hello,
So this is my story, I gave my GMAT the first time a couple of months ago, I couldn't keep up with my prep plan, since I work full time, in fact during the last few days before my test day I gave up studying and to take the attempt to familiarize myself with the difficulty level, environment etc. I wouldn't say I had not prepared but it was not a build up that you would usually get to hear from people going for GMAT. Anyway, so the first casual attempt got 640; Q=41 (48 perc) and V=36 (80 perc) with 9 in analytical essay and a shameful 0 in integrated reasoning (neither did I practice IR nor did I care much about it during the exam). I wanted to apply to Ivy league universities or at least top 20 in the world and that would clearly require me to score something around 700 (and a little more than 0 in IR).
So I had my second attempt today, I worked harder this time around I was more consistent, covered more material and took two practice tests(with scores of 590 and 560 in sequence) as compared to 0 practice test before first attempt. And lo and behold! I scored 590! I cancelled my score because it was farther from what I wanted. As far as I can remember, I scored v=31 (71 perc)and Q=38 (40 perc), the only positive was I had 7 in IR which was 81 percentile.
What would you guys suggest I do now? I tried harder, fell harder. I cant just go ahead with 640 and a zero in IR and expect to get an admission. Even if I did not have 0 in IR, 640 wouldn't have been enough because I would have 3 years of experience by August, a gold medal in my BS(computer sciences) with a not so fancy cgpa of 3.4 . And if it matters I am from Pakistan.
Would really appreciate any advice!
Regards
GMAT Forum