Hi,
I have taken the GMAT twice in the last 6 months, scoring the same 660 twice. (I have taken GMAT once earlier in 2019 but cancelled the terrible score I got.) I guess that two 660s are better than one, for this represents that I did not give up. But I wonder what did I really gain.
Devoting over two years in GMAT preparation, I feel slightly disappointed. One reason is that I believe sincere prep, perseverance, resilience, practice, and review help us to improve and gain mastery but I cannot support this principle with my GMAT scores. I scored V33,Q48 last October and V31,Q49 yesterday. Between these two tests, I reviewed concepts and practiced strategies from
Veritas Prep Books,
PowerScore CR, RC Bible and GMATClub. I took several mock tests from
Veritas Prep,
Kaplan, and Princeton Review. I was scoring in the range from 650 to 720. Once I started scoring 700s in
Kaplan and Princeton Review, I chose to take the real test. I targeted a score from 690 to 740. I booked the test two days prior to the appointment. Although, on the test day, I felt a little nervous, I was able to keep my nerves. I improved my quant score from 48 to 49, and IR score from 2 to 6 while reduced my verbal score from 33 to 31. In the verbal section, I worked with strategies and concepts in mind. I applied the pacing strategies that I had learned from the
Manhattan Prep and practiced in mocks. Yet the verbal score proved so unrewarding. How much of GMAT would really pays off!
To continue preparing for another attempt at GMAT is to feel rather frustrated after preparing so much from 2018 to now yet improving only little or nothing in verbal reasoning. I am not scared of another less-than-targeted score. I am not scared of another round of hard work but at my wit's end.
Nevertheless, I improved my reading and quantitive skills a lot. I can see this in my daily life. I feel great about this. This has strengthened my faith in the process of learning. I have started to love reading books. My Goodreads list has over 50 read books in the last one and half years. I have started to pursue various online courses, which I was not able to comprehend so well, failing to develop sufficient interest to finish the course. I feel that my situation is only going to continue to improve as I move towards my goal of pursuing MBA.
A friend who joined me in this GMAT journey last year and scored a 740 suggested another way to deal with my current situation. I think his suggestion is sensible but I'm not sure how it will turn out. He advised me to take another GMAT in the next few months before another cycle of admission begins, without preparing for the exam or targeting a 700 score. He observed that I studied every possible concept and strategy but on the test day, I am not able to bring that out in my performance somehow. I agree with him. His suggestion rests upon the assumption that by not preparing and not taking any stress, I will be able to take the test with a more calm mind, bringing the best out of my preparation already done so far. Even if I fail to do so, two 660s are already there to apply for the admissions. Indeed 660 is not a bad score to apply with.
I am interested to move on to the next steps in the admission process. I want to get over with GMAT prep now and approach applications more open-mindedly. Only if admission cycles were not ending this time, I would have taken this direction immediately. Since I have so much time (based on the ideal timeline of MBA admissions) before I can take the application process ahead, I am bound to think of more ways to approach MBA applications. My friend is applying for another job. I don't want to go in that direction but focus on building a strong candidacy despite of a not-so-brilliant score.
I invite your comments, suggestions and conventional or unconventional ideas. I come from a middle class Indian society. Applicants coming from this personal background often lack imagination in planning a career. They expect MBA to land them to high salaried jobs. I don't blame them. In a place where jobs are scarce and one has to struggle so much to gain social mobility, high salaried jobs is all they would want above all. Although I am not very different from those kind of applicants, I don't want to fall in the same line. That's the reason I come here to write this. I hope to gain better understanding and motivation.
Thank you.