690 from Dubai

[Jiujitsu_Warrior]

I took the test yesterday on May 31 here in Dubai. I got 690 (Q43 and V41). I am very happy with my score and I don't fret that I missed the 700 target by some 10 points. Now, I look forward to work on other parts of my application partly because it gets so hot here in Dubai during summer

I am shooting for US top 10 plus LBS.

My background:
- I am 28 years old
- From Kyrgyzstan (central asian republic)
- 1 year at a ME private equity shop
- 3 years in corporate development at a prominent ME retail conglomerate
- Speak Russian, English languages

Overall, I studied for 4 months with an average of 2-3 hours during workdays and 8 hours (with breaks) during weekends. Quant was my weak point so I mainly focused on it. Verbal, even though I am not a native English speaker, came easier to me. I used OG11, Kaplan Online Premier Program for my prep. On my practice tests, only once I scored a 700 on Kaplan. My average practice tests were around 650. A day before the test, I scored 610 on Kaplan which almost made me panic. But I pulled myself together and went into the test with high confidence. The actual test was quite easier than expected, especially the quant portion. I answered every single question on both quant and verbal. Couple RC passages were quite difficult. Altogether, the actual test was very similar to GMATPrep so I suggest to take as many as of these as you can even if your score will eventually be diluted.

I want to say thank you to Eric and all forum members. I liked to read testimonies of the test takers for my motivation. Studying for this test is very painful, yes, since we sacrifice so much of our time but its all worth it if getting an MBA is what you want. I am very happy to pass this first hurdle and look forward to start writing my essays.

I wish all people who are about to take the test a good luck and please believe in yourself. I went from 620 (my first attempt) to 690 because I refused to give up. Focus, put everything aside for the moment, study hard and you should be ok!

[mike22629]

Well done and good luck with your applications!

[Jiujitsu_Warrior]

Thanks bro! Which schools are you applying to?

[tuscan21]

Well done!

[aj5105]

690 is a good score! Good Luck!

[EbrahimHashem]

Congrats! Wish you all the best with your application. When you say it's hot in Dubai, I totally understand what you mean by "it's hot" -- the temperature is more than 50 degrees celsius.

I was wondering about how you improved your math score -- as it was your weak point-- during the 4 months that you spent preparing for GMAT?

What schools are you applying to, by the way?


Good luck!

[Jiujitsu_Warrior]

Thanks Ebrahim. Quant was indeed my weakest point. During my first attempt, I froze and couldnt even understand questions from the screen. What I've done during my prep was doing as many problems as I can. Not in a very structured way, for example, attacking only word problems or geometry problems, but just doing tons of math questions. Doing many problems over time gave me confidence and later on I started drilling on my weak points. Consistently, DS was my weak point. Probabilities were another, but they were so hard that I not once studied for them. I just hoped that I would avoid one during the actual test. To sum it up, I did tons of questions until a pattern of where my weaknesses were began to emerge. At that point, I tried to concentrate on my weak areas. Kaplan Online program helped me with that since it has quiz bank of problems that you can work on.

[hk]

Great score there my friend. Congratulations and all the very best with your applications.

[EbrahimHashem]

Your score should be enough to get you off the hook. I hope you will get into the school that you want.

Good luck again