740, Will IR 5 and AWA 5 be an issue to go to MBA top 5 universities?

Hi thomt,

To start, you would likely receive more of a response if you started your own post-thread (instead of piggy-backing on this old one). Since you know which specific Programs interest you, you might find it helpful to reach out to each Program directly to ask your admissions questions. Many Business Schools have publicly stated that they don't use the IR score as part of the application process - and as long as your AWA is a 4.0 or higher (out of 6.0), you would likely be fine there. Of course, individual Programs might have a specific way of viewing those two parts of your GMAT Score (and you're interested in a Master's Degree and not an MBA, so certain generalizations might not apply here). This is meant to say that you should not just 'skip' the IR and AWA sections on Test Day. You should try your best, but you should spend your available study time on the areas that matter the most (re: the Quant and Verbal sections).

Before I can offer you any additional advice for your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied so far? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) On what dates did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
6) When are you planning to apply to School? If it's sometime soon, then what specific application deadlines are you facing?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich