Result: 670 (Q49, V32) -- not bad, not great, could be worse

Question

Hi, everyone.

I am mentally very tired of GMAT and I still feel exhausted even though I took the exam yesterday. I studied very hard for it, especially the last couple of weeks. I've got what I think is reasonably good score: 670 overall (88%), Q49(90%), V32(66%). If I was a little bit lucky on verbal, I could have gotten 35 on verbal. But even with V35, I believe I would still be @690. To get 700+ I would have to clear 36 in verbal, I think. Or score 50 in Quant. Both are possibility separately. But a lot of things needed to right for me in order to get 700... But that's ok. Going in I knew that the lowest score I could accept was 650. Anything below would have been disaster and would have meant reschedulling for another GMAT exam and spending 6-8 more weeks in misery. 700 would have been a nice bonus. Frankly I don't know if I really need that 700 score in order to achieve what I want. In contrast to a lot of people here, I am not going to apply to top-10 schools. Not even to the second tier school. My school is currently ranked somewehre between 25 and 50, depending on what source you choose. Normally, 670 would be more than enough to clear the comittee. But... but the tricky part is that I want to apply to Ph.D. program, not MBA. Still, I secretly hoped that somehow I would magically find a way to get through the verbal in one piece and get V37 (the score I got on GMATPrep several times in the last couple of weeks.) 

To all you non-native English speakers, I tip my hat off to you!!! I am very patient guy and I know how to work hard. But even with all my patience and experience, in order for me to score 700+ on GAMT, I would have to shift to the next gear and completely take couple of monhs out of my live and slave like I have never done before. I cam close and I now know what it takes. But I don't know if I am ready for this sacrifice. I am not that young, I have a great familiy, I have a child, I have an interesting career... There so many things in life that are better than GMAT... I am not disappointed, no. I am not even sad. Because I know I gave everything I had yesterday...

Finally, my advise to all of you (especially to those who were not born with English as their native language): if you want to clear 700 barrier, then study, study, study. Like there is no tomorow...

u2lover · Answer

great score!!! congratulations!!! I hope it gets you where you'd like to go... the mean for many PhD programs is 680, so you are in a good shape!!! :band

yes... I completely agree with you that there are so many things in life that don't even stand close to GMAT and all the sacrifices we make to achieve a good score are endless when you are not a native speaker... I seriously think studying is a road to success in this horrendous test, but sometimes I question how much more I can study and see a valuable result??? The biggest dilemma is figuring out when return on investment (your time studying) reaches its peak...

haas_mba07 · Answer

v1rok, Great Score buddy! And more happy for you for your great spirit and attitude... gave it your best and thats the way to do it!

If there is one thing I learn from the whole thing is that GMAT is not the end of your life... there are more things to life than GMAT! Very-very happy for you and wish you the best for your apps!! Stick around and help the rest of us though... :wave

v1rok · Answer

Thanks! I learned a lot from all of you. By no means it was an easy road. I used to be young and tireless and everything seemed so easy in life. That is probably the best time (from physiological point of view) to try to take your GMAT score to the maximum possible level, somewhere in the mid- to upper 20s. With age, in my opinion, it becomes more and more difficult. Especially if you get away from the school environment for a while. To me the test was not about the smarts. Given time, I would have probably solved 99.99% of Math problems and 90-95% of verbal questions. I know English. I like English. Unfortunately, GMAT does not care whether you can solve (or not solve) a partcular problem in general. GMAT is all about how you perform under stress. That's what top MBA schools want to know about their applicants. That's what GMAT was designed for. I am not trying to take away anything from anybody. On the contrary, I admire all of you. Those who got 700+, those who got 650, and those who got slightly less. Everybody is different. But the great part about GMAT is that you learn something about yourself during this process. Something that you would not have learned otherwise.... But enough philosophy... (That's probably because my wife took me to see The Little Miss Sunshine last night. Great movie, by the way.) 

Anyway, I got what I needed to get out of GMAT. I wanted to prove, first of all to myself, that I can do it and that I can solve those damn simple-but-quirky math problems in less than 2 minutes each. Though I have enough heavy artillery in my resume to carry me through application process, I might now start working on plan B, just in case. Not because 670 is not high enough (I think it should be enough), but because I am very selective in the schools I am putting on my list. And the other school that I might decide to apply to is reguiring GRE as prerequisite... By the way, what is GRE equivalent of 700 in GMAT?

jaynayak · Answer

Congratulations v1rok.

All the best for your applications.

buzzgaurav · Answer

Congratulations v1rok. :-D

670 is a good score by all means. You can apply to most of the good B-schools and even get in the top if your application part is top-notch. Well, best of luck for that and stay around.

rhyme · Answer

Congrats man! Great score!

 https://img148.imageshack.us/img148/2918/silverawardv2zj9.jpg

v1rok · Answer

Thanks, rhyme for the trophy! Though it is a silver one, I am satisfied. It is nice when you are among people who can understand you...

Anyway, I am starting to enjoy life again. Will go on vacation next week. I will take a few months off and then probably start thinking about GRE. 

Anybody here has done both GMAT and GRE? Which one is easier/harder? Any interesting observations about similarities/dissimilarities? Strategies? Or is there a forum like this one devoted to GRE?

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Result: 670 (Q49, V32) -- not bad, not great, could be worse

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