Beat the GMAT, sort of, not really (720: Q44 / V45); Retake?

[closetsnob]

Ugh, whoever told me to register for the exam at 8am because "[I'd] want to get it over with first thing in the morning" was a liar. Hehe. No but seriously folks: one huge takeaway from my experience is definitely to NOT sign up for a time slot you're not 100% comfortable with in your day-to-day life. I know I am not a morning person and this experience has once again reaffirmed this knowledge. Too bad! Now I might have to take the darn thing again. Ugh.

Q44 (68th percentile)
V45 (98th percentile)
720 (94th percentile)

Despite consistently scoring at the very min 47+Q on my quant (with the exception of one Q43) in MGMAT CATS and 48, 49 on my GMATPrep quant diagnostic tests, I just utterly bombed the actual thing. It wasn't for lack of ability, but it was a confluence of the following:

a) drank coffee and water in the morning to get myself awake and midway through the quant had overwhelming need to pee;
b) that early in the morning, everything seemed to need a double take--brain just wasn't functioning 100%;
c) just very unlucky in my draw of the actual questions! I seemed to keep getting questions that while I was comfortable, it wasn't like the breezy comfort of the ones I had practiced in depth. Combined with it being that early in the morning, it just took me too long to complete them! Examples of these questions: xyz is a three digit number. if xyz+yzx is whatever, what are possible numbers for x--or some such thing. (There were three of these types of questions... I swear! What! Not practicing these in depth and not knowing the shortcuts meant I had to solve these trial and error and just threw my hands up in despair.)

So anyway, thoughts people? Should I retake? Probably given that I'm looking at:

CBS, Wharton, Sloan, Stern, and Yale.
(other facts about me: top 10 undergrad, good gpa, liberal arts background, and 5 years working)

Also, I have a finance background and I heard that since I do, admissions will have higher expectations for my math score thus it would behoove me to do better than... UGH 68th PERCENTILE! laksjdlfkjldksjalksjdlf

[ashish2104]

First of all, congrats on cracking 720. It is a good score, more so for scoring a 45 on verbal.

A few questions for you.
1) I am weak in probability, were questions from this type similar to OG probability questions?
2) Verbal has always been my weak area, if I do well in one sub-area, i tend to screw in some other , ultimatley bringing my overall score down. Were the SC, CR and RC questions similar in format to OG questions or were they convoluted?

Thanks in advance for your important feedback.

[skins81]

nice score. how did you prepare for quant and verbal?

[closetsnob]

Sigh.. so no advice on whether or not to retake given the disaster in my quant raw score?


Anyway, to answer the questions...

Ashish: I don't even think I had any probability questions. Maybe one. Frankly, I suck at combinatorics and probability if it's presented to me in any form that isn't very familiar. Perhaps I could use a separate class on it, but honestly, I think it's pretty unlikely to get a lot of probability/combin problems on the GMAT. Then again, there I was getting numerous xyz+zyx digit elimination questions. As far as my math studying goes, I was familiar with basic prob/comb statutes and did not bother to stress myself out about the details. If I did run into one on the exam that was difficult, educated guess and move on. I think though in general, if it's just that you're worried about, you are good to go. That's a pretty specific weakness and I just can't imagine it greatly impacting your score unless for some reason you got a hard probability question as your very first question! Bad luck then!

As for verbal, it was my opinion that the SC were more difficult than in the OG. There were definitely a few instances where I spent probably 5-6minutes on one SC question (mitigated by my speed throughout the rest of it) just going and re-going over the sentences. I would not recommend this in general as the more times you analyze something, the blurrier it becomes! In general, I barely studied verbal; just naturally gifted there. I just looked at the MGMAT SC guide to get a sense of some sneaky GMAT "english" rules. I thought the CR and RC were both pretty on level with OG and GMATPrep exams. CR had always been my weakest area, but after going through the advanced CR in the OG, I really felt I understood the GMAT logic which is the most important. As for the RC, honestly, just read the passages! All the answers are IN THE PASSAGE with the exception of those "what can we infer" questions. BUt seriously, everything else... in the passage. At that point, I think it's just a timing issue. How fast can you read? DOes a page of text make you nervous, etc?

Skins: I used MGMAT study guides... essentially only the math guides. I scanned the SC guide one evening the week before the exam. I also did all the OG12 math problems and QR2 math problems, MGMAT CATs and GMATPrep CATs. Nothing can prepare you for the stress felt on D-Day though!

