Should i cancel my scores?

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Should i cancel my scores?

by suman2424 » Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:31 pm
I have a predicament to say the least. I've been preparing for the GMAT since approximately the first week of february. My test was booked for tomorrow, April 8. However, due to a serious family incident, i havent been able to study for almost two weeks. In all the confusion, i had even forgotten to reshedule my GMAT as i should have. Regardless, my test is tomorrow and i am frightened that although i was prepared, i feel like i may have forgotten some crucial information.

Since i cannot reschedule my test without forfeiting the money, i have decided to go on and take the test tomorrow anyways (at the very least, i will gain experience writting the test in the proper testing environment, and thus wont be as nervous my second time around).

My question is, should i hope for the best and simply accept whatever score i receive? or should i choose to cancel my scores at the end of the test? i have taken 4 practice tests with the princeton review. My scores ranged from 520-600. my target is anything above 580. I am beginning to seriously doubt that i will achieve this score due to my lack of recent preparation.

What do you guys think? any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!
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by mbadrew » Mon Apr 07, 2008 3:02 pm
I would cancel anything less then 580! Don't feel bad. Just take the test to get an experience and then sort things out in your life and give it another shot. I'm sure you'll do much better once your prepared.

goodluck
D

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Re: test

by suman2424 » Mon Apr 07, 2008 3:10 pm
mbadrew wrote:I would cancel anything less then 580! Don't feel bad. Just take the test to get an experience and then sort things out in your life and give it another shot. I'm sure you'll do much better once your prepared.

goodluck
D
I was under the impression that once you view your scores you cant cancel them?

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by suman2424 » Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:21 am
Just to update, i took the test this morning and i chose to report my scores. i got 610, but i will retake as my verbal score was weak. Also, I'm sure i could have done better had i only prepared adequately.

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by Stacey Koprince » Tue Apr 08, 2008 5:24 pm
610 is great - you beat your goal! Congrats.

Yes, you can't cancel scores after you've viewed them. For others in a similar predicament in future, if you finish the test, go ahead and accept the scores. If you cancel, your record will contain the cancellation (that is, the schools will see that you took the test and cancelled) and their imagination is likely going to be worse than your score.

And, if you either cancel or don't like your score, you'll have to take the test again. Schools are not going to care if you have another, lower score on your record as long as you have the higher score, too. (And some people will say - but what if I don't get a higher score? Then it's not going to matter anyway. You have to show the schools SOME score and they pretty much only care about your highest score.)

So there's no real downside to accepting the score and there are two significant potential upsides:
1) you might actually like your score; everyone feels like they do poorly on this test, no matter how well they score, because everyone's getting a lot of questions wrong

2) you'll get the data you need to prioritize your study for the re-take if you don't like your score

I actually had a student recently who thought he'd done terribly and wanted to cancel his score but didn't because my co-teacher and I told his class not to cancel... so he accepted his scores and got a 730. That's not to say that everyone who wants to cancel will get a 730, of course, but the point is that you can do very well and still think you're doing poorly.
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