GMAT retake- aiming for 720+

[tz478]

First off-- a big thank you to all the manhattan gmat staff for the amazing job that you guys do. The explanations I've found on these forums and the Thursdays with Ron videos have been the biggest factors in my score improvements.

I've taken GMAT twice now, with almost identical scores in both attempts (690 overall, Q 47/46, and V 38 on both attempts). However in my last 3 practice tests, I've gotten scores of 740 (mgmat 46Q 44V), 740 (gmat prep 47Q 44V) and 710 (mgmat 42Q 45V). These practice tests were all under "real" conditions and I took both the IR and essay sections for all exams.

I'm really struggling to understand why my verbal score drops from the mid 40's to 38 in the real test. I've taken about 7 practice tests in total, and a verbal score of 38 is closer to my range in the first 3-4 tests. I think what boosted my last few practice tests' verbal scores was an improvement in SC. I went from about a 50% hit rate to 80%. CR is not a weak area for me (about 80-90% hit rate in practice problems) and RC is also not a weakness is practice. However, I've noticed in the actual test I seem to be stuck on one difficult/long RC section that takes up quite a bit of my time. I haven't had any problems finishing the real tests, but I do find myself rushing after these difficult RC sections.

Lastly, do you guys have any tips on how scoring/time management if I'm aspiring for a higher verbal score? By scoring I mean my current mindset for the verbal section is that I almost cannot miss any question and that it is crucial that I answer the 700-800 level questions correctly. I don't think I'm spending too much time on the first 10, but I do notice that in the middle of the test I'm about 3-5 mins behind the schedule (timing table) that I make for myself.

Thank you so much in advance for your help!

[StaceyKoprince]

First of all, great job getting to 690! I know you want an even higher score, but a 690 is already a great score!

However, I've noticed in the actual test I seem to be stuck on one difficult/long RC section that takes up quite a bit of my time. I haven't had any problems finishing the real tests, but I do find myself rushing after these difficult RC sections.

Rushing = careless mistakes. Spending extra time on something very difficult is not a good trade-off, because chances are you're still going to miss that stuff anyway (it's really hard!) and now you're opening yourself up to careless mistakes on things that you do know how to do.

Lastly, do you guys have any tips on how scoring/time management if I'm aspiring for a higher verbal score? By scoring I mean my current mindset for the verbal section is that I almost cannot miss any question and that it is crucial that I answer the 700-800 level questions correctly. I don't think I'm spending too much time on the first 10, but I do notice that in the middle of the test I'm about 3-5 mins behind the schedule (timing table) that I make for myself.

The first thing we need to change is that mindset. You WILL miss questions - that's just how the test works. It is NOT crucial to answer the 7-8 level questions correctly - not all of them, anyway.

What is crucial is not missing the lower-level questions. Miss enough of those and your score will be pulled down into the 30s. Don't think of your task as lifting your score. Think of your task as preventing your score from dropping below where it should be.

With that mindset, you'll step spending all of that extra time and mental energy on that too-hard RC, and you'll stop having to rush later in the test. That means that you won't be making those mistakes on things you know how to do and causing your score to drop.

This doesn't mean that you blow off the RC entirely. Work with your strengths and weaknesses. Maybe the main idea question is fine. Maybe it's only paragraph 2 that has crazy hard detail, so you'll blow off questions that deal with that paragraph, but paragraph 1 is fine, so you'll try those questions. You might end up blowing off 2 out of the 3 or 4 questions, but that's okay, because you then won't be scrambling for the rest of the section.

Also, just a side note: you said you don't think you're spending too much time on the first 10. I hope not - because the first 10 are not worth any more than any other set of 10 anywhere on the test. Steady performance throughout, while judiciously blowing off questions that are going to use up too much time / mental energy. That's your strategy.

I'm really struggling to understand why my verbal score drops

Does this make more sense now?

One other idea: have you ordered the Enhanced Score Report for either of your real tests?
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... re-report/

That may help you to see where your verbal performance is falling short - whether it's just a certain question type or what. Given what you've described, I wouldn't be surprised to find that SC or CR are suffering because of the timing / mental energy issue that we've been talking about.

[tz478]

Thanks for the response Stacey!

I did order the enhanced score reports and I think my weakness is still in SC.

