Please help:When should I retake the GMAT?

Question

I took the GMAT on Saturday and scored a 610(Q49,V25,IR8). Though, I was ok with my quant and IR score,my verbal score left me in tears. I have taken more than 10 practice tests till date and have never scored below a 33 in Verbal.

I am now determined to retake the test in a month or so.I also want to enroll myself in an online verbal course which might help me to score higher(I actually enrolled in a very reputed GMAT preparatory course in my city,but it did not help me much). I know that enrolling in a course alone would not do the magic but I am mentally prepared to work hard.I am prepared to work very very very hard for reaching my dream score of 760.I am ready to put in my 100%(or even 300%).

Experts please help.

Thanks a lot in advance.

P.S I did my test well actually.I had 1.2 minutes for each of my last 7 questions in the verbal section.A friend of mine took the test in the same center but in the next batch on the same day.He usually scores at least a 37 in verbal but ended with a 580(Q47,V23). I seriously wish to challenge my score but I know that it would be practically useless.

HARRY113 · Answer

Hi,

Firstly, I'm sorry to hear about your score. If you could de-brief more about your preparation that would be great.
Keep your spirits high and never loose hope. I guess you are more determined now and mould it to reach your target score.

Revise all your concepts again and take a mock test in a week from now. 
Access your test results and areas to improve, in correlation with the actual GMAT, which you took on 16th. 
Maintain a log of everything you do and keep concentrating in the low scoring module, until you feel confident.

As i Could see, Maths is not an issue with you. However, Aiming at 51 is not a challenge and its plausible.
Coming to English, as you might be a non-native speaker, keep taking as many tests as you can and maintain error logs.
Don't repeat the mistakes again. 
I suggest you to complete OG 2016 atleast a couple of times.
If you still feel concepts are lacking, enroll for E-Gmat verbal course(Its highly rated for English).
Complete the course at the earliest. Whilst, taking tests they provide.

Think for a plausible date by when can you complete these tests & Course. (Not more than 45 days - you will loose interest again).
Take at least another 10 mocks before your next attempt.

Boom!!! - Your Target score.

Note: I am also a co-applicant and aiming at an higher score. This is just from my experience with many friends.

Kudos please if found helpful.

Cheers,
Harry

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Swethas9,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. When these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day. If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? 
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE?

And as far as your long-term plans are concerned:
1) When are you planning to retake the GMAT?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

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

KarishmaB · Answer

A drop in the actual Verbal score is a common complaint. Here is a post that explains some possible reasons: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2013/08 ... bal-score/ I would suggest you to get the ESR to understand the question type in which you messed up. The advice on how to proceed with the preparation would depend on the particular question type you identify. Once you do know what you need to focus on, let us know and I will suggest you the way ahead.

Swethas9 · Answer

Hi,

Thank you very much Harry!

Definitely helpful..

Swethas9 · Answer

Hi Rich, First of all,thank you for your reply. When you took your CATs: 1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?Yes(Even when I knew that the AWA section would not be graded,I wrote the essays to get some practice) 2) Did you take them at home? Yes. 3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT? I took the last 4 mock tests at the same time as my GMAT. 4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? no

5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE? Except for the 1st manhattan test,I did not see any familiar questions in my other mock tests. And as far as your long-term plans are concerned: 1) When are you planning to retake the GMAT? Not sure when to take.Very confused. 2) When are you planning to apply to Business School? Starting from September/October when the admission season opens. Thank you in advance!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Swethas9,

Raising a 610 to a 760+ will require a significant amount of additional time and effort on your part (and it still might not be possible - 760 is the 99th percentile, meaning that 99% of Test Takers either can't or won't do what it takes to hit that score). You'll have to make some BIG improvements to how you handle the Verbal section AND squeeze out all of the possible points in the Quant section. With a V25, you would have lost significant points in all 3 major Verbal categories (SC, RC and CR), so there's some question as how you studied those areas and the specific Tactics that you used on each of those question types.

1) What specific materials did you use to study for the Verbal section?
2) What 'steps' do you go through when dealing with a typical SC, RC or CR prompt?

3) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

Hi Swethas9, If you feel that there is something very wrong with your score, you can go ahead and challenge it. Pardon me if you feel offended, but it is a very human thing to protect ourself and try to find out excuses for our faring. If we take your GMAT score as the baseline score, we can see that there is clearly a need to learn the concepts and to reach to a 760+ score, you would certainly need more than a month to prepare. You need to build the concepts/fundamentals before you jump in solving the problems. You can do so by choosing one of the following ways: 1. In person classes/private tutoring 2. Online classes 3. Self paced online preparatory course 4. Book heavy approach Whatever you choose, make sure that you choose one. Because GMAT tests you on some concepts and fundamentals that you can learn from a course. Most of the preparatory companies including ours offer a free trial of our course. You can take the trial and see if the course suits your needs. In addition to the preparatory material, buy the Official Guides(both the Official Guide and the Verbal Review), Question Pack 1 and the 4 official mock CATs. They should be an indispensable part of your preparation. You need close to 3 months to prepare well for the GMAT. 1. Understand the concepts and fundamentals before jumping into problem solving 2. Solve full length CATs including AWA and IR. You can get two free GMAT Prep mock CATs and can purchase two more from mba.com 3. Make sure you solve the official questions from the Official Guide You can get the reviews of all the courses here: https://gmatclub.com/reviews/gmat_courses?fl=menu

HiLine · Answer

Do you have the ESR from your attempt? If not, I would recommend that you get it. It's the best thing your money can buy.

Please help:When should I retake the GMAT?

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