My 1st Real GMAT Test Was Today :)

Question

Hi all, Today I took my GMAT test for the first time, after 3 months of self study. bottom line, got great score, but I think I will retake the exam and try to push it even higher. The TAs there were nice old grannies, but very strict on the rules, so they sent me into the exam without taking a cup of water because I was already scanned

It took me the first 3 questions to start up my brain, but after that it went pretty good. The conclusions I have for my next exam is to focus on improving my SC timing to buy myself extra time for RC and CR. Also to fine tune my Quant timing. I finished with 12 extra minutes, but guessed 2 questions along the way because I felt I was wasting too much time. Hope next time will be even better, and good luck to you all!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi almogsr,

I'm glad to hear that your GMAT turned out well today. Since you're planning to retest, before I can offer you any advice for this next phase of your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on this Official Score, how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) What was your Official GMAT Score (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
2) How many hours do you typically study each week?
3) What study materials have you used so far?
4) On what dates did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
5) What is your overall goal score?
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
7) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

You might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Thank you for sharing. Do you need any advice on how to prepare for your retake?

almogsr · Answer

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!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

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

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