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16 Jan 2007, 18:01
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Hello Friends...A rather long email, but I think is an important one -- The administrative things for the GMAT test.
While you've all seen GMAT experience emails with study tips and resources, my experience could help you not to miss out on
an important aspect of preparation and exam taking -- Administrative requirements !!
Let me make a long story short (well..it is still long) --
I am an Indian IT guy in the US (yeah..yeah..It is a tough company to be in when it comes to GMAT scores !!). I have a
GMAT score of 690 (91th percentile, Q- 91st % and V - 76th %, AWA - 6.0) from my second attempt. My first attempt was 650 (Q
77,V83, AWA 5.5) I applied to a couple of the top business schools last year. I was waitlisted, but could not get in eventually. I am going for it again this year. Of course my GMAT score was below the schools' mean for last year, which was around 700.
So one thing I wanted to do this year, is to take the GMAT again. Although, my score is not a bad one, it is not great either. I guess I can call it "just good enough" for the top schools. It is more likely to give an impression of "Okay..not a bad score; let me see what other strengths (and weaknesses) this candidate has" to the Adcom. So it is neither a green light or a red light. It is a yellow !!. BTW, my other areas are pretty normal. I mean although I have some great strengths when compared to similar candidates, it is not like I have some 10 patents or received a gold medal from the president, which could just pull the adcom's attraction like a magnet !!
Let me tell that is was tough for me to decide whether to take the GMAT again. Based on my practice test scores and the time available for preparation, I can tell for sure I am not one of those 750+ folks. My scores have most of the times hoovered around that 700-730 area and a few times it was just below the 700s. So it is a very difficult decision to decide whether to re-take it. Of course the positive thing is a higher score, say anything over > 720/730 could have helped me. The
thing I dreaded about (or were against my) re-taking were
(1) What if the score goes down. The schools will consider only the highest score. So this should not be not an issue, other than the fact that they will not be happy with the downward trend(which I think is a negetive, although the scools may say otherwise)
(2) The very fact that I was waitlisted at the top schools means that I was kinda qualified the basic requirements --
I mean the basics -- GMAT, GPA etc. etc. The adcom also provided feedback that my credentials were not a problem. So I guess it really came down to "Sorry mate..You got lost in the crowd" !!
(3) Okay..the most dreaded option. My score goes up, say to 700 or 710, but the verbal and Quant scores are flipped!!. I just did not want that to happen. Although I am not a native English speaker, I am pretty good with English and communication is one of my strongest areas, if not the strongest. And an AWA of 6.0 means, I am not a total dumb when it comes to verbal stuff. So the question is -- what if the score goes up, but my scores are swapped I know even a small increase in verbal can move the overall score a lot. I think I read a post(may be here or elsewhere) that someone's score is over 700 with some 98+% in
verbal and a very low (I think in the bigger 60s or 70s of the percentile)Quant
(4) I take the test, see I am not satisfied with my performance and cancel my scores.Ummmmm..Not as bad as the (3) or (1) above, but still I need to come up with explanations to tell why I cancelled the scores.
The 3rd point above is the one I dreaded most !!. In anycase, I wanted to be truthful and was planning to submit the new scores. Since I am a re-applicant, I don't have to submit my scores. So I could have always attempted the GMAT and if the scores were not satisfactory, I could have just kept silent. But I felt that the ethically right thing to do is to present the new scores (even if it goes down).
Okay after all the thinking and going back and forth I decided to study hard and do it again. (dunno if that was a stupid decsion to start with).
I increased my focus on Quant (to ensure my quant score does not go below the Q49) and my verbal (to take it anywhere into the higher 30s or lower 40s). I added lots of new materials for studying, did several tests, took the challenges, had better strategies for time management etc. etc. Even after all this I never became a 750+ guy. I was still the 710-730 fella!. And yeah, verbal was pulling me down most of the times (did I say I am good with English ?!!. I think may be list several of us, not good with GMAT english.).
I read a post (sticky) that someone went from 720 to 770. Hats off to him/her !! . Let me be honest. As I said before, I am not one of those 750+ guys
Okay..I guess now you all know(and some have experienced yourself) what goes into one's mind when considering re-taking the GMAT. "How much is enough ?" and "How much can I muster ?" !! "What can I do if (a), (b) or (c) happens?".
Now the climax, or rather anti-climax !!
I scheduled my test for last week. Everything went as scripted. I am not a morning person and I took the previous two attempts for the first time-slot of the day. This time, I picked a time later in the day. I took a couple of days off from work. Focused and studied hard and at the same time tried to relax myself as much as I can. The evening before the exam, I printed out the map to the exam location, drove to the place, checked it out.The night before the exam, I watched a movie, took my allergey medication, slept pretty well. Woke up..had a good breakfast, went to the grocery store and picked up a pepsi, a banana,a cereal bar and a pack of halls menthols. Wow..everything went great, till the moment I stepped into the exam center.
I went into the test center. The admin told that I am a bit early. Then came the moment of truth......
Since I am not a US citizen, I was asked to present my Passport or Green Card. When I took my first two attepmts with the previous test administration center (ETS ?) I don't remember this requirement. I remember showing only my State ID and License. (May be it did..I don't remember). So I did not even think about this passport requirement.I should have read the confirmation email more closely. I am not the kind of person who would miss this kind of things. I usually give enough importance to these things. But since I have taken the exam twice,I did not read this single sentence that was the last sentence of the page.
When the test admin asked for it, I was stunned. I had sent my passport and green card to my visa agent to get an international visa for another
country. I was supposed to get it only that afternoon. I tried all the tricks in my bag with the test admin -- Pleaded, argued, told that I took it without the passport my previous two times. But the test admin was clear and showed me the official documents that requires a person to show the passport if he/she is taking the test in a country other than his own.
I called up my visa agent and he said that the courier will come in only in the afternoon and I can get it only after 2:00 PM. Checked the test admin, if that is fine, for which the answer was an obvious "No".."We will close by 4:00 and your exam is 31/2 hours". I was suggested to talk to GMAC and get a waiver or soemething of that sort. Although I knew it was not going
to help, I gave that a try and called GMAC. The customer support gentleman read the requirements from the official document
I asked him the dumb question -- Can I take it tomorrow?
"Yeah, but you will forfeit this fee and that will be a new appointment"..Uhhh.."Thanks for the information.Good Bye!!"
At that moment, I dunno something told me, that this is what God wants me to do (yeah.I beleive in god) . May be God does not want me to take GMAT again, because I will mess it up. Or may be the evil is stopping me from taking the GMAT,because it was my day and I am clearly in line for a 740+ score. I beleived it was God doing somethign for my good and
started my long drive home. My home is only a few miles from the testing center, but it seemed to take a looooong time.
Why am I sharing this to you all ? (a) Re-taking the GMAT is a big decision and ensure you put enough thoughts before taking the decision (b) the most important one I want to emphasize-- Ensure you get all the administrative stuff covered for taking the GMAT. I mean things like ID requirements, address/directions of testing center, taking enough (and right) food to eat etc. These things might sound so trivial, but could mean that one can end up missing the appointment or just having a bad test experience and hence lower scores.
I was expecting to send a "740+" mail and Thank you all for keeping a wonderful forum and tell all about my preparations. But I am sending this mail in a different context now. Anyway, this is a great forum and deserves a lot of credit. People helping one another for a single cause. Just Great.
The effort, the money, the time put into this effort does not make me feel bad. But the thought that all those hours were time away from family, just kills me. I robbed my kid a few hundred hours of time with Dad for a botched attempt at GMAT!! That thought kills me the most.
I am *not* taking the GMAT again. That's where I stand now. I am moving on with other parts of my application and moving on with my life.
Good Luck all !!
Regards..
While you've all seen GMAT experience emails with study tips and resources, my experience could help you not to miss out on
an important aspect of preparation and exam taking -- Administrative requirements !!
Let me make a long story short (well..it is still long) --
I am an Indian IT guy in the US (yeah..yeah..It is a tough company to be in when it comes to GMAT scores !!). I have a
GMAT score of 690 (91th percentile, Q- 91st % and V - 76th %, AWA - 6.0) from my second attempt. My first attempt was 650 (Q
77,V83, AWA 5.5) I applied to a couple of the top business schools last year. I was waitlisted, but could not get in eventually. I am going for it again this year. Of course my GMAT score was below the schools' mean for last year, which was around 700.
