Should I Retake GMAT Thread - Retaking GMAT Strategies

Hello Everyone and GMAT Experts,

Please suggest study plan/material/strategy for next 2 months. I am going to retake GMAT.

I scored an abysmal 690 (V49,V-35,IR-7) in Feb 2018. From Feb I haven't touched the books. Just gave GMAT diagnostic test 1 again and scored Q50 (I never scored this high before) and Verbal 25 correct out of 36 (For some reason it didnt show score). I will need Verbal revision as I was again finding CR and little bit of SC challenging.

Last time I finished:

OG, Review (both Quant and Verbal)
4 GMAT Prep exams
Manhattan Quants
E-GMAT SC
Powerscore Bible for CR

Please suggest study plan or next steps. I strongly believe my weakness in Verbal and hence the opportunity to improve.

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In my opinion to improve Quant score further use gmatclub test and Manhattan quant.
Ithink Gmatclub test along with Manhattan advance quant will definitely help you raise your score.
For SC apart from the above tow mentioned book use magoosh free blogs and free idiom book.
TO improve CR powerscore bible is great book but I think you need to practice lot of question.

Well, it depends. If you got a score you're happy with, then no, you don't need to retake the GMAT. ... A good rule of thumb is that you should consider retaking the GMAT if your score is below the average scores of admitted applicants at your target schools.

Just took the GMAT for the first time today and while it went ok, I am pretty disappointed given my GMATPrep scores, and how poorly I executed. I know I can do better, but my score is not bad (average or slightly above average for my target schools). Should I re-take or focus on apps at this time? Details below:

Basic Profile
Canadian of Asian descent
Computer Science degrees (top 1-2 Canadian university, UGPA 3.88)
NYC Corporate restructuring lawyer in Vault 15 law firm, currently seconded to major international bank to consult in distressed loan workouts/strategies
As you can probably surmise, I am an "older than average" applicant (hand grandpa his cane please)

GMAT Details
1. Scored 730 (Q49, V41, IR8) Didn't have any issues with the essay (I'm expecting something reasonably high).

2. Verbal section was trickier than what I'd seen on GMATPrep tests (I was consistently scoring around the V44-45 range but it appears the margin for error on Verbal is quite small).

3. All my practice with time management on Quant went out the window on test day - honestly I am shocked I scored Q49 - I assume it's because I was getting a lot of hard questions (will know more once I can get the ESR). I was way behind with about 10 questions left, so I semi-guessed a few and totally guessed on the rest...

4. I'm irritated because I was aiming for 750+ and was fairly confident given my practice test scores. I think I was a little too laid back in the Quant section...

5. I was planning on applying to Tuck and Columbia for R1/ED (my top two choices at the moment). My preliminary analysis post-GMAT is to (i) still apply for these two schools (including networking, school visits, etc.) for R1, (ii) advance on applications for other top 15 schools outside of H/S/W (I'm keen on NYU, Ross and MIT in particular), and (iii) if dinged from Tuck/CBS, re-take GMAT.

6. Should I reconsider applying in R1 given my GMAT score and overall background? Would I need a higher GMAT score to "stand out" from the crowd?

Would love to hear some thoughts from the pros! Thanks in advance!

Thanks BB! I know my post probably fits more in the profile eval section but I thought I'd try here first If I have questions about adcom thinking processes generally which forum would you recommend I post in?

Hi everyone. My first post here, first of many hopefully as I start working on my applications.

I find myself in bit of quandary and amongst all the static the gmatclub appears to be one of the few places with people who know what they're talking about, so here I am.

As the thread title suggests, I'm trying to figure out whether I should take the GMAT again. A couple of years ago (2016) I was preparing for a local examination, the CAT (Common Aptitude Test), when I decided to give the GMAT a whirl as well since the syllabus seemed to be the quite similar - an assumption that would come back to bite me.

The quant section was bit of a screw up because I was focused on getting to the end in time and thought I could afford to get a few wrong (didn't know about the dynamic difficulty element). Then the "Analytical Writing" section came up and I had no idea what was expected. Muddled through that (I think I made a flow chart or something).

