Hi,
I'm writing this post to get advice from MGMAT staff on my future prospects.
I'm a student of MGMAT online test series.
GMAT history :
First time, I appeared for GMAT on 30th sep 2008 and got the following scores.
Overall 660 , Q49, V30, AWA 5.5
During my preparation I got the following scores in mock tests:
650-Free Online Test
690-MGMAT 1
680-MGMAT 2
660-MGMAT 3
650-MGMAT 4
720-MGMAT 5
680-MGMAT 6
GMAT prep1 :680
GMAT prep2 :690
GMAT prep1 reset : 720
GMAT prep2 reset : 760
I was not satisfied with my final day GMAT score and decided to take it up once more. I had to take some break(roughly 6 months) in my preparation due to official obligations.
I re-appeared for GMAT on 17th Mar 2009 and got the following scores.
Overall 670, Q50, V29, AWA 5.0
This time, during preparation, I took the MGMAT tests after resetting them and taking them after a break of 6 months to ensure that I have forgotten questions from previous attempts. My scores this time were as follows.
730-MGMAT 1B
730-MGMAT 2B
720-MGMAT 3B
780-MGMAT 4B
700-MGMAT 5B
710-MGMAT 6B
710-GMAT prep1
720-GMAT prep2
I consistently scored above 700 in all the tests, however, final score on GMAT doesn't tell the same story. I am planning to start my MBA in 2010, that means I have to get a credible score by this June end.
Work Profile :
I have roughly 5.9 years of experience and presently working as a senior design engineer in India with one of the top 10 Semiconductor industry in the world.
Background :
Passed out with top Engineering institute(IIT-Delhi) in India in 2003 with a Bachelors degree in Electronics Engineering. One point to mention is that my CPA is poor. Though I have other evidences to prove my mettle e.g. stood 399 rank out of approximately 1,50,000 students.(percentile rank 99.7), stood 1st in most of the school exams through out school life. I was involved in community work e.g. teaching poor children in my college days to handling board of students welfare organization in my university. Also, I was a part of managerial team responsible to organize security arrangements in one of the biggest college festival in India. I also participated and wrote scripts for dramatics. Also, won first prize in extempore and few other state level awards for academic achievements.
My two questions are :
Q1. What are my chances of making it to top 25 schools this year if I apply with score of 670 ?
Q2. Should I retake the GMAT? If yes, how do I improve my verbal score, since quant section feels Ok..I consistently scored 51 in all but one tests in the MGMAT, but verbal is an issue with me? I feel I'm lacking most in RC (35-40% accuracy). I'm doing OK in SC (65-70% accuracy) and doing fine in CR(80-90% accuracy). I never feel running short of time in verbal section, but somehow, don't seem to understand the RC questions. How do I overcome this ?
Also, I would like to take my SC accuracy to 85-90% level.
Please advise on above two points.
Thanks.
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- singh.gauravkr
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- RonPurewal
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- Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:23 am
Re: 670(Q50, V29), AWA5.0, 6 yrs exp..chances into top 25 ??
with the scores you've been getting, it seems that it may be worthwhile for you to retake the test.
this time, though, you should re-calibrate your studying of the RC.
while RC is definitely the most difficult question type on which to improve your score, such improvements aren't impossible; indeed, you may currently be thinking about the questions in the wrong way.
for your benefit, i've reproduced below some notes from other threads (and from private lessons) regarding reading comprehension.
--
MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS:
* prime directive: YOU MUST FORMULATE YOUR ANSWER TO MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS BEFORE YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT LOOKING AT THE ANSWER CHOICES.
- really, the only way they're going to get you to pick a wrong answer - unless you actually misunderstand the passage, which is unlikely - is to lead you down the wrong path. if you don't look at the choices before deciding, then they can't lead you down any path at all, much less the wrong one.
this is going to be difficult at first. in fact, you'll probably have to physically cover the answer choices on the screen (e.g., with your hand) when you encounter a main idea question, because otherwise you'll be too tempted to look at them.
it will also be difficult because it's precisely the opposite of the advice we give for sentence correction (i.e., you're not supposed to create an "ideal sentence" in your head, since, in all likelihood, that sentence won't be one of the choices).
there are no exceptions to this rule. DO NOT LOOK AT THE ANSWER CHOICES FOR MAIN-IDEA QUESTIONS UNTIL YOU ALREADY HAVE A FIRM IDEA OF THE ANSWER. also, once you do have a firm idea of the answer, don't change it; pick the choice that's most like it.
