Hi all,
I just took the GMAT this morning. When I saw the result was surprising for me, to say the least. The great revenge as my username says did unfortunately not materialize. I had taken the GMAT end of 2009 for a masters and scored 650 back then. This time I was better prepared and more confident. While I was expecting to score above 700, I only got 670 in the end. Right now, I am at a point where I just feel clueless about what happened or what I could have done differently.
Here are the facts:
GMAT (today): 670; Q46; V36
As preparation I used the
Manhattan GMAT guides, OG13 and this forum.
Below are the scores of my practice exams (I always did the AWA as well as the integrated reasoning part):
MGMAT 1 (14.07.13): 630, Q39, V37
MGMAT 2 (21.07.13): 720, Q46, V42
Kaplan CAT (30.07.13): 700, Q 92%, V 81%
MGMAT 3 (01.09.13): 700, Q45, V41
MGMAT 4 (08.09.13): 730, Q46, V46
GMATPrep 1 (15.09.13): 740, Q48, V44
GMATPrep 2 (22.09.13): 730, Q46, V42 (here I recognized some of the questions from the test the week before)
So what happened today?
I was not overly nervous, which probably would have been reflected more in my quant score than in my verbal score. In fact, the verbal section was the least of my worries for the GMAT - I always scored decently well here without having to invest much time. Also, I got good rest the two nights before I took the GMAT. During the breaks I made sure to drink some Powerade to give my brain some more energy to burn. At the end of the test (before I saw my score), I felt relieved but not totally exhausted.
Long story short, I have no idea what just happened.
Now, the question for me is - what to do next? I have a job that keeps me occupied at least 10 hours per day, sometimes longer I have a lot of things on my plate now, which I have been delaying to study for the GMAT. Also the next weekends are already planned with things that I have been delaying for much too long. Thus, there will not be much time to study in the weeks to come.
I am not sure what to do: Should I retake? On the one hand, without knowing the root cause of not being able to live up to my practice test scores and the little time I will have to study during the next 1-2 months, I am not sure, how much sense that makes. On the other hand, a 700 does not seem to be that much out of reach.
I would appreciate, if you guys could share your thoughts with me. Any advice is welcome. If you think, I should retake, please indicate what you would recommend to study.
Many thanks!