690 (Q44, V40)

Hi guys, just want to share my experience with taking the GMAT.

I studied for about 8 weeks, using the MGMAT guides. I used all of the 8 books and I felt really confident in the weeks leading to the exam. A little about me: I'm not a native English speaker (but pretty fluent, I read unabridged Shakespeare) but Math has always been my strong suit. My college degree also is quant heavy and I did fine. Doing the MGMAT guides, I felt confident with the math but SC really got me scared. But after doing exercises, I've been getting consistent scores:

GMAT Prep 1: 720 (Q49, V40)
GMAT Prep 2: 750 (Q50, V40)

As such, I felt really confident going into the test and getting something around those scores. As such, I was really devastated when I found out my score was 690. The overall score doesn't bug me - it's an excellent score. However, the Q is really low and there is such a big difference with my verbal that it's going to send some red flags to the admissions comm. And the fact that schools often require at least a 75% percentile on each part of the test, I feel that my score isn't doing me any favors (Q44 is 69%). Plus, I came from a quant heavy course in college - that's not good at all.

Just a debrief and post-test analysis on the real exam: even though I like the quant part in general - I really don't like Data Sufficiency. And I felt I got weirder DS stuff on the real thing than in the GMAT Prep. Also, there were a lot of inequalities/absolute value combo DS stuff - the worst! I feel that did me in. I guess jitters also got in the way - I was scared of running out of time and guessed at some parts.

I'm over the initial shock [after just a day. I'm a masochist - I redid the quant part of GMATPrep2 (Q50 ugh!!!) and watched 2 seasons of Lost non-stop afterwards to drown out negative thoughts. After that I felt fine. Just a tip. ] I'm decided, I'll take the test again in a month's time. Now, two days later, I can't wait to go back to study DS and confront my IN/AB combo waterloo. But I could use some help from you guys.

I've been reading all of the retaking experiences in the forum. I'm really keen to increase my quant - i'm okay even though I don't get a 49 or a 50 but I just want to get past the 75% percentile and maybe score an 85% and not have such a disparity with verbal. I can use your thoughts on what I can use to improve my quant. I've heard Total Math GMAT and the GMATClub tests are excellent tools one can use to improve performance in a retake. What are your experiences with these resources? Also, what other advice or techniques could you share? Thanks a lot guys!