* VOLUME MATTERS. in other words, some point made in only a couple of sentences - no matter how trenchant - won't be the main point. if something takes up the entire passage, or almost the entire passage, then it is guaranteed to be The Main Point.
* in any passage dealing with politics, demographics, etc., you MUST pay attention to anything that deals with women, minorities, social change, and so on.
* finally, on main idea questions, EXPECT A PARAPHRASE THAT IS MORE GENERAL-SOUNDING THAN THE PASSAGE ITSELF. for instance, if your passage is about why digital circuits are preferable to analog circuits, the main idea choice will say something like "the superiority of one design paradigm over another" - it almost certainly WON'T mention digital and analog by name.
--
when you have to do INFERENCE questions, they are more or less exactly like "draw a conclusion" questions on CR.
if you've been performing at the 80-90% level on CR (which is unbelievably good), then you should just be able to take the same techniques you've already been employing and apply them to the RC inference problems.
BE COMPLETELY LITERAL on inference questions.
for instance, let's say a passage says "jim's boss yelled at him for being late when he arrived at work at 10:04am".
you CAN'T infer anything about the personality traits of jim's boss (anger etc); this would require assumptions.
you CAN'T infer that jim is habitually late; this would require assumptions.
you CAN'T infer that jim is supposed to be at work at 10:00am; this would require assumptions.
the ONLY valid inference is "jim's work shift started before 10:04am".
this takes some getting used to.
--
if you see an inference / detail question that repeats the same words, verbatim - meaning words that could be easily rephrased in other ways, then you should be HIGHLY suspicious of that answer choice. for instance, the presence of "press for" in OG11 #20 (on or about page 352) should make you seriously doubt that choice.
- notice that this advice applies only to things that can be rephrased easily. for instance, on #72 (on or about page 372), the repetition of "record from rocks on land" in the correct choice shouldn't cause you any consternation, because there's really no other way to say that. on the other hand, there are probably at least twenty different ways to say "press for", so that repetition is clearly a trap.
--
* DO NOT EVER INFER CAUSAL RELATIONSHIPS FROM CORRELATIONS, whether you're doing RC inference questions or CR "draw a conclusion" problems.
- also, you need to divorce statistical statements from their subjective connotations. for instance, "taller people have better chances of playing professional basketball" is EXACTLY the same statement as "shorter people have worse chances of playing pro basketball", even though the connotations of the two are vastly different. remember that gmat reading comp problems are NEVER concerned with connotations!
--
you should practice OFFICIAL reading comp.
if you haven't gone through ALL the reading comp passages in the og11 and verbal supplement, then do so. make sure that you notice how LITERAL you must be on questions about "inferences", "suggestions", etc., as noted above. DO NOT CHOOSE ANY ANSWER CHOICES THAT MAKE ADDITIONAL ASSUMPTIONS OR GO BEYOND THE SCOPE OF THE TEXT, NO MATTER HOW SLIGHTLY.
--
good luck.
this time, though, you should re-calibrate your studying of the RC.
while RC is definitely the most difficult question type on which to improve your score, such improvements aren't impossible; indeed, you may currently be thinking about the questions in the wrong way.
for your benefit, i've reproduced below some notes from other threads (and from private lessons) regarding reading comprehension.
--
MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS:
* prime directive: YOU MUST FORMULATE YOUR ANSWER TO MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS BEFORE YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT LOOKING AT THE ANSWER CHOICES.
