![\"Blog-GMATtwice\"](\"\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2015\/12\/blog-gmattwice.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Over the past five or so years, I have seen more and more students take the GMAT\u00a0twice.<\/p>\n
Now that students can cancel a score and never have it appear on record, I\u2019ve\u00a0come to the recommendation that everyone should plan to take the GMAT twice.<\/p>\n
Most people become at least a little nervous when taking any standardized test. A\u00a0computer adaptive test is even more stressful because, no matter how much you\u00a0study, the test just keeps getting harder as you learn more.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve had many students take the test twice, and every single one has told me that\u00a0they felt more comfortable the second time. They knew what to expect at the testing\u00a0center, the security procedures didn\u2019t stress them out, and they were even better\u00a0able to handle the small distractions of the testing room\u2014another student typing, a\u00a0proctor entering the room, and so on.<\/p>\n
For those who know that they get extra nervous when taking standardized tests,\u00a0having a \u201cdry run\u201d first test is a great way to help keep a handle on your nerves\u00a0when you take the test \u201cfor real,\u201d the second time.<\/p>\n
Most people have heard that business schools use your highest score, but many\u00a0people don’t trust that the schools really don\u2019t care about lower scores on your\u00a0record. In fact, some schools don’t even look at your full set of scores until they’ve decided what to do with your application (and this used to be true for all schools). Let me take you through that process. (Note: this applies to MBA programs. If you are going for a Ph.D., the\u00a0process may be different and the doctoral program may care about all of your\u00a0scores.)<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s use an example to illustrate what\u2019s going on. Last year, Stanford\u2019s Graduate\u00a0School of Business* received approximately 8,000 applications spread over 3 rounds\u00a0of admission. The school admitted just over 400 people, or about 5% of applicants\u00a0(yikes!).<\/p>\n
Now, picture the offices of the admissions people. They have mounds of information\u00a0to get through: essays, recommendations, resumes. They know they\u2019ll admit only\u00a0about 5% of the people who\u2019ve applied. Do you think they\u2019re going to check the\u00a0official GMAT score reports of all 8,000 people?<\/p>\n
No way! Instead, they evaluate the applications assuming that you told them the\u00a0truth when you reported a certain GMAT score. Once they\u2019ve generally decided who\u00a0they want to admit (or put on the wait list), then they\u2019ll verify the scores just for\u00a0those students.<\/p>\n
In the past few years, some schools have built in the ability to link your account to your test results after you enter certain pieces of identifying info into your application. If so, then you’ll see your verified test date(s) pop up in your official application at this point. (*Note: I don’t know how Stanford does things; I chose them for the example above because they have an exceptionally low yield, so they make for an especially good example.)<\/p>\n
If they don’t have access to your full score set at the beginning, then they\u2019ve already decided your fate by the time they look up your scores. If they want you, they\u2019re\u00a0not suddenly going to reject you because you had another GMAT score that was\u00a0lower. After all, you did earn that higher GMAT score on which they based their\u00a0decision! (Assuming you did. This should be obvious but here goes: don\u2019t lie about\u00a0your GMAT score on your application.) And even if they do have access to your full score set at the beginning, they’re used to making this decision based on your highest score. That’s how they’ve always done it. If you can get that top score once, then you are capable of getting that score period, and that’s what they care about.<\/p>\n
Any canceled test administrations don\u2019t show up on your record at all. The schools\u00a0literally won\u2019t even know that you took the test that day.<\/p>\n
So if you go in and really dislike your score, just select the button to cancel at the\u00a0end. Then you don\u2019t need to worry about whether some b-school might penalize you\u00a0for a lower score even if you later earn a higher score. (Though, again, you really\u00a0don\u2019t need to worry about this!)<\/p>\n
Know before you go in what kind of score you\u2019d want to keep vs. cancel. In the 4\u00a0months since this new cancellation policy started, I\u2019ve talked to two students who\u2019ve\u00a0canceled when the screen flashed a 690 and they wanted a 700+. Seriously! They\u00a0were only 10 points off and they canceled their scores!! Don\u2019t fall prey to a knee-jerk\u00a0reaction just because the score you wanted isn\u2019t on the screen. (You can reinstate\u00a0your scores within 2 months of a cancellation\u2026if you pay a $100 fee.)<\/p>\n
I generally tell my students that if they score more than 100 points below their\u00a0(reasonable) goal, then they should feel free to click the cancel button if it makes\u00a0them feel more comfortable.<\/p>\n
Note my \u201creasonable\u201d caveat. If you want a 730, and your practice tests topped out\u00a0at 580, and then you score a 620 on the real test, please do not cancel that score. You\u00a0just had your best test ever and you want to keep that score, just in case.<\/p>\n
I agree that $250 is a lot of money. If you think about how much money you spent\u00a0the last time you went to dinner, then $250 is definitely expensive.<\/p>\n
But put this figure into perspective. If you\u2019re going for a full-time program at a\u00a0private school, you\u2019re looking at a $200,000 price tag! If you attend a public school\u00a0via a part-time, evening-and-week-end program, business school is still going to cost\u00a0you tens of thousands of dollars. The cost of one GMAT, $250, is far less than 1% of\u00a0the cost of b-school. Don\u2019t try to save $250 now when a proper investment might get\u00a0you into a higher-caliber program down the line.<\/p>\n
So build two tests into your study timeline. If you end up loving your first score,\u00a0then you can take that second $250 and go out for a really, really nice dinner.\u00a0\ud83d\udcdd<\/p>\n
[Edited] Note: this article was edited after first publication. Initially, I said that many \/ most<\/em> schools don’t check scores until after making the decision. It then came to my attention that more schools had added the functionality described in the article than I had thought, so I edited the article to say that some<\/em> schools don’t check until after and some<\/em> schools attach the data to the application from the start.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over the past five or so years, I have seen more and more students take the GMAT\u00a0twice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,873,929,4],"tags":[101,233,347,353,392,950,709,713,951,952],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-10720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-admissions-tips","category-for-current-studiers","category-gmat-prep","category-mba-b-school","tag-business-school","tag-gmat","tag-gmat-strategy","tag-gmat-study-tips","tag-graduate-management-admission-test","tag-how-many-times-gmat","tag-study-plan","tag-study-tips","tag-take-the-gmat","tag-take-the-gmat-twice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10720"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10741,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10720\/revisions\/10741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10720"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=10720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"stacey-koprince\"](\"\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2015\/06\/stacey-koprince-150x150.png\")
Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California.<\/strong> Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT \u00a0for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. Check out Stacey\u2019s upcoming GMAT courses here<\/a><\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n