Should I Retake GMAT Thread - Retaking GMAT Strategies

No, it was not stupid. I think it is fine. Won't hurt. I think you may want to sink most of your time into the Applications/essays/etc at this time. Again, I have seen plenty of dings with 760's and higher.

Here are the averages/80th percentile for top schools:

GMAT Scores for Top MBA Programs
#	School Name	Average Gmat	80% GMAT range
1	Stanford GSB Full-time MBA	728	680-770
2	Harvard Business School Full-Time MBA	724	680-770
3	Yale Full-time MBA	722	680-760
4	Wharton Full-time MBA	718	670-760
5	MIT (Sloan) Full-time MBA	718	670-760
6	UC Berkeley (Haas) Full-time MBA	718	590-730
7	Dartmouth (Tuck) Full-time MBA	716	670-760
8	Chicago (Booth) Full-time MBA	715	660-760
9	NYU (Stern) Full-time MBA	715	660-760
10	Northwestern (Kellogg) Full-time 2 Year MBA	714	660-760
11	Columbia 2 Year MBA	712	670-760
12	Indian School of Business Full-time MBA	712	670-750
13	UCLA (Anderson) Full-time MBA	710	680-750
14	Michigan (Ross) Full-time MBA	704	650-750
15	London Business School Full-time MBA	702
16	Oxford (Said) Full-time MBA	700
17	UVA (Darden) Full-time MBA	699	640-750
18	Duke (Fuqua) Full-time MBA	697	620-760
19	Washington University in St Louis (Olin) Full-time MBA	695	640-750
20	CMU (Tepper) Full-time MBA	694	640-750
21	University of California Davis Full-time MBA	692	650-740
22	UC Berkeley (Haas) EWMBA	691	640-750
23	Northwestern (Kellogg) Part-time MBA	690
24	USC (Marshall) Full-time MBA	690	640-740
25	Cambridge (Judge) Full-time MBA	690	630-740
26	Chicago (Booth) Part-time MBA	687
27	UCLA (Anderson) FEMBA	687	640-730
28	Cornell (Johnson) Full-time MBA	687	620-740
29	UNC (Kenan-Flagler) Full-time MBA	686	550-720
30	Notre Dame (Mendoza) Full-time MBA	685	600-750

Hi bb,

Thanks for your encouraging words. I agree with you, I think I would be better off spending my remaining time doing applications.

In your opinion, do you think it is possible that there is any correlation between the computer trouble at the test center with me scoring that low ? I am particularly surprised because I scored 47 in quant, whereas my prep scores for quant were mostly 50s and some 51s. I am totally unfamiliar with how the testing software is installed and what all the test centers do to make it work, so I might be totally wrong about this.

Thanks a lot for your help !

Quite possible - if you feel that you could do as well on the test (hopefully a little better), you can register for a second shot, You should do at least 10-40 points better just due to standard error on the GMAT. However, you can also do 10-40 points worse. This would resolve the question and possibly give you a higher score. I would not worry about schools seeing the second score (even if lower), so I would list them all to receive the scores.

I would not do much more than 10-15 hours of studying in the entire month so it does not interfere with essays (just keep refreshing things, picking things here and there) but mostly know that you have a good score already, you are calm and relaxed but will give your best on the test day. That can get you over the 700 hump.... If you end up doing this - you must promise to come back and post your experience though.

I have a score of 720( V38, Q50). Initially I thought this score was enough as all the top schools have an average of around 720. I have a master in electrical engineering from a good US university(GPA of 3.4) and 4 years of experience(by Sep 2012) in process and quality related field. But I do not possess 'strong' leadership experience to break into top 10.( I know the word "strong" is subjective). My target schools are Kellogg, LBS, Columbia and Sloan.

I'll be applying for 2013 fall. My question is

1) Should I retake GMAT to make it as high as possible? I have seen guys scoring 730 still retaking the test and also heard consultancy firms prefer high GMAT score guys.
2) Do my verbal score and quantitative score have noticeable disparity?

Pros: 1) Have time.
Cons: 1)Although rare, but I have seen scores going down in second attempt.

Advices from GMAT gurus are much appreciated.

Happy clubbing till it bludgeons your head

Ray

From what I've read on the board, for top 10 US schools, a GMAT score does not matter that much once an applicant has crossed the 700-710 threshold. Once you are in the crucial 700+ zone, the profile, essays become more important.

In my humble opinion, trying to bolster your profile in the 1 year you have could be time well spent - if not in work, then outside of work - doing community service or volunteering for non-governmental organizations could be helpful maybe. Also, the one year you have could let you spend as much time as you want on the all important essays.

That said, another stab at the GMAT probably would not hurt, must say. Don't have a view either way on this one.

Bottomline: Another attempt would not hurt if you feel like it, but probably, more important is the rest of your application and how to bolster it.

Thanks

Santanu

Hi

I took the exam this tuesday and scored 660 (42/39). I will certainly retake the exam once I intend to apply to round 3 LBS and I understand that my score should be at least 700 to do so.
But I would like to share my experience with you guys and ask for some opinions.

During the test day I faced the following problems:

The beginning of the test delayed in 1 hour. The test was schedule to 17/01 2:00 pm but it started after 3 pm;
The keyboard was awful and I had a hard time to write the essays;
The place was extremely noisy (it’s a business office with a classroom beside it, and once the test delayed it coincided with the begging of a regular class with people coming and going all the time);
The verbal part was interrupted after approximately 40 minutes due to a system problem (the system got locked) and I waited about 30 minutes outside the test room to continue the test.

I really want to ask GMAC to cancel/disregard my test in order to retake it.

Although I think you can request GMAC for that but I seriously doubt whether they will do so. My suggestion will be just move on and forget about the past. Since you want to go for it again just put your effort for a better score. Also you did not mention your GMAT prep scores. That could have been a yardstick. If possible choose an alternate center next time.

Yes, I am thinking taking a G-MAT test

Hi BB,
i gave GMAT on 28 March 2012 and scored 630 (Q46, V31). I have given GMAT in sept 2011 also and score 620 (Q46, V30). Last time i had not given any prep tests apart from GMATPrep n my study material was not sufficient and correct.. So this time i used OG 12th edition + MGMAT Sc guide + MGMAT CR guide + Powerscore CR bible. i practiced almost all the GMATPrep questions on MGMAT forums. OG questions i practiced so many time that answer were by heart. I gave mock tests , following are my scores:
Kaplan : 570.
GMATPrep 620
MGMAT: 690
GmatPrep 660
Powerscore GMAT: 670
MGMAT : 660
MGMAT: 650
MGMAT 620( test was disturbed by many things so i dun wanna count this one)

i gave all my mock test in real GMAT situation. i practiced verbal very hard this time, trying to understand every concept. My strike rate of GMATPrep questions n OG questions by the end was roughly 17/20 for CR and 18-19/20 for SC. while giving thereal GMAT exam i thought that verbal is going well n i will atleast score 670.. However when the score popped up it was 630. There was no anxiety, no missed questions, no randon guesses. While doing the exam i marked all the answers after reasoning them out n i beleived whatever i am selecting is write.
i am clueless why this happened.May be after all the studies my understanding itself was not correct. I am clueless as to what to do next, should i give GMAT again because my score is just the same second time also, i dont know if third time it wil increase or may become 640. May be i dont know what i am doing wrong specially in verbal. i want to have atleast 690 to apply to colleges i want. i need some advice on what to do next...
Tanya

I think since there could be up to a 40-point error in the GMAT score (where it over or under estimates your abilities) you want to have at least 700+ on GMAT prep or other tests. You probably were not ready to go to take the exam if you were getting 660's and needed 690.

I do not see why you were expecting 670. None of your last 3-4 scores were over 660 except the powerscore. I think you need to bush up on the fundamentals of the Verbal and beef up your quant (you can get it up to 49 without too much struggle). If you can get your Reading/SC/CR up a bit, you can reach the 700.

I would recommend the MGMAT Verbal Foundations and MGMAT Roadmap.

Hello every body,

My name is Meis, I have over 6 years of banking experience in finance & compliance, I have a bachelor in Economic, I got a scholarship that covers a tuition fees of 32,500 Euro for an International MBA program in English in a big university in Netherlands, but I still didn't get the admission ( I know it usualy goes in the other way -admission then scholarship) however, one of the required documents was a GMAT score of 500+, i prepared for GMAT only for 2-3 weeks and I took the exam first time on April 24, 2012 and as in the title, i got only 370 as following Quantitative: 24- Verbal :17 and the Analytical Writing was 5.0 , though in the preparation test of GMAT i achieved 470, so It was shocking results for me to get only 370, all my preparation was using GMAC official software and the practice tests included.
The university gave me another chance and asked me to retake the exam, I assigned a date to be on June 29, which is in 8 days, will be traveling to a neighbor country to take the exam since there is no exam center in my country.
I have the VERITAS Preparation materials am using to study, I already completed "Data Sufficiency, Arithmetic, geometry" in quantitative and "Critical Reasoning 1" in verbal, I already started studying " sentence correction" and I will try to complete another book in math, I am not an English speaker, so i will try to concentrate more on quantitative than spending much time on verbal.
Ay body has a final advice i can use in the few days left? considering that i still didn't complete another practice test yet, tomorrow i will try the practice tests on the new GMAT software.?


