Should I Re-take the GMAT? If So, How? (Part 2) - Debriefing your Exam
In our first installment, we discussed factors to consider when deciding whether to re-take the GMAT when you dont hate your score... but you dont love it either. In todays article, we are going to discuss how to develop a re-take plan if you do decide to re-take the test.
Were still assuming in this second part that youre only looking for a modest score improvement. If you do hate your score and are looking for a large improvement, you need to develop a more comprehensive plan than the one below (though you can still use the below as a starting point).
It can be difficult to figure out what you need to improve because the official test report doesnt give you any data beyond your quantitative and verbal subscores. One smart step is to write down everything you can remember about what went well and what didnt go so well as soon as possible after the real test. You may not even have decided to take the test again. Do the following debrief anyway if you think a re-take is a possibility.
Your test debrief should consider several dimensions: the five main question types, timing, specific content areas, and anxiety or mental fatigue. Youre going to have to use your gut feelings here. If you dont remember enough, or are not confident about what you do remember, then also take a full-length practice test under 100% official conditions (including the essays). Dont use GMATPrep for this: GMATPrep doesnt give you any useful score date either.
If you take a practice test, you can use the article How To Analyze a Practice Test to analyze your results. For a real-test debrief, answer the following questions in writing as thoroughly as you can. But remember, if you do discuss your debrief with anyone, do not post any information online about specific questions that you saw on your real GMAT).
1. Overall, what impressions did you have about your performance on the five main question types.
Did one type feel consistently more difficult? Did you have any especially difficult individual problems that you remember? Why were they so difficult for you? Did you feel like you spent way too much time on certain types of questions? Which ones?
Your responses to this set of questions will help you to understand on a more global level where you might need to spend your time during your re-take. This is your starting point.
2. Next, consider timing.
Did you finish each section comfortably on time (within 2 or 3 minutes of the time limit), or did you run out of time? Try to quantify on how many questions you had to rush and how much you had to rush. Alternatively, did you finish significantly early? How much time did you have left? Were you rushing even more than was really necessary?
Even if you finished the section on time, you might still have mismanaged your timing. Are you confident that you rarely spent more than 30 seconds longer than the average time per question on any individual question? (that is, that you didnt spend way too much time on any question)? Are you confident that you also spent at least 45 seconds on any SC, and at least a minute on any other question? (that is, that you spent enough time on every question)?
Timing mismanagement is a major cause of underperformance on the GMAT. The bad news: if you dont fix timing problems, it will be tough to improve your score very much. The good news: people who can fix their timing problems are the most likely group to see improvement on a subsequent official GMAT. If you have to have a problem, timing mismanagement is a good problem to have.
3. How did you feel about the content that you saw on the test?
You should expect to have seen some questions that were way too hard, and you should also expect to have seen some questions that you felt were relatively easy. You should also expect to have a few on which you thought, I should know how to do this! but you couldnt remember or figure it out for some reason. Were there more than a few in any of these categories? What were the specific content areas that gave you the most trouble?
Your answers here, coupled with your answers to the first two sets of questions, will help you to target more precisely what you must need to study to pick up a modest number of additional points. (Note: if you want a 100+ point improvement, then youre going to need to improve in almost every area. Those looking for a more modest improvement just need to worry about the weakest areas, especially those areas that are most commonly tested on the exam.)
4. Everyone experiences some amount of nervousness and mental fatigue during the GMAT. Was yours significant enough that it might have impaired your performance?
Did you experience a racing heart, sweaty palms, nausea or difficulty breathing? As the test progressed, did you start feeling that you were unable to concentrate? Did you have to read things two or three times before you finally registered what you were reading? Im not talking about having to read a really hard or convoluted sentence twice. Im talking about those times when you read something and then you realize that you have absolutely no idea what you just read.
If anxiety was enough of a problem to impair your test performance significantly, you need to take concrete steps to lower your anxiety before you take the test again. For most, it will be enough to seek out freely available resources and try various techniques that can help to lessen anxiety. For those who are experiencing anxiety severe enough to cause serious physical symptoms, you may need to work with a professional (a doctor or therapist) who can suggest more targeted techniques or prescribe medication.
Here are two articles that can provide a starting point for your stress management needs:
Finally, you may decide that you want to take a class or workshop or work with a tutor; if so, the analysis described above will help you to choose a targeted program for your specific needs, in particular if you decide to work with a tutor. Alternatively, you may decide to work on your own; if so, this article can help get you started: Developing a Study Plan.
Key Takeaways for Preparing to Re-take
(1) Pick a goal score, decide roughly how much time you have (the further away you are from your goal score, the more time you need!), and set your priorities (question types, timing, content areas).
(2) If you are looking for a relatively modest score increase and you dont have a lot of time, dont try to do everything. Limit yourself to the areas that will have the biggest impact in the short-term. This typically means focusing on your modest weaknesses that are also frequently tested on the exam. Major timing weaknesses typically do need to be addressed, but you can often (though it does depend!) get away with ignoring major content weaknesses if you dont want more than about a 50 point increase.
(3) Then, develop a plan! You can do this on your own (there are a lot of free resources available to help you do this) or with the help of a teacher or tutor.
Read other articles in this series: