GMAT Strategy

I have already taken the real GMAT twice. Initially I scored a 550 which was a major disappointment as I was targeting above 600 at least. However, I believed I had underestimated the exam and had a retake recently after 3 months of rigorous self study. To my great disbelief this time I scored a 510. I had been scoring between 600 and 640 in almost all the practice exams so it was hard to digest my true score. I have missed the school application deadlines for this year now since I cannot do a retake before the deadlines. Now I am planning to improve my score and apply to the MBA programs in next year's session i.e. 2013. I am finding it hard to decide whether I should write the exam before June 5 or after it?

To attempt the exam with the Integrated reasoning section seems to be both a risk and opportunity. A risk in the sense that I have no idea how it might affect my overall score, whether my percentile rankings will be good or bad etc. Above all right now there is no practice material available. I will have to wait till April to get hold of the new OG; whereas I want to start from next month.

On the other hand, if I can get a good score with the new IR section I might be able to use my GMAT score for my PHd application too (I plan for a PhD after MBA). Without the IR section, I might need to reappear for the GMAt after 2-3 years for my PHD since I believe by that time maybe only new format GMAT is acceptable.

I am in a fix. Kindly advise me what to do? An advice from the experts will be highly appreciated.

Hey Struggler,

Good question - and I guess I'd offer my opinion this way:

-I've talked to the folks at GMAC and they insist that there shouldn't be an advantage in terms of mental stamina or overall performance to taking the test in either May or July. So that's the official word.

-Based on that, I wouldn't go out of my way to do a rush job before June 5 just to avoid the IR section.

-BUT...if I could pick a May 30 date or a June 7 date, and I was doing so today so that the extra week of study wouldn't have an impact, I'm picking May 30. Especially if you've done the AWA already multiple times, it's just a known entity and it doesn't require a ton of effort. The IR section...I think there's a little more mental effort required, so all other things being equal I'd just as soon skip it if I could.

Again, that's in that "coin flip" situation where I really don't care either way...I'd just lean toward the known entity. I do think that down the road there will be some advantages to the IR section as a warmup - it uses similar math constructs and critical-reasoning style logic to what you'll do in the multiple choice sections, so you'll get a nice warmup out of it. But for you, if you're already chomping at the bit to get going on your studies and are retaking the test hoping for a quick-but-substantial improvement...I'd knock out a May test date and not wait on the still-a-little-unknown IR section.

I would say definitely before. That way you can focus your efforts on the areas of the exam that are troubling you without spending a ton of time learning the aspects of the new exam. Good luck!

Hi Mr.GMATStruggler,

Stay positive and go with the earlier option.Although take several mock tests so you can work on
the areas you are lagging behind so you can get the desired score with confidence. This way your
time later to study new section can be utilized well.
Sometimes taking few days off work for preparing for the GMAT can help a person tremendously.
If you have time this may not be a bad idea. Take practice GMAT tests to see how you are doing.
If you cannot do that don't worry. What might work instead is to set aside 1-2 hours at night on
weekdays and major part of your weekend to study and prepare for GMAT- in this case we will suggest a good 2-3 months preparation. However we recommend you to keep taking practise tests
to gauge your performance. It will help you in identifying your weak areas and you can focus on
them accordingly. You might be able to study more than the given hours and that would take you
less than 2-3 months. It all depends on your potential.

ALL THE BEST!