I just took the GMAT for the 3rd time... Result? Frustration.

I'd like to get some opinions on whether or not I should take the GMAT for a fourth time. I'm applying to UVA (Darden), Carnegie Mellon (Tepper), Ohio State (Fisher), Penn State (Smeal), and Indiana (Kelley). More detail below, but scores are: 1) Cancelled ... 2) 620 38Q/37V... 3) 630 36Q/40V.

Background:

I took it for the first time this past summer. I was foolish enough to think that I'd put a few hours a week in for roughly 2 weeks and rely on my history of strong standardized test taking abilities. Suffice it to say, I cancelled that score.

Shortly thereafter, I began preparing more seriously. I purchased an online prep course and hunkered down. I took the GMAT again on December 4th and scored a 620 (38Q / 37V). Relative to my practice test scores, this was disappointing; so I got home and immediately rescheduled. I knew I had more in me. I really dug into quant, and felt as though I made progress. I was a bit dismissive about spending any time on certain subtopics prior to my 620 exam (in educational psychology they call this the "illusion of knowing something"), but I wasn't going to allow that to happen again. I was getting 46-48Q on Veritas Prep practice exams...

Test 3 - I got a 630 (36Q / 40V). Somehow, after spending zero time on verbal and all of my time on quant, I improved my verbal score, and completely choked on quant. I'm feeling completely dejected. I also feel as though I could walk back into a test center tomorrow and get that 46 on Quant because I know the material and know the strategies. I took college level calculus/stats.... My career isn't super math intensive, but I'm also not by any means incompetent. Some additional context is that I have some pretty ugly anxiety issues, and I certainly think that's factoring into my choke-job on test day (I've had to overcome it in a variety of other contexts though, so it's no excuse). Verbal comes pretty naturally to me so that's less of a concern. I also got a 6 on integrated reasoning as well as a perfect score on the AWA last time (and anticipate something similar this time around). I'm also 31 years old, so time isn't on my side based on what FT program demographics look like.

Should I take the GMAT again? How soon (given that I'm applying now)? Will most schools take my new scores after I submit my application?

Thanks in advance!

Hi wjm2020

To begin with, to score well in the Quant section you need to have a grasp on
the concepts and be able to apply these concepts while doing problems.

Below are the few recommendations that I have for you if you intend
to give GMAT another go. You could revise your concepts using the
Quantitative Mega-Thread. Once you have completed the concepts
related to a topic, you should practice questions pertaining to the concept.
Every time you make a mistake, make a note of the learning associated
with the mistake. Read and re-read these notes from time to time to avoid
making these mistakes again.

Additionally, these are a few links which you might find beneficial
http://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-improv ... 42810.html
http://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-improv ... 41670.html

If timing is where you are facing issues, then you could take help from
the strategies discussed in this link
https://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-impro ... 02515.html

Hope this helps you!
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Hi wjm2020,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. While Test Day anxiety could certainly have impacted your performance, when these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day. If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as when you plan to take your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE (re: in an online forum or in a practice set)?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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Hi Rich! Thank you for your response. Here are my answers to your questions.

1) No, I always took Quant/Verbal/IR but almost never included the AWA. I still scored a 6 on it so that's not a concern for me.
2) Yes, I took them at home.
3) Yes.
4) No, outside of ignoring the AWA (which I always do last on test day anyway) I treated a practice test as if it were the actual GMAT.
5) I did not take any of the same practice tests more than once.

Working under the assumption I'm more prepared now than I was that day, is taking the GMAT a 4th time worth the $250 if I can increase my quant to mid 40's? Is it too late since I've submitted applications for round 2 now?

I can only speak from personal experience, but I too got pretty anxious during my first GMAT attempt and became bogged down by a couple of answers that I'd realised were incorrect. It doesn't seem like your grasp of the subject is a problem and I think most of it is down to acclimatising yourself to that pressure-cooker situation.

I'd suggest giving more practice tests before your next attempt, I gave around 10-12 before my best attempt just to get myself comfortable with the clock running down on the side and at the same time learning from the silly mistakes I was making. Managing time was a huge issue for me and I found that I'd get stuck on a couple of questions, mainly because I knew I could solve them and didn't want to make an educated guess- but this ultimately would derail my test and throw me off my game. There are always multiple ways to solve questions in the Quant section, and you will face situations where you end up approaching the question with a longer, more time consuming and calculation-heavy method; in this scenario, you'll probably end up wasting more than 2.5 minutes on the question and my suggestion to you in these cases would be to either abandon the method you're using at the 50-60 second mark and figure out a simpler method in the next 15 or just make an educated guess.

Also I don't know if you've been able to complete all questions in the Quant section, but that has to be of utmost importance especially if you want to see the kind of jump in Quant that you're targeting. As I've alluded to earlier, time management is key, and from what I've observed the last 2-3 questions are pretty simple, so you wouldn't want to miss out on them or not have enough time to solve them correctly.

Get yourself comfortable with the test-room environment, I believe that more practice tests can and will help you overcome the anxiety issues you're facing. And then go ahead and give it another shot!

Hope this was useful! Good Luck!

Hi wjm2020,

From your prior post, there were some 'red flags' in terms of how you took your CATs. Before we discuss those issues though, I have a few additional questions about the lead-up to Test Day and Test Day itself:

1) What did you do in the 3 days before your GMAT?
2) How did you sleep the night before your Test?
3) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home?
4) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test?
5) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
6) Did you finish any sections early?
7) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)?

Many Business Schools will accept notable 'updates' to your application (such as a higher GMAT Score, a new notable event at your job, etc.); to be sure though, you should contact each School directly and ask. 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 application plans. There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

http://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admission ... tants-124/

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