Should I Retake the GMAT
Taking the GMAT is a fairly big decision in itself. You are probably applying to business school, or just want to take the test out of the way. Regardless of whatever your score is, it is easy to get intimidated by people with 760 and above spending the application season without a top school admit. What does that really mean? Does the GMAT not matter as much as people think it does?
At the same time, per GMAC Research , retaking often brings value. On average, a person can gain 30 points by retaking. This could be explained by being more comfortable with the environment, knowing what to expect, and having a better stamina and time management. Also third and fourth, fifth, sixth attemps have paid off for a number of folks. (attached is the latest GMAT retake research by GMAT former director, Dr. Rudner)
When you should REALLY retake
- You are from an overrepresented applicant pool
The GMAT score for overrepresented applicant pool tends to be higher on average. WHY? Probably because with most career trajectory and undergrad performance largely similar, the GMAT can act as a great differentiator. To support this hypothesis, I analyzed the GMAT Club app tracker (post if you want me to add charts), and found less than 5% of Indian applicants, a massive pool, have a GMAT that is less than 760. While that is incredibly discouraging for most people, it also tells you how competitive this b school admission season really was.
- Your GMAT score is less than 50 points of the school median
Most schools publish their median GMAT score. It is no surprise that every year schools report a higher GMAT average or median for their graduating class. If your GMAT score is 680, and the GSB Stanford median is 722, it is highly unlikely for you to get an admission, especially if you come from an applicant pool which traditionally applies in large numbers.
- Your GMAT Prep score and actual GMAT score are wildly different
It is probably (albeit not likely), that you had a bad day. If you have been consistently scoring 740+ on GMAT Prep and GMAT Prep Exam Packs (be careful not to dilute those question pools by attempting lots of official questions from the forum), and on test day you find yourself getting a score less than 700, it could be possible that it was an exception. GMAC notes that standard deviation for GMAT Prep scores is around 50 points, and if you are on the higher end of that deviation, you should probably give it another shot.
- You have not REALLY studied
The internet is flooded with questionable GMAT resources ranging from "free downloads" and "you won't believe how I scored 760" type articles. A great way to score 700+ in the GMAT has always been following official materials and studying from reputed prep companies. Check out GMAT Club partner review page before you choose to sign up for a course. If you want to buy books, check this thread asap for verbal and quant
- Your score is not balanced
Often B Schools look to see a balanced GMAT score. What does it mean? Well, in GMAT terms, at least 80th percentile in both sections (this has become a hurdle for quant, which offers a 77th percentile for a respectable Q49). Check out the latest percentiles from GMAC. Note that for a greater overall score, verbal plays a massive difference, meaning that if you score 90 percentile in verbal and a 80 percentile in quant, your score will be higher than if you had scored the reverse.
- You are waitlisted with a less than median GMAT/you want $$$ from the schools
Often the only waitlist update that schools accept is an improved GMAT (looking at you, Ross), and retaking the GMAT is absolutely essential. The same goes for scoring some extra scholarships.
- You are an Indian IT Male
You are doomed. Blame your parents.
When you are better off NOT retaking
- You have the score
If your score is well balanced, around or higher the median of your peers (not the class average - that is deceptive), and you have not really researched enough to write those stellar essays, you should focus your time and energy on research and some more.
- You have a great undergrad GPA
Some peopel are just not naturally great at testing. The GMAT is an evalauator of your academic performance which stands as an indicator of how you will perform in business school. If you have proved academic prowess (straight As in undergrad or stellar coursework), you may get an admit without the best GMAT in the class.
You have exhausted most prep materials - To quote Ross admissions "do not make a sport out of taking the test". If you have exhausted everything, how do you plan to improve? If you are still set on taking the GMAT, focus on quality instead. Maintain an elaborate error log and review mistakes rigorously.
