Study and Strategy questions relating to the GMAT.
amitbhawnani
 
 

rescore essay?

by amitbhawnani Wed Sep 24, 2008 2:25 pm

Guys,
I scored a 700 on my GMAT
Quant 49 and Verbal 34. Overall 90 percentile

However I ended up getting an AWA score of 3.5 :-(

This is my 2nd attempt at the GMAT. Previously I had scored a 630 with an AWA of 4.0.

I'm looking at applying to some decent business schools, definitely one of the top 30.

do you guys think I stand a change with this AWA score? Do you think I should take a change and apply for re-scoring my AWA?
I was expecting a AWA score of 4.0, however I now fear that the score might drop to 3.0.
StaceyKoprince
ManhattanGMAT Staff
 
Posts: 9360
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
Location: Montreal
 

by StaceyKoprince Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:55 pm

Hmm. Yeah, if they rescore, there's no guarantee your score wouldn't drop. One thing you might do is contact the admissions departments and ask them how they weight the GMAT essays and what they want to see. You could also go over to the admissions consulting tab and list the specific schools to which you want to apply and ask the consultants what they know about how those schools assess the GMAT essays.

In the "extra info" section, you can also point out that you got a 4.0 on the other test; given that most schools don't place huge emphasis on the test essays, they may think it's good enough that you got the 4.0 once, even if it wasn't the test on which you got the 700.

So see what the admissions departments and consultants have to say and then you're going to have to decide whether to take the risk on an essay rescore...

(By the way, nice job on the 700!)
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep