Done with GMAT - 710 to 730

Question

As some know I am a retakter. I scored a 48, 39 last year for a 710.

I decided to retake because I realized I missed out on my verbal, I really thought I could have done so much better.

I studied math too, keeping up to date, in fact, my last 4 GMATPREPS were 49 Q. I have never gotten lower than 47, and that was once.

For some reason this morning, I just could not do math. The first problem, unfortunately was in a weak area of mine. I never really recovered.

At the break, I knew math was very very iffy.

On verbal, I glided.

The score popped up. 46 on the math shocked me, but there stood the 45 on the verbal. What could have been is what really bugs me. I felt I was easily a 750/760 taker. My verbal went from 39 to 45.

In all, the score is not a big increase, likely not enough to make a difference. But I retook it because I knew I really underachieved in verbal, which turned out to be very true. I made vast improvement there, and am willing to help out those who seek same improvement.

On math, I choked, nothing really to say.

Schools, I know, only look at the highest score. But as an engineer I hope they dont see the big difference in verbal and math as odd; but rather a 45 for an engineer as a strength. I hope they may even look at my 48 on the first gmat, to see, the 46 was perhaps not reflective of my quantitavie abilities.

WHen i have more time I will post my challenge scores and GMAT PREP scores. Please do not use my challenge scores as a correlation though, you will see I did well on them, so dont think if you are not at my scores you are below a 46. I simply just choked. So i am a little hestitant to post those scores.

Thoughts on what schools might think?

gmatnub · Answer

Congrats on the nice score. Your math dipped a bit, but 45 verbal is amazing.

buffdaddy · Answer

Hi Irishspring,

hey 730 followed by a 710 is a great performance! I think your experience proves that the GMAT as much a test of "on the day" nerves as it is a skill related test.

In my opinion 730 does look better than a 710 and I think your GMAT score should be good enough not to warrant yet another retake. Focus on those essays!

Can you shed some light on the verbal part? How difficult was it? How different was it to OG/GMATPrep and what you recomment a guy like me do in the last two week to make sure i get a great verbal scorelike yours.

I await your test score update.

-buff

mymba99 · Answer

Awesome performance ! Congratulations! :-D

irishspring · Answer

Here is my debrief. Scores for reference at bottom.

Math 
I doubt anyone wants advice from someone who went from a 48 Q to a 46 Q. But you can see my scores did not indicate that would happen. I really think, it was just an issue of my brain being broken for those 75 minutes; I missed the first question, and stumbled. In terms of how difficult the math was, I think its very comparable to what you might see on the Gmatprep. My strategy, ultimately, is to not spend too much time on odds, etc, I think paid off. I saw a couple, but not too diffucult. I really think its important to have your basics now, and get through them quickly. Be comfortable too. I'm going to place more empahsis for future test takers, on mimicking as much as possible, the test case conditions. And I am largley talking about the pad. This sounds strange, but its longer than an 8.5 by 11, and this played with my mind a bit, because when vertical it hit the screen and overlapped. It was a bit uncomfortable, I moved it to be perpendicular, and this seemed odd. Little distractions, yes, but might be worth getting same pad and color of pen (they gave me black), with thickness. In terms of study materials, I'll be honest, I think im a 48-50 math guy, not 46, so this advice applies to that level. Stay away from all the crap, Princeton Review, etc. Its not complicated, it does nothing. I think all you need (if you have firm grasph of basics and all types of questions asked) are the challenges and GMATPREPS.

Verbal 
I think people will care more about what i write here, since I went from 39 to a 45. Let me say, first, I am a english speaker. That said, I really believe the ability to do critical reasoning and reading comprehenion of ENGLISH speakers is the most difficult thing to improve. It is really god given talent, GROOMED, by reading. In the longrun, I think you can improve these areas, by reading. I read people on here getting LSAT CR books, etc. I did 0 problems, on this retake, of CR and RC, that were not GMATPREP. Absolutely 0. The large increase is simple. I made sure to get the SC nailed down, like I had not before. How to do this? Again, very simple. Manhatten Correction Guide, and the SC1000. I did all 1000 SC questions, overkill, perhaps. Whats odd is, I could not tell you everytime the rule being broken, yet I began to sense what seemed right. Now I know you are thinking, 'hey you say you read alot and do well on CR and RC, how come you cant realize the SC mistakes though withouth studying?'. Its simple GMAT english is not something I am groomed well in, my education in basic grammar was paltry (shout out to the 'progressive' education types). I was allowed to do book reports on the Berenstein Bears in 6th grade. Not untill high school, did I pick up reading, still I had very poor grammer skill, and alot of what we read does not follow correct grammar. So, to improve your Verbal (from 39 to 45), as I have done, it is imperative you get great at SC, your accuracy will go UP, plus (and this is real important), you will get them in less time, giving your more time for the CR and RC (which is very very important). On this GMAT, I found the verbal to be very in line with what I came across on the GMATPREP, I want to say a little easier, I guessed, slightly on about 3 questions. I breezed throught it, and had 9 minutes to spend on the last two questions.

Conclusion 
I'm glad I retook it. I really did it cause I saw potential to really improve my score in verbal, which turned out to be correct. I fell apart on math. But I dont have that feeling of regret like I did after the 710, like I missed out on something better cause I didn't work hard enough. This time, I regret simply having 75 minutes of test anxiety, something thats hard to feel too bad about.

I'd really appreciate your thoughts on what you all think of my new score, any difference at all? As an engineer with a 45 I think thats a strength, but 46 on math will get questions.

I sent my scores to Harvard, Wharton, Northwestern, Cornell, and Duke.

Prep Scores:
GP #1: 47, 44 (730)
GP #2: 49, 45 (760)
GP #1 (R): 49, 45 (760)
GP #2 (R): 49, 42 (750)
GP #1 (R): 49, 47 (770)

Challenge Date Score
1 20-Apr 28
2 20-Apr 27
3 24-Apr 28
4 25-Apr 29
5 26-Apr 21
6 28-Apr 22
7 29-Apr 21
8 30-Apr 21
9 03-May 25
10 05-May 30
11 05-May 26
12 07-May 20
13 09-May 28
14 12-May 25
15 13-May 21
16 21-May 30
17 24-May 25
18 25-May 24
19 28-May 27
20 29-May 27
21 03-Jun 33
22 05-Jun 30

ko · Answer

This is my opinion, but I don't think you need to worry about the 46 on quant. Now if you don't feel good about the 46 for your personal satisfaction, that is valid. But I think saying "46 on math will get questions" because you're an engineer is a little too critical. 46 is still a great score, and I don't think any adcom will think it is too weak. Even they understand that the GMAT scores can fluctuate on any given day, so if it's pretty good (i.e. 46), and the overall is a 730 (which is great!), I wouldn't worry about it. Just my 2 cents.

bsd_lover · Answer

Irish, many congratulations. You were always going to be a 700+ taker, it was just a matter of how much over and 730 is pretty good. You can use high Q and high V in different tests at a place like Tuck, which uses your highest Q of all attempts and highest V of all attempts (which when you add up 49 45 --> 760 .. holy sh*t)...

ps. you may have forgotten you challenge scores on ur last post.

ps. you may have forgotten you challenge scores on ur last post.

irishspring · Answer

thanks BSD.

Scores are on there.
its the challenge number, then day of month, then month, then challenge score.

WHen you retake BSD?

altaurus1 · Answer

Congrats and the debrief on verbal was good.

bsd_lover · Answer

I hit it on the 19th, so not long. I'd give an arm and a leg for a 45 V

suyashjhawar · Answer

great score....all the best for applications....great verbal tips

dushver · Answer

Hey great score and all the best for the college hunt!!

barfer · Answer

Well done, irishspring!

sm332 · Answer

well done mate ... even though you didnt get the kind of improvement you were looking for 730 is a very nice score.

I am hoping to move from 710 to the 760 territory - hopefully will get there.

jimmyjamesdonkey · Answer

It seems the gmat scales must have changed recently....I'm noticing more and more that a 47Q/38V would have given many a 700, but now just a 690 for those at that level. Un-fricken believable.

terp26 · Answer

My first attempt at the test was a 46Q and 38V for 680 so that makes sense.

Tarmac · Answer

I dunno why they change the scales like that, it only pisses people off. The actual GMAT score is a black art anyway, they can score it however they want and you can't argue. Why do they need to change it and open themselves to questioning?

Adam6378 · Answer

Nice debrief and great score.

When you mention,

"I dunno why they change the scales like that, it only pisses people off. The actual GMAT score is a black art anyway, they can score it however they want and you can't argue. Why do they need to change it and open themselves to questioning?"

Are they ranking us against the entire pool of test takers or just a portion of the population? If they divide up the population somehow, wouldn't that reflect different percentiles in spite of having the same breakdown? Granted, I'm not stats expert.

Tarmac · Answer

What I mean is, there are some scoring data which we cannot question as GMAT admins don't release any detailed info, namely, what percentile does a final score fall under this year (we accept what they say was the distribution), and individual scoring (we also take our score on the real GMAT at face value).

They can also say that last year a 730 was 90th %, but this year it is only 88th % because the scores were higher this year. We also have to accept that as we have no basis to argue.

However, when they say this year a Vxx and Qyy combine for a 730 when last year it clearly was a 720, that is enfuriating. Because this is something we can track.

Yahsek · Answer

Congratulations on the improvement, irishspring. I don't think schools will question your quantitative ability. You're an engineer and already had a 48 under your belt before your second attempt. That's what, 85th percentile? Don't sweat it!

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Done with GMAT - 710 to 730

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