So i scored 680... Expert help needed.

Question

Hello from Turkey!
I have taken the gmat today and my unofficial score is 680 (84th) Q44 (58) V40(91). 
I panicked so much during quant. Do you think i should try again for a better score? If so how much time do you think i should put into it? Which material should i use? 
I prepped for the exam with Kaplan Premier 2015 and Kaplan 800 for about two months. My full test try out results were:
Kaplan: 670
Gmat Prep: 680
Manhattan GMAT: 650

My highest ever quant score was 49 in my mocks, whereas my highest verbal score was 39. In other words, i did my personal best in verbal on the test day and scored the same with my highest ever full-test try-out. I have been struggling with quant, but wasn't expecting such a clumsy performance on the test day.
Much obliged for your opinions!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi ksoydanyavas,

A 680/Q44 is a great GMAT score. With it, you should plan to apply to any Business School that interests you. I'd like to know a bit more about your overall plans:

1) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
2) Do you know which Schools you'll be applying to?

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

KarishmaB · Answer

From your post it seems that you have the ability to score higher. If you can maintain V40 and increase your Quant to about 50, you will be in 740-750 range - higher than the average class scores of all B-schools, including top ten. The point is - do you need to retake? Depending on the schools you are targeting and the average class scores for them, you can take a call. If 680 is at or above their average score, then you may choose to move on - focus on apps etc. If you are targeting top ten, retake may not be a bad idea, especially considering that you are almost there. Check out my blog for some conceptual Quant posts: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/categor ... er-wisdom/

ksoydanyavas · Answer

Hello Rich,

First of all thank you for your response. 
I am planning to apply for 2018 classes. 
My spesific schools wishlist was:
1 - Columbia BS
2 - London BS
3 - Oxford Said
4 - IESE
5 - NYU Stern

ksoydanyavas · Answer

From your post it seems that you have the ability to score higher. If you can maintain V40 and increase your Quant to about 50, you will be in 740-750 range - higher than the average class scores of all B-schools, including top ten.

The point is - do you need to retake? Depending on the schools you are targeting and the average class scores for them, you can take a call. If 680 is at or above their average score, then you may choose to move on - focus on apps etc. If you are targeting top ten, retake may not be a bad idea, especially considering that you are almost there.

Check out my blog for some conceptual Quant/[/

Hello Karishma!

Thank you for your response. I was hoping for; Columbia BS, London BS, Oxford Said, IESE or NYU Stern (descending order of preference). All i believe have class averages above my score. Even though their intake range vary amd include my score too, i don't know if i would have a chance. I do posses a somewhat interesting background, but my GPA is only 3.34.

Thanks again!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi ksoydanyavas,

You've named some highly-competitive Schools, so you would likely find it helpful to work with an Admissions Expert on your applications. While your 680 will be slightly below-average, it IS 'in range" of every School you named, so you won't be inherently rejected because of that. The Q44 might be a small issue, as it's just not that impressive of a number - unless you're planning to apply to a Finance-based Program or other Specialty Program, that number also won't be enough on its own to get you rejected.

The Admissions Experts have their own Forum here:

ask-admission-consultants-124/

You'll have to provide far more information about your overall profile than you have here, but the Experts should be able to provide some perspective on your situation.

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

RichEconomistGMAT · Answer

Hi ksoydanyavas,

Congrats on your score (it's a good one)! In addition to the great advice you've already gotten here, I'm unclear if this was your first attempt. If so, don't fret about retaking. Speak to the admissions counselors at the schools you're interested in, and if you determine you need to retake to meet their baseline scores, most schools expect you to take the GMAT at least twice.

Best,
Rich

ksoydanyavas · Answer

Hello Rich,

Yes, this was my first attempt. Thanks for the advice!

Shehryar09 · Answer

Hi all.

I'm preparing for the GMAT from the veritas video lessons and books. So far I have found veritas to be extremely however since I haven't yet given the GMAT I can't tell for sure if it really is the best source of preparation or not. I practice from the Homework questions which they have given at the end of each topic and there are plenty of them, around 80 on average. Do let me know if there is a better way to prepare since I am aiming to get a score of 700. I need a pretty high score since the I am aiming for the 2016 September term at Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, University of Virginia and John Hopkins and because my work experience includes six months of working with Nestle.

I graduated with a CGPA of 3.62 last year.

Advice will be really appreciated.

Oh and Good luck Ksoydanyavas, 680 is pretty high score ! If your essays really hit the spot, I think you have a brilliant chance at getting offers from most of the universities you've listed.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Shehryar09,

You've defined your score goal and application goals, which is good, but you'll need to provide a bit more information before I can offer any advice:

1) How have you been scoring on your practice CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
2) Have you only been using the Veritas CATs or have you used the GMAT CATs too?
3) How long have you been studying?
4) When are you planning to take the GMAT?

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

ksoydanyavas · Answer

Hello again, everybody!

