care about the 3rd time? Thanks!
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by outreach » Fri Jul 09, 2010 8:47 pm
some of B schools look at the highest score rather then no of attempts
Ludacrispat26 wrote:Took the GMAT for the 2nd time today:

690 (42Q, 41 V)

So yeah, still haven't reached that 700 mark.

Question: Should I retake a third time? Is it worth it? Do admissions officers care about the 3rd time? Thanks!
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