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GoalMBB
Joined: 19 Feb 2018
Last visit: 04 Aug 2025
Posts: 9
Given Kudos: 9
Location: Pakistan
Schools: INSEAD Jan '19 Kellogg '21 HBS '21 Wharton '21 Tuck '21
GMAT 1: 640 Q42 V36
GPA: 3.17
WE:Engineering (Other)
04 Sep 2018, 13:11
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hello everyone,
Before I start my depressive post of how I ended up way below my expectations, I'll give you all a little background information about me: I have been working as an engineer in an oilfield company for the past, almost, 5 years and I've recently decided to get an MBA. I have been based in my home country and apart from some overseas training programs I do not have much international exposure, though my company works for and with a lot of multinational firms and is itself a famous oilfield service provider. I primary motive for getting an MBA is to open further opportunities for me as I wish to develop a more "open" career path and my primary goal is to land a job in one of the MBB - Consulting.
Now the depressive stuff, I have been away from structured education for 5 years and with the results I have obtained seems like I am more rusty than I imagined. I have been preparing for the GMAT for about a month now, basically I bought the kaplan Premier 2017 book since I couldn't find the Manhattan guides in book stores in my city and started prepping for Verbal from Kaplan. Eventually I found the Manhattan guides and bought all the basic guides as well as the foundation for verbal and Official Guide Companion for sentence correction as well as a copy of the OG. I figured since most of what is tested on the GMAT is basic reasoning and High School Math, I would be able to get by and get a near 700 score just by studying the material in the guides. Boy I was wrong!
Without a doubt the Manhattan guides are excellent and they provide excellent strategies to tackle the GMAT, however, partially due to my overconfidence/Procrastination and partially due to being involved with activities at home, I did not even attempt most of the questions at the end of the chapters. I did not finish "reading" through the math guides until about 9 days before my exam, after which i started reading through the verbal guides. After reading a couple of debriefs I realized I needed to take a CAT to see where I stood, so I took the kaplan CAT online and got a 680 ( Q45, V35) . This made me realize I needed more practice and I started attempting OG questions and decided to rush through the Verbal Guides. After 2 days I took a Manhattan CAT and scored a 610 (Q38, V35). The Manhattan IR section was easier (which is good because I found it to be at the same difficulty as the GMAT), verbal was pretty much similar as compared to kaplan, however, Math was much much harder, and my timing was really off and I left a lot of questions in the Math section which ended up slowing me in the verbal section. However, I wasn't put off by that as I had read on forums that Manhattan Math sections are harder than the GMAT. Plus, at the time I took the CAT I had gotten home from doing chores all day long, so I shrugged it off as a side effect of my mental fatigue. After reviewing my mistakes for my Kaplan CAT and Manhattan GMAT I proceeded to attempt a few more GMAT problems and go through the SC Manhattan guide more thoroughly.
I attempted my 3rd and Final CAT (Kaplan) 2 days before GMAT and this time I got a 710 ( Q49, V39), I was reasonably happy with the improvement and after reviewing my mistakes I decided not to study much on the last day, I only got in an hour to read 3 sample AWAs and practice a few SC Questions.
For my GMAT I have to admit I made a rookie mistake. For the past month I had been sleeping late at night ( around 2am) and most of my studying was done after 6 pm. Not to mention I took the 2 Kaplan CATs around afternoon - started around 2pm. The Manhattan CAT I took around 5 pm. Understandably, I was waking up late around 11 am each morning, even though I had registered for my GMAT at 10 am.
The night before GMAT I couldn't sleep until 2 am into the night, I woke up at 6am, took a quick look at my notes and then went to the test center. Even before the exam I was having trouble focusing and feeling sleepy generally. I brought a redbull with me and a bar of chocolate for the break, though I only drank the energy drink in the break before my Quant (I took AWA and IR first). Half way into my Quant -which btw I started 1 minute late since I had taken too much time mistaking that the time started once the TA had scanned my palm - I realized I was way off my pacing and instead of pacing up I only got slower and slower. In the end I rushed through my final questions. After a pee break, I was back for verbal for which again my pacing was off, even though the questions were not substantially more difficult than the CATs I had taken before, and I ended up rushing through my final questions in Verbal as well.
