Hey All,
So I took my first practice gmat test (official test) and scored a 530 (31Q, 31V). I took it as a baseline test to see where I stand before starting my studies with manhattan GMAT. In all honesty, I guessed on around half of the quantitative questions. Verbal naturally comes easier to me, so I'm sure I will have no trouble raising that score. Have any of you scored low your first time around? What's the typical increase for a second practice test after studying for a month or two?
Thanks,
MKballer
I scored 580 the first time, because I used that garbage Kaplan study guide shit (its useless unless you want a mid 500 level score)
Then I invested in Manhattan gmat prep books (SC, and like 4 of the quant books) and the Critical Reasoning Bible and I scored 660. I know my score is not super high, and I blame that on my quant score (I didnt buy all of the quant study guides, I only went through a few). If you study all of the MGMAT quant books and verbal books, in addition to practicing 40-50 questions a day (from the GMAT official guide), you should be able to bring your score up to 700 in a few months.
By the way, this was while working full-time and having a somewhat regular social life...
Be warned though, after the 3 month mark, you may start burning out. I know I did, shit starts getting old really quick and you dont want to study at all.
I plan on retaking it to break 700 for the 80/80 quant/verbal split, but not for a while.
It's pretty common to have a low score, which a 530 is about average. Find your weakness and leverage what you are naturally good at. Check out Manhattans Guides and you'll be good
I'm actually in the midst of studying right now and want to just caution you that you're first test post-Manhattan GMAT may be low too.
I scored well on the first baseline test, but actually did worse on the second test because I'm trying to employ the Manhattan GMAT methods, as opposed to my less efficient methods. My subsequent practice tests have shown continual improvement and I'm now well above my initial baseline score.
Also, I've anecdotally heard the Manhattan GMAT quantitative questions tend to be a little harder than the real test (i.e. include an extra step in the algebra, etc.).
Test is in 3 weeks...
GMAT first time through (Originally Posted: 07/27/2012)
Just finished the princeton review free GMAT practice test to see what it is like. I did absolutely no studying for it, and really wasn't trying 100% on it. I was just trying to get a feel for the style of questions they ask. That being said this is what my results were....
Total: 610 Q: 51 (29 out of 37) V: 20 (30 out of 41) Integrated reasoning: 23 out of 28 Awaiting the writing portion back.
Where can I expect to get in 2 to 3 months? What is the best study material? especially for the verbal section? Is the GRE comparable? I'm looking into mathematical finance and may be needing to take the GRE as well.
Thanks!
770
I did it before the changes but I scored around 580 and jumped to 730 on TPR.
My experience was the practice tests were way harder than the real test. TPR hedging I guess - omg look how much you improved, right? Never scored above 700 on a practice test.
Then, could just be luck. All will depend how hard you work. What was your SAT/ACT like?
Also you can improve a ton just by working on verbal, most people overlook it. If english is your native, you can get that up really quick.
What is the best source for GMAT prep focusing on verbal??
I had an odd GMAT. My quant was a 44 (high 60s) or so my verbal was 99 percentile though. The total score was a 720. I have a liberal arts background, however I was an econ. major before then and that score isn't indicative of my abilities. I have classes varying from calc. to finance to statistics that are all B+-As. Should I consider trying it once more?
It's risky. You never know how everything else may go (drop in verbal) but I'll consider it. Thank you for the advice.
I think you should retake the test. I mean, how much do you honestly think your verbal might drop in a likely scenario? I would think it wouldn't be much, if any.
I don't know for sure because I'm not an admissions person or anything so take my advice with a grain of salt. Your overall score would qualify you for good schools, but my gut says having a huge split one way or the other is going to give people pause when they see it. Furthermore, I tend to think that most schools are going to find the quant score to be more important, so that can be a mark against you, however slight. Again, I don't know that for sure, but that would be my guess.
Business schools are looking for well rounded candidates and that large split can potentially shed a poor light on you, even if you know it's not accurate. Even if your actual score doesn't change, I think having splits that are a bit closer might be helpful.
Maybe someone else has an opinion.
Regards
Not a bad start! My baseline was 600 and i did a little bit less than a month of studying and got a 730. Get the Manhattan GMAT books and read through the verbal stuff about 4 times. Also, in my opinion the biggest problem with the verbal sections was testing endurance. Just keep doing practice problems and you may find your score increase without too much of an increase in studying.
Oh, and a follow up. You should aim to get around the 750 level. That's a killer quant score first time around. If you can be putting up consistently 720+ practice scores in about 2 months you could easily get there.
Looking at this , I think the GMAT quant ought to be much tougher. You can miss 8 questions and still get a 51! You miss 8 on the verbal , you'll be at 40.
I want quant questions that will really make people feel the pain.
GMAT first practice test scores (Originally Posted: 09/17/2012)
I just finished taking the GMAT for the first time ever. I did not prepare at all, just wanted to use this attempt as a baseline to see how far i have to go. I ended up scoring a 580 (44Q/67V).
Like everyone else I want to crack 700 and more. What kind of score did you get on your very first attempt and what did you end up getting on the real thing?
Also, please share what prep guides you used...
Thanks .
First attempt was a 770. Real thing 780.
(Hey you asked, I'm just being honest)
How much did you prep for attempt 1?
720 on the 1st test. 770 on the real test.
Right around 600 on first practice (Princeton review), took Princeton Review course and studied hard and scored 730. If you do serious work and prep it's not unusual to bump about 100 points. From what I hear Manhattan GMAT is the best prep materials. Courses tend to depend on what teacher you get - see if you can meet them before you commit to a program.
For reference, you are showing percentiles in your scores right? Just saying 44Q tends to refer to the score, not percentile (above 40 in each is good and usually gets you to the magic 700).
It would be more helpful if you shared what you think your problem areas were. Looks like quant was rough. There are lots of tricks for improving there. Was time a factor?
PS you might get major selection bias on this question so don't get discouraged...
By 44Q I meant percentile. I did not prepare at all and there were some sections that I did not finish due to the time limit. I didn't do 5 questions in Quant and 6 in IR. I know that not completing questions can really screw up your score big time. I got some old ebooks for Manhattan GMAT online so I think I'll study those for a few weeks and try my luck again. I am planning to sit for the real thing sometime in November....I really need to bust my ass cause I won't have time to retake, I'm sitting for CFA level 2 in June and want to start studying in December for sure.
To the OP -- I improved my score by 100 points after 1 month of studying with Manhattan GMAT materials.
My first practice test was around a 600 I think. I used a really crappy study book (Peterson's is garbage in case anybody sees it) and scored a 700 on the real thing. I had a poor Q/V split though so I registered for the Kaplan Advanced Anywhere online class. The class met twice a week for 2 months then I retook the GMAT, got a 750. The test is definitely beatable once you understand the concepts and how to approach each particular question type. Take enough practice problems and you start to recognize how to solve the problem before you've finished reading it.
Second GMAT Practice Test Taken... (Originally Posted: 03/01/2011)
First practice test with no prep what so ever: 490
Second practice test with 2 months of prep: 600, 70% (Quant Score 40, 61% / Verbal Score 33, 69%).
How hard is the jump to 700, taking the test March 30th?
Thanks in advance guys
Btw, I did not improve at all in my Verbal.
I have very similar stats as you except I am about a week behind you in studying. For some people, namely me, it takes a shit ton of studying to remember everything. Good luck! I'm not taking mine until late april or June.
Going to be difficult with 1 month left to study if you were only able to jump from a 490 to a 600 after 2 months. The biggest gains are in the beginning and the points get incrementally harder to obtain. With nothing more than the data available, I'd say you should expect to score in the mid 600s unless you change your study technique / habits.
Thanks. I've definitely been putting the time in. Just gonna have to hit it that much harder.
