So I finally retook the GMAT today and was relieved that I scored above my suicide threshold of 680. Had previously taken the GMAT a year ago and achieved a 640, subsequently shutting the door to my MBA choice- Chicago GSB.
My concern now however is that my quant score is relatively mediocre. I work in the field of Accounting and have an undergrad degree in Finance with a high GPA, but I understand that Chicago highly favors the quant score. Am considering a retake but simply dont feel I will have the time to commit to a study schedule. Not to mention, my plan is to submit an application by the mid January deadline, something that would not accommodate another retake. Any thought? I also plan to apply to Northwestern and possibly Berkeley.
Study plan:
This time around I had a very limited amount of time to prepare for the exam. Over the course of maybe 3 months I studdied a few hours during the week in aggregate and possibly 4 hours over the weekend. At the beginning I just devoured the
OG; however after 2 months found it irritating that you needed to get through 3/4 of the section to arrive at the more difficult material. In addition, I found that I would do 30 problems and not review what I had answered incorrectly.
I then decided to move on the the Kaplan GMAT 800 book and purchase the 6
MGMAT test. I highly recommend the GMAT 800 book. It forces you to review every few questions and it reiterates concepts that are necessary to score well on the test. My approach was a bit different as I saw the greatest room for improvement in the verbal section, where I bombed on the last test with 7x% score. Had I made the commitment to the quant section I probably would have gone with the gmatclub math review.
As far as the CAT's were concerned I scored
GMATPREP=700 (Dont remember breakout)
MGMAT=660 (Q42, V38)
MGMAT=690 (Q46, V38)
MGMAT 3=670 (Q43, V38)
MGMAT 4=700 (Q45, V40)
One of the things I made sure to do this time through was take the practice tests in their entirety. Some others might not have this issue, but I had a lot of difficulty maintaining focus for 4 hours. If you are like me, this proves detrimental in the later parts of the exam.
The last
MGMAT was taken two days before the test. In my case atleast, the
MGMAT was a pretty good predictor of GMAT success. I did find that the questions were more time consuming in the
MGMAT CATs however; I would rarely have sufficient time for the last 3-5 questions in each section. Also, the difficulty transitions in the
MGMAT are more pronounced. After missing a 700-800 question I could tell that the next question was of a much lesser difficulty. Converseley, after answering correctly on a few medium questions, sometimes the next question would be brutally difficult. Frustration would often ensue and I was often stressing more than necessary during the test. As a result I think psychologically the
MGMAT is more difficult. Regardless, the scores speak for themselves I suppose.
Thats about it. I made sure to take the full 10 minute break after the AWA and quant section, each time eating a little and taking a short walk.
-Evan