So did you get a letter indicating you’re barred from retaking the GMAT for the rest of your life?
I scored in the low 700’s. Based on what I know as an alumni interviewer for my business school, I can say pretty confidently that anything 700+ should be fine, unless the rest of your credentials are pretty weak in which case the higher you get, the better. I generally believe through my own experiences as an applicant and also what I’ve seen as a member of the admissions committee that applicants would be better off focusing on writing amazing essays and securing good recommendations, rather than re-taking it as long as they’ve cleared the 700 mark.
Another tip to any test takers – the exam rooms tend to be notoriously cold. Also, since you won’t be able to eat, you might get hungry during the exam so your body temperature will drop. I highly recommend bringing a coat, sweater or hat, even if you’re in a normally warm location, because getting cold while taking the exam is not fun. I had bronchitis during my exam and wore warm clothing, but even so, the constant air conditioning made the room pretty uncomfortable.
It’s only for 5 years until your scores expire.
Took both GMAT (730) and GRE (1430) several years apart. I spent 6 weeks to study for GMAT and maybe 10 weeks for GRE. I found GRE to be much more difficult overall with the advanced vocabulary. I strongly recommend that people do NOT spend excessive amounts of time studying for these exams, but rather just study enough to cover all the material thoroughly, take the exam, and move on with life (3 months tops). Both were easier in every way compared to CFA II and III in my opinion (less understanding needed, less material, less stressful testing conditions, etc.)
Ha! Too late, I’ve been studying for over a year. Getting over 700 is a huge goal for me, that seems to be the minimum needed to attend a top school.
I don’t want to criticize your strategy, but as MCalamari pointed out, you probably would have been much better off studying for six weeks and spending time building a stronger grad school resume with life experiences / volunteer work, etc. You’d have over a full year worth of something that jumps out on your resume. Harvard has taken guys as low as the 400’s before, and every year there’s a few with extremely low GMATs. They are innundated with 700+ GMAT score applications, it’s just one small component of the resume. I don’t think anyone has ever been rejected because their GMAT was too low. I think people are often rejected because they failed to build a strong enough story line to differentiate themselves that resulted in weak / boring essays. Generally what I hear is that overly focusing on GMAT is the #1 killer of potential applicants. I mean, with a 700+, do you think you’ll stand out from one of the myriad of apps to a top school? Anyhow, just throwing my 2 cents out there.
So it’s possible to get 700 in 6 weeks?
And yes - GRE is way tougher than GMAT. The vocabulary is just insane in GRE.
Why’d you guys take GRE? But yes, I think you could easily get a 700 GMAT in 3-4 weeks of hard studying. Honestly, in my mind if you’re taking longer six weeks to study, you’re probably not going to get above 700. There’s a certain amount of an apptitude component that can’t necessarily be studied for. I studied about 2 1/2 months but only studied like 1-2 hours a weekday max and spent my weekends kayaking and raft guiding. I chose that route because 1) it was how I wanted to spend my summer and 2) I plan to use the raft guiding on some essays and extra curriculars if possible.
I get what you’re saying, but it’s become somewhat of an obsession, just like the CFA was. I know I can get 700 if I go into hardcore study mode. Even if it takes me 5 tries, I just want to prove to myself that I can do it. It’s also one of the aspects in my application that I can control.
The Swan might be smarter than me, but I think 3-4 weeks is probably cutting it close. Mostly because once you learn all the sentence correction rules and quant shortcuts, you still have to take a few practice tests, get your timing down etc before you can go into the test center confident you’ll score 700+. I don’t remember how long the test is, but I’d recommend 6 practice tests before you go in.
I think you can control everything in your application, but that being said, if it’s something you feel you need to do, then by all means do it.
I took one practice exam the night before, got less than halfway through quant before my time ran out. Adjusted my timing strategy, took another practice exam, almost finished. Called it close enough and took the test the next day, executed pretty well. Sentence correction was pretty simple for me. I read a ton, so I just read a section explaining the core concepts (balance, meaning, brevity), left it at that.
I took GMAT right after undergrad before starting my first job figuring that MBA would be my likely path, but ended up taking GRE to submit for grad school.
Ah. I do feel kind of guilty for not going for a legit PhD or something to be honest.
Same, i wish i got a PhD, but i guess GED will serve for now
I just did a retake today and bumped it up from 740 to 760. I’m fine with that.
800 and beer … great evening
760 is awesome.
Thanks man! I was pretty happy with it.