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zena303
Hi all,
Long time lurker, first time poster.
I decided over the summer I wanted to apply to business school this year. I started studying for GMAT in August and paid a lot of money for a tutor at a business school admissions consulting firm. My practice test were in the low 700s, and today I just took the real thing and bombed it with a 640 - which is below what my absolute cold practice test score was before I even made an attempt to study.

I'm feeling the pressure of the clock for R2 applications. I have an otherwise strong profile with a good undergrad institution, work experience, GPA, recommenders, and story for why MBA. At this point, should I try again for the GMAT or just switch over to GRE?

In high school, I had a similar experience with SAT where I didn't perform as well as I had on PTs on actual test day, then switched to ACT at kind of the last minute and hit it out of the park. For context, I was a humanities major in college but did coursework in math/econ/stats.

I'm only applying to 4 schools that I feel strongly about. I feel like everything else about my application has fallen into place, I just need this dang test score! Any thoughts would be very much appreciated!

Given you were hitting the low 700s in practice, you've clearly got the chops for the GMAT. Switching to the GRE might seem tempting, but it could just add more variables into the mix at this point.

My suggestion? Dive into the ESR for the GMAT to pinpoint exactly where things went sideways. Revisit your error tracker and focus on those weak spots. A few solid weeks of targeted practice can make a world of difference. You've already proven you can hit your target score under practice conditions, so it's all about bridging that gap for the real deal.
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Hi zena303,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. 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. Before we discuss any of those potential issues though, 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 in total? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
3) On what dates (or approximate 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)?
4) What Schools are you planning to apply to and what specific application deadlines are you facing?

If you took your Official GMAT at a Test Center, then 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

Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com
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Hi zena303,

Honestly, you could have just had a bad day! Based on how you did on your practice exams, I don't think switching the GRE is the move. Here is a helpful video you can check out as well that provide some additional advice:

Had a “bad day” when taking the GMAT? Retake the exam ASAP
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