GMAT Hacks: Should You Retake the GMAT?
Often, by the time someone takes the GMAT, they’ve been working at it for weeks, if not months. If you’ve followed my advice, you’ve studied each and every day. If you’re going to take the test again several weeks after your first try, you can allow yourself a short break from the test, but not much more than that.
When you get back on the horse, you need to keep at it, every single day. That’s not easy, I know. When I work with students to put together study schedules, I try to remain very aware of the reasonable limits of studying without burning out.
If, all of the sudden, your ten-week study plan becomes a fifteen-week one, especially if you’ve been pushing other projects aside to make room for the GMAT, it can become very difficult to maintain your focus. If you can’t keep up your current level of work, you probably won’t see much improvement the second time around.
If you’re a month away from your B-School application deadlines, you’ve just taken the test, and you’ve slated the final month for getting recommendation letters together, writing your essays, and doing the nitty-gritty of filling out application forms, do you have the time to spend on retaking the test? Is it worth it?
Ultimately, you may have to weigh a stronger GMAT score against a better rest-of-application package.
This is an excerpt from a longer article by Jeff Sackmann, originally published at GMAT Hacks. Jeff has created several valuable GMAT-preparation resources, including Total GMAT Math and Total GMAT Verbal.
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