by messi10 Thu Jun 02, 2011 2:42 am
Hey,
Ok, the first thing I see is that whatever you did after getting a 440 worked well. I know you are not happy with a 590 but that is a 150 point improvement from your first attempt. According to me, that's a great improvement. You have a great quant score too.
I am no expert on GMAT and admissions but here is what I would do:
Get your profile evaluated by an admissions consultant if you haven't done so already. MBAMission have a 30 minute free assessment. Now would be a good time for you to use it. Make sure you go prepared, don't expect them to tell you things. You have to ask them the questions and they will answer. Make a list of your target schools and speak to them about your chances on getting in them.
As far as GMAT is concerned, having attempted it twice is not an issue. A lot of people out there who have taken in a third time and even more. But that is a personal decision for everyone. I am not suggesting that you keep trying a zillion times. You have to see how motivated you are and how much more time you are willing to put in. You have mentioned that you have gone through the posts, blogs, MGMAT books etc so I totally understand that you have already invested a fair amount of time. Whether you want another shot at it is totally up to you.
If you do decide to take it again, I suggest that you use the report generator on the MGMAT CATs to find out what your weak areas are. Is it SC, CR, RC or a combination of all three? Is timing an issue? Is stamina an issue? Some of the questions that you can ask yourself: With SC, do you struggle with all the SCs or the longer ones? Do you understand what is being tested when you see SC question? Are you able to spot the splits?
With CR, are you able to identify the conclusion? Are you diagramming the argument? Don't underestimate diagramming, it really does help so try it if you haven't already. Are you able to identify the boundary words/extreme words? These are very important and useful as some answers can be eliminated based on them.
These are just some of the questions. All of them do not apply to you. Basically, all I am saying is be very honest with your assessment and think hard on where you are going wrong. Don't just say -"I struggle with long SCs". Think beyond that. What happens when you see a long SC? Do you panic? Do you start thinking that you can't do it? Do you start reading all the answer choices instead of staying calm and looking for the splits? Is it parallelism that you don't understand? etc etc
You know everything there is to know about GMAT, its format, type of questions etc. Now spend some quality time assessing yourself and working on the weak areas. Once you have identified those weak areas, read the forums and blogs (Stacey's ones are particularly good) - Read them again if you have to. Then make a plan! Always have a plan. Plan gives you a goal to work towards.
Also, get involved in the forums if you aren't already. Not only try and read what others are saying, but also try and answer them.
Another thing to do is attend Ron's Thursday sessions. These are free and very very good. This takes place every alternate Thursday.
OK, am going to stop now as this has been a long post and I am assuming too much. Maybe you have already done all of the above so apologies for rambling on. :)
Good luck with your admissions and feel free to shoot back if you have any other queries
Regards
Sunil