So one thing I wanted to do this year, is to take the GMAT again. Although, my score is not a bad one, it is not great either. I guess I can call it "just good enough" for the top schools. It is more likely to give an impression of "Okay..not a bad score; let me see what other strengths (and weaknesses) this candidate has" to the Adcom. So it is neither a green light or a red light. It is a yellow !!. BTW, my other areas are pretty normal. I mean although I have some great strengths when compared to similar candidates, it is not like I have some 10 patents or received a gold medal from the president, which could just pull the adcom's attraction like a magnet !!
Let me tell that is was tough for me to decide whether to take the GMAT again. Based on my practice test scores and the time available for preparation, I can tell for sure I am not one of those 750+ folks. My scores have most of the times hoovered around that 700-730 area and a few times it was just below the 700s. So it is a very difficult decision to decide whether to re-take it. Of course the positive thing is a higher score, say anything over > 720/730 could have helped me. The
thing I dreaded about (or were against my) re-taking were
(1) What if the score goes down. The schools will consider only the highest score. So this should not be not an issue, other than the fact that they will not be happy with the downward trend(which I think is a negetive, although the scools may say otherwise)
(2) The very fact that I was waitlisted at the top schools means that I was kinda qualified the basic requirements --
I mean the basics -- GMAT, GPA etc. etc. The adcom also provided feedback that my credentials were not a problem. So I guess it really came down to "Sorry mate..You got lost in the crowd" !!
(3) Okay..the most dreaded option. My score goes up, say to 700 or 710, but the verbal and Quant scores are flipped!!. I just did not want that to happen. Although I am not a native English speaker, I am pretty good with English and communication is one of my strongest areas, if not the strongest. And an AWA of 6.0 means, I am not a total dumb when it comes to verbal stuff. So the question is -- what if the score goes up, but my scores are swapped I know even a small increase in verbal can move the overall score a lot. I think I read a post(may be here or elsewhere) that someone's score is over 700 with some 98+% in
verbal and a very low (I think in the bigger 60s or 70s of the percentile)Quant
(4) I take the test, see I am not satisfied with my performance and cancel my scores.Ummmmm..Not as bad as the (3) or (1) above, but still I need to come up with explanations to tell why I cancelled the scores.
The 3rd point above is the one I dreaded most !!. In anycase, I wanted to be truthful and was planning to submit the new scores. Since I am a re-applicant, I don't have to submit my scores. So I could have always attempted the GMAT and if the scores were not satisfactory, I could have just kept silent. But I felt that the ethically right thing to do is to present the new scores (even if it goes down).
Okay after all the thinking and going back and forth I decided to study hard and do it again. (dunno if that was a stupid decsion to start with).
I increased my focus on Quant (to ensure my quant score does not go below the Q49) and my verbal (to take it anywhere into the higher 30s or lower 40s). I added lots of new materials for studying, did several tests, took the challenges, had better strategies for time management etc. etc. Even after all this I never became a 750+ guy. I was still the 710-730 fella!. And yeah, verbal was pulling me down most of the times (did I say I am good with English ?!!. I think may be list several of us, not good with GMAT english.).
I read a post (sticky) that someone went from 720 to 770. Hats off to him/her !! . Let me be honest. As I said before, I am not one of those 750+ guys
Okay..I guess now you all know(and some have experienced yourself) what goes into one's mind when considering re-taking the GMAT. "How much is enough ?" and "How much can I muster ?" !! "What can I do if (a), (b) or (c) happens?".
Now the climax, or rather anti-climax !!
I scheduled my test for last week. Everything went as scripted. I am not a morning person and I took the previous two attempts for the first time-slot of the day. This time, I picked a time later in the day. I took a couple of days off from work. Focused and studied hard and at the same time tried to relax myself as much as I can. The evening before the exam, I printed out the map to the exam location, drove to the place, checked it out.The night before the exam, I watched a movie, took my allergey medication, slept pretty well. Woke up..had a good breakfast, went to the grocery store and picked up a pepsi, a banana,a cereal bar and a pack of halls menthols. Wow..everything went great, till the moment I stepped into the exam center.
I went into the test center. The admin told that I am a bit early. Then came the moment of truth......