Anyway, the final score was both decent and terrible.

Verbal: 44

Quantitative: 49

Total: 750

Analytical Writing: 3.5 (!)

Integrated Reasoning: 6

The base scores will do but the IR score wasn't great and the AW score was just atrocious.

Now here I am two years later, planning to put in my MBA applications (looking at NUS, HKU & HKUST mainly) and wondering whether I should take the GMAT again. While I'm confident of improving my AW score in a second attempt, I don't have a great deal of time to prepare for the other sections and I don't feel as sharp as I did when I took it originally.

Some people advised me to give it another go but the last thing I need is to underperform on the quant or verbal sections and get a lower total logged in as a second attempt. I'm taking the GRE & IELTS (Academic) next month because they have writing sections and I'm hoping those scores will compensate, but still wondering whether to pull the trigger on the GMAT again.

And yes, I'm aware that the GMAT isn't the be-all-end-all yardstick of acceptance into a good MBA program but the rest of my application isn't anything to crow about, so I'm banking quite a bit on the GMAT to compensate. (I've got 4-5 years of work ex. but only a 3.0 GPA.)

I'd welcome any advice.

Welcome to GMAT Club, JKant!

Two quick thoughts:

• I can't imagine that anybody has ever been rejected just because of a mediocre AWA score. Sure, 3.5 isn't the greatest thing, but in general, schools don't care a whole lot about it.
• More importantly: there's no harm in retaking the GMAT, other than $250 and a few hours of staring at a computer screen. You can always cancel the score, even after the exam, and schools will never know that you even took it. So if you think you can do better -- and I think you're suggesting that you might have some running room on quant, too -- then you might as well give it a shot. That 750 is great, but if you can get a 760 with a better AWA score, it might help your cause a little bit. And if you don't... well, that 750 is still pretty tasty, and I doubt that the AWA will ruin your day.

So you're not in a bad spot at all. Congrats on that great score, and let us know what ends up happening!

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Really helpful post.
However, I am yet to take the GMAT. What would be your advice, so that I score well on my first attempt?

Question: Should I cancel my score and retake?

Background: I have a 730 GMAT from last year (Q:46 V: 44 AWA: 6 IR: 6). I knew I wanted to retake the test and have been in the 740-770 range on all the GMAT Prep Tests (770 was Q:49 V: 47 IR: 8, generally on all are in the 44-47 range on Verbal (2 wrong).

Test Experience: Took one earlier this summer (had been 730 of both practice tests) and did awfully. Then in late August (after a 740 and 770 practice test in the previous couple days), was taking the test when the software had some issue, an error message popped up on the 2nd section, and they took 15 minutes to recover the test and it was on the wrong question/time. Didn't finish that one, so today was my retake, way later than I wanted to do.

Today: 710, Q:47 V: 42 IR: 5. I normally finish GMAT Prep tests 5-15 minutes early on verbal and ran out of time on the last ones here (super long reading passages compared to GMAT Prep, some awfully worded questions, and a question I think there must be a typo in) and was way ahead on Quant and then fell behind and guessed on last 2 questions.

Would you cancel and retake this test? I am applying Round 1 to some M7 schools, might apply to a few harder ones R2, and know some schools will take the new scores after submission. I initially was going to cancel this and then kept it at the center because the Quant is higher and one school I know takes the highest from each section across different tests. Now leaning towards cancelling.

Background: I come from a competitive demographic, am older with a lower GPA (from a top tier school), and am a reapplicant.

Hi,

I took the GMAT yesterday and got very frustrated with my score. I got a 690 (Q48 V35), I'm aiming for at least 720 to get into the schools I chose. I studied for around 3 months, and 4-6 hours a day in the last month. I studied all Manhattan Prep books cover to cover TWICE, and finished answering all the questions on the OG guide and both the Verbal and Quantitative Guide. I took 6 GMAT CAT Practice Exams within the last month with scores as follows:

Exam 1: 690 (Q49 V35)
Exam 2: 710 (Q48 V38)
Exam 3: 720 (Q49 V38)
Exam 4: 720 (Q48 V40)
Exam 5: 730 (Q49 V31)
Exam 6: 660 (Q45 V36)

I thought I was doing okay but on my last practice CAT, which I took a day before my GMAT exam, I got a 660 which greatly affected my morale.