Well the score wasn't a shock after the mistakes I made, but I was disappointed in myself, I had hoped to get atleast a 680. For a moment I was going to cancel the test, But then I remember I still had 72 hours to do so. Now I am wondering if I should keep the scores. I plan to retake my GMAT in november/december, this time with a much more structured approach, for which I am open to suggestions/advice.
So if you can help me figure out any of the following I would be grateful:
1) Should I cancel my scores? Initially I was for it, since I want to target a score of around 740. But I think it would be useful to get the report and my AWA score as it would provide valuable feedback. As far as I know schools don't care about previous scores anyways, right?
2) Any advice on which course I should take, I am sure I need more practice on Quant, particularly I want to improve my accuracy and pacing. CR I have been mostly performing good in 80-100% accuracy in my CATs, RC and SC are areas of improvement for me.
Sorry the post ended up longer than I had expected it would
Before I start my depressive post of how I ended up way below my expectations, I'll give you all a little background information about me: I have been working as an engineer in an oilfield company for the past, almost, 5 years and I've recently decided to get an MBA. I have been based in my home country and apart from some overseas training programs I do not have much international exposure, though my company works for and with a lot of multinational firms and is itself a famous oilfield service provider. I primary motive for getting an MBA is to open further opportunities for me as I wish to develop a more "open" career path and my primary goal is to land a job in one of the MBB - Consulting.
Now the depressive stuff, I have been away from structured education for 5 years and with the results I have obtained seems like I am more rusty than I imagined. I have been preparing for the GMAT for about a month now, basically I bought the kaplan Premier 2017 book since I couldn't find the Manhattan guides in book stores in my city and started prepping for Verbal from Kaplan. Eventually I found the Manhattan guides and bought all the basic guides as well as the foundation for verbal and Official Guide Companion for sentence correction as well as a copy of the OG. I figured since most of what is tested on the GMAT is basic reasoning and High School Math, I would be able to get by and get a near 700 score just by studying the material in the guides. Boy I was wrong!
Without a doubt the Manhattan guides are excellent and they provide excellent strategies to tackle the GMAT, however, partially due to my overconfidence/Procrastination and partially due to being involved with activities at home, I did not even attempt most of the questions at the end of the chapters. I did not finish "reading" through the math guides until about 9 days before my exam, after which i started reading through the verbal guides. After reading a couple of debriefs I realized I needed to take a CAT to see where I stood, so I took the kaplan CAT online and got a 680 ( Q45, V35) . This made me realize I needed more practice and I started attempting OG questions and decided to rush through the Verbal Guides. After 2 days I took a Manhattan CAT and scored a 610 (Q38, V35). The Manhattan IR section was easier (which is good because I found it to be at the same difficulty as the GMAT), verbal was pretty much similar as compared to kaplan, however, Math was much much harder, and my timing was really off and I left a lot of questions in the Math section which ended up slowing me in the verbal section. However, I wasn't put off by that as I had read on forums that Manhattan Math sections are harder than the GMAT. Plus, at the time I took the CAT I had gotten home from doing chores all day long, so I shrugged it off as a side effect of my mental fatigue. After reviewing my mistakes for my Kaplan CAT and Manhattan GMAT I proceeded to attempt a few more GMAT problems and go through the SC Manhattan guide more thoroughly.
I attempted my 3rd and Final CAT (Kaplan) 2 days before GMAT and this time I got a 710 ( Q49, V39), I was reasonably happy with the improvement and after reviewing my mistakes I decided not to study much on the last day, I only got in an hour to read 3 sample AWAs and practice a few SC Questions.
For my GMAT I have to admit I made a rookie mistake. For the past month I had been sleeping late at night ( around 2am) and most of my studying was done after 6 pm. Not to mention I took the 2 Kaplan CATs around afternoon - started around 2pm. The Manhattan CAT I took around 5 pm. Understandably, I was waking up late around 11 am each morning, even though I had registered for my GMAT at 10 am.
