1st Attempt 740 (M51, V40, IR 8) Need Advice for Verbal

[benjamindian]

Hi Manhattan instructors,

I'm a rising senior and I took my first GMAT on Saturday 6/21/14 and got 740, which is not bad but still a little bit disappointing. In the math part, I didn't see any probability problem, my last math problem was a very easy calculation (like 400-500 level such as what is the square root of 4), and I had 11 min left when I finished the math, I felt there must be something wrong...Then, I exceeded the break time between math and verbal by 1+ min. And unfortunately the first 2 verbal questions were CR, followed by a long biology essay :(. When I finished the 1st question, less than 71 min left....I tried so hard to calm down.

Besides that, I found the SC on the real GMAT very challenging. I'm not a native-speaker and I know SC is my weakness. I used the Manhattan SC guide, but I only read it once. I also did all the 490+ prep SC questions. However, when I saw those SC questions with one underlined word on the real test (I met 2 such questions), I struggled. I knew they were testing comparison and parallelism, but I could only narrow down to 2 answers. Also, there were two other SC problems that I couldn't figure out what was the intended meaning and what was being tested (the five answer choices were very different and the structure was very complicated....). During practice, I could generally solve a SC problem correctly (90%) within 35 seconds and 55 seconds max. But during the test, I spent at least 70 seconds on several SC problems and 120 seconds on one or two.

For the CR and RC, I didn't find any surprise.

I took the Manhattan GMAT course last year and only attended 4 classes :( because I found most of the class time was spent on math and there were videos online. I didn't do the exercise when I took the class. And then I realized that my Manhattan online sources would expire in the coming September so I decided to study for it before it expires. I spent in total 3 weeks part-time mostly on SC (30-40 Prep SC per day) and I took notes on all the problems I did wrong by category. The top three categories with most of my mistakes are: 1. modifier; 2. comparison; 3. idiom. But obviously, I need more time on SC.

I plan to read the Manhattan SC guide two more times and probably redo the 490+ prep questions? I will also watch Ron's video on parallelism and other SC topics. I planed to watch them before the test but didn't got the time to do so...Is there anything else I should do? I will also do all the 200+ Prep CR problems and 60+ Prep RC. I want to finish my GMAT test before graduation and my goal is 760+.

Thanks for your advice. I haven't got my essay score yet but I feel it won't be too bad.

[StaceyKoprince]

Do you think the Verbal score is low because of the difference between the Q51 and V40? The two sections are not scored on the same scale.

V40 is the 90th percentile (and V45 is 99th percentile). That is a fantastic score, and your overall performance is amazing. There is literally not a single school on the planet that will reject you for these scores. (They could reject you for other reasons, of course.) In addition, increasing the verbal score is not going to change anything at all for your application - there isn't a school that wouldn't take you with a V40 but would take you with a V42 or V44.

Literally the only reason I can think of that someone might want to retake the GMAT (with those scores) is if they want to teach for us, since we require a minimum 760 score.

Other than that, your time would be FAR better spent doing other things that will help your application (take on a bigger role at work, mentor someone, volunteer, go for a promotion, etc.). At this point, the "GMAT" box is fully checked off and you need to figure out what other pieces of the application you can affect.

Seriously, talk to an admissions consultant or two. Nobody is going to tell you that getting a higher verbal score than 40 will make a difference. :)

Also, you are not a native speaker? You are my hero! I've been learning French for four years now and if the GMAT existed in French, I would *never* be good enough to get that kind of score.

So my advice is to go and celebrate your fantastic score and then maybe talk to an admissions consultant about what other things would look good on your application. Congratulations!!

[benjamindian]

Hi Stacey,

Thanks for your input. I got my AWA score (5) today and decided not to retake it. Mmm... my dissatisfaction mainly comes from unfulfilled expectation (760+), peer pressure (one guy in my intern class has 780 though he tried 3 times), and bad time-management (I exceeded the break time, rushing at the beginning of the verbal and finishing it 5 minutes earlier).

But it's just a test anyway and I don't plan to become an instructor. In this particular case, "A goal (760+) is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at."

Thanks again!

[StaceyKoprince]

Ah, yes. Unfulfilled expectation can be a killer.

You're being a smart business person, though. If you've already got an amazing product, you don't spend a bunch of time and money on improvements that won't make a difference to revenues, costs, customer satisfaction, performance... anything. :)

Good luck with applications!