My 1st Real GMAT Test Was Today :)

To add some more details based on the questions above:
1) my score was 710 (Q48, V39) which is a bit low on the quant side than i usually get. I did end up with extra 10 minutes on the quant section, so the key take is maybe to slow down a little bit, and spend more time on questions rather than narrow and guess.
2) Since I work full-time, and do my M.Sc in parallel I only could afford 6 hours of study a week, for a period of about 3 months.
3) I used the official GMAT 2019+Quant+verbal, Wiley's Aristotle One-minute explanations to the GMAT OG 2019 sentence correction is a VERY GOOD book, and of course GMATclub forum
4) Don't remember the dates but I took the 2 tests on the GMAT site and scored 720 and 690.
5) for the 2nd test I aim to go 730+, so the focus should be more on the verbal part
6) I plan to apply next year's rounds
7) Applying to Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and Wharton

Hope it is helpful!

Hi almogsr,

First off, a 710/Q48 is an outstanding Score, so you can comfortably apply to any Schools that interest you. As such, a retest might not be necessary. Since you've named some highly-competitive Schools, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile and plans. You might find that there is a better way to strengthen your profile than spending more time on your GMAT studies. There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

There's certainly no harm in retesting though - and you're closer to a 730+ than you probably realize. Many GMATers spend 3-4 times the amount of study time that you did before they hit their 'peak' scores, so you might naturally improve as you continue to study. That having been said, GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. Assuming a similar 'swing' in how your CATs function, your 2 CAT score results - along with your Official Score - show that you essentially performed the same each time (about 700 +/- a few points). You handle certain aspects of the GMAT consistently well, but you also make certain consistent mistakes. This is meant to say that you will likely have to make some adjustments to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections to hit your Score Goal; if you continue to 'respond' to the Exam in the same ways as before, then you will likely score at the same general level.

You've already noted one of the issues that impacted your Score: finishing the Quant section 12 minutes EARLY. Leaving that much unused time is typically NOT a good thing. You almost certainly rushed through a number of questions that you could have gotten correct if you had slowed down and done more work on your pad. Beyond that, it's not clear whether your focus in the Verbal section needs to be on doing SCs faster or not. We would need your Enhanced Score Report to know that for sure.

1) Assuming that you really want to retest, how soon would you want to do so?
2) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich