Should I retake the exam?

[HowieR62]

Hi Stacey,

I'm looking for some advice. I took the exam today and scored a 690. (39 quant, 44 verbal.) My target score was 710-720, because I'm shooting for admission to HBS. (I had a 3.9 GPA at a top 10 University, have 3+ years of work experience, and will have a strong recommendation from my boss who is a senior faculty member at HBS. On practice exams, I was scoring about 710 or so on average, but still consistently had a significant difference between the quant and verbal portions of the exam. I'm planning to apply to schools this fall, and trying to weigh whether it is worth the stress and time to try to take the exam again. I know that I scored within 30 points of my average, so my score wasn't an anomaly, but I also worry about the discrepancy between my math and verbal scores and whether that will hold me back.

I'm trying to decide what course of action to take! I would really appreciate any advice!

Thanks!!

[StaceyKoprince]

Good question. I would talk to an admissions consultant. I'll tell you what I think, but this isn't my area of expertise.

I think your overall score is fine (690 and 710 are basically the same), but the Q39 is a concern. That's probably going to raise a red flag for Harvard, even though HBS is one of those schools that doesn't emphasize test scores quite as much.

From what I've heard, the top schools want to see at least a 45 on quant. They might let someone get away with a little lower if good quant experience can be demonstrated in another way or it there's some other reason why they really want you - but a 39 is a roadblock. What were you scoring on Q in practice?

Talk to an admissions consultant before you make any decisions (and, if you're willing to share, please come back and tell me what s/he says).

Amazing job on the verbal, by the way!

[HowieR62]

Thanks, Stacey, this is definitely helpful. I was regularly scoring a 42 on quant on my practice tests (the highest was a 47) and a 45 on verbal. Do you have any recommendations for places to reach out to in terms of your admission consultant recommendation that won't charge me and arm and a leg for some insight?

If I do opt to retake it, I'm not certain what the right approach is given I'm somewhat limited on time and don't want to sacrifice preparing excellent essays for a marginal increase in score. I've considered taking the full mgmat course but given I'd want to improve exclusively in Quant I'm not sure that's the best use of time. Any thoughts?

Thanks again!

[HowieR62]

Hi Stacey,

I wanted to follow up and see if you had any further advice. Like I mentioned, I've found MGMAT's resources really useful, and am trying to decide what the best next step is to increase my quant score. I'm considering taking a complete course, but without a great sense for the curriculum and assignments, I wonder whether it would be a better use of my time to get a few sessions of a MGMAT private tutor instead to focus on my difficulties with quant. Is there an opportunity for individualized instruction within the context of the course?

On a related note, the verbal portion of the exam comes much more naturally to me, and I was able to get a 44 without studying many strategies per se, but rather just doing some practice problems. On the one hand, I'm inclined to think it isn't worth devoting a lot of time to studying verbal because it is my strong area already, but I know that scoring very well on verbal has the potential to increase my overall score a great deal. Do you have any insight from your experience with other students? Does digging deeply into verbal strategies tend to help students who are already doing very well in this area, or just confuse them by forcing them to apply rules to concepts that are already intuitive. Would you recommend spending a good portion of time studying verbal?

Your insight on both of these questions would be really useful. Thanks so much!

[StaceyKoprince]

Sorry, just seeing this now!

Most admissions consulting firms offer some kind of free sessions (they're hoping you'll sign up of course, but hey, we do this too and we expect lots of people to come just for the free stuff and that's all). MBA Mission, for example, offers a free 30-minute phone consultation (one on one). Definitely take advantage of that; they're fantastic.

Other companies I know are: Clear Admit, Admit Advantage, Stacy Blackman (that last is really expensive... :) See whether they offer any free advice / sessions, too.

Re: a course vs. tutoring, you would have the opportunity for only limited one-on-one instruction via a course. The class itself will target the needs of everyone in the class, of course. There are also Sections (kind of like TA office hours in college), which often have lower attendance, so you may find yourself with a teacher and only a couple of other students.

A course would cost about $1,300 to $1,600 (depending on whether you do in person or online). 5 hours of tutoring costs $1,100, so you could get about 6 to 7 hours for the same price as the course. You wouldn't be able to get through all of the quant class material in 6 or 7 hours, but you would be able to concentrate specifically on the areas that you need. Your call - but given your details, I'd lean towards the tutoring.

Re: verbal, if you are scoring 44 without really studying, then I would not recommend studying formal test prep materials for verbal, no, but I would still recommend practicing and analyzing on your own. It will keep your skills sharp and you might even get better - every little bit helps.

Your main focus, though, really is about that Q score, since most top programs want to see at least a 45. See what the admissions consultants say.