What if I take GMAT the 3rd time.. Is it going to hurt me?

[mohiit401]

Hi friends.. Highly demotivated I feel at the moment. Gave my first GMAT in Jan'14 and scored a poor 590. Started my preparation again in April after getting guidance from a few friends. I myself found out some flaws in me. tried to correct them and was quite successful too. I had been getting good scores of around 680-700 in my mock tests(GMAT prep and exam pack1) and so i felt confident this time. Gave my 2nd GMAT on 19th Jun'14. But I failed again. just scored 24 in verbal (600 score, quant 48) in comparison to 34-38 scores which I was getting in mock tests. May be I ll go one more and the third time for GMAT after a few months. But friends I need your advise or opinion. Even if I score a nice near 700 score, is it going to hurt me when I apply for the fact that it took me three times to get a good score. Also,I am very depressed as I am not able to find a way out since mock tests are the closest indicators and I had been pretty decent in verbal in my mocks. Now I am confused as to what to do to improve. Should I join a coaching(Jamboree in India) or a private tutor. please reply.

[GMATinsight]

Hi Mohit,

The first suggestion that I would like to give as GMAT trainer is that you must be focusing on Verbal as there is a huge potential to improve the score. You can easily reach a score of minimum 35 in Verbal which will improve your total score by approx. 80 marks.

Secondly your Quant also has potential to be improved further for a score of 50 giving you an extra score of 20 Marks but at this stage when you have not been able to get a good score after taking 3 attempts I can't suggest you to do the preparation on your own.

There is something seriously wrong about your strategy of preparation and solving questions of Verbal therefore I would suggest you must do the preparation under guidance of some expert.

None of our students has ever scored less than 35 in Verbal so we would like to offer you one FREE Online Interactive demo class for Verbal and then offer you our assessment about your preparation and way forward for improvement.

To answer the last query, None of the universities considers the number of attempts that you made for improving GMAT score they considers only the best score available not older than 5 years.

You must take expert guidance for sure. Taking Jam or any other coaching is completely your decision which should be based on your experience in Demo class. So I would suggest that take demo classes with all coachings that you are considering for joining and join where you find best support from faculties and best instructions to improve your score.

I would be happy to offer you FREE Online interactive demo class for Quant and Verbal. Judge based on your experience.

All the best!!!

[mohiit401]

Thanks a lot for your reply GMATinsight. But let me explain you again that it was my 2nd attempt and not the 3rd. Secondly, it was just the main test in which I scored a 24 in verbal. In the mocks provided by the GMAC while registering GMAT and those in the additional Exam Pack1, I scored consistently between 34-38 in verbal and overall scored around 680-710 in those mocks. So I guess in no case my preparation has a big flaw to work upon. Guess it was a bad day. It was only when I had given my 1st GMAT that my verbal was weak, which I admit. anyways, thanks again for your response.

[GMATinsight]

My apologies for miscounting of your attempts.

If that's the case then you should take the earliest possible date for taking GMAT again. Delaying it further delay might cause some lag in your preparation and that could affect it a little bad.

Many students score really good when they take it in gap of 1 month in case they have had a bad day like you did.

All the best!!!

[manyaabroadtpr]

Hi mohiit401

As far as GMAT 3rd attempt is concerned from an application perspective would be something you should really think before you take a go at it again. In general a lot of students take GMAT more than once to get the desired score and even though the admissions committee might not have major issues but they definitely want to see improvement in your GMAT score every time you take it with a consistent rise of at least a 50 points.

So in our opinion you can go ahead and take the GMAT but this time do it only if you feel super confident that you will be able to get at least a better score. You might want to take some tougher tests to see how well you do on them.

Good Luck!

Thanks and Regards

Manya Abroad Team

[CriticalSquareMBA]

Hey mate,

3 attempts isn't going to hurt your chances so don't worry about that. You need to fix that GMAT score and that's the #1 priority. I agree with GMAT Insight that you really need to get that verbal up.

Remember - the GMAT is just as much about what's on the test, as how you take it. There's a way to take it well, and there's a way to take it poorly. And doing it well means you understand how to make the most of it.

A class or a tutor might help - but make sure they're not just teaching content. Make sure their prep is holistic.

Good luck!

Bhavik