It's possible; I've seen crazier things happen. I think it somewhat depends on what material you are using now. Some prep books/material is aimed at different levels of study. Time to kick it up a notch if you only have one more month left
Your scores seem almost unbelievable if the 490 was the very first time you saw the test. Learning how to do DS properly (no-one does it right the 1st time) in of itself should bring you up by 40-50 points, and familiarizing yourself with the rest of the test, and getting your math up to date a little, should be another 40-70 points, depending on where you started. These improvements should take 10-15 hours of studying.That means your studying has been completely worthless beyond those first 15 hours. How are you studying? If you continue doing what you are doing, you will end up right where you are.
Admittedly, above opinion assumes the 490 and 600 are truly representative. It is possible you got lucky on the 490 (had an expectation of 460, 20% chance this could be true) and unlucky on the 600 (had an expectation of 630, maybe 10-15% chance this could be true). Then this makes sense. Does that sound like what happened?
Curious - how are you studying? What materials are you using? What did you do for a math review? I can't believe your verbal has not improved - CR and RC are tough, but SC has a reasonable learning curve that you can take advantage of. I should add that after an initial improvement, these reverse - SC is easy to improve at in the beginning, but difficult after. CR and RC have the reserve pattern.
That's a pretty low yield for 2 months of studying.
My first practice was probably lower than that but that was pretty much solely due to math...i had 90+% on my first verbal and got up to 99% regularly, so i pretty much just focused on math.
You should be able to learn a few rules and raise the SC substantially.
I did 2 months of self-study with Kaplan and MGMAT books. My practice tests were stuck in high 500s and low 600s. I took like two weeks off and jumped back in and my last practice test was a 680. Find your weakness and make a weekly plan to cover each topic. I really liked the Powerscore SC book for extra help on the Verbal section.
What program are you using for your studying? I wasn't impressed with Kaplan at all, but found Manhattan GMAT to be great.
If you aren't confident and relaxed 2 weeks before your test date then you should probably just re-schedule it. It only costs $50 to move it but $250 to take it all over again. I moved my test to mid April and have just been doing some focused practice problems now that I am confident with most of the underlying theories.
Using 8 Manhattan Strat Guides, and all the OG's (12th, Verbal and Quant).
EDIT:
As far as studying, I'm basically constantly going through the MGMAT guides and then doing the problems for that specific guide. For example, I'll read through FDP MGMAT Strat Guide then complete the corresponding questions in OG12.
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/gmat-how-i-went-from-a-480-to-a-6…
Get gmatclub tests and do one math each day and a verbal each three days. 80 bucks
gmatclub.com
Just took and graded my GMAT practice exam (prior to beginning the study course) (Originally Posted: 03/19/2013)
I scored in the 620-660 range... any idea what 2-3 solid months of study should yield?
I know this is highly speculative, just wanted to see what you guys thought.
That's a broad range. What was your split exactly?
Going off your range provided.... 500-780. Hope that helps.
I laffed
Hahah. Good stuff
Depends on you. I'd say a solid week should be enough to hit the 700 mark. Put in a month and your chances of doing much better (740+) will be greatly increased. Do a search, there are plenty of posts on this.
I studied for a month and went from a 550 to a 700. You should be able to get to the 99th percentile.
thanks for the replies... I am using Kaplan because a friend gave all of his old stuff for free, any recommended supplementary resources?
I know this has been discussed plenty on this board, but wanted to get some additional advice. TIA!
I don't get how people are able to spend 2-3 months on GMAT. I took the evaluation quiz and scored 650, spent two weeks prepping, by reading a chapter a day from the GMAT prep book and broke 710 on game day. I realize that a high GMAT can be important, except that a) it's one data point of five or six for MBA applications, b) it's high enough to earn a spot in every MBA program (keep in mind the top ten have an accepted GMAT average either = or > than 710, but that means people below 710 get in). I'll continue to argue that spending more time on the essays will get you further than bumping a GMAT from 710 to 750.
