What was your strategy for picking a target score?

[Severance28]

Hi guys,

New to the forum and new to the GMAT. I was wondering if people could share their strategies for picking a target score. I see all over the forums that people have a target, and I'm wondering if people could share how they came up with theirs. Thanks!

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Hi Severance28,

The most common score goal that you're likely to see is "700+", although many Test Takers over-estimate the score that they think they need to get into their first-choice Business School. Since most of the Top-20 Business Schools have AVERAGE GMAT Scores in the 700+ range, future applicants often assume that scoring at that level is a requirement to gaining entry. However, if you know how to calculate an average, then you should be comfortable with the idea that lots of applicants get into Business School with GMAT Scores that are below the average for that School. While a higher GMAT score is generally better than a lower one, if your overall profile isn't strong, then you likely won't get into a Top Business School even if you score 800. So if you're looking to set a score goal, then you should do some research into the Schools/Programs that interest you - knowing their average GMAT scores is a good place to start - but you should also consider the "middle 80' data that Schools provide and how your overall profile might measure up to the general 'class data' that Business Schools provide about each of their recent incoming classes.

1) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

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

[Knitgeek]

Generally I think most target scores are driven by a couple of different things:

1 - Target school/programs: This is probably going to be the #1 driver in what folks consider when coming up with a target score. If you are looking a specific school and program the average GMAT for said school/program is going to be a big factor in determining what score you want to hit.

2 - Performance on initial practice tests: Most of the experts (and I agree with them) will tell you to take a practice CAT early in your prep to get a baseline of where you are starting from. I know for me this coupled with my target school informed what score I was targeting. That being said I started with 500 on my initial CAT and scored a 700 on my GMAT so it doesn't mean that a lower starting score has to limit your target. That being said, on to factor 3....

3 - Prep Timeline: If you have a set timeline in which to prep for the GMAT that can play in to what score you target. Conversely your target score may dictate your timeline especially if you are dead-set on a specific school. For example if you want in at HBS and you have a baseline CAT of 520 you are going to want more than 2 months to prepare so you can get your GMAT score up around the school average of 720 something.

4 - GPA/Work Experience: Depending on your undergrad GPA or amount/type of work experience you may want to target a higher GMAT score than a school average. This is to generally help compensate for a lower GPA or limited work experience.

5 - Personal Gratification: I have to add this one because it was a big part of my motivation. I believe my publically stated GMAT target was 650 as the part time program I was applying to isn't too GMAT focused in their assessment. While I would have been happy with the 650 the competitive part of my want that 700+ score. I set my target lower because at the end of the day I didn't need to put extra stress on myself but in the back of my mind I was still gunning for that higher score.

Hope that helps! I'm sure others will have more to add or dispute my comments

[Severance28]

Thanks for the replies so far!

I guess what I'm wondering is where that initial decision of what school you want to attend/when you're going to school comes from. I'm working and don't have a strict timeline for when I want to attend school. Is it worth it to spend extra time studying and bump my scores up into very competitive ranges?

Why do people set a deadline and and when they want to attend school and work backwards from there instead of creating a score goal and deciding when they want to go to school based on how much time they need to study/prepare (hopefully that makes sense)?

How do I know what my realistic score cap could be given my intial test scores?

[Knitgeek]

A lot of your questions are going to have very different answers depending on the individual answering them. I can give you my story but I know there are many who will have come at things differently than me and thus have a very different process.

I decided to do my MBA before I even started looking at the GMAT. I got back from maternity leave at the beginning of the year and put a big focus on figuring out what I wanted to do with my career. That led me to the conclusion that I needed some additional schooling/credentials to get me to where I want to be in the long run. I looked at getting my accounting designation and some of the local MBA programs. I knew two things for sure: I wanted to keep working while I did school, and I needed a program that fit with my long term goals and career so far. Long story short I spent almost three months doing research, talking to mentors and senior management at my company and soul searching before deciding that an MBA made more sense then my CPA given my background.

From there I started digging in to my local programs as I wanted to keep working so relocating and full time classes were out of the question. I did look at some distance programs but ultimately decided I wanted a classroom setting. I knew I needed to write the GMAT regardless of which program I wanted to apply for at this point so I started studying. Both of options for school had similar GMAT averages so that made that part pretty easy.

As for timelines, my son turns two in December. I want to get school out of the way before he starts school. Everyone will have something that drives their timeline for going to school. For full time programs I know I'm already getting old, part time programs (at least in my area) are geared towards my age bracket, and I'm a bit young for the EMBAs around town (and lacking the higher level managerial experience they want), so what kind of program you want can help inform your timeline.

From my initial assessment test I knew I had work to do but almost more importantly from my initial test I figured out that I had room to raise my marks pretty significantly because much of the quant material was stuff that I recognized but couldn't quite remember from way back in high school (I'm 31 so it's been a while since I've done geometry etc). Had I come out of the initial test thinking "holy crap! I've never seen some of this stuff!" I probably would have set my goal lower. That's not to say you can't go from a 300 to a 720 with a lot of hard work and enough time, it really just depends on you.

Personally because I have a pretty busy life right now I wasn't interested in working on my GMAT until I had an elite score and then going after say HBS. I knew that didn't fit with my life so I decided to save myself the stress of trying to score say 750. There are plenty of folks on this site that want to work that way though and there is nothing wrong with it. I would just say that remember that the GMAT is not the only part of a B school application. It's important no doubt... especially in the US. But even an 800 GMAT is not going to guarantee you a spot at any school.

On a side note, good for you for asking these types of questions! Trying to figure out what you want to do and what you need to get there can be a big scary process and I know that some people are afraid to even ask about things like this because they don't want to sound like they don't know they are talking about. My view has always been is how are you supposed to know if you don't ask?