When to retake GMAT ?

Question

I took GMAT on last Saturday and got a very low score of 610 (Q-48, V-26). :cry:

My preparation was well and I was scoring good marks in mocks. GMAT Prep 1 - 690 GMAT Prep 2 - 710 (Q48, V38) GMAT Prep 3 - 740 (Q48, V41) GMAT Prep 4 - 760 (Q49, V42) I think my exam temperament was bad. I could not sleep properly and lost my stamina in the exam by the time I reached verbal section. Moreover, I found the exam level a bit higher than the mocks. As for the loss of stamina, I did not pay much attention to AWA and IR during mocks but did the opposite during actual GMAT. Now, I intend to retake the exam. I am confused when I should retake it. Should I retake it within a month or in march? Also, I have a demanding job. I can devote only an hour on weekdays for study. Please advise.

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear RobinRN I'm sorry to hear about your rough experience, and I am happy to respond. :-)

First of all, unfortunately, it's all too common for students to do well on practice tests and then do much lower on the real test. See this blog article for a detailed discussion: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/lower-on-t ... ice-tests/ At the bottom of that article is a list of links to several articles on stress-reduction: you should get familiar with these practices and integrate them into your life as soon as possible. As for a good retake time: I would recommend giving yourself the give of time. If you can put the GMAT off until March, then that's more than two months of practicing the stress reduction techniques, and that alone will help a lot. Also, it never hurts to review further, to learn more deeply. Since you probably have tapped out the OG13 in terms of questions, I would recommend the Verbal Review and Quant Review books: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/the-gmat-o ... iew-books/ These would be an excellent way to get more official questions. Since you have already burned through GMAT Prep, I would recommend getting the additional question packs, so you can do more practice. MGMAT also has some excellent CATs. Here's a free one-month study plan: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/1-month-gm ... -schedule/ If you do that at half-pace --- one day on the schedule every two days, then that will give you thorough review in two months. Please let me know if you have any further questions. Mike :-)

GMATPill · Answer

Ah, that is a beginner's mistake to allow AWA/IR to affect your stamina / focus for the rest of the test. Those two 30-minute sections take up your mental focus before the real show even begins. Even if - for practice purposes - you skip these sections, you should at least go through IR during one of your mock tests.

If you want to prioritize the quant and verbal sections, you should still be good enough on IR so that it doesn't draw negative attention. A 5 or higher score would be ideal -- don't worry about acing it because the impact of an 8 versus a 7 isn't all that substantial (unless you are shooting for a merit-based scholarship). Test yourself here: www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-test/practice-test

I would recommend retaking in about a months' time. If you wait too long, you will lose your momentum and have to relearn things that may fall out of your memory.

manyatpr · Answer

Hi RobinRN, You have hit the nail on its head! Your fatigue and lack of sleep and stamina could have been a reason for the low score. Also the way you paced the test. You had been taking practice tests without the AWA and IR , hence during the real test you gave that section of the test undue importance, which affected your pacing. Clearly the practice test scores were not reflective of your test taking skills since the tests were never taken in their full form and possibly not under timed conditions. Take the test after 3 months and in this period revise the verbal section. A 26 on the VERBAL suggests two things 1) poor pacing which means spending too much time on the first 15 questions and getting zoned out by the middle of the test. Spend equitable amount of time on all questions as far as possible 2) Not spending adequate time on the reading passages, either too less or too much. Also not being able to understand the critical reasoning question stem. This could also be a reason. Hence please re- do your practice on the verbal and math and plan to take the test 3 months from now. Spend 3 hours everyday re-working the Official guide with a clear error log in place. Now that the fear of the test has presumably gone, you can approach the test with better confidence and insight. Let us know if you would have any further query.Wish you the best. www.manyagroup.com

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