700 on GMAT need advice!

Question

Hi everyone,

I come to you today because I am in need of advice.

To give you guys a bit of background, I am an undergraduate going into my 3rd year of a Stats degree (Quant) in a top UK university. I want to apply for Masters in Management as well as Masters in Finance for entry in Fall 2021.
As part of my first and second year of studies, I applied to many internships and subsequently had to do a lot (as in 30-50) of psychometric tests. As I realised that the verbal section of the GMAT was very similar to that of the aforementioned tests, and being from a quant background, I decided to dive straight into the GMAT Official Practice tests without any sort of revision. Here are the results I got.

GMAT Official Practice 1: 700 Q44 V41
GMAT Official Practice 2: 710 Q46 V42
GMAT Official Practice 3: 710 Q46 V41
GMAT Official Practice 4: 740 Q46 V46
GMAT Official Practice 5: 710 Q47 V41
GMAT Official Practice 6: 750 Q49 V44

Having done all of those in the past week, I decided to take the GMAT today and got a 700 Q43 V42. As you can see it was my quant score that let me down. This leads me to my 2 questions:

1- Do you think given my past performances, even though they were only practice tests, that it would be worth it to retake it? Would a 700 be sufficient for MiM program such as HEC/ESSEC/ESCP or the MFA program of the LBS. Other than the GMAT, I am fluent in French and English (originally a French native), have 2-3 internships in a range of top financial institutions, will hopefully be on track for a First (1:1), have had the chance to live in 5 different countries, and other good profile attributes.

2- Even though my practice tests show some consistency in my quant results, I do believe that it truly is my weakness as opposed to verbal where I feel very confortable. I am also confortable with all the notions covered in the quant questions, however I think the problem that I am facing is that I don't have a toolbox of tricks that would enable me to solve quant questions faster and would also enable me decompose the harder quant questions into simple elements. Therefore, I was wondering what kind of ressources/course of action would be best suited for my case (e.g. do tons of exercises to get the hang of all the types of problems, use a book like Manhattan prep).

I hope everyone is well and I look forward to your suggestions!

KhulanE · Answer

hi,
congrats on your score. however your quant score is not strong enough if you consider MFA or other quant based master degree.
i think 700 is not bad score, but applying math based degree q43 is not enough score to prove that you have strong quant knowledge.
i heard from my friend, who is grad student in SIPA, Columbia University, that she were asked to show proof of works that involved math, because her quant score was not high.

taxel · Answer

Many thanks for your answer! I also thought that this may be an issue however, I thought that a First in a Maths and Stats degree would suffice to showcase my quant skills. However, I must admit I'm not too sure to what extent this is true

Abi1995 · Answer

Your scores are pretty consistent in mocks. Have you thought of giving again?

Posted from my mobile device

taxel · Answer

When you say giving again do you mean just taking the test again. If that is the question then yes I am definitely considering taking it again however as you can see I was able to get a Q49 once and usually got Q46. I believe that those results are decent however I have been obtaining them without any prior training and even though the results do not necessarily showcase this if I'm being honest with myself I know that I approach most Quant questions without a structured approach. Therefore, I believe that if I were to properly train and get a structured approach to the quant section, I could expect to consistently score between Q48 and Q51. I would also approach the quant section with more confidence as my performance would not rely solely on luck (i.e. I get questions that I "like") but rather on my competence as I'd be able to solve any question that comes my way with confidence.

Hope this makes sense!

Hope this makes sense!

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  taxel . First off, I am surprised to see such a high Verbal performance on a consistent basis. That is not easy to pull off without dedicated study over a prolonged period. I agree with what others have said about the Quant side, though. If you intend to pursue a degree in a math-heavy discipline, then a Q43 may be held against you. To address your second question, based on my years of tutoring, I will say that students tend to see the quickest gains in Quant when they use online learning modules, such as those provided by EMPOWERgmat, Math Revolution, or Target Test Prep. (All of my clients who have used such a platform have found it useful.) You can check the Marketplace for different course offerings and reviews. If you are more of a book-based learner, then you might consider a Manhattan Prep guide or two, as you mentioned. Finally, if you enjoy reading theory on a screen, then you can always check out the  Ultimate GMAT Quantitative Megathread  right here on GMAT Club. And of course, there are plenty of questions to practice in the forum as well. My advice is to focus primarily on those tagged as official questions (e.g., OG 2021).

Congratulations on a fine entry point into the official GMAT™ score realm. A 700 opens many doors. In your case, I suspect that you will, in fact, find a way to pull that up with a stronger Quant score. Do not let that 49 haunt you! Let it serve as a motivator instead. You know you can do it, after all.

Best of luck to you.

- Andrew

Michelesaragat · Answer

I recently graduated from one of those schools. I think that 700 is more than enough to attend any of those programs.

French schools such as Essec, Escp, and HEC put more attention to your experience than your GMAT score.

Posted from my mobile device

taxel · Answer

Hi Andrew, thank you very much for all your advice, I'll definitely have a look into all those different options. As regards, the verbal section, it might be a bit of a stretch but I truly feel like the psychometric tests offered by most banks bear a very strong resemblance with the GMAT, which would explain my relative ease when it comes to treating them!

taxel · Answer

Michelesaragat  I sent you a private message

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Taxel,

You have some very nice practice test scores! I think that if you give yourself some more time and really dig into GMAT quant you CAN improve your score. Regarding quant resources, take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for  the best quant courses  and also read through some  GMAT success stories  to see what materials have worked well for other test-takers. Lastly, you may find it helpful to read this article:

How To Increase Your GMAT Quant Score

taxel · Answer

Hi everyone,

After a few days of reflection I saw that I had to wait a whole 16 days before I could take the test again in a test center. Seeing that the online alternative was available I decided to give it a try since it didn't count for the annual or the life quota. So I sat for the Online GMAT on July 2 (one week after my first attempt) and got a 740 Q47 V45 IR7.

I will be applying for MiM and MiF Programs for entry in 2021 so hopefully admission committees will see the Online GMAT as of equal value to the test center version and not a lesser version of the test.

Regardless, I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to read my original post and share useful tips and advice!

AndrewN · Answer

Thank you for the update,  taxel , and congratulations on the improved result. I think you will be putting your best foot forward in the application process now, as far as the GMAT™ is concerned. (Unless it becomes evident that the Online GMAT™ has been compromised, those scores should hold up just as well as any others.)

Good luck to you.

- Andrew

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