1st attempt: 640 M 47 V 31 :((

[arseight]

Originally Posted by gmatroad2

I would like to say just one thing:

GMAT LEVEL HAS DRAMATICALLY INCREASED!!!!!

Please consider that: Gmatprep is no more a benchmark for your score. OG10 (11 and 12) doesn't reflect the current level of GMAT. I've been working on GMAT for 2 years and I noticed how GMAT level has increased. All of these stuff are not representative of the real score.

I got 3 or 4 probability problems and 2 combinatories problems last time and my scores was really low (41). According to GMATprep you only will face such a kind of questions if you get a 49 in quant.

Same happens in verbal, probably worst. They have tremendously increased the level of the questions. It appears that you are doing right because apparently you have identified the mistakes but then you shocked when you see the final score. It appears that questions are really tricky now. From my experience, I also was tempting to think that I was doing ok, specially when I got a bold face question arround question 30 and then a complete the line question. It is supposed that these kind of questions are in the 600-700 level!!!

Just to copy what a Manhattam GMAT Staff, dbernst, said about these questions in 2007 (BF: Kaplan • Manhattan GMAT Forums):

"...these Analyze the Argument Structure questions on the GMAT are few and far between. Unless you are scoring well into the 90th+ percentile on verbal it is very unlikely that you will see one... "

Well, I got questions like that, so my feellings were ok...but, you now what, my verbal score was 14!!!! "dbernst" is totally wrong, or his words don't apply anymore. I repeat: GMAT level has increased!!! Please do not assume that you will get a decent score if you have scored in the 700's on Gmatprep.

In the end, I got the worst score I've ever had in the last two years of preparation. I never score a 470!!! This score for sure doesn't reflect my real level. I got 600 and 590 in the previous two attemps. How can I deteriorate my score more than 100 points in a couple of months? The same line's of reasoning applies to people in the opposite way: how can somebody increase his score more than 100 points in a month according to what he scored on GMATprep?

Conclusion: GMAT algorithm or whatever the use is biased today and do not represent people's abilities accurately. What I say is that GMAT scores do not converge to the real level somebody has demostrated when practice, including, the uses of official questions (just mention that I was not nervious in the test day and I was very comfortable, so this factor was not important)

What I also think is that the GMAT algorithm has changed, because it is impossible to assume that most of the people who has recently taken GMAT have the same complain about that.

I suspect that GMAT sales has fallen and, after that, they increased the level, so people have to seat at least two times and then pay for two $250... In the end, there are less people taking the GMAT but they seat twice, so sales go up...

What I forecast, if GMAT continue with this policy, is that more people will get bad scores and then schools will have to lower the admissions minimum because only a small group of people will get good scores.

Sorry to be pesimistic but, after taking GMAT 5 times in the last two years, these are my feelings.

MY GMAT SCORE : 550 Q45 (75%) V21 (21%)

I share gmatroad2's point of view. I took the GMAT for the first time on June 15th and I was surprised to see that the VERBAL section was far beyond the actual GMATPrep level. I even got a boldface question. But I have to moderate gmatroad2's statements. In my situation, as you can see, my GMATprep scores were respectively

GMATPrep 1: 610 Q46 V28 (no preparation)
KAPLAN GMAT online: 670 Q44 V41
Manhattan GMAT online: 530 Q27 V36
GMATPrep 1 Retake: 680 Q48 V34
GMATPrep 2: 720 Q50 V38
GMATPrep 2 Retake: 750 Q50 V41

so I was quite optimistic about the outcome of the real GMAT. But the problems were:

1. I DID ALL GMATPREPS WITHOUT AWA
2. AFTER GMATPrep 1, I did FULL OG 11, OG Verbal + OG Quant, so when I took the 3 following GMATPrep, there were around 5 to 10 questions I already did in each quantitative or verbal section.

I realize that, in these conditions, GMATPrep is not a real indicator of your future performance.

BUT MY FAILURE IS NOT ONLY EXPLAINED BY THAT. In the real GMAT, I had to randomly choose the last 7 questions on the quant section and I felt tired when beginning the verbal section. Moreover I was too much focused on the time and it stressed me out a lot.

Right now, I want to do OG10 but I'm reluctant to do so because I plan to take PowerPrep 1,2 and I'm afraid to see questions I would already have done in OG 10.

[gentleman1725]

My situation is very similar to ours. Scored a 630 yesterday and am very disappointed. Was hoping to get done in one shot and get atleast 690-700. Berkeley is one of my target schools as well. I am in Houston, and was thinking of applying to UT Austin's MBA full-time program. Do you have any feedback on that program since you went to that school for undergraduate studies? Will 630 with solid work experience and a great academic record be good enough to get in?
Also, what materials are you using for your re-take? I studied using the OG 11, Kaplan and Princeton books. Not sure what else to do to top my score.

[tkt]

yes good to bear in mind the level of GMAT has increased