Bloody Verbal part ruined my score. Need some advice

[mafia_big]

Just got back from my first (and obviously not last) attempt on GMAT. The result is:

- 700 (Q49, V35)

I was advised by the recruiter of the school where I want to apply to get 720, as I have mediocre GPA and experience far from impressive.

I'd be glad to hear some advise how to improve my Verbal score. Here is how I prepared:

Before I started real preparation I made the 1st GMATPrep and got:
- 680 (Q47, V35) - 30 July

I started with McGraw Hill's books, which were useful, but not enough. So I ordered Manhattan books (all, except Critical reasoning) and Kaplan's Quantitatve and Verbal workbooks, plus a friend gave me Critical reasoning bible. I read them all, except for Kaplan's Verbal workbook and Critical reaconing bible - I read about 60% of both of them
Here are the scores I got during preparation:
- 720 (Q47, V41) - Manhattan CAT 1, 29 September
- 710 (Q49, V38) - GMATPrep 1 re-take (there were only 2-3 questions I remembered from the 1st attempt)
- 720 (Q47, V41) - Manhattan CAT 2, 31 October
- 720 (Q48, V40) - Manhattan CAT 3, 7 November
- 740 (Q50, V41) - Manhattan CAT 4, 13 November
- 760 (Q50, V42) - GMATPrep 2, 20 November (2 days before my real exam)

So, as you can there has been some improvement during my preparation, but suddenly today I got a score very close to the score I got in the beginning of my preparation.
I think I should also mention that I was neither very nervous, nor tired, so these are hardly factors in the low verbal score. The only problem might be, that I spent slightly more than 2 minutes on each of the first 5 questions on the verbal part, but I made it up, and in fact finished on time, I just didn't confirm the last question, but I chose an answer, so, as far as I know, that counts.
I'll really appreciate any advice. Thank you in advance!

[rishi raj]

700 is a good score and I'd be a little hesitant to retake the GMAT at that score because improving your score at that level is quite dependent on your luck as it is dependent on your preparation. I have read some posts by people who actually got the same scores or even lower scores on their second attempt at such high levels. So until and unless you don't feel that you have a strategy in place which can surely push your score up, you may want to reconsider your decision.

[aslan]

agree with rishi raj here.There is s.d of +/- 30 on GMAT. You could have received a score of 730 AND 670 as well.Better be 700

And to be frank I disagree with the idea that 720 can get admission whereas 700 cannot.You may like to read stories of people who get admission with 600 and CGPA of 2.6.It's all about what attitude you present on your applications...not GMAT +20 score.

I remember a point when talking with a student interviewer at an ivy league B-school, he used to tell me that all B-schools have a certain quota where they do look at GMAT of 700's (with good holistic credentials) after that, whatever applications, they view at them as a whole, because thousands and thousands of applications are coming with above 700+ scores (people usually apply in many schools).They don't really need to fill the bracket than.Just unique individualities with 'decent' credentials.

[aslan]

one question:did you take the optional experimental section?

[mafia_big]

Yeap, the new part is awful, it took me about 22-24 minutes to answer the first 5 questions, so I hardly had time to read the rest of the questions.

Btw, thanks for advice! I know that 700 is not that bad, but considering my previous reults and 760 on GMATPre 2 days ago I'm inclined to believe that my true score is rather 730, so on GMATPrep I got the upper limit +30 points and today the lower one -30

[aslan]

hey don't worry ......it happens in life, sometimes you give some to have some .I believe if you still work on building exp on your resume it will negate all that what you are thinking about now.

To give an example to reduce you worry a little more, I viewed a blog by an indian IT GMAT taker who was refused entry to a top 5 B-school even when he had a 720 (that is about 2 years back).They wrote to him that '...if he can take the GMAT again and raise his score OR get more exp then maybe his chances will be better at his next application'..now I know for sure that when one application is being rejected it is sent with a polite refusal of any sorts, and this guy seriously took it that his score was the reason he was being rejected!...the fact was it could be due to any reason that wasn't sufficient for their class intake, who knows maybe they required more exp of five years to fill a specific vacancy.

When B-schools write that average exp of the entering class in five years, people somehow do not take it as seriously as an average ore of 700.!

[fitzgerald23]

Thats a really good score. Im sure he advised a 720 because that will raise the average in that area to make up for the fact that the GPA and experience will be lower than the average. I really cant imagine a 700 vs 720 meaning that much. I think its having that 7 as the first number that gives you the best chance. However, if you are going to retake the GMAT I would make sure to send the 700 score now to the schools you really want and then wait to see if your score goes up on the second try before sending it. If for some reason the score goes down there is no reason to send them a 700 and a 680.

[mafia_big]

Interesting idea, mate! But are you sure that if the schools whom I sent my 700 result decide to check, they won't be able to see that I re-take the test and the new score is lower (I hope it won't be, but you never know with such tests)?

[aslan]

@mafia_big:Whatever scores you sent to any institute, the previous 5 scores will be listed on them.There is no dodging this.

What fitzgerald is suggesting is that you can try admissions with this score, and during the admission stage, when you do give a new test, don't send them the new one.If you do get a higher then maybe you can send them by the GMAC forwarding service of 25$.

many adcomms actually ask which sores you want to be represented with even when they receive varying ranges on the GMAT sheet.

[mafia_big]

Yeap, i know that the previous attepmts are included in the report that the schools will receive. What I'm asking is that if they decide to check my scores again in the future, will they be able to see that I have re-taken the test after I presented them the score?

[mafia_big]

Unvelievable! I've improved my Verbal part and received 41 points, but slipped on the Quantitaive part, where I've always been persistent and score in the 48-50 range. So, as a result I got only 10 points improvement - 710. Now I keep telling myself, that it's not that bad... yeah, right

In general, Critical Reasoning Bible is the book that made the difference - so, I advise to anyone having problem with the V part to read it thoroughly. And don't loose your grasp on arithmetic questions, as these are the easiest ones and the ones that hurt my Q score. My question 2 and 3 had heavy calculations (fractions and powers) in them, in both I made I mistake that I couldn't find and lost 11 minutes on them... and this costed my 20-40 points that would rocket me into another league...

Wish my luck with the application