Should I Retake GMAT Thread - Retaking GMAT Strategies

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lh68

If you can improve your Quant score, you will very well go beyond 700.
1 Do MGMAT guides for concept understanding. Dont jump to problem solving unless you have understood the concepts thoroughly.
2 Once you are confident about your quant preparation start giving your Gmat club tests (excellent tests). Advanced Manhattan guide is available once you start scoring Q49.
3 Are you consistent on your Verbal score. If not, that is a concern because you are not selecting answers for the right reason. I took the egmat verbal course plus read MGMAT guides and improved my score by 6 points.
4 While giving GMAT club tests, find out which areas within quants you are making mistakes- In my case it was DS- Modulus. Work on your weak areas. This will be the key between Q49 and Q50.

All the best in your preparation. May you reach your dream school.

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice to get me out of my troubling situation.

Scored a 710 in my first attempt (49Q 39V). I felt I could do a lot better. I was hoping to improve my quant to 50 and verbal to 40. So ended up giving the gmat a second time however ended up with a 680 (lower score in both quant and verbal)

Being an Indian applicant (without stellar undergrad credentials) I think I need a higher score and I'm planning to give the gmat again around the 10th of December. So exactly a month to go. While introspecting into what might have gone wrong I realized that my preparation lacked something pretty basic. I gave a lot of mock tests but never stuck to the exact timing. I used to often pause my tests, go on breaks and on instances completed tests over 2-3 days. The problem now is that I've used up all of my mock tests- Kaplan (all 5), MGMAT (all 6) and official gmatprep (both)

Moreover I've practiced questions from all over the place: Quant from -OG13, Quant review 2nd edition, Manhattan advance gmat, gmat 800, veritas, gmatclub math book and gmatclub.com questions. Verbal from- OG13, verbal review 2nd edition, veritas advanced, SC grail, etc.

I am really unsure as to how to restart studying and from where. Would appreciate if someone could help me out by recommending a plan of action and also recommending some other sources for practice. Also would be great if someone could suggest some other mock tests available (willing to pay for tests also)

Thanks
Ramalo

If you want to improve from 710 you will need a great private tutor who will teach you how to answer to the difficult questions. You need someone who will fine tune your knowledge and knows valuable insider knowledge on the test.

Feel free to contact Optimus Prep's support if you are interested in a free online trial hour!

so I took the gmat nov 1st - 680. Some soft spots on quant so pretty sure I can improve. Question is - in my retake prep, I am focusing on answering questions in my problem areas - I am only going to retake 1 full test (I took around 10 before the first one) but I need a good test.

1. I already did all the manhattan GMAT ones.
2. I already did all 4 GMAT prep ones

Which test would be a good gauge. Do you think the economist is a good one? I think I might have a Princeton review one left but I've heard those scores are inflated.

Hi, I took my GMAT today and got a 600(Q-39,V-34)
Even though its a 110 point increment from my initial diagnostic, I'm really disappointed as clearly this score is not enough to get into most schools(Kelley,Schulich,George town) which I plan to apply to.(The schools have an avg gmat score of 650).
I'm really shocked with my Quant score and not sure what happened during the test. I feel the score doesn't represent my quant ability but am still not sure whether I should re-take the gmat. Any suggestions ??

110 points is a lot improvement...you should keep that in mind.

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Hi Everyone,

This is my first post here.I am sort of a lurker and I guess time has come for me to post my experience and get some guidance here.This is probably a long debrief.
In case someone wants to go through it quick, go through the red section which summarises everything here.

I have given GMAT on 22ndDec,2014 and secured 690(Q50, V31).I am from India and an engineer with 30 months of experience in Automotive sector (Embedded technology)(so basically trying to distinguish myself from that of Indian IT )

I have started preparing for GMAT in the month of May,2014. First, I got to know the complete pattern of GMAT and then started studying the Princeton Review pdf I found online. After finishing it halfway, I gave GMAT Prep Test1 and got 610 (Q48 V26). Then I finished the princeton review completely and gave Princeton's free exam and secured 590(Q43 V29). I am quite good at maths and hence I thought I should get better at GMAT english.

*********GMAT Prep Test1 -> 610 (Q48 V26) *************************

*******Princeton Free test -> 590 (Q43 V29) *************************

I got the MGMAT sentence correction book and hence started studying it.Though it's quite extensive and tiring, I tried to understand all the concepts.I have also started practising the OG13 with errorlogs. I realised that I was not having great accuracy in verbal.So I started surfing around and found that egmat might suit my needs.I purchased the egmat online and started with the course.Along with egmat course,I got 800score tests and GMATclub tests. I gave one 800score test and got 680(Q50 V38).Though I was quite happy at first, after seeing the reviews of 800score I decide not to give them again.I have also started practising the GMATclub questions. I have gained some confidence because of increase in accuracy in verbal. I have started giving MGMAT mocks in the month of august and september. Around mid september, I had to stop preparing for GMAT since I was planning to give CAT exam here.


*******MGMAT Test1 -> 600 (Q45 V29) *************************

*******MGMAT Test2 -> 610 (Q45 V30) *************************

*******MGMAT Test3 -> 660 (Q46 V34) *************************


Until Mid November I prepared for the CAT and it went quite well. I must say my ability in Quants and Verbal have a gone a notch high. I have gone for a trip and then again started preparing for GMAT in Dec. I have also booked a Dec22nd Morning Slot. I have started practising with the remaining OG13 problems and started revising my egmat notes.I gave 3 MGMAT mocks in period of 1 week and following are my scores.