I decided to re-take, since 58th percentile in Q is not a good look for my target schools. I plan to re-take on August 20th, which gives me 48 days to prep(plan to stop 4 days to d-day). The good news is I can most probably give about 4-5 hours a day to this now.

As I mentioned before, even though I had higher Q score in mocks, I have been struggling with Q and scored lower than my usual on the test day. I believe i am exposed to most type of questions, but I am lacking strategies, alternative strategies and perhaps some fundamentals & shortcuts. Unfortunately, i came to find out, that Kaplan was not the best way to go, only after the test. (No offence to Kaplan reps out there, but quant questions always seemed harder on CATs after Kaplan prep questions).

I need to improve my Q performance. I was thinking of getting some material specifically for Q, go through that, take a CAT in the middle of it, go through shared questions on Gmatclub, and finally take 5 CATS in the last 10 days(1 day for test, 1 for extensive review) to round up.
I am thinking of purchasing some MGmat material for Quant, and purchase a set of CATs from either Veritas or MGmat.

Would you suggest an alternative approach of studying? I would also be very grateful if you would recommend other publications' materials you believe would be more helpful.

Much obliged.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi ksoydanyavas,

I have some suggestions about your study plans going forward:

1) Make sure to get some Verbal practice in while you're working to improve your Quant skills. GMAT skills do fade over time and we should not take for granted that you will naturally score a V40 the next time you take the GMAT... unless you study a bit to keep those Verbal skills sharp.
2) Waiting until the very end of your studies to take all of those CATs is NOT a good idea. You'll be better served taking 1 FULL CAT/week and doing your best to make sure that you make each CAT experience match up with your Official GMAT in as many ways as possible. You're likely to discover little improvements along the way that will help make it easier for you to score higher on Test Day and little issues that you have to fix (and having more time to fix them is preferable to trying to discover and fix them all in the final 10 days).

Have you selected some new study materials yet or are you still seeking out some Quant-specific resources?

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

ksoydanyavas · Answer

Hello Rich,

Thanks for the valuable advice. I was thinking of keeping my verbal skills sharp along the way too. 
I see your point about the CATs. Perhaps i will get even more CATs and take one per week and still take 5 in the last 10 days. The reason why i wanted to do this was to keep my self "in shape for the matchday experience". I did this the last time and i believe it helped me a lot with timing, endurance, awareness etc. As you stated, GMAT skills do fade away otherwise. I was aiming to keep those d-day skills live. A whole day for extensive review was also effective in fixing problems.

No, I haven't picked out any spesific material yet. So i would be grateful for any suggestions for quant spesifically and the CATs too.

All the best,

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi ksoydanyavas,

Taking 5 CATs in 10 days is still NOT a good idea - you're far more likely to 'burn out' than benefit from such a task. You also need time between CATs to properly review, do additional practice problems, etc. - that schedule would not allow for the necessary "between CATs" work.

What CATs have you used so far?

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

ksoydanyavas · Answer

Hello Rich,

Thanks again. Okay, then i will spread them out in my program. So far i have only used 6 CATs from Kaplan Premier 2015, the free MGmat CAT and the the two GmatPrep CATs that were given when registered for the exam.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi ksoydanyavas,

For additional CATs, I would recommend that you use any of the following: the 'block' of CATs from MGMAT or Veritas and the 2 additional CATs that you can purchase from www.mba.com.

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

ksoydanyavas · Answer

Thank you Rich. I will do that. Any suggestions for quant prep materials?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi ksoydanyavas,

With a Q44, you were likely great on the straight-forward "math" questions that you saw on Test Day, but you missed out on lots of 'strategy'-based points (likely a bunch of DS questions) and you probably made a few little mistakes throughout the section.

Based on everything that you've described, I think that the EMPOWERgmat Quant Score Booster would help you considerably. Most of our clients complete that Study Plan in under a month, so the time commitment wouldn't be too intense. We have a variety of free resources on our site (www.empowergmat.com), so you can 'test out' the Course before setting up an account.

If you have any additional questions, then you can feel free to contact me directly.

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

ksoydanyavas · Answer

Thanks a lot Rich!

KarishmaB · Answer

Depending on your situation, I have the following advice for you: You should check out the free trial of our on-demand course here: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/gmat-on-demand/ See if you like our philosophy and method of teaching. The on-demand curse gives you a one year access to your own account which has the following resources and features: 12 lessons in High Definition video 24 hours of actual video play time Viewable on your computer (PC or Mac), iPad, and iPhone 12 lesson booklets 12 computer-adaptive practice tests Online student account with study plan Live instructor help seven days a week 3,000 GMAT practice problems and solutions It includes a 30-day self-study system designed to get you the best GMAT score. The practice tests will be a part of the package. Alongside, you should check out my blog posts too (link given in my post above) - they are mostly written for people like you - scoring around Q45 and aiming Q50.

So i scored 680... Expert help needed.

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