690 (Q48, V36) - Retake/Cancel?

Congratulations for scoring 690. It is a great starting point. I think the decision whether to retake or not depends on how you were scoring in you mocks. You mentioned that you “surprised yourself by scoring 690”, does this mean that you scored lower than 690 in your mocks? Furthermore, I think you might lose momentum during your three week vacation, so maybe the ideal situation will be to brush up on your weak areas and retake GMAT in another 4 weeks (assuming you can plan to move your vacation to a later date).

Best wishes!

Hi umamitsunami,

First off, a 690/Q48 is a fantastic Score, so it could be enough to get you into your first-choice School. As such, a retest might not be necessary. You're ultimately asking Admissions questions though, so you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile and plans. There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

While GMAT skills can certainly 'fade' over time, I don't think that you're in any danger of completely forgetting what you've learned over the course of a 3-week vacation. If you choose to retest, then you would likely need a 'refresher' as part of your continued studies, but we'd be better able to assess all of that once you got back from your vacation. It would also help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying:

1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) On what dates did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

You might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Hey bebs,

Thank you for the kind words! On MGMAT mocks and Veritas, I'd completed between 2-3 of each set and was scoring between 620-650. 3 days before the test during my burnout stage I scored a 600. However, I just purchased OG20 e-book and am planning to revisit concepts using Manhattan Guides and GMATClub material during my vacation, since I never really went through the concepts thoroughly but rather learned from the problems sets. Will solve OG online question bank during my vacation as well. My laptop and writing pads are coming with me

Hey EMPOWERgmatRichC,

Thank you for the kind words as well! I'm not planning to let my reasoning skills fade, and just bought OG'20 e-book along with the online question bank to solve while on my vacation/plane rides/waiting at the airport. My mocks are as follows:

1. Veritas 1 (May 20) - 620 Q42 V34 IR4
2. Veritas 2 (Sometime in June) - 640 Q41 V35 IR4
3. MGMAT 1 (Aug 15) - 600 Q44 V30 IR 4-6
4. Veritas 3 (forgotten) - 640 Q45 V33
5. MGMAT 2 (Aug 27) - 650 Q43 V36 IR 7-8
6. MGMAT 3 (Sep 7 ) - 600 Q41 V32 IR4-5 - This was quite the disappointment, with 4 days left to test day and being burnt out really did me in on this one. Kinda destroyed my confidence for test day.

However, all things aside, I'm even more motivated now that I managed to score a Q48! On hindsight, some questions were getting harder and I had to guess my way through 5 or 6 total of them. Almost ran out of time toward the end of the Quant section as well.

I started off solving problem sets in Manhattan guide, then OG'18/19, Veritas Prep's videos and TTP as well. I purchased an ESR License Key but I think it can't be used yet as I just took the GMAT yesterday. There's no indication that allows me to activate it, but I'll definitely post it here when it's available.

I think I made many mistakes during my initial prep, as I didn't fully delve into my Manhattan guides. Between undergrad projects and exams, and Manhattan guides, I only read the concepts briefly, putting more emphasis on learning from the problem sets, which, to no surprise, I find some gaps in my contextual knowledge overall. Same goes for verbal, the V36 speaks for itself.

Hi umamitsunami,

690 is a very nice score my friend. However, since you are planning to retake to score higher, there is no harm in canceling the 690. After all, you can always reinstate the score if you end up needing to use it.

Meanwhile, given what you said about your preparation before you took the test, it seems likely that, with more thorough preparation, ideally preparation that involves learning concepts before answering practice questions and working topic by topic to achieve mastery, you could score significantly higher than 690 within a reasonable period of time.

Also, when you dive back into your prep, after your vacation, feel free to reach back out, and I’d be happy to help.

Good luck!

Hi umamitsunami,

From what you describe, your prior studies were a bit inconsistent, so you might naturally improve as you continue to study. That having been said, GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. Assuming a similar 'swing' in how your CATs function, most of your CAT score results - along with your Official Score - show a general 'ability level' right around 660 +/- 30 points - meaning that this 690 was at the 'upper end' of your range. You handle certain aspects of the GMAT consistently well, but you're open to sometimes making certain mistakes. To score a lot higher than this 690, you will have to make some significant adjustments to how you 'see' (and respond to) the Exam. We'll know more once you have your ESR (and if you would rather not post it publicly, then you can feel free to PM it to me directly).