I think the worst of everything is just that the pressure got to me and that really reflected in my quant performance whereas my verbal has always been strong so my poorer performance there was only reflected by the fact that for the first time ever, I ran out of time on a verbal section (had to quickly skim the last tw questions and semi-guess the answer).

[beatthegmatinsept]

Congrats on the awesome score!
If I were you, I wouldn't take the test again. 720 is well within the median score range of all the schools you listed. With 5 years of work ex, and assuming your undergrad was from a good school with an above avg gpa, you shouldn't have much to worry about.

[skins81]

I wouldn't retake it. 720 is a great score.

[technologista]

I wouldn't retake. It won't keep you out. I understand that it can be an ego thing though (certainly is for me!), but your time and money are better spent focusing on other things.

You planning first round? Looks like we're targeting some of the same schools. You are my direct competition. Or maybe not, I'd be considered a non-traditional candidate.

[skins81]

How did you tacke inference questions in RC and CR questions in general?

[anhe123]

First of all. Congratulations on a great score!

It seems to me that you are well above the minimum requirements. So the rest is probably up to your personality and experience, I guess..

But on the other hand, if you are confident you can raise your Q:Score, then why not.

Good luck!

[InkyBinky]

GMAC has a podast that I listen to occasionally. I remember one featured some interviews of admissions directors at various top schools. The consensus seemed to be that once you pass 700, marginal increases don't really matter. Schools won't really care whether you score a 720 or a 740. It's pretty much the same.

So I wouldn't retake it. But that's just me.

[dav373]

I got a 710 (43/44) and at an MBA tour I asked 2 different schools whose averages were around 690 about what they thought of my score and both of them said that the GMAT would not be an issue for me. They said with a score above 700 they usually don't even look at the breakdown and just move on to other parts of your application. I would not retake and I would focus on your essays and other parts. They just like to see that you have the mental acumen to succeed at the school and with a 720 that isn't an issue.

[closetsnob]

How did you tacke inference questions in RC and CR questions in general?

I'm not really sure how to answer this question. Honestly, I feel if you have a problem with reading comprehension, it's just because English is not your native language or you just haven't read a lot and never exercised this part of your brain. As such, I think it's really something that is HARD to study for! Honestly, if I had to study for it myself, I think I would freak out. If you have time, just start reading A LOT. The more you read, the better you'll do in reading comprehension.

As a general tip though, the most important sentences in any reading comprehension passage will be in the first paragraph. Identify the thesis sentence, or something that most closely resembles that. This will be your guide for the rest of the passage. Usually it is reemphasized with some new revelations presented throughout the passage in the final paragraph. Also be mindful of the author's tone if there is no clear thesis--this is usually key for those inference questions, ie "What can we infer about the author's opinion"

As for the Critical Reasoning "What is true based on the statement" questions, one of the biggest things to note in my practicing for these questions is just don't underestimate the stupidity of the answers provided by GMAT. Always, only one of the choices will have no conflicts with the CR statement--no additional information needs to be assumed in order to select this choice. For the other ones that seem like they could def be right, there will always be some additional info that is necessary.. even if it is the most obvious assumption in the world, do not make that selection. Just select the stupid answer with no additional info necessary. I'm not sure if this is clear... kind of hard to explain I guess.

I got a 710 (43/44) and at an MBA tour I asked 2 different schools whose averages were around 690 about what they thought of my score and both of them said that the GMAT would not be an issue for me. They said with a score above 700 they usually don't even look at the breakdown and just move on to other parts of your application. I would not retake and I would focus on your essays and other parts. They just like to see that you have the mental acumen to succeed at the school and with a 720 that isn't an issue.

GMAC has a podast that I listen to occasionally. I remember one featured some interviews of admissions directors at various top schools. The consensus seemed to be that once you pass 700, marginal increases don't really matter. Schools won't really care whether you score a 720 or a 740. It's pretty much the same.

So I wouldn't retake it. But that's just me.

Thanks for the advice guys! After some consideration, I think a couple of the schools to which I'm applying might raise an eyebrow about my breakdown (CBS--first choice for me & Wharton) so I've decided to just work on my math some (shouldn't be too much of a time commitment) and retake the exam at some point. Essays are taking first priority, but I don't mind practicing the math. It's kind of a nice break from brainstorming ridiculous ways to talk about myself in essay form hehe.