Your comments and recommendations are highly appreciated!

Best regards,
Meis

I wanted to give my two cents on retaking. I took the test for first time (after about 4 and half months of studying) and got a 710 (46Q, 40V). Verbal had always been my strength and on most of my practice test I was getting 42-46. I got overly stressed on the verbal section and didn't finish, which had never happened before. I knew I could do better than a 40 on verbal. Most people advise you to stay with a 710 but for me it was the difference between being average/below average at the best schools or slightly above average. I was also very aware of how devastating it would be if I retook and got a worse score.

I signed up to retake the test exactly 31 days later. I took for the first time on 4/30 and the second time on 5/31. After taking the test on 4/30 I took a solid ten days off from studying. After a 10 days I took a practice test , just to see where I was. After about 2 weeks I started studying again, but was pretty limited in time and energy by the amount of work I had to do at my job. Still I did my best to stay fresh on the material. I didn’t study anything new. I knew going into the first test that I had what I needed to do to get the score I wanted, I just underperformed on test day. My goal was just to maintain the knowledge I did have going into the second test. I took a second practice 4 days before test day and then pretty called it quits, studying maybe an hour during the days before the test/looking over AWA stuff. Going into the test center for the second time, I just did my best to control my stress level. What hurt me most the first time was getting stressed out and getting outside myself. I tried to stay focused, relaxed, and took the test like I had on so many practice tests. Maintained the exact same quant score (46) and improved verbal 4 points to 44 to get the 730 I was shooting for.

People advise you not to retake if you’re not looking to bump your score by 50 points and have a 700+ already. For me, I knew I could do better and that controllable situations (pen running out of ink, stress levels) contributed to the score I was disappointed in.

How I changed a 680 to a 760 on GMAT in 45 days

GMAT 760 (Q49 V44) debrief

After around two month of preparation and numerous practice tests, I took my first GMAT on 23rd June’12. I ended up scoring a, what I called “not good but reasonable”, 680(q47 v37).
Being an Indian Applicant, I knew somewhere that it was definitely a below par score and that I will need to work very hard to churn out exceptional essays to even stand a chance of an interview call from any of the top US B-schools. I was massively disappointed with my Quant performance coming from an engineering background from a very reputed Institute in Pune, India. Somewhere I knew I could do at least slightly better if not something seriously over the top.
I was readying myself for the Essays part when I heard of MBAdream.in. In my first conversation with Rahul there, he came across as a person who’s been there and done that, what he is actually in fact. I expressed my disappointment with my first GMAT score and he gave me a logic that turned out to be the final nail in the coffin of my first GMAT attempt.
Rahul asked me the score I expected of myself before the exam, which to me was anywhere in the 700-720 range. He then asked me to divide the additional expense I will have to bear just because I scored lesser than my expectations with the difference in expected score and actual score. At 680 GMAT, with very low chances of scholarships from top schools, I was staring at an additional expense of anywhere between INR 20-30 Lacs. Each mark had cost me at least a lakh rupees. It is this realization that pushed me to retake the test and I booked a slot for 18th Aug’12, approx a month’s time away from when I talked to Rahul. During the entire month of preparation, talking to Rahul kept me going at the target of getting myself ready. He kept on highlighting the importance of a higher GMAT Score.
This time I had no nerves and had a better understanding of the test and experience of an actual test. All I had to do was raise my verbal score significantly and perform on quant to my natural ability. Over the next month, I went through RC99 and Aristotle SC document and defined clear strategies for the CR section. Earlier I had believed that CR was all instinctive and in RC, the passage was not worth a second glace while answering. These two things precisely led to my downfall. Corrected these two basic errors in my approach and I was ready for it.
I gave 5 tests on my way to the actual test day, one every weekend and one somewhere in the middle. Following are the scores. Don’t have the break-ups in my study log though.