Best GMAT Retake Stories
Massive SC improvement730 to 760 - retake successAttention really matters170 point improvementJourney from 490 to 700 From 550 to 690 to 750From 420 to 700 to Wharton570 to 760 in 3 months640 to 770 by billyjeans
500 to 700From a year long battle from 670 to 7304 Attempts with 580, 600, and finally 710GMAT Retake Disasters
4th Attempt - 540Better prep but score droppedBitten TwiceFrom 580 to 540 by JohnLewisFrom 720 to 690 by Pathfinder - currently attending Wharton
From 560 to 510 by MediamindyFrom 610 to 570 after 3 months of studying680 to 620 by Noboru740 to 710 by MCM6 months to go from 690 to 690GMAT Retake Recommendations
I have scavenged the forum and other sources to find some efficient and great advice for retakes. Choose the ones that seem to be most applying to your situation
Quote:
Once you have your GMAT scheduled, you should immediately reevaluate and resume your preparation regimen to make good use of the time. Although it is tempting to devote all your time to the section or areas that were most challenging on your first run (if you’re aware of them), you should still seriously review all of the material that will appear on the test; the last thing you want to do is improve on one section but do worse on another! As always, work with as many practice questions as possible (authentic GMAC questions are ideal) and make your study environment as similar to your testing environment as you can (this part will actually be easier for you since you will have gone through the actual testing process). Budget your study time wisely, be disciplined, and work hard so you can make the most of your retake. In fact, you can create a schedule for yourself as to WHEN you’ll be studying each week, so as not to overbook other commitments such as happy hours and time to watch your favorite reality TV show. -
Stacy BlackmanQuote:
You have the potential to pick up some serious points in BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections, but you don't have the time needed to make big improvements to how you handle both sections. With a V20, you have a variety of different ways to pick up the 70 points that you're looking for (assuming that you can score at a the Q41+ level again), so I suggest that you focus your studies on the Verbal section for the next 3 weeks (with a little time set aside for Quant - so that you can maintain those current skills). You should also plan to take 1 FULL-LENGTH CAT (with the Essay and IR sections) per week. - empowerGMAT
Quote:
If you are aiming for a top school, we would suggest you to aim for 740 or higher score.
Why it is a very good decision to take your GMAT again?GMAT is the only controllable aspect of the entire application cycle. The probability of getting an admission in the top B Schools increases significantly by higher GMAT scores. According to a survey conducted on more than 600 applicants, the students scoring less than 700 has 0% to convert for top B schools. This increases to 18% for the GMAT score of 750 or more. Moreover, the higher the GMAT score, the higher the chances of getting a scholarship. The tuition fees for a two year global MBA course can be more than 80,000 $ and is increasing at a very rapid pace. The scholarship and fellowship will significantly reduce the financial burden.
Review this post:
admission-rate-213025.html Also, assuming you are an Asian, you will a score slightly higher than the average score for that school. Asians are expected to have a good Quant score. Recently GMAC has taken into account the region wise benchmarking. GMAC introduced a benchmarking tool that allows admissions officers to compare applicants against their own cohort, filtering scores and percentile rankings by world region, country, gender and college grade-point average.
More on this can be found here:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/on-b-school ... 1415236311.
Do review these links as well to understand the importance of the GMAT exam
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https://poetsandquants.com/2015/08/03/bu ... decisions/.
Read the comments below as well
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https://aringo.com/mba-admission-chances-calculator/How to proceed further?You have a decent Quant score with some good effort you can reach the Q49/Q50 mark. However, in Verbal, you need to improve by 5-7 points (on the scale of 60) to reach arounf V40-V42 that will take you somewhere around 740 overall.
Take a look at GMAT Planner to plan your future studies:
https://gmatplanner.e-gmat.com/Note that once you reach the V38 - V40 level, there is nothing new that needs to be learnt. The difference between a V38 guy (or V35 for that matter) and a V40+ guy is the application of learned concepts. After crossing the V40 mark, your score is largely determined by your diligence and application skill level.
A student should know how to apply the learnt concepts properly to cross the V40 border. At this stage the tricks and shortcuts tend to fail and only students with a proper approach to questions succeed. This is what we do at
e-GMAT. We teach our students a foolproof process to solve questions and make them follow the same. This is the reason for our high rate of success.
Folks who were in your shoesHere are examples of few folks who were in your shoes and have accomplished their dream score using
e-GMAT courses.
1. After scoring a 710, Anuj planned his second attempt, methodically improving his verbal score from V36 to V44 (98 percentile). Click here to learn how he managed to get to 770:https://bit.ly/28Rsvgu
2. Kinjal scored a 760 improving his Verbal score from 51 percentile to 98 percentile. Click here to know how he approached GMAT Verbal to score V44:
https://bit.ly/28R7az93. Arun Goenka (760, V42): He improved from V36 to V42 using Verbal Online. Click here to read his debrief:
https://bit.ly/291GkqZ4. Anup Kapoor (770, V44): Click here to read his debrief:
https://bit.ly/291GkqZ5. Also read Nilendu’s review to see how he mastered the process to improve his score to V44:
https://bit.ly/28TuZfQRight Course for youI would recommend you to look at our Verbal Online course:
https://e-gmat.com/courses/verbal_online/. Verbal Online is perfectly apt for you. Verbal Online requires 80 hours of effort and if you can devote sufficient time you can easily finish the course in the time you have.