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

In my view,You should have kept the 690. It’s a good score though I know you will improve on your next but anything can happen
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Hi umamitsunami,

Insead prefers a balanced GMAT score (around 70 percentile in each section) rather than a high but unbalanced score. As you are currently at or above 70 percentile in both the section, I would not worry about the GMAT score at all. Rather focus on submitting a strong application. If you have already scheduled your next attempt and are confident about increasing you score further, by all means go ahead and give the exam. However, as far as GMAT is concerned, I think you are in pretty good shape.

All the very best for your applications.

Deadlines are nearby and 690 is a great score. I think you should give it a shot and think about retaking later

690 is a good score. It indicates that you have mastery over many subtopics, but probably not all.

A vacation break may or may not be a good idea. You may benefit from a total short break or your rhythm may be disrupted. You would be the best judge.

You also mentioned that you purchased OG2020 and plan to go over some concepts. That's a great idea and this should become your mainstay.

In the end, the decision to retake depends on both test-related and unelated concerns. E.g, the schools you plan to apply, any future test dates you have available. Most useful would be to analyze your performance in this test. Then draw conclusion as to which subtopics you could improve upon. And finally, analyze the feasibility of improvement in a short time period. The GMAT has published range of score changes on re-attempts by testtakers. The range is something like +/- 30-40 points.

ScottTargetTestPrep,

Thank you. I decided to keep my score after speaking to some admissions consultants, and they believe that the applicant profile is more important for where I'm applying to. However, I will still definitely re-take the GMAT. I'll definitely work on verbal while on vacation (even brought writing pads with me). I just received my official score card, have yet to be able to use the ESR link yet. I'll tag you when it's available, if you're interested

Hey EMPOWERgmatRichC,

I agree. I felt like it could've gone either way, and to be frank, I was expected a subpar-600 or even a sub-600 - Got this shock of my life when 690 flashed on the screen! I did not expect to get a Q48. However, my Verbal was only 36 (the max I've been scoring on mocks too), and I am a native speaker myself who's read alot of books and essays, so definitely there's a huge margin for improvement for me, while hoping that I can keep up the Q48 in the meantime.

I've only just received my official score report, the AWA was 6.0. Is that significant/important? Also, I'm not sure when I can apply the ESR to my previous test. From experience, do you know roughly when that is so?

Thank you, rohan2345, that's really insightful to me and I appreciate that. I'm currently looking towards hiring an admissions consultant in my area, they all seem like they have a lot of expertise in the area, but I'm also unsure whether the fees are worth the money. Did you hire an admissions consultant during your applications/looking to hire one?

Thanks again.

Hey Abhi077, thank you. I'll definitely work on my application, currently looking towards some admissions consultants in my area, and will do a re-attempt at the end of Oct, but definitely application first. Thank you for your valuable insight

Hey Hovkial,

I agree, I definitely have some gaps in my contextual knowledge that I can attest to. They were exposed even more on test day, as there were some questions where I couldn't successfully apply myself. However, since my Verbal score is relatively low (to me), I feel I have much room for improvement for Verbal. As for Quant, I'll probably do some brushing up on concepts but will not delve into it completely. My goal is to bring up my Verbal from a 36 to at least, a 42, while (hopefully) keeping the quant score. If I end up on the lower end of the re-take spectrum, I'll just cancel the score.

But ultimately, as many others have advised, I'll work on my applications for R2 the minute I'm back from vacation. Will post up my ESR when it's available. Do you know how long the ESR takes to become available after test day? Thanks again.

Yes of course, you should be working on your application as well. That's a given. Do not neglect.

Keep in mind that improvement in verbal ability takes time. A few weeks or a month is probably not sufficient time for the improvement to show. In comparison, quantitative ability is much more amenable to training and improvement.

Given the above, your goal should be to remain at least at your last score and if possible, to do a careful retake and try to increase total score to some extent. Retakes can also result in lowered scores, a very likely possibility that is often ignored.

Check to see what contextual gaps you can focus upon and improve in verbal. Practice and analysis may help to some extent.

I am not sure how long it takes to receive ESRs, probably a few days if scores have not been cancelled. GL!

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Hi umamitsunami,

Hiring admissions consultant is very subjective depending upon where one is in the process. If you feel you need a start to finish guidance in the process (from school selection all the way to interview guidance), then an admissions consultant can really help you. I agree that most of the consultants out there are really expensive so go for one only if you can afford one. If you can navigate the process on your own and do not wish to spend thousands on admissions consultant, you can look at ApplicantLab. It's a great online tool that navigates you through the process at a fraction of the cost. Once you complete all the modules and have prepared the essays for your target schools and need someone to look at them and give you a feedback you can go for an hourly consulting package. That's what I am doing personally.

Hope this helps. All the best!