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Started from the bottom (590) now we here (720) and obviously very pleased with my score. Unfortunately the integrated reasoning score came as a shock as I breezed through the section and had scored well on practice exams. The question I have is should I retake the exam? It kind of sounds silly to even ask this question considering my official score is 40 points higher than my highest practice and a 720 is a really solid score. I guess the reason I ask is that I'm aiming for an exceptional school so is 720 the exceptional score I need?

Hi Matt,

When you juxtaposed your practice exam scores with your official score I wondered if you felt the 720 was some sort of fluke - if that is the case I'd advise you to avoid putting too much stock in practice exam scores - so there is no reason to think that if you did resit the GMAT your score would plummet.

How many times did you sit the exam to go from 590>720? Just two sittings? You say you're aiming for an exceptional school - and your posting mentions top 10 - so we are talking anything from NYU to HBS. A 720 is fine. If you feel another area of your candidacy falls a smidge short, or that you're over represented...you could try to get a 'bump' from having say a 740. Evaluating the return on resitting the GMAT and scoring a 730+ needs to be done within the context of your overall app so it is impossible to say with what info we have.

To sum it up, the question of resitting the GMAT is a general one and isn't centered on improving the IR score. If you resit it would be to bump your app vs rectify the IR.