The GMAT truly beat me.

[gdhiman]

Just finished my GMAT an hour ago.

The battle was going pretty even till i hit the verbal section where GMAT finally had enough to beat me.
Dammit.

I just scored a 640. After scoring 670 and 680 in the two GMATPrep tests. But i have to say the actual GMAT was actually tougher.!!!!

I heard people who told me coordinate geometry is rare on GMAT... i was severely mislead, coz guess what... my first question was on coordinate geometry... and that two with inequalities such as <, > and not even with "=".
Dammit. Spent 4 mins on that question. must've got it right. still scored 45 on Quant. Its just the verbal which truly killed me.

But is it true that GMAT has become way tougher than before? I heard it from a few people. And none of 5 people with me even touched 600! Oh well.. whatever the case, it ruins my chances of getting into a good B school.

Planning a retake sometime in Jan or Feb with some rigorous verb practice.

[beatthegmat]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience, gdhiman. I'm glad that you are motivated though to study some more and retake the exam in a few months. That great attitude is going to take you a long way.

What is your target score?

[gdhiman]

Well my target business schools are Berkley, Duke, Queens (canada), ISB (India).

I have a pretty good all round profle, but i am nowhere close to the GMAT score. Probably me only weak section in the application. I am definitely aiming for 700 to eliminate all weaknesses in my application. Just cant let them have a chance to deny me admission!

And thanks for yr support. I am planning to thoroughly do OG 11 this time. I know a lot of people suggested it doing 3-4 times. I didnt do it as thoroughly. And i heard people talk about Manhattan GMAT verbal as a good resource.

Please please advise me how I can best reach atleast a 40 on verbal?!

Thanks

[beatthegmat]

Well my target business schools are Berkley, Duke, Queens (canada), ISB (India).

I have a pretty good all round profle, but i am nowhere close to the GMAT score. Probably me only weak section in the application. I am definitely aiming for 700 to eliminate all weaknesses in my application. Just cant let them have a chance to deny me admission!

And thanks for yr support. I am planning to thoroughly do OG 11 this time. I know a lot of people suggested it doing 3-4 times. I didnt do it as thoroughly. And i heard people talk about Manhattan GMAT verbal as a good resource.

Please please advise me how I can best reach atleast a 40 on verbal?!

Thanks

40 on verbal is very difficult to accomplish. The trick is to identify where you are strong when it comes to verbal, and where you are weak. You want to do enough practice to maintain your strong areas, and you want to do A LOT of practice to sharpen your weaknesses.

Along with OG 11, I think it would be wise to look at the Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction Guide--this text is considered the Bible of SC.

Practice, practice, PRACTICE! Best of luck!

[bensanderson]

I just got a very similar score: 660, 86th percentile. However, unlike you I did well on the verbal, 40, 90th percentile and poorly on the math, 41, 64th percentile. Also, like you, i got a lot of strange inequality questions and i also got a lot of data sufficiency questions--a few more than i expected.

As for the verbal section, (which i didn't study for at all--i was an english major in college), i can say that it might help you if you just read magazines like the economist or the nation cover to cover each week. after each article, ask yourself questions similar to RC/CR questions on the GMAT. What is the main purpose? what are the hidden assumptions? It is a lot more fun that doing the OG and I am sure it will help more. Plus you can do it w/o carrying around the OG all day.

As for the math, i need help. any suggestions or tips? i'm taking it again. i know that if i can get 80th percentile in math i'll be fine and probably get 700+. just need to get there.

[gdhiman]

Hey!
thanks for yr tips. See it happens that i am an engineering major. So i guess math came more naturally to me. Just as it did for u in english.

If you could stress more on what areas you are lacking in math, i could help u more.