- really, the only way they're going to get you to pick a wrong answer - unless you actually misunderstand the passage, which is unlikely - is to lead you down the wrong path. if you don't look at the choices before deciding, then they can't lead you down any path at all, much less the wrong one.
this is going to be difficult at first. in fact, you'll probably have to physically cover the answer choices on the screen (e.g., with your hand) when you encounter a main idea question, because otherwise you'll be too tempted to look at them.
it will also be difficult because it's precisely the opposite of the advice we give for sentence correction (i.e., you're not supposed to create an "ideal sentence" in your head, since, in all likelihood, that sentence won't be one of the choices).
there are no exceptions to this rule. DO NOT LOOK AT THE ANSWER CHOICES FOR MAIN-IDEA QUESTIONS UNTIL YOU ALREADY HAVE A FIRM IDEA OF THE ANSWER. also, once you do have a firm idea of the answer, don't change it; pick the choice that's most like it.
* VOLUME MATTERS. in other words, some point made in only a couple of sentences - no matter how trenchant - won't be the main point. if something takes up the entire passage, or almost the entire passage, then it is guaranteed to be The Main Point.
* in any passage dealing with politics, demographics, etc., you MUST pay attention to anything that deals with women, minorities, social change, and so on.
* finally, on main idea questions, EXPECT A PARAPHRASE THAT IS MORE GENERAL-SOUNDING THAN THE PASSAGE ITSELF. for instance, if your passage is about why digital circuits are preferable to analog circuits, the main idea choice will say something like "the superiority of one design paradigm over another" - it almost certainly WON'T mention digital and analog by name.
--
when you have to do INFERENCE questions, they are more or less exactly like "draw a conclusion" questions on CR.
if you've been performing at the 80-90% level on CR (which is unbelievably good), then you should just be able to take the same techniques you've already been employing and apply them to the RC inference problems.
BE COMPLETELY LITERAL on inference questions.
for instance, let's say a passage says "jim's boss yelled at him for being late when he arrived at work at 10:04am".
you CAN'T infer anything about the personality traits of jim's boss (anger etc); this would require assumptions.
you CAN'T infer that jim is habitually late; this would require assumptions.
you CAN'T infer that jim is supposed to be at work at 10:00am; this would require assumptions.
the ONLY valid inference is "jim's work shift started before 10:04am".
this takes some getting used to.
--
if you see an inference / detail question that repeats the same words, verbatim - meaning words that could be easily rephrased in other ways, then you should be HIGHLY suspicious of that answer choice. for instance, the presence of "press for" in OG11 #20 (on or about page 352) should make you seriously doubt that choice.
- notice that this advice applies only to things that can be rephrased easily. for instance, on #72 (on or about page 372), the repetition of "record from rocks on land" in the correct choice shouldn't cause you any consternation, because there's really no other way to say that. on the other hand, there are probably at least twenty different ways to say "press for", so that repetition is clearly a trap.
--
* DO NOT EVER INFER CAUSAL RELATIONSHIPS FROM CORRELATIONS, whether you're doing RC inference questions or CR "draw a conclusion" problems.
- also, you need to divorce statistical statements from their subjective connotations. for instance, "taller people have better chances of playing professional basketball" is EXACTLY the same statement as "shorter people have worse chances of playing pro basketball", even though the connotations of the two are vastly different. remember that gmat reading comp problems are NEVER concerned with connotations!
--
you should practice OFFICIAL reading comp.
if you haven't gone through ALL the reading comp passages in the og11 and verbal supplement, then do so. make sure that you notice how LITERAL you must be on questions about "inferences", "suggestions", etc., as noted above. DO NOT CHOOSE ANY ANSWER CHOICES THAT MAKE ADDITIONAL ASSUMPTIONS OR GO BEYOND THE SCOPE OF THE TEXT, NO MATTER HOW SLIGHTLY.
--
good luck.
- RonPurewal
- Students
- Posts: 19744
- Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:23 am
Re: 670(Q50, V29), AWA5.0, 6 yrs exp..chances into top 25 ??
re: your other question (about admissions), you should probably post it in our "Ask an Admissions Consultant" section.
- singh.gauravkr
- Forum Guests
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:08 pm
Re: 670(Q50, V29), AWA5.0, 6 yrs exp..chances into top 25 ??
Thanks very much.
I've decided to take another shot in june end with your suggesstions.
I've decided to take another shot in june end with your suggesstions.
- RonPurewal
- Students
- Posts: 19744
- Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:23 am
5 posts Page 1 of 1