The week before my GMAT I topped out on a practice test from MBA.com by scoring a 750. 49 Quant and 44 Verbal. It was a bit surreal. After holding steady at 640 for three months on the Manhattan GMAT CAT exams I suddenly leaped 110 points. Lets be honest. That probably means that the MGMAT tests are a little skewed. I’m sure from their perspective it allows a jump in test day score look like something that must have come from the MGMAT services. From my perspective I went from 640 to 750 in seven days. 110 points? It took God six days to create the Earth and I jumped 110 points in seven. I mean, that’s kind of comparable right? So going into the actual GMAT the following Saturday I honestly felt the weight lifted. Who knew what would happen? I could walk out with a 600 or a 750. I just knew I was no longer in control.
GMAT day I drove downtown listening to Liz Pappademas’ “Keep Going West” on repeat. Pearson VUE has security to get inside the building, to get up the elevator and then to get into the office. Half a dozen palm prints later I walked out with my unofficial 710. What was ridiculous was the Quant/Verbal split. While my Quant came in at a barely respectable (and average performance at best) 40, my Verbal hit an all-time high of 49 (99th percentile). What does that mean? I spent the week trying to decide. MBA friends, MGMAT advisors, consultants, everyone seems in agreement, I’m taking the GMAT again.
So tomorrow I sit down with a Manhattan GMAT analyst to plan out how to approach the next 4-6 weeks. I had hoped to spend the next two months in undisturbed essay mode refining my applications for round one deadlines, but now I can count on pushing back several, if not all of those applications to round two. Most resources claim there is little to no difference between round one and two. Having a handle on my future in December instead of March would have been pretty awesome though. As it is I’m trying stay positive. I’ve got a 710 in the bag, I’m working towards a better math percentile, and I have time to put together my best possible application. I just hope I can count on MGMAT to give me straighter results going forward so that I will know where I stand.