Since I am not a US citizen, I was asked to present my Passport or Green Card. When I took my first two attepmts with the previous test administration center (ETS ?) I don't remember this requirement. I remember showing only my State ID and License. (May be it did..I don't remember). So I did not even think about this passport requirement.I should have read the confirmation email more closely. I am not the kind of person who would miss this kind of things. I usually give enough importance to these things. But since I have taken the exam twice,I did not read this single sentence that was the last sentence of the page.
When the test admin asked for it, I was stunned. I had sent my passport and green card to my visa agent to get an international visa for another
country. I was supposed to get it only that afternoon. I tried all the tricks in my bag with the test admin -- Pleaded, argued, told that I took it without the passport my previous two times. But the test admin was clear and showed me the official documents that requires a person to show the passport if he/she is taking the test in a country other than his own.
I called up my visa agent and he said that the courier will come in only in the afternoon and I can get it only after 2:00 PM. Checked the test admin, if that is fine, for which the answer was an obvious "No".."We will close by 4:00 and your exam is 31/2 hours". I was suggested to talk to GMAC and get a waiver or soemething of that sort. Although I knew it was not going
to help, I gave that a try and called GMAC. The customer support gentleman read the requirements from the official document
I asked him the dumb question -- Can I take it tomorrow?
"Yeah, but you will forfeit this fee and that will be a new appointment"..Uhhh.."Thanks for the information.Good Bye!!"
At that moment, I dunno something told me, that this is what God wants me to do (yeah.I beleive in god) . May be God does not want me to take GMAT again, because I will mess it up. Or may be the evil is stopping me from taking the GMAT,because it was my day and I am clearly in line for a 740+ score. I beleived it was God doing somethign for my good and
started my long drive home. My home is only a few miles from the testing center, but it seemed to take a looooong time.
Why am I sharing this to you all ? (a) Re-taking the GMAT is a big decision and ensure you put enough thoughts before taking the decision (b) the most important one I want to emphasize-- Ensure you get all the administrative stuff covered for taking the GMAT. I mean things like ID requirements, address/directions of testing center, taking enough (and right) food to eat etc. These things might sound so trivial, but could mean that one can end up missing the appointment or just having a bad test experience and hence lower scores.
I was expecting to send a "740+" mail and Thank you all for keeping a wonderful forum and tell all about my preparations. But I am sending this mail in a different context now. Anyway, this is a great forum and deserves a lot of credit. People helping one another for a single cause. Just Great.
The effort, the money, the time put into this effort does not make me feel bad. But the thought that all those hours were time away from family, just kills me. I robbed my kid a few hundred hours of time with Dad for a botched attempt at GMAT!! That thought kills me the most.
I am *not* taking the GMAT again. That's where I stand now. I am moving on with other parts of my application and moving on with my life.
Good Luck all !!
Regards..
16 Jan 2007, 23:20
Kudos
Bookmarks
I was also turned down once because of passport, I know that feeling, I made the same mistake, My wife had taken GMAT few years ago and there was no such requirement, so I asked what's needed and she said any form of ID, thus I didn't read the directions and made a mistake of loosing 250 dollars for this stupid rule. They willl never give any waiver. I woudl say they are aholes in that respect.
Regarding your story, I had first 49Q and 36 V and I studied hard again to improve verbal but may be not that hard enough ended up with 51Q and 33V, overall went from 700 to 710.
Thus even though verbal skills may be good for someone, the time pressure to do those 41 questions makes it tough.
690 is not bad, focus on other parts of application. Focus on some thing unique, may be some ex curr (I mean you applied last year, did you do something extra in one year to try to become unique) or think of some business problems and talk about it and how you can make a difference etc.
Regarding your story, I had first 49Q and 36 V and I studied hard again to improve verbal but may be not that hard enough ended up with 51Q and 33V, overall went from 700 to 710.
Thus even though verbal skills may be good for someone, the time pressure to do those 41 questions makes it tough.
690 is not bad, focus on other parts of application. Focus on some thing unique, may be some ex curr (I mean you applied last year, did you do something extra in one year to try to become unique) or think of some business problems and talk about it and how you can make a difference etc.
17 Jan 2007, 05:21
Kudos
Bookmarks
Thanks guys ...It was very unfortunate that it happened the way it did.
But I truly thank you for putting in your different experience
Probably a wakeup call for everyone of us
Thanks!
But I truly thank you for putting in your different experience
Probably a wakeup call for everyone of us
Thanks!
