Should I retake the GMAT?

Generally, I'd say that you're in the 80% range for any school, don't think about re-taking the GMAT. With that said, you are an overrepresented minority and if you don't have anything particularly differentiating about your profile, you need to be cognizant of the fact that your competitive peer-set will generally have very high test scores.

710 is a good score though not in the higher 700s. I think you should apply with this score as you have already have a degree from IIM (L) and this will distinguish you from the rest of the people. Usually re-taking the test after you get a good score arises a doubt in the minds of the admission council that there must be a loop hole in your profile, which you are camouflaging with the high score. So its good to apply once you hit a 700+ on GMAT.


All the best!!

-Varsha Agarwal

If you do intend to take the test again, my suggestion would be to figure out exactly where you are not totally comfortable. I doubt just doing some more practice tests will help you get the extra 40 points. You anyway seem to have done many of them.

Let me tackle your question from another perspective. Put some extra effort in Verbal. Figure out what hurts you most - CR/SC/RC. If I were to take a guess I would say SC. You are strong in Quant so your CR should be good too (if you understand that the underlying concepts of Math and Logic are not very different). You have taken CAT so RC should be easy. For SC, go through each and every question of OG carefully and analyze each and every option. Write down your takeaways from every question. Veritas SC books 1 and 2 guide you on how to handle the most frequent topics tested on GMAT SC.

In Quant, try and look at alternative strategies to save time so that you have extra time for the more 'innovative' questions. Try to create your own hard problems by looking for small tweaks that you can make to a problem to make it a little harder. That will help you bump up from 48 to 50.

Check out my blog (given in my signature) if you are wondering what I mean by alternative strategies.

Hi Parag,
Looking at your IIM L background your math score seems mediocre. I think you have plenty of scope to improve your maths.

Hi,

Thanks everyone for the advice.

Yea, I am looking to retake the exam since I think I can improve on both the math and the verbal score, and am also aware of the fact that most Indians applying would have a higher GMAT score for sure.

Karishma, thanks a lot for your inputs on the verbal. I think thats the route I am going to start with. And will definitely track your blog to understand the alternative strategies.

If you feel you didn't do yourself justice, you probably didn't. I heard somewhere that the average GMAT candidate takes the test 2.5 times and the score goes up more than not.