*******MGMAT Test4 -> 670 (Q45 V36) *************************

*******MGMAT Test5 -> 670 (Q48 V33) *************************

*******MGMAT Test6 -> 680 (Q45 V37) *************************

So from the above MGMAT scores I noticed that I was not doing well in section wise. Two days before the D-day, I resetted the GMAT prep(Since I have given one 7 months back) and gave GMAT Prep Test2 and got 660(Q50 V30)! I was quite shocked and tried to analyse the shortcomings. I was not planning to give a mock before the D-day,but after seeing my 660 score I gave a GMAT Prep Test1 on the day before D-day and got 730!!

*********GMAT Prep Test2 -> 660 (Q48 V26) *************************

*********GMAT Prep Test1 -> 730 (Q48 V26) *************************


I was quite happy but I have realised that fatigue playing a key role here. I am quite confident of solving any question that I face but I need to maintain exam stamina to replicate 730 again.Furthermore, I haven't practised AWA at all. Once I have gone through the chinese burned template long long back.So the day before the D-day, I practised a essay and got an idea on what to write on the exam day.

Finally on the D-day, I wrote the AWA quite okay. I thought I didn't do quite well in IR. In Quants, I guessed only one question somewhere in middle and rest all I solved with 3 minutes left. In verbal, I felt I was not doing well in sentence correction and was always racing against time. Finally when I saw the score, I was not quite sure how to react! 690 is a good score but then remaining 10 would have made this GMAT experience sweeter, So near and yet so Far!!!


--GMAT ->690 ->87%
AWA ->5.5 ->81%
IR ->5 ->52%
Quants ->50 ->88%
Verbal ->31 ->61%

I have started writting essays for the Bschools. I am not aiming for top10 colleges. Furthermore, It is too difficult for me to bear the complete fees,so I need scholarship.Now considering R2 deadlines close, Should i retake GMAT? I am quite confident I can tun around and get 730 by January end. So If I get 730 by January end, is there any chance of getting scholarships in R3?

Suggestions are invited

@bb,@bunuel I have gone through all the retake threads and quite confused.Your suggestion is needed. Thanks for your time

I think 690 is a long shot for top 10 schools with your demographic of Indian IT Male

amenon55


Thanks for the prompt reply
Like I said in the post,I am not aiming for the top 10 colleges and I work for a product based company(so Non-IT) .So any chances of scholarship with 690 considering I highlight my profile in the best way possible?
also Should I go for one more retake?If I get 730 or so, any chance of scholarships in R3 ?

If you plan to apply to schools listed on the left, I think for most of them you are OK with your GMAT.
If you plan to apply in R3, places are limited, competition is fierce since you are competing with guys wailisted in R1 and R2 and scholarship fund is almost gone.
Please review debriefs of other applicants in "Share GMAT Experience" and you will find a lot of advice, since your situation is not unique.

As a general rule of thumb, if you really feel that you can improve significantly - of course, retake the GMAT.

Do you know why you make most of your mistakes?
What about Practice Tests? How well did you in practice tests - were they on par or did you get 750's?

Thank you for your post and congratulations on the 710 - I think most folks in this thread would be happy with this score. However, I can understand how some may not....
It seems your practice scores were on par with your final score, which is a good sign - meaning you can practice more and try to study more and measure your progress by taking additional CATs. That's huge... as you will see many folks in this thread took practice tests and got 700's and then walked away with low 600's on the test day.

Again, congratulations and good luck!

Hi All,

I took the GMAT today and scored a 700 (Q50/V33/IR5/AWA Pending).

I wanted to know if I should retake the test given that I plan to apply to only the top 10 B-Schools. Another reason why I am thinking about retaking the test is that my today's verbal score was the least that I have got compared to all other mock tests I wrote in the past. My verbal scores in MGMAT CATs have been in the range of 34-41. And in the two GMATPrep tests, my verbal scores were 37 and 44 respectively. So I know I can do better than a 33.

A brief about my profile:
I am an Indian having a prior MBA equivalent degree from one of the top 10 b-schools in India.
Post MBA my work ex has primarily been in financial services - Corp Strat/M&A/IB.
I have a total of 4.5 yrs of work ex including 1 year of pre-mba.
I am an engineer by graduation from one of the top 10 engineering colleges in India.
My CGPA is not a strong point on my resume: MBA CGPA - 6/10 and 68% marks in engineering

I would also like to know how soon should I retake the test if at all. I want to apply in R2 and with the deadlines approaching, I need to start working on my essays and arranging reccos too.

Thanks

IMHO you probably should retake it and try for a better verbal score as your score is rather imbalanced. bb's original post in this thread does advise too that one of the situations where you should retake is if your score is imbalanced i.e. Plus if you think you have a good chance of doing better than 33 in verbal, you should do the retake asap. When I did my first GMAT I had an eye infection and wound up with a 680 score, but I knew I could do better so I re-took it at the earliest opportunity and got a much higher score.

Additionally, because you already have an MBA, the top schools don't appear to look favorably on someone looking to get a second MBA so you need to really work on demonstrating why you need another one in your essays. In between prepping for your retake you should start thinking about the structure of your essay and what key points you'd like to make.

Btw you should probably arrange your recommendations now even if you haven't started on your applications yet. It's advisable to give your recommenders as much time as possible to write you a good recommendation. I sent out recommender notifications after I did my first GMAT test before I re-took it so that my recommenders would have enough time.

I want to practice questions on quant but coundn't find a good resource just like OG has around 250. Do you know a good source to practice questions (just sit one day open the link and start solving questions). I know the database of Gmatclub is huge as well but here the questions are divided by topics. Do you have something where there are just questions.

Please help