Need help on GMAT retake and required improvement

[Amit_P]

Hi,

I am not sure where to ask the question related to GMAT retake strategy and required improvement. Hence I am posting it over here. In case if I need to shift to appropriate post, then please guide me accordingly. I will comply.

I have extensively relied on MGMAT resources & books for my GMAT preparation. I hope I will receive good insights here to move ahead as well.

I have scored 710 (Q50, V35) on GMAT on 20th July. Now I am looking for some guidance on what should be done next.

I was scoring around 700-750 on MGMAT and GMAT Prep. For last two tests, I scored 700 and 720 on MGMAT. Also I scored 740 - 740 - 730 on last 3 GMAT PREP tests. As far as study material goes, I used MGMAT guides for SC and CR. I was scoring around 35 - 38 on Verbal sections. For quant, I was quite comfortable with the basics and was consistently scoring 50/51.

I am now struggling with two basic questions : Should I retake the exam / is it necessary ? and If yes, then how should I go about it?

I am aspiring for a score above 780. I am not sure, but I believe that jump from 710 to 780+ would be helpful in pushing my application up the stack. I am not able to decide whether to retake the exam. Do you think retake can be a good option ? In case of retake, can you please suggest where should I start from? Where can I focus and how? especially on the verbal front.

The question is how do I improve my verbal from 35-38 to 43-45? Can you please suggest me any particular strategy? Or how should I go about it in my second lap? I am planning to post my study strategy and details. I hope these details could give you subtle idea about what I did right / wrong and about where I can improve.

Just to give some details about my background :
I am opting for MBA to get better profile and to pursue my passion in core business domain. Frankly, I am targeting top B-schools only. As I already have one PG (M.Tech IITB) with 9.24/10 CGPA. I have 3+ years of experience with one of the BIG4 Consulting (IT Work majorly). Now I am aspiring for only top B-schools such as Harvard, Stanford, Wharton etc. Hence I was a bit concerned about my current GMAT score.

Personally, I am quite confused. From certain angle, the score appears to be decent. However it is not convincing.
Please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks a lot for your help !

[StaceyKoprince]

This is exactly the right place. :)

You have two big questions: whether you should take it again and, if so, how.

Re: whether, you need to talk to some admissions consultants. They will know better whether a higher score is likely to make a difference in your application. (For the most part, once you're over 700, the schools concentrate much more on other aspects of your application - so it may not be the case that a re-take is the best use of your time. The one exception to that is when there is a very big difference between your quant and verbal subscores - some schools care about that. Then it depends on where you're applying.)

It's possible that you will be advised to raise your verbal score a little (80th percentile or so), but even then, your overall score would be in the low 700s, not 780. NO school will, say, reject your application with a 740 but accept that exact same application with a 780 - at that level, they decide based upon things other than your GMAT score.

Then, if you are advised by the admissions consultants to re-take, we can discuss what to do.

Were you taking practice tests under 100% official conditions? Use the below article to analyze your most recent MGMAT test that was taken under as close to official conditions as possible:

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Make sure to give us your analysis, not just the data. From that, we'll figure out where you need work to raise your verbal score! (Note: because you're not worried about quant, you can do the analysis only on verbal, if you would like.)