Now, I'm planning to retake in a month but I don't know how and where to start. I pretty much made use of all resources available to so I have no idea how to improve my score. But then again, I got higher scores on my practice exams so I don't know what happened.

Would appreciate any feedback or advice from you guys.

Thanks for the topic. It's help me.Well, it depends. If you got a score you're happy with, then no, you don't need to retake the GMAT. ... A good rule of thumb is that you should consider retaking the GMAT if your score is below the average scores of admitted applicants at your target schools.

7 months and 450 hours: 440 to 660. I want to get to 710+ in 6 weeks.

Hello Everyone,

Just sat for the exam for the second time on Oct 19. I vastly improved over my first exam in July, however I want to do even better. Here I will give a description of my studies and ask advice on what to do next.

Background information
Basics: male, US, native-english, south-asian origin, 31 years old.
Professional: 7 years in non-profit arts administration. I am the full-time director of a youth orchestra program in NYC. It’s a fascinating blend of creative music making, organizational leadership, and music education.
Education: piano performance and music composition
Asterisks: dropped out of HS (ended up returning). Never finished basic HS math. Destroyed by calculus in college. Hadn’t sat for a "math" exam since 2008. My professional role, although creative and demanding, requires little thorough quantitative or critical analysis.

Goal: I want to transition to a leadership position in the for-profit sector and build experience (and money) for at least a decade. Then, I want to return to the non-profit sector and lead a major cultural arts institution in New York City.

Schools: applying R2 to four T15. Not going any lower. Yes, I’m taking a chance!

Journey 440 to 660 and beyond

March 2018 took GMAT Prep 1 (75 question) mock. 5 hours sleep. Cold. No preparation whatsoever. Hadn’t taken a test in 10 years.
440: Q18/V30/IR3/AWA??

Yeah it was bad. A few days later tried a mock GRE exam and scaled it was the same score. Decided I could better prove myself, because of my non-traditional background, with the GMAT. Haha.

April: averaging 8 hrs/week and 6 hours sleep per night. MGMAT Foundations Math book, and Magoosh flashcards. Yep.

May: averaging 16 hrs/week and 6 hours sleep per night. Magoosh question bank and some OG. Really struggled with both. Terrible timing. Did not understand anything not only in quant, but also in verbal.

May 24: sat for MGMAT CAT 1. 540: Q35/V30/IR3/ didn’t finish AWA. Fixed timing and breaks. Intentional morning routine. Even left the house and walked around the block.

Wasn’t really sure where to go from here. A good friend who scored 760 suggested I do CR Bible and focus on Magoosh. I really needed the Magoosh video explanations. OG was too above me.

June: 16 hrs/week studying and 6 hours sleep per night. CR Bible, Magoosh quant, and little bit of verbal here and there. Mid June began working 1x a week with a great tutor from one of the well-known test prep companies.

July 10: sat for MGMAT CAT 2. 540: Q29/V36/IR3/AWA self-scored 5. Fixed timing and breaks. Morning and evening routine.

Friday July 13: sat for GMAT Prep 2 (web version). 650: Q40/V40/IR4/AWA self-scored 5. This was terribly inflated and a cruel Friday the 13th joke. It had questions from the software version of GMAT Prep 1 I took in March. Fixed timing and breaks. Morning and evening routine.

July 16: sat for actual exam. 540: Q29/V37/IR2/AWA5. Gross. Just couldn’t do it right.

