should i reinstate my score?

Question

i got a 680 the first time so decided to retake because i had a slight timing issue and i thought i could improve.

Same exact score. so i cancelled it. What's your opinion guys? My quant went up 2 points and my verbal stayed the same. My IR dropped from 7 - 5 (a bit confused about that). Should i reinstate the score for the slight quant increase. Keep in mind my quant scores are abysmal. Went from 39 - 41.

What would you do. My AWA will probably go higher I think but it seems like the first score was pretty accurate.

Should i reinstate the score to show the incremental increase (i almost feel like with such low percentage, it might help)

VeritasPrepBrian · Answer

I'd say that your more-balanced 680 (with the higher quant score) is a not-insignificantly better score, so I'd definitely say that I wouldn't have cancelled it. Especially with quant scores falling a little below the 50th percentile, that's the area that you'll want to demonstrate the most proficiency. Given that really nice 680 overall score and a less-than-ideal quant score it sounds like verbal is the least of your concerns, so I'd be looking for any reason to let the admissions folks know "I can handle the quant workload!".

As far as reinstatement goes...I guess some comes down to how much you value the $100 fee vs. the increase in quant. I'd say that if you're definitely planning on retaking the exam because you don't feel comfortable applying to your target schools with a quant score less than 50th percentile (which may be fair advice if you're targeting top 20ish programs) then maybe it's not worth the money and you should just put it toward the $250 retest fee. But if you're thinking of applying with one of your 680s, I'd value the higher quant score enough to pay to reinstate it. If you look at the percentiles here - https://www.mba.com/us/the-gmat-exam/gma ... -mean.aspx - that 41 puts you a healthy amount above the average score and gets you to the median. I'd say that's markedly better than sitting in the lower-40s for percentile, especially given admissions officers' frequent fear of candidates being unable to keep up on the quant-based curriculum. The higher that quant score the better you'll likely look.

Just one opinion but I see more reasons to reinstate than not to, and for anyone else reading I'd be pretty skeptical of cancelling your score unless it's just plain worse overall. If there's some value in your score (like one side improved even if the other fell) I think it's best to keep it.

angelfire213 · Answer

thank you. this is the type of thinking i was looking at. My IR score dropped from 7 to 5 in case that makes a difference. I think your right and i will spend the $100.

I don't have time to retake so i'm stuck with the score.

should i reinstate my score?

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