Verbal Online is a self-paced course and there is no fixed schedule or batch constraint. You can access the course contents as per your convenience. You get a study plan as soon as you complete your purchase. The study plan outlines the order in which you approach concepts.
We provide you with a detailed study plan when you purchase the course. This study plan will dictate when and where from should you practice. It will cover all official sources.
You are not required to use any other study material. Your score improvement will be much higher and faster if you just use our courses. Here are some examples:
o
My Journey from 600 (Mock 0) to 750 (First attempt): my-journey-from-600-mock-0-to-750-first-attempt-158468.htmlo
Debrief – 720 (Q48 V41): debrief-720-q48-v41-152235.htmlHope this helps. Please let me know if you need any information. - by
eGMATQuote:
Looking at your score, you definitely can gain some easy points in both the sections.Fortunately GMAT tests you on certain fundamentals that you can learn and practice.
1. Did you complete the entire
OG and the Verbal review?
You said that you have not exhausted the resources that you have. The best way to proceed from here would be to drill down deep and understand your problem:
Try to drill down deep in each problem type.
SC: The questions test various concepts such as S-V agreement, modifiers, parallelism etc. Find out what troubles you.
CR: There might be certain types of questions that are troubling you. May be Assumption, may be conclusion, inference etc.
You need to find that out and then practice them
RC: This again can be drilled down into different types of questions and also different topics. See what questions and topics trouble you the most and then practice accordingly.
Quants: Again you can bifurcate the questions into various topics such as Algebra, Geometry, Number System etc.
Once you have identified the problem areas, go back to the preparatory course/book that you have.
Make sure you also complete the
OG and the Verbal review books if you have not already completed them. The official questions are the best source of practice and can help you if you are stuck at a particular score.
For additional practice, you can buy the Question Pack 1 and the Exam Pack 1 and 2. As an addition, start preparing an
error log and keep a note of all the mistakes you made and the lessons you learnt from the problems. This will ensure you do not make the same mistake again - OptimusPrep
Quote:
100 problems a day?
*five* days of just doing problems for every *one* day of review?
this is not good... not good at all.
if you're studying properly, you should be spending substantially MORE time on review than on doing problems. if you can do even close to 100 problems per day, that indicates that you're just doing problem after problem after problem after problem after problem, and not spending nearly enough (if any) time reviewing.
here's what you should be able to do:
for EVERY quant problem:
* don't concentrate on the solution to that actual problem, since you can be sure you aren't going to see that actual problem on the exam
* instead, try to find TAKEAWAYS from the problem, which you can then APPLY TO OTHER PROBLEMS. this is key - DO NOT LEAVE A PROBLEM until you have extracted at least one piece of information, whether a formula, a strategy, a trick/trap, etc., that you can apply to OTHER problems.
do not leave a problem until you can fill in the following sentence, meaningfully and nontrivially:
"if i see _____ ON ANOTHER PROBLEM, i should _____"
* notice the SIGNALS in the problem that dictate which strategy to use. if you miss the problem, then notice the strategy that's used in the book's solution (not always the best solution, in the case of the o.g., but better than nothing), and go back to see if there are any signals 'telling' you to use that strategy.
for EVERY verbal problem:
* you should be able to give SPECIFIC reasons why EVERY wrong answer is wrong, and why EVERY right answer is right. ("i just know that it's wrong/right" is NEVER acceptable -- you need to think carefully about the problem until you have discerned a specific reason.)
* you should GENERALIZE these lessons in ways that could conceivably apply to future problems (e.g., "on this problem type, any answer choice more general than the passage = wrong").
for EVERY SC problem, in addition to the above:
* you should be able to go through the CORRECT sentence -- including the non-underlined part -- and justify EVERY construction in that sentence.
e.g.
-- if there's a modifier, you should be able to explain exactly what it modifies, and exactly why that modification makes sense.
-- if there's a pronoun, you should be able to explain exactly what it stands for, and exactly why that makes sense.
-- if there's a verb, you should be able to find its subject. you should also be able to justify the tense in which the verb is used, and/or the tense sequence of multiple verbs.
-- you should be able to explain the exact meaning of the sentence.
-- if there are parallel structures, you should be able to explain (a) the grammatical parallelism AND (b) the parallelism in meaning.
etc.
if you're doing these things, there's no way you'll be able to get through even half that number of problems.
quantity ≠ quality. - Ron Purewal
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Updated on: 04 May 2022, 20:56
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