Advice please on whether to do 5th attempt
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02 Apr 2010, 14:41
I've read a few different things on adcom's perception of multiple retakes. Here's my situation:
620 - back in 2007
660 - Jan 2010
670 - Feb 2010
630 - Mar 2010
Sorry, I don't have the splits off the top of my head, but generally below 80% for quant and above 80% for verbal.
On my third attempt (670), I felt a bit rushed during quant and took too much time on verbal, having to guess on the last 6 verbal.
To adjust for this, I worked on my pacing and 'time banking' strategy. I felt the best on my last attempt... finished on time... practiced GMAT Prep exam a ton of times before the test and consistently scored around 750... one reaching up to 770. I understand I have to account for repeats, but I thought I would at least improve from my 670, and certainly not drop.
Now I'm forced to fall back on my 670 score. I really want to give it one more try, but the part that scares me is I can't identify what I did wrong during attempt 4. Each prior attempt, I kept mental notes of what I could improve upon, once I finished. The only thing I came up with is, when I scored 670 on attempt 3, I took my time early on, which I know ensured I got more correct early on, but ended up guessing the last 6. Perhaps the string of correct answers set the score bar high and my guesses didn't hurt me too much. Something that I didn't do on attempt 4.
I want to apply to some top programs like Haas, Cornell, MIT... I'm Asian but U.S. Citizen, I have an average 3.5 grade point average and 4 years of exp at big 4 consulting, decent ECs and I also served in Iraq with U.S. Military. I feel my demographic helps me, but don't know if it'll make up for a GMAT that's 40points lower than the mean at most schools.
Any insight as to how I should approach? I really want to retake, but at this point, I honestly feel it's a coin flip of scoring a 700 even, or another 670. Worst case - same baffling thing happens and I get a 630 again.