Hello Everyone!
My first post. Have been visiting this site for a little while now. Finally took the test yesterday and got a 680, which isn't awful but I know I can do better. I had been consistently scoring between 47 and 49 in quant in all my practice tests so that 44 isnt a true reflection by any standard. So. I plan on retaking it after the holidays, I think. Unfortunately, I took the GMAT last year when I had just graduated from college and I didnt know what I was doing.. (I just took it to take it just incase I wanted to go back to school right away, didnt have a clear plan as to why I was taking it.. just always knew I would go to business school but did no research) and I got a 580 so I have that on my record already. Regardless, I am here to share my experiences so far.
So I took a
Veritas prep course which in all honestly if I had found out about this site I would have saved that $1000 because the biggest gains I have made have hands down been from the OG, MGMAT and from this very site. In addition, the 7 weeks I spent in that course would have been better spent combing through the OG and
MGMAT books which I did in the past three to four weeks. The little advice that I have to share is as follows:
*Take this test ONLY when you are ready. Things were just starting to really click in the last few days before the test and I should have postponed the test about two weeks out to go through a lot of the guides over and over and finish all the
GMATclub tests.. which brings me to my second point
*This site.. is the bizness! Honestly words can not express how grateful I am for this website and all the people who post and all the resources on here. The
GMAT club tests are also phenomenal. Worth more than the 79 dollars I paid. In addition to that, my verbal scores had been pretty weak (low 30s) in most of my earlier practice tests because I wasn't doing well in critical reasoning. I went through the page on here that has all the critical reasoning links and such, and literally in the 4 days after I went through all the resources on that page, I managed to shoot my verbal up to a 40 on the real test. Seriously. I cant thank gmatclub enough.
*Schedule the test for the best time of the day for you. Mine was at 8. early morning test + nerves = messing up in quant for me. I was literally staring at the screen like 'uhh..'. Apparently my brain wasn't aware of what was going on, it was pretty bad. Next time I am going to shoot for a mid day test because that is when I perform to the best of my ability.
I dont plan on matriculating till 2011 so I know I can afford the additional time to retake this test if I decide to. I may also focus on strengthening other parts of my apps. Right now the schools I am looking at are NYU, Duke, Darden, Ross and Mccombs so for all of them I am within the range but below the average. I dunno.. we shall see. (Your suggestions are also welcome)
But many thanks to the gmatclub. I hope to be a regular contributor as I will be around for a while!
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