Low quant + high verbal = bittersweet 680... retake?

[taylorb]

Not sure how to feel about this. I'm glad to be done with it, but a little discouraged.

* Q 39 (48%)
* V 44 (97%)
* TOTAL 680 (85%)

IR is still TBD.

Math has never been my strong suit, so in the 120+ hours I logged studying, I focused almost exclusively on math (verbal just kind of comes naturally to me). I worked through both the GMAT guide book and the additional quant book to find what areas I needed to improve.

I did several practice tests with GMAT Prep software and progressively improved (660, 700, 710, 720, 730, 740...). I realize some of that improvement is likely due to the limited question bank in GMAT Prep software (i.e. repeated questions), but despite my studying I've been consistently unable to break the ~39-44 range in Quant. So I didn't expect to do a stellar job on quant, but I had hoped to break 700.

I'm not sure what I could have done differently. I feel like the questions I was presented with on the GMAT were very theoretical (e.g. "Which of the following must be positive", functions, "is X+7 a multiple of 3", etc.), while what I was seeing in the books/tests tended to be more practical (rates, geometry, probabilities, combinations, etc.). Maybe I was just served up an unfortunate batch of questions, or maybe my study materials aren't as useful as they should be. I don't know.

Do I retake the test? On one hand, 680 is 85th percentile and well over the minimum & average score of applicants for my schools (I'm not trying to get into a top-tier school like Yale). On the other hand, that 48th percentile rank in quant is a little heartbreaking after so much work, and I'm worried the huge discrepancy between my quant and verbal scores may be a problem.

Thoughts?

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

I don't think the verbal-quant discrepancy will hurt you, especially since it sounds like 680 is well above the minimum required scores of your target schools.
That said, you can probably relieve any anxiety you have about the discrepancy by contacting/asking the admissions staff at some of your target schools.

Cheers,
Brent

[shreerajp99]

Ur verbal score is awesome!As far as quant is concerned,u've mentioned that u were tested on theoretical questions.Any topics which u would suggest me to stress more upon since i will be giving my exam by sept end.

Thanks,
Shreeraj

[Strategist]

This is interesting. I did my GMAT yesterday and received a 660 with 45 V and 35 Q.

I just noticed that the OP mentioned how she felt like a large number of questions were theoretical.
This was the same feeling I got. Both my GMAT prep exams gave me a quant score of 44 and were a good mix of "theoretical" and practical problems whereas my exam yesterday felt far more abstract. Mind you I got the first question wrong, as it was a really hard question and that put me on a back foot question wise I think.

Several exponent type questions, inequalities, prime numbers, remainders etc.

[bschoolonradar5]

Curious what you ended up doing. I'm in a similar position, though I got a 660. 93% Verbal, 48% Math. I am planning to retake and apply round II to schools. Did you end up applying with your current score?

[Strategist]

I applied for two separate courses at my chosen school with these results and have so far received one invitation to an interview, still waiting on the other.

Based on the list of qualities this school was looking for, for my chosen courses, I realised quantitative probably wasn't hugely important and that having a degree in economics showed a certain degree of comfort with maths. I was also lucky that my analytical reasoning score was 8/8, I think this shows the type of skills required a little better than the maths section in my case. If you are applying for a finance/heavily quantitative course I'd probably retake in your position.

Otherwise I'd just focus on writing perfect essays and really convincing them that you want to be there. But I'm no expert.

[benjiboo]

Get a private tutor and retake. Why give up when so close?