My gradual improvement to a 700 (Long Post)

Hi All,

I have perused the topics on gmatclub for a while now but was never actively involved with the site. I think this was a mistake on my part because it is such a good forum for information. In order to give back a little of what I did get from it, I have decided to post a few lines about my journey from my first test (560-Q26, V-41) to my second (600 - Q35, V39) to my latest test (700 - q44, V40) which I took last Friday.

I was interested in applying to schools around this time a year ago and tried to rush through the process without much (if any) studying. I did not end up applying last year for a number of reasons (not the least of which was my shoddy GMAT score). As you can see from my first two scores, you can't rush the process. You really need to put in a certain amount of effort if you are going to tame this beast.

As for my test day:

AWA: In my opinion, I had a difficult analysis of an argument topic since the author's points had a balance of merit to them. Nonetheless, I'd still be pretty surprised if I don't end up with a 6 (I had received 5.5 on my first attempt and 6 on my second).

Quant- The first 5 questions were pretty standard - much like medium bin questions from the OG. The 6th question was a pretty hard combinations question that I think I messed up. My real difficulties came around the 16-24th questions which ranged from extremely easy to hard. It really bummed me out since the easy questions were so blatantly easy that I assumed that I was scoring terribly. That was a big mistake because I let that feeling disrupt my rhythm and confidence for the remainder of the test. My heart was really not in it from there on out.

Verbal - Since I have taken the test three times now, I can tell you that all three times I have had similar verbal sections. This one was no different but since my heart was not in it, I didn't second check any of my answers since I just wanted to finish the exam and go home. I received two boldface questions and 3 RC's. The RC's were all really long passages. My first two attempts at the GMAT, I did the verbal with absolutely no prior studying and scored 41 the first time and 39 the second. This time I had put some prep in and was scoring around 44 on my practice exams (mistakes were always in SC).

Let me first say that my recent score is bitter-sweet. I am happy to have reached the 700 mark but am fairly disappointed with the score based on a couple of solid months of prep. Although I was scoring around 720-740 on PP and Gmatprep I guess a 700 isnтАЩt really out of the scope of what I should have expected. However, I know that on my worst day I should receive a verbal of 42 and on my best day I should be scoring greater than a 47 in quant. The test now leaves me at a point of questioning whether I or not I should take it again. I know that most people will argue against this but I have targeted a few top schools who claim that they like to see a uniform Q-V split >80%. Since quant will undoubtedly be the weak point in my apps, I know that my low GMAT quant will be a glaring weakness. There are still a few months between now and R2 deadlines so IтАЩll keep you all posted if I decide to re-write. Thanks again to everybody who contributes to this site and for those who have yet to write тАУ good luck!