Should I Re-take the GMAT? - Part 2
In part 1 of this series, we talked about the various scenarios for which you might need to decide whether to re-take the GMAT. Heres a recap.
Schools publish both an average score for admitted students and whats called a middle 80% rangethe middle 80% of scores achieved by admitted students, chopping off the top 10% and the bottom 10% of scores.
How competitive you are depends upon how your score compares to these two figures. There are four basic scenarios:
- Scenario 1: Youre below the schools 80% range. In this case, plan to re-take the test with a goal towards lifting your score a decent amount.
- Scenario 2: Youre within the schools range but below its average. In this case, do re-take, but your main goal is to show perseverance / determination. Even if you dont lift, your application might be fine (since you are in range).
- Scenario 3: Youre at the schools average. You may or may not re-take the test; compare the schools average GPA data to your GPA to help tilt you one way or the other.
- Scenario 4: Youre above the schools average. You are done with the GMATyay! (Unless you have a specific situation that might require an even higher score.)
Today, lets talk about how to move forward under each of these scenarios.
Scenario 1: Re-take. Goal: Lift score.
Likely timeframe: 1 to 4 months
If you are below the schools range, then you want to try to get yourself up to the bottom end of that range at the leastideally even higher, if you can.
Youre going to be aiming for at least a 30-point lift and probably more like 50 to 100 points, so think about this as another full round of GMAT studies. Youll likely need to change something up relative to how you prepared the first time aroundyoure going to need to raise the stakes.
If you didnt take a class, consider taking one now. If you did take a class, consider re-taking (or taking a different one) or doing some tutoring.
Talk to friends who are also studying; use each other for motivation and study support. Alternatively, find friends whove already taken it and use them for moral support; theyve been through the gauntlet, too, and know what its like. (Tip: Dont find a friend who says, Yeah, I took practice tests every day for 2 weeks and then got my 720. You should just do that, too! Sigh.)
Most important, dont rush this. Youre aiming for a significant increase and that isnt going to happen in a few weeks. Postpone your application to the next round and give yourself the gift of adequate time to prepare.
Scenario 2: Re-take. Goal: Lift a little or maintain.
Likely timeframe: 3 weeks to 2 months
(Note: Were required to wait 16 days between official tests, so you cant take it faster than 2.5 weeks from your last official test anyway.)
Youre in the 80% range already, so reaching the average score for the school would require a lift of about 10 to 50 points (depending on your starting point). Make that your goal: Try to get as close as you can to that average.
At the same time, youll need to weigh whether this re-take is worth postponing your application to the next round. If you are only 10 to 20 points below the average, then theres a pretty good chance that just re-taking the test alone will send the message that you need to send to the schools. Even if you dont pick up another 10 or 20 points, you might be fine. In that case, a re-take in 3 to 4 weeks is appropriate.
You can continue to use the materials that you were already using. Start with what I call your partial weaknesses or things that you sort of know how to do but could do even better. These represent your best opportunity to lift your score a little bit in a short period of time. For example, you tend to get a certain kind of problem right but it always takes you 30 or 45 seconds longer than average. Can you learn how to do whatever that is a little more easily and save yourself 20 or 30 seconds? That time can be put to better use elsewhere in the section.
Careless mistakes are definitely partial weaknesses: you know how to do this! But you need to break some bad habit or build up some new good habit in order to minimize the chances that you keep making this same type of careless mistake. What habits do you need and how are you going to build them?
Another opportunity area: something that you dont know how to do today, but when you read the explanation, you think, That makes total sense! I can definitely do that next time.
Dont bother with big weaknesses. Youre not looking to gain 100 points. Assume your big weaknesses will still be weaknesses on test day and let them go. (In fact, if you can learn to let them go even faster, then thats extra time that you can better spend elsewhere on the test!)
But what do you do if youre farther than 10 to 20 points from the average? If youre 30 to 50 points below the average, then shoot for something closer to the 2 month end of this timeframeand see the description of what to do for Scenario 1.
Scenario 3: Maybe re-take. (If so) Goal: Lift a little.
Likely timeframe if you re-take: 3 to 4 weeks
If your score is already at the average, then you may not re-take unless youre worried about something else in your application and are hoping a somewhat higher GMAT score might offset that other weakness.
If thats the case, then you are looking to lift your score by about 10 to 30 points in order to put yourself clearly above that schools average.
In this case, follow the plan outlined in Scenario 2: focus on your partial weaknesses and aim for a 3 to 4 week re-take timeframe.
Scenario 4: Probably dont re-take. Goal: Celebrate!
Likely timeframe: Right now! What are you waiting for? :)
If youre already above the schools average, then there are only a few specific circumstances in which you would consider a re-take.
One possibility: money. If you are applying for scholarships that use the GMAT as part of their review, then it could be worthwhile to see whether you can get even just another 10 or 20 points. Do your research first, though. Contact the organization to see what they can tell you about GMAT scores that they consider competitive. Maybe theyll even be able to tell you what kinds of scores last years winners achieved.
Another possibility: youre part of an overrepresented application group that tends to score very well on the GMAT. In this case, the average for your group might be higher than the schools overall average for all admitted applicants. In other words, your above-average score may turn out not to be so above average when compared to your peer group.
Again, do your research. Attend MBA events and ask questions (there are tours that go around all of North America and parts of Western Europe; you can talk to admissions representatives from different schools). After providing the rep with a summary of your background, ask whether you might be part of an overrepresented group and, if so, what you can do to help yourself stand out. (Dont limit this question to the GMAT; they may be more focused on other things!)
So there you have it! Whats your plan? Do you fall between two groups? Are you in some other group that I didnt even think about? Let me know in the comments.
Good luck and happy studying!