Should I delay the test?

[veljibear]

Hi all,
Congrats to those who have Beat the GMAT, I hope to be one of those folks one of these days.

The only school I'm targeting is the Berkeley Evening & Weekend MBA, which has an 80th percentile score range of 640-740. I have never scored higher than 590 (Q35/V35) on a CAT (Manhattan Prep).

My test is scheduled for the 24th of October, and feel like I'm not going to magically be able to raise my score on test day. Unfortunately, if I wait any longer, I miss the opportunity to apply in Round One, which is due November 15th.

My question is: is it better to take the test and see how I do, and if I do better than 640, apply Round 1; or, push my test date out and apply Round 2, which is due Jan 2016; or, take it multiple times?
Thanks in advance!

[[email protected]]

Hi veljibear,

With GMAC's new Testing/Reporting policies, you have far more options than you would have had in years past.

Since it's already October 18th, it's too late to pay to reschedule your Official Test Date, so you might as well take the GMAT as scheduled. Once you have that score result, you should report back here and we can talk through your options going forward.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[veljibear]

I'm back, having just finished the GMAT. Boy, that was a slog fest. I didn't finish the IR section, which had a huge penalty, and I had to pee the entire time during the Quant section.

That said, I came out with a 650, Q36/V41. So I'm in the scoring range, but on the low end, and I feel like there will be an eyebrow raised about an engineer who doesn't do well on the math section, but crushes verbal.

What say you?

[[email protected]]

Hi veljibear,

A 650 is a solid score (it's right around the 80th percentile overall), so it might be enough to help you get into Berkeley. Since you know the specific Program that you're interested in, you might want to discuss your application/profile with an Admissions Expert. There's a Forum full of them here.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/ask-an-mba-a ... t-f40.html

With this GMAT score, the Q36 might be an 'issue', but I an Admissions Expert should be able to offer a more thorough analysis.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich