Well, I went backwards...
I first took the test in early 2007 and scored a 720 (Q45 V44). I thought I would take it again to bump up my Quant score and ended up losing points in both Q and V and scoring a 680 (Q41 V42). I really don't see how this could have happened. First of all, here are my practice test scores for this attempt in chronological order:
Princeton Review 1: 720 Q48 V42
Princeton Review 2: 710 Q46 V42
Powerprep 1: 730 Q47 V45
Kaplan 1: 560 Q32 V36
MGMAT 1: 700 Q46 V39
Kaplan 2: 660 Q38 V42
MGMAT 2: 660 Q38 V42
MGMAT3: 720 Q44 V44
Princeton Review 3: 690 Q41 V44
Powerprep 2: 760 Q47 V41
GMAT prep 1: 730 Q45 V45
MGMAT 4: 700 Q46 V40
Kaplan 4: 640 Q35 V41
Princeton review 4: 680 Q40 V44
MGMAT 5: 750 Q48 V45
GMAT prep 2: 770 Q48 V48
MGMAT 6: 740 Q47 V45
GMAT prep 1 retake: 770 Q49 V48
GMAT prep 2 retake: 760 Q50 V44
MGMAT 1 retake: 760 Q49 V45
GMAT prep 1 re-retake: 770 Q49 V48
GMAT prep 2 re-retake: 780 Q49 V49
The first time around I was just aiming for 700+, so I studied just enough Quant to "get by". I finished the
OG 11 and the
OG math supplement and that was about it. It was enough for me to get a 720. This time I wanted to score 750+, so I took the Quant section more seriously. I bought and completed the GMAT club challenges as well as a couple of the
Manhattan Prep quant books. The first time I took the test, I never scored higher than 730 on a GMAT prep test, even after reinstalling. This time I scored a 770 on GMAT prep 2 even though I didn't recognize any questions from a year ago. As you can also see, my scores ranged from 660-750 on the supposedly more difficult
MGMAT CATs. True, I didn't even crack open the
OG 11 this time around, but I didn't think it would matter given my high practice test scores.
How the hell could this have happened? I actually put in MORE effort this time around (especially in Quant) but ended up getting a lower score. I don't even know if retaking it would serve any purpose because I already did more than well enough on all the practice tests. I'm sure that my GMAT score report is all screwed up now because prospective schools will see the drop from 720 to 680. I am so pissed off right now........