GMAT 700 - retake?

Question

Hi guys,

I did the GMAT today and scored a 700. This is fairly good since I only scored 510 on GMAT Prep after one month of studying. Nevertheless, during the last couple practice tests I took, I consistently scored 760-780 (only once 730), those were all GMATPrep (I also took one Manahatten, this one was 740). My math was consistently 50 or 51, never below 48. My Quant Score today was 45. No clue how this could happen. Probably because I exceeded the break and came in 2 minutes late and started rushing, or because the IR was so weird that I was confused. I don't know. :D

I don't know to which schools I will apply for my Master's degree, I guess it won't be a school such as Harvard, but LSE, LBS, HEC or so. My CV is okay, but not outstanding. So I really wanted to ace the GMAT to push up my chances of being accepted at a very good program.

Would you recommend to take it again? I think of retaking it in 16 days and just study 1-2 hours a day and repeat everything I know.

Thanks in advance for your help

SamirAbrahao · Answer

Hello.

Whether you should retake depends on a few factors, including how well your demographic profile is represented within the applicant pool of each BS - which is made up by your nationality, gender, native language, professional background, etc.

Some profiles are so overrepresented that sometimes a 700 score isn't enough, and this is why so many people come here asking if they should retake the test even though they got such a high score. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say this doesn't appear to be your case. I don't think it will make much of a difference if you score 30-50 points higher, and you should focus on other aspects of your application.

SamirAbrahao · Answer

BTW, it seems part of the reason why you are considering retaking the test are your higher scores on practice tests. Don't use those scores as reliable indicators of performance in the actual test, most of all the ones from 3rd parties. Yes, it is very likely that you'll score higher on your second attempt, but probably because of the previous experience you've had taking the real test. The question is whether a few more points would really increase your chances of admission.

GMATPILLBILL · Answer

Hey glatzekatze,

700 is a very good score -- just keep in context your overall application profile. You may not be the candidate who stands out with a 760+ score, but if you feel confident you can stand out in another way -- your background, your story, your career path -- then this should be a good-enough score for the target schools you want. If you have a clear story/path/reason for business school and can differentiate yourself based on your work experience, then you got a lot going for you.

Remember, optimize for your overall application profile - not just one local maxima.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi krtibdewal,

First off, a 700 is an outstanding score (it's right around the 90th percentile overall), so you should apply to any Business Schools that interest you. As such, a retest is probably not necessary. From your prior posts, it wasn't clear exactly when you were planning to apply to Business School, but since you've named some highly competitive Programs, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile and plans. There's a Forum full of them here:

ask-admission-consultants-124/

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

glatzekatze · Answer

Thank you so much for your answers!
I know that my gmat score should be good enough, but what worries me is the low quant score, since I didn't have too many math related classes during my Bachelor! Don't you think that this good be seen as a reason to reject me?

HiLine · Answer

So sorry to hear you didn't get the score you wanted.

Your Quant score to be honest is not quite as competitive as your overall score. However, if you have other ways of demonstrating your mathematical aptitude, you will be fine. Schools pay much more attention to the overall score since this is what goes into the school's GMAT average and affects the school's ranking. 700 is above average for most MBA programs and therefore will help their ranking. On the other hand, if your goal is a very top school, I'm sure you're aware that you should aim for a score around the mean. If your profile otherwise can get you into Harvard and the GMAT score is the only hindrance, you should take the test again IF you are convinced you can score higher which will take some time and effort on your part.

bkhu · Answer

if you think you can score well above the 700, like 740+. otherwise focus on those essays and making your overall profile better. you checked off the academic mark once you reached 90th percentile. =P

glatzekatze · Answer

thanks guys, I rescheduled my exam for next Monday. I hope for a 740+, if it doesn't work, I'll just cancel the score and pretend that it never happened :D

glatzekatze · Answer

Hi there those are the summaries of my Enhanced Score Report! The times are partly a little "wrong" (e.g. in the quant section, I sat down for 15 minutes straight at the end without submitting my answer, just to have more time to breathe

) I would really appreciate any help on what to focus on for my next exam in one week! Thanks

glatzekatze · Answer

here are the detailed charts

thank you so much in advance

HiLine · Answer

Here's my take on your report: For Verbal, you were graded pretty harshly. 2 out of the 4 incorrectly answered questions were very difficult, 1 was difficult, and 1 was easy. Unfortunately, the 1 incorrect answer happened pretty early in the test and weighed down your overall Verbal performance. Sounds like you know what the challenging questions were for you, so you spent proportionately more time on the questions that you ultimately would get wrong. Do you recall any questions that you, while solving them, had a hunch you might get wrong? You were overall very fast in Verbal. Did you have a lot of spare time after you finished? If you did, you may consider slowing down, especially on Reading Comprehension questions, among which you got 2-3 wrong. If you did not have spare time, or actually scrambled for time, you stayed on experimental questions for too long - next time, be prepared to skip a question that you had spent too much time on without getting closer to the answer, so that you'll have more time to spend on other questions to get them right. These are things you have to keep in mind on test day. Preparation wise, there isn't much to do since you seem solid in all 3 areas. Make sure you keep practicing so you don't lose the sharpness. Definitely try to maintain the momentum. If you worry about Reading Comprehension, perhaps emphasize this area a little bit, but not at the expense of the other areas. You definitely want to replicate the perfect Critical Reasoning performance!

For Math, the overarching issue is that you weren't able to solve enough difficult questions correctly. The questions you got wrong were on average more difficult than those you got right, across all quarters. You went through Math questions too fast overall. For example, in the 3rd quarter, spending only about a minute and half on each graded question, you got about half of the questions wrong. Your average time spent on DS questions is very short, but your DS is ranked at a mere 55th percentile. It was not until the 4th section, probably when you realized you had too much time left, that you slowed down and recovered the accuracy. This means you need to slow down a lot and make sure you get each question right, one by one. Experimental problems were not an issue here because you didn't spend very much time on them. For further math practice, I would suggest the Manhattan GMAT practice problems and tests. If you end up taking their tests, ignore the Verbal portion completely - in fact, only take the Math section. Did this help?

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