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anmol3614
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Concentration: Entrepreneurship, Marketing
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GMAT Focus 1: 645 Q85 V80 DI80
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78 (39th percentile) in verbal with 6 RC and 3 CR wrong! 16 Oct 2024, 20:28
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So I gave my 3rd GMAT yesterday and I did not have any improvement from my 1st official test.

My scores are:
Official Exam 1 : 645 (Q85, V80, DI 80)
Official Exam 2 : 625 (Q87, V81, DI 75)
Official Exam 3 : 645 (Q86, V78, DI 81)
All of these had 30-35 days gap in between them.

What surprised me this time is that I just scored 78 in verbal that I never did before. I usually had 10-13 questions wrong in Official Mocks and always scored around 80-81. How is this possible?

This time I literally gave my everything. Gave 3-6 Official Mocks twice each and Practiced alot. I used to score between 625-685 in mocks. The goal of ISB looks far away. Should I shift it to next to next year?


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78 (39th percentile) in verbal with 6 RC and 3 CR wrong! 16 Oct 2024, 21:01
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Ugh. Sorry 😣
We have been having a few of these stories happen to the point that I am collecting them as a collection for the GMAC help demystify some of the reasons and issues behind these. I have this topic: https://gmatclub.com/forum/horrible-gma ... 34958.html

Will add you there and will PM you.
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GMAT Focus 1: 715 Q83 V90 DI83
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78 (39th percentile) in verbal with 6 RC and 3 CR wrong! 16 Oct 2024, 21:44
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anmol3614
This time I literally gave my everything. Gave 3-6 Official Mocks twice each and Practiced alot. I used to score between 625-685 in mocks. The goal of ISB looks far away. Should I shift it to next to next year?
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Hi anmol3614,

I can understand your frustration, but is there a reason you don't want to go ahead with your 645?
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anmol3614
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78 (39th percentile) in verbal with 6 RC and 3 CR wrong! 17 Oct 2024, 07:35
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Hi AjiteshArun, I basically don't feel like going ahead because of 4 reasons. Let me know what is your take on them:

1. I have spoken with few alumni from ISB and got to know the importance of GMAT score for admission. 645 is less than average of 716 (classic equivalent) and has less chances therefore.

2. I have made quite some transitions in my journey from SDE (1.9 Yrs) to Entrepreneurship (8 months) to Marketing (8 months currently). I feel it will be seen as a negative point given that I struggle to stick with a single thing. So wanted to have a high GMAT to compensate it. Also, I didn't have any promotions in any of the job roles and difficult to have LOR as I was average performer as an SDE.

3. If I apply and get rejected then next year there will be less chance to get accepted as reapplicant as ISB reapplicant admission rate is low (atleast that is what I had heard)

4. I can prepare for next few months and target better score, and then apply next year in R1. (If I don't go ahead with any school this year - Haven't really interested for CAT as well as I was not much interested in 2 Yr MBA). I already gave 3 attempts and this time tried my best in all sections but still couldn't get high score.


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anmol3614
This time I literally gave my everything. Gave 3-6 Official Mocks twice each and Practiced alot. I used to score between 625-685 in mocks. The goal of ISB looks far away. Should I shift it to next to next year?

Hi anmol3614,

I can understand your frustration, but is there a reason you don't want to go ahead with your 645?
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78 (39th percentile) in verbal with 6 RC and 3 CR wrong! 17 Oct 2024, 10:23
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HI anmol3614,

Since you plan to retake your GMAT, do you want some advice on how to move forward with your prep?
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78 (39th percentile) in verbal with 6 RC and 3 CR wrong! 17 Oct 2024, 10:28
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78 (39th percentile) in verbal with 6 RC and 3 CR wrong! 17 Oct 2024, 14:12
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Quote:
What surprised me this time is that I just scored 78 in verbal that I never did before. I usually had 10-13 questions wrong in Official Mocks and always scored around 80-81. How is this possible?
Show more

The Understanding Score Page on the MBA website could be helpful to check out. It mentions three factors Verbal scores are based on, for example. There is also some myth vs. fact info (e.g. in the beginning of the Official-Guide 2024) you may also find interesting.
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78 (39th percentile) in verbal with 6 RC and 3 CR wrong! 18 Oct 2024, 00:29
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anmol3614
Hi AjiteshArun, I basically don't feel like going ahead because of 4 reasons. Let me know what is your take on them:

1. I have spoken with few alumni from ISB and got to know the importance of GMAT score for admission. 645 is less than average of 716 (classic equivalent) and has less chances therefore.

2. I have made quite some transitions in my journey from SDE (1.9 Yrs) to Entrepreneurship (8 months) to Marketing (8 months currently). I feel it will be seen as a negative point given that I struggle to stick with a single thing. So wanted to have a high GMAT to compensate it. Also, I didn't have any promotions in any of the job roles and difficult to have LOR as I was average performer as an SDE.

3. If I apply and get rejected then next year there will be less chance to get accepted as reapplicant as ISB reapplicant admission rate is low (atleast that is what I had heard)

4. I can prepare for next few months and target better score, and then apply next year in R1. (If I don't go ahead with any school this year - Haven't really interested for CAT as well as I was not much interested in 2 Yr MBA). I already gave 3 attempts and this time tried my best in all sections but still couldn't get high score.
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Those are some valid points. Here are my thoughts:

1. The problem with a 645 at ISB is that it won't help you stand out. However, that's not a major problem (that is, you're not significantly below the average).

2. Try to make your profile stronger, but keep in mind that most successful applicants don't have an absolutely stellar record. A lot will depend on how you present your experiences and your strengths.

3. ISB does not penalise reapplicants. If you don't make it the first time around, you should be fine applying next cycle (as long as you work on your weaknesses).

4. You can do that, but try not to go overboard. We can keep prepping (and possibly improving), but don't lose sight of the fact that (a) the GMAT is not the end goal here and (b) waiting for the next cycle carries its own costs.

All in all, I don't see a problem with your approach, but what I'd want to check is whether you would have gone ahead with a slightly higher score, say a 665. If you would, then I'd say you should most likely go ahead with your 645 (you can always retake before the R2 deadline if you want to).
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78 (39th percentile) in verbal with 6 RC and 3 CR wrong! 18 Oct 2024, 10:19
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anmol3614
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Moving forward, it will be important to continue to find your holes and fix those to help improve your score. Thus, engaging in topical practice is a great way to do so. Let's use quant as an example.

For example, let’s say you want to practice Number Properties. You can do so by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc.

After each problem set, it's crucial to delve into the questions you answered incorrectly. For instance, if you stumbled on a remainder question, take a moment to reflect. Was it a careless error? Did you fail to apply the remainder formula correctly? Was there a concept in the question that eluded you? This analysis is key to your learning process.

By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to fix your weaknesses efficiently and, in turn, improve your GRE quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant and verbal topics.

Feel free to reach out with any questions.

Good luck!
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