For test #1:
Critical Reasoning - 98th percentile, 1.61 mins
Reading Comp - 85th percentile, 2.18 mins
Sentence Correction - 68th percentile, 1.96 mins

---looks like i just needed a few more sentence correction questions to have swung my way on this test attempt

Test #2:
Critical Reasoning - 88th percentile, 1.84 mins
Reading Comp - 85th percentile, 2.44 mins
Sentence Correction - 73rd percentile, 1.63 mins

To your point Stacey, I can't be missing the easier questions on SC and it looks like I'm spending too much time on reading comp- especially in the second test attempt.

For Sentence Correction, when I'm taking the actual test I realize that I start to second guess myself and rely more on my ear. I know most of the GMAT SC rules but I guess they're not ingrained deeply enough for me to consistently answer questions correctly. I'm planning on going through all the OG questions and focusing on the ones for which I'm stuck between two answer choices (happens to me all the time on the test)

Any other SC tips? Thanks!!!

[StaceyKoprince]

Try this for SC - if you can learn to consistently strip the sentence to its core (and then see how the modifiers "hang" on the core), then you may not feel so overwhelmed by all the possible paths through the problem and that may help you to stop falling back on your ear.

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... ce-part-1/

Note that this tendency is probably also a timing thing - if you weren't feeling so pressed for time, you wouldn't feel the need to speed up. Give yourself 4 "bails" per section - questions where you just say, within the first 15 seconds, nope, no way, not wasting my precious time and mental energy on this horrible thing.

Also, yes to analyzing the last two answers more carefully. Ask yourself:
1) why was the wrong answer so tempting? why did it look like it might be right? (be as explicit as possible; also, now you know this is not a good reason to pick an answer)
2) why was it actually wrong? what specific words indicate that it is wrong and how did I overlook those clues the first time?
3) why did the right answer seem wrong? what made it so tempting to cross off the right answer? why were those things actually okay; what was my error in thinking that they were wrong? (also, now you know that this is not a good reason to eliminate an answer)
4) why was it actually right?

Re: RC, do you remember differences in how you felt RC went on the two tests? Your performance was the same, but you were slower on the second test. Did you get topics that you liked less? (eg, maybe you don't like science and you got one more science passage) If so, start to do some reading in those areas that you don't like as much, just familiarizing yourself more with general topics / getting your brain to accept them better.

Did you feel like you had more questions that were in the "narrow to two, then agonize back and forth" category? If so, do what I described above for analyzing the last two answers.

Or was it something else?

[tz478]

Took it again this weekend and scored a 720!

96th percentile on Sentence Correction this go around

Thanks for all your help and replies Stacey! Also, your article on "what the gmat really tests" really helped me improve my mindset on timing. Thanks again to you and a big shout out to Ron as well.

[tz478]

Follow up question: I'm concerned about my IR score, which was a 4.

My breakdown for the other sections are Q47 and V 42.

Stacey, do you think I should consider retaking for a higher IR score? I'll be applying to schools next year so I do have some time, but I also don't want to risk getting a lower overall score. Also this would be my fourth attempt.

My post mba goal is consulting and I've read some articles that suggest that IR may be a factor in consulting interviews, so a little concerned there.

Thanks!

[StaceyKoprince]

Woohoo! Congratulations - I'm really happy for you!

It's true that the big consulting firms do ask for your GMAT scores and at least some have said that they are paying attention to the IR score. Are you planning to apply to the big firms or do you think you'll go for a more boutique firm? Or do you have domain expertise in a certain industry and plan to aim for firms that specialize in that industry? If boutique / specialized, it's probably not a big deal. But if you want to go for the Bain / BCG type companies, then you may need to consider re-taking for the IR score, as annoying as that is.

One thing you could try is calling up or emailing these companies to ask whether they are using IR scores and, if so, what kinds of scores they like to see. I don't know whether they'll tell you, but it can't hurt to ask. You're so far ahead of applying that they'll never remember who you are later.

You don't need to worry about risking a lower overall score. If you cancel a test now, then the test doesn't even show up on your record. If you get anything in the 700+ range and an IR score of 6 or higher, you'd keep it. For b-school, you'd put down your highest score (the 720), but then you'd still have a good GMAT with a good IR - and you'd put both on your resume when going through recruitment. (And taking it 4 times isn't an issue.)

You might also want to go into our Ask An Admissions Consultant folder here to see whether they have an opinion about this. I don't know how much they follow post-b-school recruiting, but they likely have more insight than I do!