GMAT prep1 – 730
Manhattan GMAT1 – 730
Manhattan GMAT2 – 660 (don’t know how!!)
Manhattan GMAT1 – 740
GMAT prep2 – 740

A 740 on the official test prep just a day before the d-day gave me a lot of confidence and I didn’t look at a single document that day after the test. Didn’t even analyze my errors. Just chilled out and hoped that I’d be at least this good on the test.
On the test day, as I had an afternoon slot, lazed around till around 12.30 in the afternoon and started for the test center. I was anxious but nowhere close to the anxiety levels of the first test. I knew I had nothing to loose, except for the additional money I had paid in retaking the test of course 

When it started, I breezed through the Argument and IR and waited patiently during the break to take on Quant. I had repeated the MBAdream logic to myself on numerous occasions but I replayed it once again in my head. That was all I had ever needed.
Frankly, I remember neither a single question nor a single minute of the next 158 minutes of my life. And when the screen hanged to calculate the score, I’m sure I skipped a heartbeat. But when the score flashed, I could breath again. The shoulders were lighter and world seemed like a better place all of a sudden. I had aced the GMAT, at least by my standards. A neat 760 was right there in front of me. Although Quant still showed an average 49, I couldn’t have asked for more on Verbal (V44), and I could most definitely not complain about the overall score.

Came out of the test centre and called Rahul #firstthing! He was as elated as an elder brother would be. We knew we had at least made it easier on the pocket.
In customary MBAdream style, he said, “Bhai tu mane ya na mane, teri aaj ki kamaai kam se kam 10-15 laakh rupaye hai, Congrats!!”.  I shared the same feeling.

I’m still in the midst application process, but for all that has come to pass, I thank MBAdream and Rahul for the support I’ve got till date and hope that it continues in the future. At the same time, I wish MBAdream loads of success and all the luck they need in time to come.

I know this isn’t exactly the kind of debrief most aspirants look out for or most people pen down once their exam is done. But for me, after reaching 680 in the first attempt, it was all about that last push I needed to decide on retaking the GMAT. I feel that after a certain point, the GMAT doesn’t really test your knowledge but it checks your confidence and strategy, if you have any, to take the test. If one can cover those two bases, the GMAT isn’t really a big deal.

So anyone who is mulling on retaking the test may play the MBAdream logic to themselves or get in touch with Rahul or me if you need to. Irrespective of whether or not I land a big Fish next fall, this GMAT experience will stay with me forever, reminding me of the famous Edison quote, “Many of life’s failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

Cheers and best luck in all your quests.

Hello People

Just took my GMAT and to be honest was a bit disappointed to see a 730 (q48 v 42). I am a bit skeptical about the low quant score (79 percentile). Do you think I should retake and boost the score to 760ish?

I am applying to INSEAD, IE, Judge and Said.

Thanks

Himanshu

I'd say you're set, that score definitely gets you through their first filter. The effort required to raise that score by 20 points will probably not be worth the equivalent effort in essays/bolstering EC's or trying to meet 1st round which all potentially boost your chances more than a 20+ increase.

Guys,

I need your opinion regarding re-taking the GMAT.

Last year, I gave the GMAT and scored 700 (Q50, V34). My problem has always been SC hence, since the time I have thought of re-taking the GMAT (approx. a month back), I have focused all my energies in improving my SC skills. I have seen some improvement with my SC error rate reducing considerably, however my CR and RC error rates have climbed a little.
In the last week I have given the MGMAT test twice and have scored V37 and V38 which would at-max take me to 730 (assuming I score a Q50 again).

I think the major question I need to answer is if 30 points (assuming I manage to score 730) are enough to re-take or I should stop right now and focus on essays and applications? I need to decide now, so that I am able to book a date for mid-Oct which I think is the latest by which I should be done with GMAT.

I am planning to apply to Booth, Stern, Sloan, Anderson, Yale and Ross. Just to complete the picture, I am an Indian non-IT male with undergrad from IIT but with below average GPA.

Any inputs would be helpful.

Hello, a lot of people will tell you that 700 is enough for these schools (in a lot of cases it is) - however, as you know you're in the single most competitive category. Assuming you have good work ex and good extra curric/community involvement, I would say take the extra time and rewrite. Maybe even another month after. To give you some perspective, I'm doing campus visits right now. At Michigan Ross' Preview Day on Friday, there 5 Indians (including me), three others were IIT.

Also:
- Don't make the classic mistake of taking your Quant for granted. Sure you're solid on that, but you don't want an even one point drop.
- Prepare Verbal holistically. So letting your CR/RC drop for a boost in just SC isn't prudent, a cumulative drop in the other 2 might drop your V score more than the corresponding increase in SC. Hit the other 2 sub-sections just as hard.

That's what I think at least.