beat or no beat? 710 - 47Q/40V (92%)

[nox104]

Just took the GMAT and I feel like I came up just a bit short of what I wanted to achieve. I studied on and off for over 6 months, but only started seriously studying about a month ago. I have an engineering background, so I thought I was pretty good at quant and focused most of my energy on improving in the verbal section.

Anyways, my practice test scores after 20 - 25 days of studying (2hrs / weekday and 4 hrs on weekends)

GMATPREP # 1: 710 (47Q, 40V)
GMATPREP # 2: 710 (49Q, 38V)

It's remarkable how accurate these practice scores are compared to the real test. I just wish I had come out with a 49Q / 40V split. The current percentile for Quant 49 is 86% while a 47 is only 77%. I am planning to apply to only part-time MBA schools, so I think my overall score > the avg. for most schools. But what do you guys think about the percentile split? As it stands, I have 77% in Q and 89% in V, 92% overall.

About prep:
1. GMAT OG 12th edition + Quant / Verbal supplements - Although I could not finish all the questions in these books, they were instrumental in increasing my verbal score.

2. LSAT prep by Kaplan - Just an absolute must-have if you have weakness in CR / RC sections. When I started taking these papers, I scored in the 70% - 75% range, but towards the end avg. about 80% right. But this gave me an enormous boost on the GMAT verbal scores. In both the GMATprep exams, I only got 2 CR Qs wrong and 0 RC Qs wrong. I only had to work on my SC.

3. For math, I followed MGMAT's number properties / word problems along with Pearson's guide for quantitative aptitude which is available on google books website.

I did not need much help for the AWA section; spent just a few hours looking at some of the essays provided in the OG. That's it. I am still debating whether to take the exam again. I feel that I can improve my quant score easily to 49 / 50. However, am not too sure if I can improve easily on the verbal side. Besides, I don't know if I want to put my mind and energy to do all this all over again in 31 days.

Hope this helps! This forum has certainly helped me during my prep. Good luck to all!

[karanrulz4ever]

Depends on the schools where u are applying. Some schools such as MIT and Wharton prefer a 80-80 split. Most schools don't though.
Your score is solid. You should have no problem about the GMAT score in most of the schools you might apply. Good Luck!!

[forbidden]

hey congrats
i plan 2 take up some tutor for my gmat coaching can u recommend me 1.i am frm india

[Random Wok]

Congrats on your score.

I don't think it would hurt to take it again. It seems like from your debrief that you didn't get through all the verbal material you had, so maybe you have room to improve on that section. Verbal is worth more than math and can make your score even more impressive.

But, if you think you've tapped out in that section, then I would just stick with what you've got.

Best of Luck,
Mark

[nox104]

@Random Wok: Thanks for your reply. I do feel that if I prepare for 20 - 30 days more, I can certainly improve (at least a bit) in both the sections. One of the main concerns I have about the verbal section is that, when I scored a 40 on GMATprep, I had only made 6 mistakes in total. i.e., I had 35 / 41 correct answers. I am wondering whether people who get 44+ get literally all the questions right. I can't imagine how much more practice is needed to reach that level in which I make no mistakes!

Would be interesting to know what you guys think.

[lajohnson2200]

I just took a gmat prep and got a 44 on my verbal section. Missed 4 questions. I have gotten a couple of 45's as well, missing 3 or 4 questions. I think it depends on the number of questions missed as well as the difficulty level. The MGMAT tests are good to gauge the level of the questions that you are missing, as well as the type, etc. to see where you really need to improve.

Since you are trying to get into a part time rather than a full time program I would say that a marginally better GMAT score isn't going to do a lot for you. Also, I got a 680 on my first test and am retaking in a few days and I can say from experience that its hard to motivate to study when you know you already have an ok (or in you case, better than ok score) already. Just my take.

[Random Wok]

@nox104: The scoring algorithm between the GMAT Prep test and the actual GMAT is different. I assume this is because the actual GMAT has an immensely large pool of questions to choose from, and GMAT Prep is limited to the compact disc. Therefore, doing well on the GMAT Prep is more about getting a high percentage of the questions right. Whereas on the actual GMAT, doing well is about getting into the harder questions and getting those right.

When I scored a 46 (99th percentile) I'm sure I got a good amount of Verbal questions wrong. The questions just became ridiculous. I had Critical Reasoning questions that made absolutely no sense and a reading passage about "neutrinos" and "neutralinos." Seriously? I had to read every line of that passage twice just to make any sense of it. Good thing was, I could obviously tell I was doing well. And with each of these "ridiculous" questions, even though I wasn't always sure of my answer, I could always narrow down to 2 or 3 answer choices, so statistically, I probably got some of the hardest questions right.

When you're pushing to get into the 90th percentile in verbal, it's most important to memorize the core concepts and keep your processes consistent. When you want to push past 90, it becomes all about your ability to answer hard questions.

[nox104]

Thanks @lajohnson2200: I hear you. It will be really difficult to motivate myself to get myself to study for GMAT again. Especially with all the application deadlines fast approaching, I think it will be a really tough call.

@Random Wok: Thanks for shining some light on the arcane GMAT algorithm. It looks like it's absolutely about how many "tough" questions I get right. What would be nice to know is what does it take to get into the tough question zone?! No mistakes for the first 10 questions / 1 wrong in 10 questions / etc. I wish they were more transparent with their scoring algorithm, then we would know when to spend a bit more time checking answers vs. guessing and moving on. In the meanwhile, I need to decide if 710 is good enough for the schools I'm looking at.