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mtvmtv
Current Student
Joined: 08 Nov 2020
Last visit: 16 Feb 2025
Posts: 12
Given Kudos: 107
Location: France
Concentration: Strategy, International Business
Schools: Kellogg '24 (A) Ross '24 (A$$$$) IESE '24 (A)
GMAT 1: 730 Q47 V42
GPA: 2.7
08 Nov 2020, 07:09
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hello everyone,
From looking through a few posts in this sub-forum, I saw that most people either share their experience post taking their final test or address concrete questions. I, on the other hand, would like to use this thread as a mini-diary to share my experiences preparing for and taking my first GMAT test (don't worry I won't spam here and probably just edit this first post after completing my official GMAT exam).
About me
I studied business and already completed a B.Sc. & M.Sc. program and worked in management consulting for a bit over two years now. I have had a somewhat uncommon starting point post M.Sc. degree: I barely managed to finish my high school degree in my first attempt, completed my B.Sc. degree with a somewhat mediocre to bad GPA and later was among the top 10% of my M.Sc. program at a reputable university (which did not require a GMAT at the time though). This made my first application phase for consultancies very difficult as I did not get many chances to even introduce myself in person due to my low GPAs earlier in my academic career while the other top 10% of my M.Sc. degree were pretty much invited to most of the big consultancies. But I don't want to complain about this too much as I brought this upon myself due to lack of focus and ambition at the time. Luckily I still managed to find an amazing company for my first years but am now looking for another challenge which confronts me with my legacy issue of a low overall GPA.
By now, I have been able to connect with people from consultancies I am interested in and should have much higher chances of getting past the first screening compared to my Graduate job search. Despite that, I would like to further increase my chances of getting several relevant interviews by offering another "proof" on paper that my high school and B.Sc. performances do not reflect my intellect. Hence, I decided to sign up for the GMAT and registered myself for a test date end of January. This gives me 3 months to prepare for this (1 month vacation, 2 months working full-time in mgmt. consulting -> no crazy GMAT hours possible). At least I'm not missing out on any social fun since Corona ruins all kinds of potential fun at the moment (at least over here in Europe).
Base score
I have now done a first prep test to assess my base score which is as follows:
610 | 39 Quant (37th percentile), 34 Verbal (71th percentile)
According to my research this should reflect a 550 Quant & 650 verbal score.
This result at first really surprised my because I am generally much stronger on the quantitative side and have often gotten the feedback that I am really fast at mental calculations (probably not in comparison to some of you but this was just some feedback over the years). Upon further reflection and looking at my results it seems very clear to me that my quant result might be a bit skewed by lack of basic formulas and concepts which I never really bothered to properly learn in high school or B.Sc. and probably just studied in my M.Sc. for single exams and forgot about them right after. This is why I expect my Quant score to improve significantly (once every second mistake is not because I didn't recall the formulas for the lengths of the sides of triangles etc....).
Target score
700 min., better 720+
Due to the fact that I have some experience in mgmt. consulting and already received my first promotion, I don't think a GMAT that isn't generally considered "high" would benefit me much and I could then just focus on selling my story and project experience. For the GMAT to have some added value in my applications, I think it should be at least 700 or better clearly above that (e.g. 720+). Considering my base score of 610 with many easily avoidable mistakes in the quant section, I hope this is a feasible target to achieve in my 3 months sprint to a GMAT. Of course it would also be good to already have a sufficient score for most reputable MBA schools in case my future employer sponsors MBA programs (only scenario in which I would do one considering I have two business degrees already).
Now I look forward to getting started! I am already appreciating this community a lot from the few hours I have spent reading on here.
Best regards,
mtvmtv
From looking through a few posts in this sub-forum, I saw that most people either share their experience post taking their final test or address concrete questions. I, on the other hand, would like to use this thread as a mini-diary to share my experiences preparing for and taking my first GMAT test (don't worry I won't spam here and probably just edit this first post after completing my official GMAT exam).
