It sounds a little bit weird ( and discomforting to the fact I will sit again for the GMAT next Wednesday)...this forum is full of stories of people raising their score at the second attempt..

Hey Rafetell,

That's an interesting conspiracy theory, but I think it's just as likely as believing that ETS killed Kennedy...

The primary (and really sole) goal of the GMAT is to indicate to business schools which candidates are most likely to succeed both in and after business school. Accordingly, GMAC invests many of its resources to ensure that the test is fairly graded/administered and that its scores have significant relevance to schools. I think the data you're citing is offered in the context of "if the same person takes the GMAT twice in one week, the scores will be within 20-30 points of each other", demonstrating that the test's scoring is quite accurate and certainly not arbitrary.

That is in no way designed to indicate that people cannot improve. If a candidate takes the test cold thinking "I did well on the SAT and the GRE so why wouldn't I do well on the GMAT", struggles with Data Sufficiency, CAT pacing, and other unique elements of the GMAT, and scores significantly lower than expected but then studies for 2-3 months, "clicks" with the test, and hits a high score, why would GMAC and its member schools want to punish that student? That's an excellent candidate! There's really no incentive for the GMAT to try to put a ceiling on your scores after your first attempt, and they simply do not do that.

Big score gains are possible and happen all the time. But they also happen less frequently than one might expect, and that may be another point of the data you've seen; large score increases typically happen when people change their mindset and study regimen. They say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result; well, that's definitely true of the GMAT. Simply studying more problems, taking more tests, and spending more time won't often lead to a score gain - you need to analyze WHY your score was lower than you'd like, learn the nuances of the test beyond simple content and repetition, and learn to think like the testmaker.