bummed...

Question

Hi All,

I just took the GMAT for the 3rd time and sad to say, it just punched me in the face.

1st Try: 540 (Q38, V27)
2nd Try: 620 (Q48, V28)
3rd Try: 610 (Q44, V31)

Sigh. I'm going to take a break for a bit but I'll get back on the horse soon enough. I'm just super bummed b/c I studied a good 4+ hours per day and 6-8 on the weekends, going over SC and RC and trying to keep up my quant. 

I scored consecutive 720s on the GMAT PREP befor my actual GMAT, but that could just be attributed to memorizing the questios & answers.

I'm glad to see some improvement on my verbal, but it wasn't near what I had thought it would be. On the GMAT PREP I was hitting 41-42. 

I don't know what happened on quant. I noticed I didn't get any Venn Diagrams or Combo / Permutation questions which made me think during the break. I must have missed some silly questions in the beginning.

Ahh well. I guess I'll just take a quick break, pick up the Economist & the WSJ and keep at my verbal studying.

Hopefully, my next post will be the 720+ I have been destined for!

-JJ

jayy178 · Answer

sorry to hear that. dont fret too much. just take a few days off and then come back and re-evaluate what your next steps are. What type of programs are you looking to apply to? If you're staying local, UCI and Pepperdine would be some choices to look at in that GMAT range. Taking the GMAT more than 3 times may be detrimental since adcomms will see all scores and notice that you are taking it many times.

misterJJ2u · Answer

I was originally thinking UCLA or USC but now I may have to re-evaluate that. 

I have good experience: management consulting and strategy work at a bank. 

I know I can get my 700+ score, but now I don't want to take the test unless I'm hitting 790's on my practice tests.

I guess I'll just take as much time as I need before the next try. Conquering verbal will be my goal for the next 6+ months. Thanks for the advice.

jayy178 · Answer

np. have you thought about part time programs as well? there are some pros/cons to each but a 620 could get you into USC part time assuming everything else is great....

nupurgupt · Answer

I feel that a 620 score can get you in JJ
Maybe get a feel for it from students from those schools?

sammie21 · Answer

how harshly do schools judge chronic test takers? i'm scared i might become one too...

pelihu · Answer

There has been some discussion about this in the past. Some schools view repeated attempts as persistence, and don't look at it negatively, as long as there is a positive scoring trend. I think most schools do understand that someone that takes the test a bunch of times could eventually just get lucky and score 50 points more than expected - 3-4 lucky guesses on a CAT could swing a score that much; so in that sense they view lots of attempts with a wary eye. I think 2-3 is fine for most schools; any more than that and even high scores will have limited usefulness.

If I recall, UCLA actually says they will take the highest score if an applicant has 2 attempts, but will "look at all scores" if there are 3 or more attempts. They say they don't average them, just consider them all.

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bummed...

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