About me
I studied business and already completed a B.Sc. & M.Sc. program and worked in management consulting for a bit over two years now. I have had a somewhat uncommon starting point post M.Sc. degree: I barely managed to finish my high school degree in my first attempt, completed my B.Sc. degree with a somewhat mediocre to bad GPA and later was among the top 10% of my M.Sc. program at a reputable university (which did not require a GMAT at the time though). This made my first application phase for consultancies very difficult as I did not get many chances to even introduce myself in person due to my low GPAs earlier in my academic career while the other top 10% of my M.Sc. degree were pretty much invited to most of the big consultancies. But I don't want to complain about this too much as I brought this upon myself due to lack of focus and ambition at the time. Luckily I still managed to find an amazing company for my first years but am now looking for another challenge which confronts me with my legacy issue of a low overall GPA.
By now, I have been able to connect with people from consultancies I am interested in and should have much higher chances of getting past the first screening compared to my Graduate job search. Despite that, I would like to further increase my chances of getting several relevant interviews by offering another "proof" on paper that my high school and B.Sc. performances do not reflect my intellect. Hence, I decided to sign up for the GMAT and registered myself for a test date end of January. This gives me 3 months to prepare for this (1 month vacation, 2 months working full-time in mgmt. consulting -> no crazy GMAT hours possible). At least I'm not missing out on any social fun since Corona ruins all kinds of potential fun at the moment (at least over here in Europe).
Base score
I have now done a first prep test to assess my base score which is as follows:
610 | 39 Quant (37th percentile), 34 Verbal (71th percentile)
According to my research this should reflect a 550 Quant & 650 verbal score.
This result at first really surprised my because I am generally much stronger on the quantitative side and have often gotten the feedback that I am really fast at mental calculations (probably not in comparison to some of you but this was just some feedback over the years). Upon further reflection and looking at my results it seems very clear to me that my quant result might be a bit skewed by lack of basic formulas and concepts which I never really bothered to properly learn in high school or B.Sc. and probably just studied in my M.Sc. for single exams and forgot about them right after. This is why I expect my Quant score to improve significantly (once every second mistake is not because I didn't recall the formulas for the lengths of the sides of triangles etc....).
Target score
700 min., better 720+
Due to the fact that I have some experience in mgmt. consulting and already received my first promotion, I don't think a GMAT that isn't generally considered "high" would benefit me much and I could then just focus on selling my story and project experience. For the GMAT to have some added value in my applications, I think it should be at least 700 or better clearly above that (e.g. 720+). Considering my base score of 610 with many easily avoidable mistakes in the quant section, I hope this is a feasible target to achieve in my 3 months sprint to a GMAT. Of course it would also be good to already have a sufficient score for most reputable MBA schools in case my future employer sponsors MBA programs (only scenario in which I would do one considering I have two business degrees already).
Now I look forward to getting started! I am already appreciating this community a lot from the few hours I have spent reading on here.
Best regards,
mtvmtv
shameekv1989
GMAT 3: 720 Q50 V38
Posts: 816
08 Nov 2020, 13:58
Kudos
Bookmarks
Welcome mtvmtv to this fabulous community. Your starting score is great. To be honest, I feel improving on Quant is much easier than improving on Verbal, especially if you are a non-native speaker. But V34 as a starting score looks amazing. With 3 months of preparation, I am pretty sure you can do away with 720+ very easily.
GMAT Quant is a little bit tricky and requires you to understand the basic traps that GMAT incorporates in its questions. As you understand them, you would be able to improve rather very quickly to late 40's.
Keep posting updates!! And all the best with your journey!!
GMAT Quant is a little bit tricky and requires you to understand the basic traps that GMAT incorporates in its questions. As you understand them, you would be able to improve rather very quickly to late 40's.
Keep posting updates!! And all the best with your journey!!
08 Nov 2020, 19:58
Kudos
Bookmarks
mtvmtv - Welcome to GMAT Club and thank you for sharing your story. Please note that the "Share GMAT Experience" forum is reserved only for test-takers who have taken the GMAT and thereby are interested to share a look into their GMAT journey.
