How badly did I actually do?

[ltcomdax]

A bit of background info first. My father insists I go to graduate school, so as I am somewhat interested in business and economics I decide on a MBA.

I had no formal education from the ages of 13 to 19 (long story), despite this , I decided upon doing a History degree (I embellished my credentials on the uni app) and acquired a 2:2 from a decent British university.

So I buy the Kaplan Premier Program and give myself 10 days to prepare. I take the GMAT and obtain a rather horrific 430!

I braced myself for a poor score in the quant since I haven't done maths since I was 13. Never done algebra!
My score was Quant 16, Verbal 58 I am still waiting for my written score.
Now how bad is this?

[LSB]

Are you sure you had a verbal 58 or is this a typo? V58 is pretty spectacular (not even sure if that score is possible)

[ltcomdax]

Woops sorry you're right 58 was the percentile I got a 31.
Is 430 considered a poor score on a first attempt?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[LSB]

430 is not a great score for most business schools. Especially the quant score is quite a bit on the low side. However, a total of 10 days of prep is really not much. So you definitely can improve with some solid studying.

Given your educational background I would highly recommend a college course in basic applied math.

I personally plan to read up quite a bit on math theory (outside of GMAT material) if I end up writing the GMAT a second time (my test is tomorrow).

The most important thing is not to give up. With a bit of commitment and hard work a lot is possible.

Good luck studying.

Others - please comment as well.

[ltcomdax]

Yes I plan on taking a GCSE in maths, arithmetic was the only thing I was taught before I left school.

Do you think my 31 verbal score is ok? If I got a 31 verbal and around a 30 quant what would my overall score be ie above above 600?
Morever, will the essays bump up my verbal score even more?

Thanks for any info!