Completely agree.. However, I am still in undergrad and I won't be applying for another 3-4 years. Simply getting the thing out of the way before I start as an analyst.
I wouldn't take it until senior year if anything, they expire after 5 years
2 to 3 weeks of full time studying should be enough. Do a conplete CAT every day and go over your mistakes at night. I managed to jump from 620 to 750 after 13 CATs
Terrible Practice Test and Taking GMAT next week (Originally Posted: 06/06/2010)
I've been lazy the last couple months and have failed to start studying for the GMAT. I took my first practice test and did a lot worse than I ever expected with a 600. I'm taking the exam next week and was hoping that I'd break the 700 threshold. Any advice or tips on what I should do? Should I even take it if my practice scores are this low. Do I have any shot of improving 100 points in 2 weeks? Should I pay the $80 and reschedule for another time. The problem is I start work in about a month and know I will have no time to study. Also, I'm not even sure if I want to go to b-school. As you can tell, I'm freaking out about the low score.
Thanks,
You should kill yourself right now.
What practice test was this? The one from MBA.com or one of the kaplan/princeton review/manhattan exams?
The mba.com test is fairly accurate while the others are a mess. I studied for about 2 weeks when I took the GMAT. Started off in a similar situation as you, I scored 610 on my first practice. I just spend a lot of time every night practicing GMAT questions and understand what type of questions the test asks. When I took the test I scored over 700, so it is possible, depends what you are struggling with and what practice test you have taken.
I took a Kaplan test. Is the MBA test free?
Sirbankalot-
That's pretty much what I was thinking. Now that my dream of going to HBS is crushed is there anything worth living for anymore. Should I just end it now?
Good luck on test!
yes it's free. don't trust the scores practice books give you.
pay the $80 and reschedule! its only $80, easy decision. Dont bother sitting down in your testing center chair if you aren't confident and ready. I made the mistake of this once on a gmat
If it was the kaplan test then my guess is that you will score higher on the actual test.
I do agree with "I want to invest" that you should probably reschedule it. You are in no rush (even first round apps aren't due until at least Oct if I remember correctly). Make sure you score well on the GMAT, it is a very important part of your application.
And yes, the exams on mba.com are free. There are two practice tests, and you have to download them on your computer. Everyone that I have talked to has told me that the Kaplan test gives you conservative results (happened on my test too).
Your probably fine honestly. Kaplan scores way lower than the real test. If I were you, I'd take the practice test on mba.com and see how you do. From there, just study the official guides and do Manhattan GMAT practice tests. Two days before the test take the other mba.com practice test and you will know basically how your going to score on the real deal.
All scores are reported; even if schools technically take your highest into consideration, they see all of them (even if you choose to cancel your scores after the test, they see a note that you cancelled). You're crazy to not reschedule for $80. Use this as a wake up call to actually start studying.
-
Download the free software from MBA.com, and take the prep test ASAP, ideally at the same time as your actual exam. If your score is below what you want, then re-schedule. It's just $80. The GMAT prep score is very accurate and usually should be no more than 10-20 points away from your actual score.
The fact that you don't even know that there are official practice tests seems to reflect your overall preparation. Don't take the test next week. Figure out if you want to take the test, and if you at least think you want to go to b-school.
If you do, study. Some people study more than others, but everyone can improve their score and their strategies enough to make the case for solid preparation. There's a bunch of people on WSO that claim they studied a week and pulled a 750, but the fact is, that's not the norm. Most of the stuff on the math portion will be things you haven't done since middle school. Data sufficiency itself is strange, and something you definitely want to practice some, even if you're a quant beast. Verbal isn't that hard, but definitely helps to study sentence correction and know some of the common things they look at.
But seriously, just figure out what you want to do, and don't expect to get a 700 without loooking at the material until one week before. You might be smart enough, but that entitled mentality will probably screw you later when it comes to putting off apps til the last minute, etc..
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