Should I retake GMAT for 4-th time?

Question

Hi all. I feel devastated

with my third attempt for GMAT and I only got 590(Q47,V25). I had the expectation to get at least 650, after scoring 650 on my GMATpack Prep 1(Q47,V32) one day before the test.Previously scoring: MGMAT CAT 1 580(Q37,V32) MGMAT CAT 4 600(Q44,V30) MGMAT CAT 5 630(Q43,V33) Kaplan CAT 1 650(Q51 V27) Kaplan Cat 6 700(Q49,V34 ) Considering that quantitative of MGMAT and verbal of Kaplan is harder I had very good expectation. I have done all tests with four sections and only 2 breaks with 8 minutes. I was so surprised with my verbal score. I have been self studying with online resources of e-gmat , MGMAT series and gmat club question bank. I need a 650, I do not know if there is any way I can reach it. My two previous results are :first 620 (Q42,V34) second 540 (Q41,V23) Can you please give me any suggestion? Regards

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi evisa,

If you're correct about 'needing' a 650, then a retake is a must. Of course, you might not actually need a 650 - that depends on the Schools that you're planning to apply to and the strength of your OVERALL application.

That having been said, there are some inconsistencies in your Official Scores, so I'd like to know more about how you've been studying:

1) On what date did you take each GMAT?
2) How long did you spend studying before each of your Official GMATs?
3) What resources did you use for each attempt?

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

evisa · Answer

Hi Rich,
Thank you for your prompt reply.
Regarding with your questions:

1) On what date did you take each GMAT?
2) How long did you spend studying before each of your Official GMATs?
3) What resources did you use for each attempt?

First GMAT 620 (Q42,V34), on 24 October 2014. I studied for three months and I used free Veritas recordings and books, OG14, GMAT Prep Pack 1 and online exercises.
Second trial GMAT 540 (Q41,V23), 26 November 2014. During this month I studied e-gmat Verbal online prep. I focused on SC and CR, but I had not much time for RC.
Third trial GMAT 590 (Q47,V25) 25 August 2015. After I had some time off I started over with MGMAT books on May 2015. I Also worked with Kaplan verbal workbook. With the practice tests I improved my timing.

Regards,
Evisa

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi evisa,

From everything that you've described, some 'shift' occurred during your second round of studies and your Verbal performances suffered because of it. It's possible that you might have gotten a little 'lucky' on your first attempt, but regardless of the actual cause, this all means that you have a BIG opportunity to pick up points in the Verbal section of the GMAT.

Many Test Takers who use a 'book-heavy' study approach end up getting 'stuck' at a particular scoring level, and that's likely a part of what has happened in your case. As such, you'll likely continue to score at this general level until you make some adjustments to your tactics. Investing in some new, non-book Verbal materials will probably also be required.

When are you planning to apply to Business School?

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

evisa · Answer

Hi Rich,
I plan to apply this fall and I am getting nervous because I do not Know what to do.
Can you please be more specific on what should be the best way to study verbal at this point?
I am losing confidence and I am thinking probably I should get a private tutoring course.
Every suggestion is very much appreciated.

Regards,
Evisa

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi evisa,

Given your Official Scores and score goal, and factoring in when you want to apply to Business School, you have a short 'window' of time to get everything done. As it stands, you're actually fairly close to scoring 650+ right now, but you have to make the necessary adjustments to how you handle the Verbal section (to raise that score and your Overall Score).

Considering all of these details, you might want to consider pushing back your applications to Round 2 - this would give you more time to study and more time to crafts each of your applications. If you don't want to necessarily make that choice just yet, then you need some study materials that will help you to improve relatively quickly. As such, I think that you would find the EMPOWERgmat Verbal Score Booster to be quite helpful. Most of our clients finish that Study Plan in under a month, so the time commitment would not be too bad. We have a variety of free resources at our website (www.empowergmat.com), so that you can 'test out' the Course before you set up an Account.

If you have any additional questions, then just let me know.

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

evisa · Answer

Hi Rich,
Thank you for your sincere suggestion. Now I think I will have a week off GMAT to recharge my batteries.
After that I will study intensively and during that time I won't be working. Yes I think i will try EMPOWER Gmat Booster for verbal and maybe private tutoring.

Thank you again,
Evisa

evisa · Answer

Hi,
Thanks for the offer. At the moment I have hired a private teacher.I hope I am successful.

Thanks,
Evisa

WayneHam · Answer

how long have you studied in total? It seems like a really long time.

evisa · Answer

Hi Wayne,
I have been study for 5 months first two tries and 3 months third time.

lx468 · Answer

Your problem is clearly verbal as you already know. What helped me was taking a month and starting my verbal studies over from scratch. I started with SC. I read half of the manhattan SC book and did about 20-30 problems from the OG on the topics that it covered. Then I read the other half of the book and did the same. This was over about 4-5 days. After I was finished with SC, it was time to start CR. I did the same steps with CR, but I would still do SC problems from either the OG or the Verbal supplements from the problem sets that I created (more on that in a second). After CR, I did the same with RC while still practicing SC and CR.

It was a pretty simple process to create the problem sets and it applies to all sections but RC. I created 12-problem problem sets using every 5th problem going BACKWARDS. For example if a section has 215 problems, set #1 would be  , set #2 , etc. The problems would repeat after 5 sets so I would make a pretty big jump to the next problem that I hadn't done. For example, the first problem of the first 5 sets listed above would be   and after that things would repeat, so for the next 5 sets, the LAST problems would be   respectively. The first sets have problems that are considered harder on the gmat, so you can consider the set order to be decreasing in difficulty. Sorry if that explanation was complicated.

For RC, I would still do about 2 passages at a time. I got into the habit of practicing a set from each of the verbal sections at least every other day. For example, one day I would CR and RC, the following day would be SC and CR, then RC and SC after that. When I eventually added PS and DS sets from quant into this practice, I would do quant one day and verbal the next.

Anyway, after doing this practice, my verbal went from about 32-33 on the MGMAT CAT to 45. It genuinely got a lot easier. I was also finishing the verbal section of the test with at least 5 minutes to spare.

You seem to have a pretty good grip on math so you may not need this, but I did the exact same process for the quant section to improve my score.

3rd and lowest MGMAT score: 35Q, 33V 570. 
Actual GMAT score: 49Q, 46V, 760

evisa · Answer

Hi,

Congratulations, and thank you for sharing your experience with me.
Regards,

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