Keep or Cancel 620 GMAT Score

Question

Hi All,

I took the GMAT exam on Saturday for my second attempt. I am still in the 72 hour window and given some background info below, I was hoping to get some opinions on what to do with my score.

-I graduated from Penn State in 2014 with a degree in Finance (3.71 GPA)
-I have 5 years of work experience in Private Wealth Management (portfolio management specifically)
-I am a CFA Charterholder
-I first attempted the GMAT in 2017 with hardly any studying and received a 530. At the time I wasn't committed and quite honestly didn't even think to cancel my score, so it's still on my record.
-I decided in 2019 I am committed to going back to school and getting my MBA, so I studied for 3 months this year and received a 620 (Q44 V32) on Saturday.
-While my dream target score is 700+, I feel that I would be happy with a 670 or above
-The schools I am targeting for 2020 intake are UNC, Duke, Michigan, Carnegie Mellon, Virginia, Georgetown etc.

I am struggling to decide on cancelling this score. I know I can raise my score but I also feel that progression looks good. For example, my thought is that schools would like seeing the commitment. Say I went from 530 to 620 to 670/700, I think that shows shows my dedication to this exam.

I also feel that a quant score of 44 is decent. I hope to improve it, but the off chance that I do worse next time around, I would want schools to see that I am capable of a decently strong quant score.

Any opinions would be helpful.

Thanks so much!
Dan

mangamma · Answer

For you profile 620 is a decent score, however, your dream scools average is 680+. If you are aiming 2019 intake, then you can the score. If you cancel the score scools will not able to see.

akela · Answer

Hi dcl5110 , Welcome to gmatclub! MBA programs generally care only about your highest score. So, it's up to you. I would keep it as it is better than the first one. Anyway, even if you cancel your score, you will be able to reinstate it later. Check out here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/when-to-canc ... 85245.html Hope this helps!

anmit123 · Answer

Keep the score, a progressive score shows your dedication towards working hard to get to that school's GMAT range.

dcl5110 · Answer

Great, thanks all! I appreciate the opinions. I guess one other thing I should have mentioned is that I selected 5 schools at the beginning of my exam to have the score sent too. My concern with keeping the score is that those schools are going to see my 620, which is much lower than the schools average GMAT score. I feel confident I can do better, even if its only 20-30 points next time around, I would rather those schools see a higher score. Should that be a concern though? I suppose if I kept it, then did a retake and scored higher and sent the new score to those schools again it wouldn't matter. They would focus on the higher score anyways. Thoughts?

Thanks again,
Dan

Thanks again,
Dan

anmit123 · Answer

Did you send your previous 530 score as well?If you did,then don't cancel it.

If you didn't earlier, and you are completely confident of scoring higher,than I'd say canceling is not a bad option.

One more thing,try to improve on you quant score,I'd say anything below 45 is not decent simce they really want a high quant score,and q44 is quite low on the percentile chart (q49 is only 74%,so i'm guessing that)

Posted from my mobile device

dcl5110 · Answer

Thank you  anmit123  ! No I did not report my 530 to any schools so I think I am going to cancel my 620. I feel like there isn't much downside given you can reinstate the score at a later date.

Do you have any suggestions on providers to use for practice exams/problems? I have done all 6 of the GMATPrep exams, purchased the additional GMATPrep question bank and used up the entire free veritas prep question bank as well. I also did the free VeritasPrep practice exam.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi dcl5110,

To start, Business Schools generally do not care if you retake the GMAT, so having more than one Score in your file probably would not impact your applications. That having been said, since you know the specific Schools that you plan to apply to, 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/

Raising a 620 to the point that you could consistently score 700+ will likely require at least another 2 months of consistent, guided study - and you'll have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. Before I can offer you any additional advice for this next phases of your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs/mocks (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
4) Are you planning to apply during Round 1 later this year?

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

akela · Answer

Hi dcl5110 , You can find official questions from gmatprep question bank here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/all-gmatprep ... 87679.html Subsequent OG editions have new questions. You can find the OG directory here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmac-officia ... 40610.html Some useful threads: https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-study-p ... ml?fl=menu https://gmatclub.com/forum/all-gmat-pra ... ml?fl=menu https://gmatclub.com/forum/all-you-need ... 40445.html https://gmatclub.com/forum/new-format-g ... ml?fl=menu Hope this helps

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi dcl5110,

Since you are unsure of what to do with that score, the safest move would be to cancel the score for now, and if for some reason you want to show that score on your record or need to use it to apply, you can always reinstate it.

That said, since you are planning on retaking the GMAT, do you need any advice regarding your study plan?

Feel free to reach out with further questions. Good luck!

AjiteshArun · Answer

If you want to cancel your score, go ahead. As you said, you can always reinstate a cancelled score.

As for additional practice tests, you could take a look at  this post .

Abhi077 · Answer

I would say you keep the score and give you best shot one more time. A progressive score is always better than a standalone.

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