Advice for Retake!

[jaykotak89]

Hi Stacy,

I just took my GMAT today and scored a 710. Q47 V40.
I did something silly by overestimating the break before quant, resulting in a 30 second penalty (74:30 to finish). I also finished verbal 15 minutes early: shameful time management.

I am considering retaking to reach 730-740 (It seems to start getting exponentially harder). My prep method was stretched over only 2 weeks when I took 6 practice tests. I read through all the MGMAT quant books briefly and completed about 150 Problem Solving q's from the OG. Did not prep for verbal or Data Sufficiency at all, no time! I did however go through all my tests and understand where I went wrong.

I know this is a really suboptimal preparation style but I just wanted to get an attempt out of the way to see where I stand. I've always worked better under pressure and over a shorter time span. But I feel like that style can't push my score past this 710.

My CAT's were roughly:
640 Q42 V36 MGMAT 1 Day One
690 Q45 V38 MGMAT 2 Day Three
690 Q44 V40 MGMAT 3 Day Five
690 Q44 V40 GMAT Prep Day Seven
710 Q47 V40 MGMAT 4 Day Eight
710 Q48 V40 GMAT Prep Day Ten
720 Q47 V42 MGMAT 5 Day Eleven

(scores adjusted to show as if before this recent change in MGAT scoring..)

Official GMAT on Day Fourteen 710, Q47 V 40


I am from Bombay, India (Mumbai to the nitpickers) and I hear you are coming here. I am keen to shoot for a 730+, I'd like to try a more organized method of prep over a longer time period ( I can't take anymore leave, so perhaps 3 months with work going on in the background?). I am open, even keen, to taking the full MGMAT class with you, but I want to understand if it will spend enough time on 700+ concepts, (particularly in Verbal, for Quant I need to brush up further). How should I approach this?

Appreciate your time.

Thanks,
Jay

[StaceyKoprince]

Nice work! I know you want an even higher score, but 710 is great!

Yes, I agree - the higher you go above 700, the harder it gets. Each additional 10-20 point increment is almost exponentially harder. :)

I'm impressed, though, that you were able to get as far as you did with the methods you used - most people would not have been able to do that. This tells me that you are likely a "natural" test taker - that you are able to learn more than most while actually taking a test and that you really analyze / dig in when you review. This is an unusual (and good!) quality.

Re: the course in Mumbai, part of the time is spent on 700+ concepts and problems, of course, but not all of it - we need to build a foundation first and most people aren't starting at the 700+ level. Your quant is in about the ideal range for the course. Your verbal, though, is much higher and, while you would still learn things in the course, you probably wouldn't learn as much as you will with quant. This is particularly true in the Mumbai market - most students are stronger in general with quant but weaker in general with verbal.

We are adding an extra verbal session at the end of the course (session 10) and we will be adding a more advanced discussion of concepts in that session. (We do still cover harder questions / advanced topics in the regular program, but there isn't as much emphasis because we also do have to cover the regular program.)

Also, because this is a new market for us and we're really trying to get students, I'd be willing to bet that I could talk our International Development Director into giving you access to our advanced Sentence Correction workshop, which normally is a separate fee. (This takes place online, usually during hours convenient for people in the US, but there are also tapes of the workshop, so you could watch at a convenient time for you.)

Note that the deadline is 20 Sep (in 6 days), so if you are interested, you should also start a dialogue with our NYC headquarters to get any questions answered and help you make your decision.

Alternatively, I will also be available for private tutoring while there - that would be more targeted but tutoring is of course far more expensive than the course.

[jaykotak89]

Thanks for your response.
Perhaps the private tutoring might be worth it, given my erratic work hours and desire to improve verbal further, slightly beyond the scope of the regular class.

Would this be the right place to continue the discussion on the same? I'd like to understand the price structure etc for private tutoring from you in Bombay. Would it be the same rate posted on the MGMAT website (I think it is $225/hr). How exactly would that be structured/how many hours would you think I need.

Conversely, my email address is jaykotak89@gmail.com, if that is a better place to discuss this.

[StaceyKoprince]

Re: pricing, logistics, etc, you would need to talk to our Student Services department (studentservices@manhattangmat.com). If you want to talk by phone, send them an email with your phone number (or skype ID), and they'll arrange a time for someone to call you and discuss the details.

They would then put you in touch with me (via email) so that we can discuss what the program might be. (Note: you will not have to have signed up or paid money at this point - you can decide after we have a discussion about the tutoring.)

I will also forward your email address to them and ask them to contact you directly (it has to start through them, not me).

One more thing: we will be making a decision this Thursday (in 3 days!) as to whether to run the Mumbai program (based upon the number of students signed up), so if you are seriously interested, get in touch with our office immediately. If we don't have enough students signed up (either for the class or a combination of the class and tutoring), then we won't run this program. (And, as of right now, we don't have enough students signed up.)

We do offer our tutoring online as well, but that is obviously harder to coordinate with very different time zones, etc.