Advice on how to proceed

[charlottetaylor.07]

I took the GMAT this morning and was pretty disappointed with my score, although I know that it generally is a good score. I got a 680 overall, 42 Quant and 41 Verbal. I'm most disappointed because my last 5 practice test results were as follows:

MBA.com Practice test 2: 750; Q-49, V-44
MBA.com Practice test 1: 660; (can't remember the breakdown)
CAT Exam #6: 730; Q-45, V-45
CAT Exam #5: 730; Q-45, V-45
CAT Exam #4: 690; Q-43, V-40

My heart is set on getting into one of the top schools so I feel I owe it to myself to at least give the test another shot in a month. I'm hoping you might be able to give me some guidance as to when I should next sign up to take the test and how I should focus my studies until then. I'm tempted to sign up in 4 weeks (i.e. the soonest possible) as I've hit my target score in 3 of my last 4 practice tests, which were evenly spaced out over the last month.

I appreciate any advice you can give me on how to proceed from here! Thanks.

[StaceyKoprince]

I know you didn't get the score you wanted, but 680 is also a very good score (as you noted).

Standardized tests have standard deviations and you are within one standard deviation of your practice test scores (though at the lower end, obviously). If you want to go for it again, you definitely should, but I just wanted to let you know that practice tests aren't going to show you exactly what you might get on the real test.

Do the analysis described in the below article on your last MGMAT practice test, and then post that analysis here. If you deviated from official conditions in ANY way, no matter how minor, start your reply post with that info. (Note: tell us whether you did the essays on the practice test.) Please also tell us whether you saw any questions that you'd alread seen (it doesn't look like this should have happened from what you typed about test numbers above, but I want to make sure.)

In terms of when to re-take, we need to see your analysis to figure out more precisely what might have happened. The best-case scenario would be that you have some minor timing problems or stamina problems; those can often be fixed within 4 to 6 weeks. If you haven't been doing the essays, for example, and have been lax about timing your breaks, then we'd build up your stamina for the next month until you could take the test under official conditions without your performance suffering.