Hi all,

I started studying for my GMAT about two months ago but only did some serious prep for the last months or so. I never studied verbal at all, did not even look at one book. I focused only on quant as I felt very weak.

Below are my CAT results:

MGMAT CAT 1: 690 (q43, v40) - before any studying
MGMAT CAT 2: 640 (q38, v39) - after 1 week
MGMAT CAT 3: 640 (q43, v35) - after 3 weeks
MGMAT CAT 4: 710 (q41, v45) - 1 day afer CAT 3 - please notice the weird verbal 10 pt jump
MGMAT CAT 5: 720 (q47, v42) - about 2 weeks ago
GMATPREP 1: 720 (q44, v45) - about a week ago
MGMAT CAT 6: 710 (q46, v41) - 5 days ago
GMATPREP 2: 720 (q47, v42) - 2 days ago

Actual GMAT: 680 (q44, v40)

Not sure what happened - During the exam I felt like I performed pretty similarly to how I did in my last 3 mocks, but the result is quite a bit worse.. It seems my quant range was 44-47 and verbal range 40-45, and on the actual day I hit the lower end for both. Really disappointed - but I want to try it again in August (I can't study over the next month).

My questions are:
- What do you think about my verbal? I did hit v45 on a couple of CATs and the rest were 41-42. Should I study this?
- How do I keep myself "in the loop" over the next month so I don't have to start all over in July?
- I exhausted the OG questions, CATs, and Question Pack for quant.. What shall I study now?

I would very much appreciate any advice, or any comments really.

Hm.... your highest GMAT Prep/MGMAT score is 720 and your GMAT is 680... that's within the standard error of the GMAT.

I would say a few things:
1. Your score does not suggest you must perform better if you retake it; if your scores were 740+, I would say then yes, but you may be just impacted by the test center stress more than others. Thus you probably can increase your score by 10-20 points by just sitting the second time, the most improvement will come from studying.
2. If you are applying to a highly competitive program and this is the best use of your time then sure
3. I would not take more than 6 weeks for the retake. You have to make sure you allocate enough time for the essays (what if you get sick or something else happens and you score 650 on the retake- that's possible and you have to have a plan for that).

Otherwise, you are doing great - keep the little things in mind - that's what counts on 700+ score and then add up to big numbers.
- BB.
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