Re-take advice

[daniel.ndegwa]

I need advice whether to re-take GMAT a fourth time.

I took GMAT first in Jan 2011 - scored 540 (36Q: 28V)
Re-took in Feb 2011 - scored 550 (38Q: 28V)
Re-took again in March 2011 - scored 560 (38Q: 30V)

The GMAT score report indicates that the average reliability of the GMAT Total score is 0.93, indicating the degree to
which you would keep the same score if you were to take the test more than once.
Is this what my scores above reflect? and secondly, am I likely to get a score similar to the trend above if I retake GMAT a fourth time?

Also, I have taken MGMAT CAT's and scored around 640 a couple of times. I have also taken GMATPrep and scored between 610 - 640. This was the reason I re-took the test because I believed that I had potential to score greater.

Finally, what would be the best strategy to us in order to avoid getting caught in this rut of scoring almost the same everytime?

Your advice is greatly appreciated.

[StaceyKoprince]

Good questions. As a general rule, you shouldn't expect your score to change much unless you make major changes to what you know, what you do, and how you do it. That can be done, but it will take some work.

One question I have is why your practice test scores seem to be consistently 50 to 100 points higher than your real test scores. Do both quant and verbal drop on the real test? Or is it really only due to one section?

Take a look at this article for ideas about what might be going on, then come back here and tell us what you think:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/10/26 ... went-wrong

Don't take the official test again unless and until you can fully explain why you perform so much better on practice tests than on the real thing. If you don't know why, then you don't know what to do in order to fix the problem.

Next, do the analysis described in the below article on your most recent MGMAT practice test (or tests):

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/02/ ... sts-part-1

Then come back here and tell us your analysis (not just the raw data - tell us what you think it means). We'll help you figure out where to go from there (note: we also need the analysis on the score drop from the first article I mentioned above).

Also let us know what materials / resources you have used so far.