730 (Q47,V44)

Question

It was a mix of emotions for me. I never scored less than 48Q in any CAT that I took (Princeton(2),MGMAT(3),PowerPrep(2), GMATPrep(2), GMATPrep-Retake(2) ), on the other hand I never got a verbal higher than 42. 40 looked like a ceiling when added to the fact that English is my second language.
Honestly, I believe I started very good, after the 10th Q I was getting serious analytical geometry and probability Qs. By the end of 12th Q I only spent 18 minutes. Noticing this was my biggest mistake. I got relaxed and maybe cocky thinking I had all the time in the world and spent waaaay too much time on 2-3 Qs, instead of just intelligently guessing 1 or 2 and moving on. I paid the price dearly by having only 2 minutes for the last 3 Qs, consequently just guessing them. This was the FIRST TIME, I could not finish a quant on time. FYI, my undergrad degree is in Civil Engineering and usually I get along well with math. That said, this was the toughest GMAT quant I've faced so far. Honestly, it was comaparable to MGMAT quant sections.

I will buy and try the "Challenges" and then re-take the test within 5-6 weeks. I believe for people aiming 700+ or 750+ solving hard quant Qs is a necessity.

FYI, here's my study summary (3 mos, around 5 days a week, 2-2.5 hours a day)

Material used : 
-Kaplan Premiere (decent)
-Princeton Review (good tips but overall too simple)
-OG 11 (must)
-Official Verbal and Quant guides (must)
-Manhattan SC (good, very good)
-Princeton Verbal (definitely good)
-Manhattan Equations and Inequalities (too little explanation, weak in depth cover, very short book, but has some good points)
-Manhattan Number Properties - (same as above)

CATs taken (following official break rules)

-GMATPrep 1:720 (after 2 weeks of study)
-Kaplan :590 (never took any other, ridicilous RC Qs)
-GMATPrep 2: 710
-Princeton 1 : 700
 -Princeton 2 : 730
-PowerPrep1: 730 
-PowerPRep2: 720
-MGMAT 1 : 680
-MGMAT 2 : 680
-MGMAT 3 : 700
-GMATPRep 1 - Retake : 750
 -GMATPRep 2 - Retake : 730

Actual GMAT : 730

Overall, your best bet of estimating your score is, as many here would verify, the GMATPRep software. On a sidenote regarding redundancy, quite honestly I did not have more than 2-3 overlapping Qs in my re-takes.

Word to the wise :   Solve real hard and time consuming math questions. They are out there, more frequent than anticipated...

Good luck to you all, I'll be back with more after the (potential) re-take...
-MANYLANDER

kidderek · Answer

Good score. Congrats!

emoryhopeful · Answer

Congrats on the great score, but I don't understand why you would retake after a 730, and you admittedly performed above expectations on your verbal score. If you take it again and get the 48Q with a 42V, it won't really improve your score. I think you should move on to the applications, but that's just one opinion.

bmwhype2 · Answer

CE. interesting. i ask my CE friend for help on some Challenge Qs and he is incredibly pompous. He is studying for his PE exam and told me to figure it out myself. :shock:

manylander · Answer

@Kidderek & Emoryhopeful : Thank you guys...

@Emoryhopeful : This is a dilemma for me. Since I am an older applicant (33) with a terrible undergrad GPA (2.70) I have some making up to do for shools I target. 730 would have been good without the complications stated above, but I believe Q50 and V42-44 is an attainable goal, and may yield a 760ish score...

Also, if true, in their own words, all 4 schools I target take only the highest of your GMATs unless you took the test a ridiculous number of times. If I could be sure of their sincerity, I'd re-take it in a heart beat, but honestly I do not know... The "no problem" approach is usually a mask used for political correctness. BTW,thank you for taking your time and sharing your opinion. I really appreciate it...

@bmwhype2: Not a common trait of CEs.... :-)

All the best
-MANYLANDER

All the best -MANYLANDER

sevenplus · Answer

Congrats!!! Awesome score.
Would appreciate any input on verbal improvement, especially CR?

sarangadhar · Answer

manylander,
Good, great score in 3 months of prep with Engg back goound.

If you think you will have good enough time for the apps after the re-take, I would say "re-take and nail it down". I believe you can do it more than 730. 