Then, I started a very detailed error log, and detailed my study habits in a schedule.

mid-July to end of August: averaging 18 hrs/week studying and 6 hours sleep per night. quant did only Magoosh UNTIMED and heavily reflective. Focused on “easy” and did one topic at a time. It would take me up to 8 minutes to do an easy quant problem. But I would understand it. Went through a bunch of Magoosh verbal all difficulties untimed.

end of August: switched to OG2018 online (!!) The online edition is a game-changer. Started on easy untimed. It was freakin hard!!! Worked through easy, and slowly began to incorporate timing.

September: averaging 18 hrs/week studying and 6 hours sleep per night. focused on OG EASY quant untimed and timed. detailed error logging. reviewed mistakes. re-did EASY questions. Verbal OG medium.

Sept 15: GMAT Prep 3 600: Q39/V34/IR4/AWA self-scored 5. I wasn’t too thrilled. Fixed timing and breaks. Morning and evening routine.

Sept 22: MGMAT CAT 3. 620: Q36/V28/IR4/AWA self-scored 5. Fixed timing and breaks. Morning and evening routine.

Sept 29: MGMAT CAT 4. 640: Q40/V37/IR3/AWA self-scored 5. Fixed timing and breaks. Morning and evening routine. Felt confident.

By now I was really sharpening my timing. MGMAT CATS give superior timing analyses and I was using it to my advantage. Saw that I would get sucked into a time-bomb spiral on the first 10 questions. Statistically, If I spent more than 2 minutes on a question, I had less than 10% chance to get it correct.

On quant I was learning to force myself to make smarter decisions faster. I was working through OG medium. Still haven’t touched OG hard!

On verbal I was struggling to increase accuracy while maintaining time on “Hard”. I still struggle with this. I struggle with focus while reading CR. I struggle with understanding hard CR. My Hard SC isn’t that great, either. I think lack of sleep (less than 7.5 hours) really impacted my verbal comprehension.

Final two weeks I was FORCING myself to sleep 7.5 to 9 hours each night. I noticed my focus increase.

Oct 13: GMAT Prep 4. 620: Q39/V36/IR3/AWA self scored 5. Fixed timing and breaks. Morning and evening routine. This impacted my confidence. I felt bad.

Oct 19: actual exam. 660: Q43/V38/IR6/AWA? Overall I was pleased, but disappointed by the Verbal plateau. How do I break out of it? ESR is attached.

Verbal: I really struggle with understanding hard CR questions. Hard SC, too.

Quant: haven’t even touched OG Hard yet. There are still about 40 medium OG questions I’ve got wrong that I need to go back and re-do.

I am sitting for the exam again on December 6. My minimum goal is 710: Q47/V40/IR6/AWA 5.5

I am fairly stubborn and obsessive, and often foolishly ambitious. I know that even with a 710, I may be rejected from my four T15 choices. My professional background is compelling. Even after I submit a (fingers crossed) 710 R2, I will likely continue to study and re-take GMAT in March. I believe a 760 is within my grasp, and such as score is useful for recruiting for certain industries, and even applicable to Law or Public Affairs/Policy programs.

My recent ESR is attached and I have very detailed error logs and study schedules on Google Sheets. Also, shout-out to my tutor - if you’re reading this, you know who you are!

What’s your advice?

Thank you!

Those are helpful articles, thank you! I’ll check out that doc.

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Hello GMAT experts.

I did not do well on my first attempt (Score: 660; Q 38, V 42, IR 6).

A program I would like to apply to, has a median GMAT score of 720 and their application deadline is in January.

What strategy should I consider for retaking the GMAT (in late December or early January)?

Some of my recent official practice test scores were as follows:
630 (Q40 V36)
710 (Q43 V44)
640 (Q41 V37)
710 (Q45 V42)
700 (Q44 V41)

Please share your advice.

Thanks.

Hi,

A month back, I had given GMAT and scored a very low GMAT score of 510(Q 43, V 18). I bought all GMAT prep and scored around 570 to 700 (Q 42-49, V 18-38). I am aiming for 740 (Q48-49, V42-44).

I am starting my prep again. Any special recommendation from the experts will be very useful.

Thanks !


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