When should I retake my exam

Hi Shane,

The extra information that you've provided is quite useful, as it helps to define what went wrong on Test Day. In real basic terms, you took your CATs in such a way that you were NOT properly training to face the Official GMAT - so you were not ready to face it on Test Day.

Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" your scores can become - and that's what happened here. By pausing the Test in the middle, you were 'training' yourself for a different event. When you got to Test Day, you weren't properly prepared and your score suffered.

Since you've admitted to that 'deviation', I now have some follow-up questions:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take the CATs at home?
3) Did you take the CATs at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Was there anything else that you did during practice that did NOT match up with the specifics of Test Day?

Thankfully, this is a relatively easy set of problems to fix. The big question now is "how long will it take you to properly get 'used to' taking the full GMAT?" You'll certainly need new practice CATs to work with and you have to put in the necessary time to train your brain (and body) for the FULL GMAT. You might also need to invest in some new GMAT training materials.

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