Slight issue (sort of) at center - need advice - retake?

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After finishing the AWA section, I took the 10-minute break along with 10 or so other test takers that began the test at the same time. After about 8 minutes I went back to begin the quant section only to find there was a line of 8 people waiting to check back in. The finger print machine had trouble reading the finger prints of a few people and there was only one proctor helping us, so the upshot is that by the time I got back to the computer, roughly 5 minutes of my test time had already passed!!

I did the best I could but really struggled to catch up on time, eventually allowing myself to commit the ridiculous blunder of not answering the last question before time ran out!! Verbal section was a breeze.

I ended up with a 690.
Q 42 (63%)
V 42 (95%)

My practice test results were as follows:
GMAT Prep 1 - 720
GMAT Prep 2 - 730
GMAT Prep 1 (retake) - 750

I did feel the math on the actual test was definitely harder than on the Prep tests, but I'm pretty confident I would have done much better had I not been so frazzled by the loss of time.

I'm applying to Columbia and NYU. I feel I've got a fairly strong application apart from my GMAT score. Should I retake the exam? I blame myself for not having given myself more time to check back in, but I also feel I got kind of screwed by the whole thing.

Does anybody know how my score would've been different if I had managed to fill in even an incorrect response for that last question on the quant section?

Thanks for your thoughts.
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by iamcste » Wed Dec 24, 2008 2:16 pm
well, I think you could have reached magical score

nevertheless, R2 deadlines are too stringent and work on application part

42 V is awesome, given that you had a bitter experience @ test center just before quant

I think you can capture this incident in a terse manner, to capture few of your good qualities...in may be optional essay part


Is it possible for you to give more details about specific areas in Quant, which you felt were difficult in comparision to GMATprep and any piece of advice for prospective test takers..

Also, couple of pointer to Verbal, as I see most of the guy do not have a "breezing" experience in this area.

Thanks for your time and effort.
All the best and pls keep us posted on the progress

Iamcste

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by VP_Jim » Fri Dec 26, 2008 6:34 pm
There's never any harm in taking the exam a second time - almost every school only looks at your highest score (check with your specific schools just to be sure!). You might want to bring up the issue with GMAC - they may give you a free re-test.

That said, your score is within your expected range (+/- 30), albeit at the bottom end of it! You probably shouldn't expect to get much higher than a 720 or so, but it's worth a shot, right?

Your score probably didn't change much by not answering the last question ... 10 points, if at all.

Hope this helps!
Jim S. | GMAT Instructor | Veritas Prep

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by awilhelm » Fri Dec 26, 2008 11:00 pm
Thanks for the advice. My Q score (42) for the actual test was much lower than my Q score for all my practice tests (47-49). Yet my verbal score on the test was identical to my performance during practice tests, so I think I just had a really bad math day, and I think the incident at the beginning had a lot to do with that. I have to think that if I take it again, my chances of doing better are fairly high, and my chances of doing worse are pretty small.