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08 Aug 2019, 07:32
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Hi Everyone! I wanted to debrief after taking the GMAT yesterday and also solicit some advice from the community on whether or not I should go for a retake. I'll lead with my testing progression, include some context about myself, and conclude with info on how I studied/general reflections.
My score was a 760 (V44, Q50). This seems pretty in line with my practice exams. My scores and progression on the 4 official practice exams were:
June 30: 670 (V42, Q39)
July 10: 740 (V44, Q48)
July 31: 770 (V46, Q50)
August 5: 770 (V47, Q50).
Given that my official score is only 10 points off of the two 770s that I received during practice, a retake might sound a bit bizarre. But there are a couple of reasons I think I could probably do better if I gave the exam another shot. First, my IR score on this exam was 6, which is kind of a bummer considering I got an 8 on all of my practice exams. I completely lost track of time during the exam and didn't even answer 3 of the 12 questions. This really shook my confidence going into the AWA section. Second, my verbal score is slightly lower than I got on my most recent practice tests. This alone wouldn't be sufficient for the thought of a retake to cross my mind, but combined with my IR situation, it is enough.
I'm not planning to apply to MBA programs for another 2-3 years, so time isn't a big constraint for me. I just graduated from an Ivy League school with a 3.75 GPA. I'm getting ready to start work at an MBB office in the northeast. I'm a white gay male if it matters. My top choices are HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Sloan, and Columbia in that order, but I'm sure the order/schools may change before I actually submit my applications in 2 years.
I would love advice on whether or not a retake makes sense. I recognize that plenty of people would love to get a 760 GMAT score, but I hope it's understandable that I want to put my best possible foot forward when I'm aiming for some tough programs. For that reason, I hope this post doesn't come across as obnoxious and/or tone deaf!
Don't buy the OG book. I quickly zero-ed in on my weakness in math after taking my first practice exam cold. I was initially surprised by my relatively lower score in this section because math was always my forté in high school. But then I remembered that I literally didn't take a single math class in college, lol. My gut reaction was to drop ~$75 on the OG 2020 book. While the OG does have a decent number of good practice questions, future test takers might want to spend this money elsewhere. The math review contained in the book was not detailed enough for me to reach the quant score I was aiming for. Further, a huge portion of the quant questions aren't difficult enough to be helpful practice. I think I wasted about a week of prep before realizing this type of practice really wasn't helping me.
Do utilize the GMATClub math guide and question directories. Discovering the GMATClub forum was an absolute game-changer for me. The free math guide is comprehensive and allowed me to quickly get back up to speed, especially in areas that I was struggling with. The question directories on here are free and contain many of the questions that are in the OG book. There is even the added functionality that you can filter questions by topic & difficulty. I went through each topic systematically, starting with 600-level difficulty to make sure I had a solid foundation in each topic. I revisited the guide if I struggled with the 600-level questions. From there, I moved to the 700-level questions. These were usually much more challenging than the type of questions I saw on official exams, but I think that helped ensure I was fully proficient in each quant topic.
Do time your practice. I saw plenty of people on GMATClub preaching the importance of keeping an error log and timing your practice. For whatever reason, I brushed that aside as unnecessary for about 10 days. I realized my error when I took the quant portion of a Kaplan practice test in mid July and I totally bombed. I think I only finished 20 of the 31 questions. This really shook my confidence and left me feeling kind of down. From then on, I made sure I timed every problem I did. It took awhile to calibrate myself to spending only 2 minutes on each quant question, but with consistent practice, I was able to finish the quant sections on my last two practice exams as well as my actual exam with about 2 minutes to spare each time.
If possible, don't neglect sections you feel confident about. I never worried about the timing or content of IR because I did well on it consistently. I also didn't really study much for AWA. As mentioned above, I flubbed IR and this probably could have been avoided if I just spent a day working on this section. I'm not sure about AWA yet, but I imagine I would have felt more confident about the section if I spent a day answering sample prompts.
Don't schedule your exam for the afternoon. I chose a 4pm testing appointment and regretted it. I spent the whole day thinking about the exam and wondering what to do to kill time. I think I would have been less anxious with an early appointment.
I have only been a lurker on this forum during my study process, but I owe a HUGE thank you to everyone on this site. I couldn't have reached my current score without all of the people on here who make GMATClub so helpful. Thanks y'all!
Score Progression
My score was a 760 (V44, Q50). This seems pretty in line with my practice exams. My scores and progression on the 4 official practice exams were:
June 30: 670 (V42, Q39)
July 10: 740 (V44, Q48)
July 31: 770 (V46, Q50)
August 5: 770 (V47, Q50).