The night before GMAT I couldn't sleep until 2 am into the night, I woke up at 6am, took a quick look at my notes and then went to the test center. Even before the exam I was having trouble focusing and feeling sleepy generally. I brought a redbull with me and a bar of chocolate for the break, though I only drank the energy drink in the break before my Quant (I took AWA and IR first). Half way into my Quant -which btw I started 1 minute late since I had taken too much time mistaking that the time started once the TA had scanned my palm - I realized I was way off my pacing and instead of pacing up I only got slower and slower. In the end I rushed through my final questions. After a pee break, I was back for verbal for which again my pacing was off, even though the questions were not substantially more difficult than the CATs I had taken before, and I ended up rushing through my final questions in Verbal as well.
Well the score wasn't a shock after the mistakes I made, but I was disappointed in myself, I had hoped to get atleast a 680. For a moment I was going to cancel the test, But then I remember I still had 72 hours to do so. Now I am wondering if I should keep the scores. I plan to retake my GMAT in november/december, this time with a much more structured approach, for which I am open to suggestions/advice.
So if you can help me figure out any of the following I would be grateful:
1) Should I cancel my scores? Initially I was for it, since I want to target a score of around 740. But I think it would be useful to get the report and my AWA score as it would provide valuable feedback. As far as I know schools don't care about previous scores anyways, right?
2) Any advice on which course I should take, I am sure I need more practice on Quant, particularly I want to improve my accuracy and pacing. CR I have been mostly performing good in 80-100% accuracy in my CATs, RC and SC are areas of improvement for me.
Sorry the post ended up longer than I had expected it would
Arro44
Joined: 04 Jun 2018
Last visit: 14 Aug 2022
Posts: 658
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 362
Location: United States
Concentration: General Management, Finance
Schools: Sloan '22 (M) Cambridge "21 (A$)
GMAT 1: 730 Q47 V44
GPA: 3.4
Products:
04 Sep 2018, 13:29
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hey buddy,
first of all, thank you for the detailed debrief, this makes giving an advice a little easier as you provide the relevant framework information.
Based on your describtion it sounds like that you performed quite a bit below your standarts on testday. While this happens to many of us, it would be an arguement for canceling the score.
Furthermore, it sounds like you would be able to put in some time between now and your attempt in Nov/Dec, again something which would speak for a retake.
Could you provide some of the schools you attend to apply for? The average/median Gmat scores of the respective b-schools also have a significant imapct on whether you should retake you test or not.
All the best,
Chris
first of all, thank you for the detailed debrief, this makes giving an advice a little easier as you provide the relevant framework information.
Based on your describtion it sounds like that you performed quite a bit below your standarts on testday. While this happens to many of us, it would be an arguement for canceling the score.
Furthermore, it sounds like you would be able to put in some time between now and your attempt in Nov/Dec, again something which would speak for a retake.
Could you provide some of the schools you attend to apply for? The average/median Gmat scores of the respective b-schools also have a significant imapct on whether you should retake you test or not.
All the best,
Chris
GoalMBB
Joined: 19 Feb 2018
Last visit: 04 Aug 2025
Posts: 9
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 9
Location: Pakistan
Schools: INSEAD Jan '19 Kellogg '21 HBS '21 Wharton '21 Tuck '21
GMAT 1: 640 Q42 V36
GPA: 3.17
WE:Engineering (Other)
Schools: INSEAD Jan '19 Kellogg '21 HBS '21 Wharton '21 Tuck '21
GMAT 1: 640 Q42 V36
Posts: 9
Kudos:
4
04 Sep 2018, 13:35
Kudos
Bookmarks
Thanks for the prompt Reply!
Well I plan to apply to Harvard, Wharton, Kellog, Tuck and INSEAD; I know this might be a bit ambitious, but considering my long term goal of getting into a top tier Consulting firm, this is what I need to do.
Well I plan to apply to Harvard, Wharton, Kellog, Tuck and INSEAD; I know this might be a bit ambitious, but considering my long term goal of getting into a top tier Consulting firm, this is what I need to do.
