Just took the GMAT today. I've put in 3 months of close to full time study prep. I've read enough gmat experience discussion forums to not fall victim to the "it could never happen to me" trap, but I am utterly shellshocked at what just happened. My experience is Quant specific, but here it is:
MGMAT CATs
-scoring around Q44 to Q46 (arount 65 to 70th percentile)
GMAT Prep 1: Q45 (71st percentile)
GMAT Prep 2: Q47 (76th percentile)
I am leaving out my verbal scores since I didn't even bother taking the Verbal section on most of my
MGMAT tests since I wasn't overly concerned with it (ended with a V40/90th percentile on actual exam).
As for my quant score: Q32 (30th percentile)
Although I could sense things did not go well after finishing the section, I was absolutely stunned when I saw this number show up on the screen. I literally felt a sharp pang shoot through my body the moment my brain understood what my eyes were looking at.
I am usually a decent test taker and wouldn't say I was nervous to any extreme level worthy of mention, leaving me all the more baffled by what just happened.
A retake is probably the ratonal thing to do in this situation, but the extent of this shock has broken my spirit to the point of questioning the merit in doing so. I've looked at the typical stats for retakes, and while I have no doubt that I underperformed, to increase my score to match my self-perceived ability/expectations (around Q45 to Q48) would be such a statistical outlier that I can't quite wrap my mind around it.
I've been very serious about the GMAT and getting an MBA, but this experience has left me in a position to seriously re-evaluate myself as well as my aspirations in the coming days...