Study and Strategy questions relating to the GMAT.
krycek32
 
 

uneven math and verbal scores

by krycek32 Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:16 pm

I have recently completed my GMAT and although I am happy with my overall score, I scored significantly worse on the Verbal than the Math. In fact, I scored a 20percentile difference (95% math, 75% verbal). How will admissions officers view this inbalance? Will they look at it negatively? I do not know how I did on the writing section but I doubt I hit the ball out of the park.

I was told that some schools only ask you for your overall score and don't even ask you for the Math and Verbal split. I had this same problem when I took my SAT's years ago. Also, I graduated from engineering school which plays towards my strength in math and weakness in verbal/writing. In otherwords, this inbalance doesn't surprise me and some things just don't change.

Advice?
StaceyKoprince
ManhattanGMAT Staff
 
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Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
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by StaceyKoprince Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:28 pm

It depends on the school - each school can choose how it wants to use / interpret the data. You can contact the admissions departments to ask how they assess the GMAT score. Some do just look at the overall score and some also look at the subscores. Generally speaking, at least 75th percentile in both sections will be fine, though some of the very top schools say they look for "80/80" on the subscores (that is, at least 80th percentile). But even those schools don't hold themselves to those numbers - I've known people with sub-80th-percentile scores in one section who still got into those schools, though the scores weren't too much below 80th. (And that applies to you, too - 75th percentile is not that far below 80th!)
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