BTN.. are these are different: Princeton and Princeton review. I see in the materials list of your post.

manylander · Answer

@sevenplus:  Quite honestly I did not do much for CR. It has been my strong course in verbal most of the time. I just solved the quetions available in the material and concentrated on the ones I missed. Most of my verbal study time was spent on SC. For CR, my recommendation would be to solve as many Qs as possible, and then immediately,say after 20-30 Qs, to go over your mistakes and evaluate the reasons.
This may help you zero in on your weaknesses. GMAT, especially 700+ GMAT is about weaknesses, not strengths. At least that is my take...
Thanks on the congrats!!!

p.s.There are many Qs also available at gmatter.biz...

manylander · Answer

Sarangadhar:  Thanks for the congrats. I am leaning towards taking it again and hopefully doing better. After my study there is not much to learn but there is room for mastering what I learned especially through solving hard Qs. Plus I have the security net set at 730, which significantly reduces the test stress. I will visit my targeted schools within 2-3 weeks and will ask the opinions of current students and adcom members on the issue too.

As for Princeton vs Princeton Review, I intend to say Princeton Review for all cases...

leftysidewinder · Answer

Congrats on the genius level score... When you meet admissions committee, perhaps you can de-emphasize the low undergrad GPA which happened over 10 years ago by emphasizing your extensive experience which is more relevant and recent... As for retaking it, you got nothing to lose. A higher GMAT might bring in some nice $cholarship$ :-D

As for tough Q problems... I got a high of 49Q on the GMATPrep and was gunning for 50 or higher and only got 48 on the real GMAT. Honestly, on my GMATs, there were some really unexpected math problems that my OG/GMATPrep/Kaplan/Princeton/Veritas practice materials didn't cover. You probably experienced soem similar surprisingly unusual problems. Have you tried Bell Curves GMAT website? They have some free trial tough math problems and tips (and also an online course) that might be of value.

singh_amit19 · Answer

Congrats man on a great score! 

I'm also from CE background & i agree with u that the expectations from Quant is on little higher side............nyways, i wish u all the best in case u retake the test!

manylander · Answer

@Leftysidewinder: I 100% agree with this. Not only that they were definitely tougher, but also some Qs (3-5 of them) were markedly different from anything else I've seen. I think Pearson-Vue is upping their game in quant. Not heard of it, but will definitely look it up. Finally, thanks for the real warm congratulatory message. :-D

MANYLANDER

manylander · Answer

@ singh_amit19 

Good luck with your study. One advice, do not shy away from tough or time consuming questions even though likes of which are not on the OG11, or GMATPrep exams. They are out there...

Good luck and thanks for the congrats!

MANYLANDER

manylander · Answer

Update : 
1)For those of you who are curious about the time it takes to receive the official score : In my case just 6 days.

2)For non-native English speakers with good English who worry about AWA : Don't. I ended up getting a 6.0 with 1-2 hours of study of Princeton's verbal workbook.
I did not write a single essay before the test. Just make sure to give them the structure they look for (paragraphs, certain link words, conclusion etc)
Since one grader is a computer, structure helps..

Good luck to everyone while I am still dealing with the idea of a retake...

-MANYLANDER

gmat0007 · Answer

Many Congratulations!!!

bobinabob2 · Answer

congrats

jingy77 · Answer

Congrats on a great score. I don't have a huge mathematical background, so I have a lot of work to do. Good luck on your re-try.

chineseburned · Answer

manylander,

If you only guessed on the last three Q questions, then that is unlikely to have brought down your Q score as much as you think. I was getting 50-51 Q in practice tests and on the real thing miscalculated my timing and ended up with about 6 questions left and 1 minute to go. I blindly guessed on these questions without even having time to read the questions. Still ended up with Q 49. One might argue that I may have been lucky and guessed right but I don't really think so. Almost 100% of the times when having to randomly guess on practice tests (meaning there was no time for intelligent guessing), I'd get the them wrong. Plus, before I ran out of time I was consitently getting super hard questions that I thought were at 51-level. So, in your case, provided you got all three questions wrong, I don't think this still brought your Q down by more than a point.
But I agree, you can still improve and do much better when you re-take it. I also got a 730 and plan to re-take. Not so much because I believe this will increase my chances of getting in significantly, but rather because I want to reach my true potential on this test.

manylander · Answer

Chineseburned, I am taking it again for exactly the same reason. I believe I have not reached my real level. Plus, if I can get a higher score there are potential benefits: 1) Many highly competitive firms are now officially or unofficially asking for your GMAT. A 750+ would look much nicer than a 730. 2) A real high GMAT score comes very handy if you plan on making some money by GMAT tutoring. Private or with a company... 3) It's good for 5 years, who knows, I might decide to go for a PhD one day and this one will already be in the bucket... 4) Inner peace ... :-D

Good luck! Mine is scheduled for April 26th... I already have some studying under my belt. From now on it will be a casual, less intense, more targeted studying. It'll be "point and shoot", as opposed to "carpet bombing"... :snipersmile:

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