So you were hoping for a score of 700+ on the GMAT, and you didn’t get it. What do you do now? In this article, we’ll explore how to answer this question by urging you to consider your situation from multiple perspectives, such as: your target school, how (and how much) you prepared before your most recent GMAT or GRE test and what your practice scores were, what your test day was like, and your timeline for applying to school. A sober, fact-based review of these four elements usually provides clear direction on what, in fact, you should do next!

What is your target graduate school program?

One mistake people often make with test prep involves not keeping the end goal in mind, which of course is getting accepted into a particular graduate school program. Almost any aspect of life involves tradeoffs, which means that getting more of one thing often results in obtaining less of another thing. You have to find balance and set specific goals to achieve an optimal result. For example, it seems healthy and natural to seek financial stability and pursue a career that allows you to earn a lot of money, have financial freedom, and build an increasingly comfortable life. But what happens if you are far too focused on earning money? Your relationships with friends and family and your personal health can eventually suffer greatly. More money is not always better.

The same is true of GRE and GMAT scores in the context of getting into a particular graduate school program. In a previous article written on this site that offered my top ten tips for preparing for standardized tests, in tip #4, I mention that setting a target score linked to your target grad school program is a key part of the test prep process. Most graduate school programs are very clear that the test score is one of many factors.  How important is it relative to other factors? Who knows exactly? The answer will vary by school, for one thing. But let’s just say that test scores tend to have an “importance weight” of between 25% and 45%. Other factors include GPA, professional experience, letters of recommendation, essays, community service, leadership experience, etc.

With that context, as you are digesting your less than stellar score on your GRE or GMAT test, recall that almost all selective graduate school programs tell you what test scores fall into the “middle 50%” of accepted applicants for the previous few years. Let’s say you were hoping for a 700 or higher on the GMAT and had thought it possible that you might score 710 or even 720 based on recent practice tests. But you are looking at your score, and it’s a 640. However, you are targeting schools with a middle 50% range of 630 to 680 on the GMAT. In fact, you wanted that 700+ score to sort of “blow away” the admissions committee and go into the admissions process feeling like you were way ahead of the game. But a 640 is right in that middle 50% range.

Too many people assume that if they score 700+, they are guaranteed admission. But in fact, again, the GMAT is one of many factors. You can spend another 3 months studying, get a 710, and NOT get into the program because you didn’t spend enough time on the rest of your application.

The bottom line – make sure your “bad test score” is actually bad in the context of the middle 50% range of scores for the grad school programs you are targeting. Your bad score might not be bad, and in that case, you can strongly consider moving on and focusing on your essays and other elements of the application.

How, and How Much, Did You Prepare for Your Exam?

With focused preparation and customized study planning using official materials and, ideally, expert feedback, you can and will improve your GRE or GMAT score. But to understand whether you should take the exam again, you need to be honest with yourself about how you prepared for your most recent run at the exam.

We recommend taking at least 10-12 weeks to prepare. And, whether you take a course, use a self-paced app, or simply use a prep book, your process should involve an upfront diagnostic test, creation of a customized study plan, and a series of timed practice tests using official materials. Did you follow a process like this?

If you did not follow a process like this, it is more likely that studying for and re-taking the GRE or GMAT would make sense. If your study plan was not customized, you didn’t take any practice tests, and you didn’t work with a tutor or actively review missed problems, you could have prepared much better.

One thing is for sure. These exams are not IQ tests. If you prepare more and better, you will score higher. That’s a fundamental truth. But of course, there will be diminishing returns at some point. If you gave it your best shot, took a series of official, timed practice tests, and scored on the exam about what you were scoring on practice tests, the argument for a re-take goes down. Given the stress of test day, you might find yourself scoring a bit below your practice test level on the day of the actual test. That’s normal.

The bottom line – if you didn’t prepare the right way the first time, you should consider re-taking the exam and preparing differently this time. If you did prepare well, and your score was within the range of your practice tests, it might be time to accept your score. But, if you prepared the right way AND your score was far lower than on the official timed practice tests you took, you might want to consider a re-take. You may have had a bad test day.

What Was Your Test Day Like?

It’s normal to do a little bit worse on the official exam than on your timed practice tests. You’ll be nervous, and you may make a few silly errors. I would also consider it normal to need to take a breather for 30 seconds to collect yourself mid-exam at some point.

But did you find yourself getting really frustrated and down on yourself? Were you late to the exam? Did you get very little sleep the night before? Skip breakfast? If you combine performance on an actual GRE or GMAT that is well below your timed, official practice tests with a sub-optimal test day experience, you could possibly take the exam again quickly and score better, because maybe you just had a bad day.

The bottom line – if you just had a bad day, consider re-scheduling your exam for 30 days in the future. Do some light prep over the next 30 days (but not a lot, after all, you’re already prepared), and then make sure you get a good night’s sleep, wake up early after setting an alarm, and eat a light breakfast on the day of your next exam. You’ll probably score better.

What Is Your Timeline for Applying to Graduate School?

One final consideration is your timeline for applying to graduate school. And, it’s a simple one. If your applications are due within months, all of the above questions need to be considered more carefully. But if you are taking the GRE or GMAT this year and plan on applying to graduate school 1, 2, or 3 years into the future, then you have a better case for re-taking the exam. You have more time on your side. And, as we’ve stated before, with more prep, you’ll generally improve your score. At the same time, remember that you are always making a trade-off. The 20 extra points you earn on the GMAT after 3 months of study might not be as valuable as the volunteer experience you could have engaged in during the time you were studying to re-take the exam.

The bottom line – if you have the time, you have a stronger argument for re-taking the GRE or GMAT. And, this in itself is an argument for starting your GMAT or GRE prep early, and getting your score out of the way 1+ years before you are planning on applying. These scores are good for 5 years, anyway.

Conclusion

So, you sat for the exam, and you didn’t like your score. What next? Well, we’ve learned that if your score was outside of the middle 50% for your target school, and you didn’t prepare using a customized study plan and took few or no official practice tests, and you got little sleep on the day of the exam, and you aren’t even applying to grad school this year, you should unequivocally re-take the GRE or GMAT as a next step. And, there are of course opposite scenarios where you should clearly just accept your score, move on, and optimize other parts of your application.

But if you are planning on re-taking the GRE or GMAT, keep in mind that the definition of insanity is often described as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. There are many great prep programs, self-paced test prep apps, and prep books, and free web-sites. But the gold standard in test prep is customized study planning with an expert tutor using official materials. Sure, that can be more expensive, but it’s the best way to boost your score, and time is money. The $500, $1,500, or $2,500 you spend on 1-1 test prep might actually turn out to be more cost effective than struggling for several more months, applying to b-school later, or getting into a less selective graduate school program.

About the Author

Mark Skoskiewicz founded MyGuru way back in 2009 while he was getting his MBA from Northwestern University. MyGuru provides 1-1 GRE tutoring (and tutoring for all major standardized tests). To help him grow MyGuru and help his students, he also completed the Coursera course Learning How to Learn: Powerful Mental Tools to Help you Master Tough Subjects.

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