first time posting.
Took the test for the 4th time, previous scores were 590, 580, 560
new score: 650 (44Q 36V) about 10 days ago
my first time I was so nervous I did average on both the math and verbal. I realized I was better than that on the math, so I studied and tried to be less nervous. On my other two attempts I got 41Q and 42Q but my dismal verbal score didnt let me do well. I concentrated extra hard on the verbal since english is not my first language.
I was preparing the application to a few schools and said what the hell let me try the gmat one last time. Last time I took the exam was a month ago and got this awful 560.
I realized that I got too nervous on the verbal and spent too much time worried about that and didnt focus on the quant as much on my previous tests, so I decided to forget verbal and just focus on quant. I accepted my verbal was going to be in the 27/30 range since the previous times so my strategy was to focus only on the quant to try to boost it up past 41-42.
I guess it paid off, since I wasn't worried about the verbal. I didnt apply any of the
Manhattan GMAT SC tricks this time, I just read the sentece and went with my gut. For CR, I didn't try any of the tricks I just managed to maintain my focus and somehow found the right answer.
now let me say something about the quant. IT WAS NOT BALANCED AT ALL. I knew I was ready since I was scoring 45-48 on the Q on my practice exams over the past month. My weakest areas were the mean/median/range type questions as well as the X/Y graph/slope questions.
I know this is going to sound crazy but I got about 7-8 median/mean/range questions, about 3 in a row and about 5 X/Y/Slope type questions, essentially half of my test was in the areas I hated the most. I thought the GMAT found my weakness and was trying to bring me down. I saw 1 geometry question and no probability type questions. I must have guessed on 7 quant questions and thought I blew it since getting 7-8 of those mean/median questions threw me off. I was shocked when I got the 44Q, who knows maybe most were experimental, but that's just a warning, I found it crazy how unbalanced my quant section was.
anyways, I realize getting to 700 might be hard for me given that I dont know if i will ever get my verbal to 40+, so I have accepted my score and given my work experience and some other unique things I dont think the 650 will destroy my application.
anyways that's my experience and I hope this helps some people, be ready for the gmat to do something crazy like it did to me in terms of giving this very unbalanced exam.