Verbal vs. Quant - Turning my mind into a pretzel
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03 Jun 2011, 16:18
I've been reading all over the place that it is smarter to score higher on verbal than on quant because that will give you the biggest overall increase. But, this seems flawed to me. The argument is that scoring higher in verbal COMPARED TO OTHER PEOPLE is better for you than doing it in quant. That is, scoring in the 90th percentile in verbal and in the 70th percentile in quant will give you a HIGHER score than 70th percentile in verbal and 90th percentile in quant. Well, that makes sense to me, because getting in the 70th percentile in quant still gives you a score of about a 45, whereas scoring in the 70th percentile in verbal will you give you a meager 34.
But if you look at the RAW SCORES, does it matter which one you do better in? Would a 45/40 split give me the same score as a 40/45 split?
Here is why I ask: I just took the 1st GMAT Prep test and scored a 700 (44/42). Hypothetically speaking, if it would take me just as much time to improve 2 points on verbal as it would to improve 2 points in quant (remember this is hypothetical), which one should I study? If it really doesn't matter, then maybe I should focus on quant? I've heard that b-schools don't like it if you don't get at least in the 80th percentile for each section. Bottom line - I don't know what to study. The GMAT is turning my mind into a pretzel.