Given that my official score is only 10 points off of the two 770s that I received during practice, a retake might sound a bit bizarre. But there are a couple of reasons I think I could probably do better if I gave the exam another shot. First, my IR score on this exam was 6, which is kind of a bummer considering I got an 8 on all of my practice exams. I completely lost track of time during the exam and didn't even answer 3 of the 12 questions. This really shook my confidence going into the AWA section. Second, my verbal score is slightly lower than I got on my most recent practice tests. This alone wouldn't be sufficient for the thought of a retake to cross my mind, but combined with my IR situation, it is enough.
About Me / MBA Goals
I'm not planning to apply to MBA programs for another 2-3 years, so time isn't a big constraint for me. I just graduated from an Ivy League school with a 3.75 GPA. I'm getting ready to start work at an MBB office in the northeast. I'm a white gay male if it matters. My top choices are HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Sloan, and Columbia in that order, but I'm sure the order/schools may change before I actually submit my applications in 2 years.
I would love advice on whether or not a retake makes sense. I recognize that plenty of people would love to get a 760 GMAT score, but I hope it's understandable that I want to put my best possible foot forward when I'm aiming for some tough programs. For that reason, I hope this post doesn't come across as obnoxious and/or tone deaf!
Reflections & Advice
Don't buy the OG book. I quickly zero-ed in on my weakness in math after taking my first practice exam cold. I was initially surprised by my relatively lower score in this section because math was always my forté in high school. But then I remembered that I literally didn't take a single math class in college, lol. My gut reaction was to drop ~$75 on the OG 2020 book. While the OG does have a decent number of good practice questions, future test takers might want to spend this money elsewhere. The math review contained in the book was not detailed enough for me to reach the quant score I was aiming for. Further, a huge portion of the quant questions aren't difficult enough to be helpful practice. I think I wasted about a week of prep before realizing this type of practice really wasn't helping me.
Do utilize the GMATClub math guide and question directories. Discovering the GMATClub forum was an absolute game-changer for me. The free math guide is comprehensive and allowed me to quickly get back up to speed, especially in areas that I was struggling with. The question directories on here are free and contain many of the questions that are in the OG book. There is even the added functionality that you can filter questions by topic & difficulty. I went through each topic systematically, starting with 600-level difficulty to make sure I had a solid foundation in each topic. I revisited the guide if I struggled with the 600-level questions. From there, I moved to the 700-level questions. These were usually much more challenging than the type of questions I saw on official exams, but I think that helped ensure I was fully proficient in each quant topic.
Do time your practice. I saw plenty of people on GMATClub preaching the importance of keeping an error log and timing your practice. For whatever reason, I brushed that aside as unnecessary for about 10 days. I realized my error when I took the quant portion of a Kaplan practice test in mid July and I totally bombed. I think I only finished 20 of the 31 questions. This really shook my confidence and left me feeling kind of down. From then on, I made sure I timed every problem I did. It took awhile to calibrate myself to spending only 2 minutes on each quant question, but with consistent practice, I was able to finish the quant sections on my last two practice exams as well as my actual exam with about 2 minutes to spare each time.
If possible, don't neglect sections you feel confident about. I never worried about the timing or content of IR because I did well on it consistently. I also didn't really study much for AWA. As mentioned above, I flubbed IR and this probably could have been avoided if I just spent a day working on this section. I'm not sure about AWA yet, but I imagine I would have felt more confident about the section if I spent a day answering sample prompts.
Don't schedule your exam for the afternoon. I chose a 4pm testing appointment and regretted it. I spent the whole day thinking about the exam and wondering what to do to kill time. I think I would have been less anxious with an early appointment.
Thank you!!
I have only been a lurker on this forum during my study process, but I owe a HUGE thank you to everyone on this site. I couldn't have reached my current score without all of the people on here who make GMATClub so helpful. Thanks y'all!
08 Aug 2019, 07:48
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shmeyers
Hi shmeyers,
Congratulations on a fantastic score. Thank you for sharing your experience. Honestly 760-770 makes very little difference in terms of admissions and a 760 puts you in a very comfortable position when it comes to admissions. All the best.
08 Aug 2019, 09:19
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Hi,
Congratulations on your great score. Thank you for sharing your debrief. Apart from the GMAT club resources and OG, did you use any other resources?
Posted from my mobile device
Congratulations on your great score. Thank you for sharing your debrief. Apart from the GMAT club resources and OG, did you use any other resources?
Posted from my mobile device
08 Aug 2019, 09:24
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Sammysat
No, I didn't use any other materials. I found that the GMAT Club resources were more than sufficient to prep for quant and I feel like I barely even scratched the surface of what this site has to offer.
In the OG, I did the last ~50 CR questions and the last 25 SC questions, but I didn't do other prep aside from reviewing my verbal errors after taking my 4 practice exams.
No, I didn't use any other materials. I found that the GMAT Club resources were more than sufficient to prep for quant and I feel like I barely even scratched the surface of what this site has to offer.
In the OG, I did the last ~50 CR questions and the last 25 SC questions, but I didn't do other prep aside from reviewing my verbal errors after taking my 4 practice exams.
