4th attempt 670, retake ???

[karthikyethu]

Hello everyone,

I gave my gmat for the fourth time today and got 670 Q45 V37, my previous scores are:

1st attempt: 630 Q49 V27 Sept last year
2nd attempt: 580 Q41 V28 Nov last year
3rd attempt: 620 Q47 V28 Jan this year.

I was expecting a score of 700 today, as I thought i performed well in both the sections.
I have no idea where I lost in the quant section. My best scores so far Q49 and V37 can get me
700+. Now I am unable to decide whether to give it one more shot ie my 5th attempt. Is it worth it?

[immaculatesahai]

Hi Karthik,

I am no expert on this, but I feel you should move on and begin your application process and start applying to colleges. With a 670, you have a pretty good chance at many colleges (although I do agree that its going to be difficult getting in top 5 or top 10). There are several top colleges such as IE and IMD that are really good and dont have a very high gmat score average/median.

Obviously I dont know much about your background so can not suggest any college. If you still feel you would like to improve your score further than go ahead. Do some introspection before deciding.

[GmatVerbal]

Hi Karthik,

If you think you need a score 700+ for your goals, what ever they may be. For scholar ship or schools that you are interested. Go a head take. People have done that and achieved the scores they wanted. But you need to sit back analyze a bit what is needed for you get the score. There is very little info in your post on what you have studied or how much effort you put for your 3rd attempt. Understand your weak points and work on it. I have seen people getting verbal 37-38 range. Going to 40+ may be some leap.

I think the following two points about GMAT exam are very important.

1. I have read a statement from GMAC that GMAT scores have absolute meaning in the sense a score of 600, 10 yrs ago is same as 600 today. Only percentile may change, i.e. number of people crossing 600 may change. What does it mean? It always tests the same concepts but may be with a little twist not much at each level. I also think because of these graded levels, you score also goes in steps.
2. GMAT prep is a acurate estimator of the score. How is it doing? It goes back to 1. It is testing the same concepts again and again. So I think write a GMAT prep test and analyze each problem. See what is the previous problem and next problem. There is a pattern. Also, see each question what is it testing. (I have taken a MGMAT test, they very closely mimic GMAT prep). Prepare each level questions.

For example when I took GMAT prep analyzed the following for SC:

It tested a modifier question "Like X, Y"; Next level down the line it tested "like X's, Y's" ( with possesives ).
similary for subject-verb. So when you do OG-questions assign the question to a concept and you know next time when you make a mistake you understand that you are making a mistake and your brian detecting that pattern. train for it.

One more thing when I gave MGMAT test, I analyzed the CR questions, I got all 700+ wrong. I answered them when I don't have a time limit after the test. What does it mean my brain is not trained enough for deep thinking under pressure.

By the I haven't given my GMAT, but that these would be useful for you if you decided to take it again.

[essaysnark]

Hi karthikyethu -- congrats on the 670!!! That's actually a solid score, and it puts you in the running for a number of good schools.

EssaySnark agrees with immaculatesahai: Stick with this 4th score and move ahead with your applications.

You'll want to choose schools where your profile will be a good fit - GMAT score and everything else. But we do not recommend testing again. Some schools actually frown on candidates testing too much. Stick with your current success story and now focus on those applications.

Putting together strong essays will take you just as long as all this GMAT studying, and you only have so much time left before Round 2 deadlines.

Of course, much of this depends on which schools you're targeting and what your goals are etc. - but we feel that you should switch gears at this point, if you're serious about applying this year - those applications really do require a tremendous amount of work, and our guess is that any future bump in GMAT score would be marginal. But only you can decide that!!

That's our $0.02 - hope it helps.

EssaySnark

[karthikyethu]

Thanks guys,

actually I am target schools in 25 to 50 rank range.I shall be having 4 years experience by next fall. my acads are really poor, that's why I first set a target of 700 in the first place to offset my poor records and I am not sure whether this score is sufficient for universities ranked between 25 and 50.

The thing why I want to give GMAT again is I honestly believe that I should have got atleast 48 in Quant.
Which means today I should have hit the 700 mark, falling short by 30 marks is making me to think about giving the exam again.But as mentioned by you guys will the fifth attempt be counterproductive?

[ollapodrida]

Try again. I think you can reach 700. Best of luck!

[bacchewar_prashant]

It seems that you have trouble with verbal part. There is huge scope for improvement there. I will highly recommend e-gmat SC if you have problem with SC. I am yet to appear for GMAT but I have seen atleast 5 point improvement in verbal because of this course.

I want to know one thing what has attributed to such high fluctuation in quants score. Since you scored I think if you focus on quants there also is scope for improvement.

[karthikyethu]

It seems that you have trouble with verbal part. There is huge scope for improvement there. I will highly recommend e-gmat SC if you have problem with SC. I am yet to appear for GMAT but I have seen atleast 5 point improvement in verbal because of this course.

I want to know one thing what has attributed to such high fluctuation in quants score. Since you scored I think if you focus on quants there also is scope for improvement.

Prashanth, I honestly have no idea what went wrong in Quant, I didn't face any difficulty during the exam and I arrived at answers to almost 30 questions. Actually I was expecting a minimum of 48.
Because of that now I am evening finding it difficult to concentrate on a particular topic as I didn't face any challenges during the exam.

In my first attempt I got Q49 but during my second attempt I got Q41, I don't know why my Quant score fluctuates so much.