Group,
A little background first - I gave the GMAT right out of school in 2006 because I knew I would need it for a MBA later in life. I got a 710 (Q49 V37) and thought it was good enough and will worry about it later. I started working in 2006 and never got a chance to think about a MBA until now but since the previous score is invalid I decided to retake the GMAT.
I have been following this forum for about 2 months now. I began preparation for this exam on 1st February. Took a date right away for April 6th. This helped me formulate a plan and balance it with work. I registered for
MGMAT classes which brought me up to speed really quick. Very soon I realized that Verbal needed a push and I started concentrating on CR, RC and SC separately. Everyone told me if I can ace SC i will do good elsewhere. But when I started my prep, I felt most comfortable with CR. I had the best accuracy and timing in CR. I also realized very soon that RC was going to be an issue because of time constraints. I finished all questions on
OG and Verbal guide. Then I concentrated on questions on GMATPREP software and bought the pack as it had 404 extra questions. All these materials helped immensely.
My scores leading up to the test were:
MGMAT 2: 620 (Q47 V29) February 24th
GMATPrep 1: 650 (Q49 V30) March 8th
MGMAT 3: 650 (Q44 V35) March 23rd
MGMAT 4: 660 (Q45 V35) March 25th
GMATPrep 2: 690 (Q49 V34) March 27th
MGMAT 5: 670 (Q45 V36) March 30th
MGMAT 6: 680 (Q48 V35) April 4th
REAL GMAT: 680 (Q49 V33) April 6th
I gave my GMAT exam today. I got a 680 (Q49, V33). I am disappointed and want to attempt it again. I thought I nailed the Quant on the exam but ended up with only 49. More importantly during the exam I felt Verbal wasn't going too well. I was not doing well on timing either. So that caused me to hurry up towards the last 25 minutes of the Verbal section. The score shows that it was a bad performance. But since I had prepared for only 2 months, I have decided to spend another month with Verbal and attempt the test again.
I was only starting to get comfortable with Verbal in the later part of March. I think with another month of prep I will be able to improve the Verbal. My goal is Q49 V40. I have signed up with
e-gmat Verbal live. I will let you all know if I conquer the GMAT in about a month.