{"id":22855,"date":"2014-02-10T07:00:13","date_gmt":"2014-02-10T14:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/when-should-you-take-the-gmat\/"},"modified":"2014-02-10T07:00:13","modified_gmt":"2014-02-10T14:00:13","slug":"when-should-you-take-the-gmat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/when-should-you-take-the-gmat\/","title":{"rendered":"When Should You Take the GMAT?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\"When<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n

\n\t\t\"when<\/a>Prepping for the GMAT is tough, and it\u2019s easy to underestimate the time and work necessary for\u00a0GMAT success<\/a>.\u00a0 Even when a GMAT student does lay out\u00a0a sufficient runway<\/a>, exploits the highest quality test prep materials available and utilizes those materials consistently and effectively, that MBA hopeful might still not feel ready to sit for the exam when test day finally arrives.<\/p>\n

If you reach this point, you have two options:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. take the GMAT and hope for the best, or,<\/li>\n
  2. push the test date and continue studying.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Assume choice 1:\u00a0Take the GMAT and hope for the best.<\/i><\/h4>\n

    It becomes very clear for everyone who seriously prepares for the GMAT that\u00a0hope<\/i>\u00a0does not yield a\u00a0strong GMAT score<\/a>. A GMAT score is derived from the work you put in. It is absolutely true that one may work very hard yet still not see the level of progress needed. After all, you can swing a golf club the wrong way 100 times and it could still be wrong on the 101st<\/sup>. Even so, if you have equipped yourself with the\u00a0best GMAT prep<\/a>\u00a0resources around, scoring well on the test does not necessarily come easily, and one can certainly not expect a magical 80-point gain on test day just because that\u2019s what you want or need.<\/p>\n

    Assume choice 2:\u00a0Push the test date and continue studying.<\/i><\/h4>\n

    No one wants to do this. You registered to take the exam on a specific day for various reasons, most of which are likely very sound. In addition to the annoyance of altering set plans, moving the exam forward means it will be part of your life for longer and if the GMAT does nothing else, it definitely looms large. A rescheduled test date also comes with a $50 penalty.\u00a0 None of that feels good.<\/p>\n

    However, every admissions officer you can find will say the same thing.\u00a0 \u201cPresent your best self.<\/strong><\/span>\u201d\u00a0 If fifty bucks buys you another two weeks, three weeks, even a month or more to really buckle down and make significant score progress, then it\u2019s worth it.<\/p>\n

    Last night after class, a student began our conversation with: \u201cI need seventy more points on the GMAT than I got yesterday on the practice test I took for one of my\u00a0Official Test Day Experiences<\/a>.\u00a0 Is it possible to make that gain in the two-and-a-half weeks I have left before I sit for the real thing?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

    My reply: \u201cIs it possible? Sure. Is it easy? Not even remotely. Is it likely?\u00a0 All things considered, including the fact that you have a life that will continue to march on despite that you are trying to prep for the GMAT, no, it is not likely.\u201d<\/p>\n

    I continue, \u201cWhat happens if you don\u2019t take the exam in a couple weeks?\u00a0 Are we up against application deadlines here?\u201d<\/p>\n

    \u201cKinda\u2026 Well, not hard up against them.\u00a0I\u2019m looking at January 15th<\/sup>\u00a0as my drop dead date, but I really want to get the GMAT out of the way so I can focus on the rest of the application; particularly the essays.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \u201cI understand all that, I really do.\u00a0However, looking at the score report you just showed me and considering all you have going on in your life outside of the GMAT, how would you feel if I\u00a0doubled<\/i>\u00a0your remaining prep time before test day?\u201d<\/p>\n

    \u201cOh gosh.\u00a0 It would feel great.\u00a0 It would remove a lot of stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \u201cSome things about\u00a0the GMAT experience<\/a>\u00a0are out of our control.\u00a0One thing we have at least some control over is\u00a0when<\/i>\u00a0we take the exam and\u00a0what\u00a0<\/i>we do before that time comes. Give yourself that gift.\u00a0Turn two-and-a-half weeks into five.\u201d<\/p>\n

    With tears of relief she replied, \u201cOK.\u201d<\/p>\n

    The post When Should You Take the GMAT?<\/a> appeared first on Kaplan GMAT Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Prepping for the GMAT is tough, and it\u2019s easy to underestimate the time and work necessary for\u00a0GMAT success.\u00a0 Even when a GMAT student does lay out\u00a0a sufficient runway, exploits the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,558,243,940],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat","category-kaplan-blog","category-blog","category-gmat-prep-gmat","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}