I finally took the GMAT today and it was my third attempt in 2 years.
The first time I was in Africa and I scored 590(38V, Q32) after studying with just one prep book (Peterson).
https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/posting.p ... a1bbe19dbc
GMAT Club :: Post a new topic
I took the exam for the second time last year and I scored 600 (36Q, 37V).
After such disappointments, I registered on the GMAT Club, took all 25 Challenges. The first 15 were a real pain. I could not score beyond the 50th percentile. After those, I started scoring in the 80th percentile and my score remained constant till teh 25th.
I also used Kaplan. That was a really frustrating, nevertheless enriching experience. My scores ranged from 540 to 580.
The next set of prep books I used were those from the Princeton Review. I particularly enjoyed the pop-up window giving my score after each question attempted which enabled me to know if I had the question right or wrong. My score ranged from 610 to 640 on the four exams of the Princeton Review. They were all web-based.
I also tested myself using
Manhattan GMAT. Those tests seemed so easy. I scored 670. 690, 710, 720, 700 and 690 on the 6 tests available online.
I finally resorted to GMAT prep in order to gauge myself before taking the real thing. On the first, I score 710 and on the second, I score 700. Then I was confident that I would at least be in the upper 600's.
Concerning the breakdown of my score, after using The GMATClub challenges, I started to constantly score between 45 and 49 in the quant section. My verbal score ranged from 32 to 39. I have never been able to reach the 40's in Verbal.
Regarding the test itself, the first thing I need to mention is the level of pressure I was feeling. That made me nervous so much so that I wasted some time on the first math question and I was even having some blank moments during the test. Nevertheless, I think the nervosity did not stop me from getting a few questions right.
The verbal part seemed pretty easy as compared to my previous experiences.
I now feel relieved as I know that I could have easily made a 700. This score does not make me feel extremely well, but I am happy that I improved my performance by about 70 points.
The next step is to retake the GMAT during the winter break and make sure that I reach the 700 treshold.
Once again thx for all your posts, they were extremely useful.