Hi all,
I am writing this post because I have found all of the posts / discussions on here very helpful and hope others find this post helpful as well. The first part will be about my online exam experience and the second is a question for the group as to whether I should reinstate a score of my most recent exam (in person) even though it is lower than my online one.
Online
I was a little nervous given some of the horror stories on here but the exam went about as smoothly as it could have. I did the system check 2x before I took it and it worked both times (took on an HP laptop). Logged in 30 minutes early, had no issues taking pictures of my ID, room etc. The exam started promptly and I was on my way. It was definitely a lot harder to do Quant and then Verbal back to back with no break in between. I felt pretty tired by Verbal. The break after Verbal is nice, long enough to go to the bathroom and grab water / a snack. Only time you are allowed to leave the room. IR section was fine, same as expected. Ending the test and not knowing my score was a little strange but it came back only 3 days later. I got a 660 - 43 on Quant and 38 on Verbal. This is 10 points lower than the average of schools I am aiming for and higher than the average for some so I felt fine about it. A little personally disappointed because I had gotten a 670 and 700 on GMAC practice exams earlier but oh well. Overall - I would recommend the online exam for anyone who has a deadline coming up. Went totally fine for me, no issues. I sat in the room right next to my wifi router and it only took a while to load the next question once. As long as you have done 1 practice test in the correct order with no break, it will feel the same. Make sure to be well rested.
Now, for my question. I took the GMAT again today (in person) to see if I could raise my score. The context was perfect, again, everything went smoothly, had no issues and felt completely fine during the exam. I took Verbal first this time and it felt great. Quant felt ok, definitely knew I got some wrong and some right. Spent too much time on one question but recovered. IR and Essay same as expected. However, my score was a 650. 41 on Verbal and 37 on Quant. I cancelled my score immediately. My most recent GMAC practice exam score was 720 (47 Verbal, 42 Quant) so this was again disappointing. I am wondering if I should reinstate this 650 score so school's can see I got a 41 on Verbal despite the significant decrease in my Quant score. I do not think I want to retake it again because it felt great, I was not expecting a 650 so I am not sure what I would fix.
Thanks!