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Whether you’re just thinking about taking the GMAT for business school admissions or you’ve been preparing for it for a while, a key question you may have is: “How much can I increase my GMAT score?” In this article, I’ll address this question, covering both facts and myths about the GMAT. I’ll also discuss some things you can do to ensure that your GMAT preparation results in score increases.
Here are the topics we’ll cover:
- Myths About How Much You Can Increase Your GMAT Score
- You Can Increase Your GMAT Score as Much as You Want
- What Is a Reasonable GMAT Score Increase?
- If People Can Continue to Increase Their GMAT Scores, Why Don’t They?
- How to Continue to Increase Your GMAT Score
- How Much Can You Improve Your GMAT Score?: Key Takeaways
- What’s Next?
Let’s start by discussing some of the myths about how much you can increase your GMAT score.
Myths About How Much You Can Increase Your GMAT Score
Before we answer the question of how much you can increase your GMAT score, let’s dispel some of the myths surrounding the question. The most common one is the “peak score” myth.
Myth #1: The “Peak GMAT Score”
The “peak score” myth is the idea that every GMAT aspirant has a peak score that he or she can achieve and that more preparation won’t get that person a higher score. In other words, once you’ve studied and taken the GMAT, you’ve pretty much hit your maximum potential, and additional study won’t result in raising your score much at all.
Giving rise to this myth were some study results published by the Graduate Management Admission Council, the organization that administers the GMAT. These results showed that, when people who had scored a legacy score of 600 or higher (555 GMAT Focus) on the GMAT retook the test, their scores increased slightly. The results also showed that, when these people took the GMAT a third or fourth time, their scores barely increased. Finally, the results showed that, on average, when people who had a legacy score above 700 (645 GMAT Focus) retook the GMAT repeatedly, their scores plateaued or even decreased.
So, we can see why these results would cause the peak score myth. People see the results and decide that the reason why GMAT test-takers didn’t increase their scores is that they couldn’t.
KEY FACT:
The “peak GMAT score” myth surrounds the belief that your GMAT score won’t improve when you retake the exam. It is based on faulty analysis of published data.
Meanwhile, these results contributed to another myth as well, that your score decreases from too much preparation.
Myth #2: The Score Decrease From Too Much Preparation
The myth of the score decrease from too much preparation is that, if you do more than a certain amount of GMAT study, your test score will decrease rather than increase. In the grand scheme of things, this myth doesn’t make sense. Of course, it’s true that if you prepare for a long time, you may forget some material you learned early in your preparation. And if you don’t review that earlier material, then you risk having difficulty answering questions about the material on test day.
It’s a well-known fact that people who properly study for the GMAT for extended periods of time continue to achieve higher and higher scores. Still, some people believe this myth, possibly as justification for accepting a mediocre score as the best they can do.
KEY FACT:
Many students believe the myth that too much studying can result in a GMAT score decrease.
So, what’s the reality? Let’s discuss that now.
You Can Increase Your GMAT Score as Much as You Want
My view is that you can increase your GMAT score as much as you want and achieve any score goal on test day. Clearly, this view is at odds with not only the myths we just discussed but also what many people believe about themselves. All the same, I find this view completely reasonable, and here’s why.
Increasing your GMAT score just takes learning new things and developing new skills. We can all learn new things and develop new skills. Thus, we can all increase our test scores. As a result, we can all increase our GMAT scores as long as we keep preparing.
In fact, during the time I’ve worked in the GMAT space, I’ve seen this logic prevail multiple times. One example is that of my friend Dan Cummins. Dan took the GMAT multiple times and went from a starting legacy score of 430 (435 GMAT Focus) to a final score of 710 (665 GMAT Focus). The most powerful example I’ve seen is that of Dalal Aldilaimi, who started near the bottom of the GMAT legacy score range at 250 (325 GMAT Focus) and ended up at the top of the range at 780 (785 GMAT Focus).
Logic dictates that we can all increase our GMAT scores as long as we keep preparing.
Of course, the idea that you can improve your GMAT score as much as you want is good to hear, and it’s nice to see some examples of off-the-charts GMAT score improvements. However, you’re likely wondering what is a reasonable, rather than amazing, GMAT score increase? So, let’s discuss that now.
What Is a Reasonable GMAT Score Increase?
Over the years, I have worked with thousands of GMAT students and seen them increase their scores. With what we could call an average effort, people typically achieve GMAT score increases of around 70 to 100 points. With a somewhat greater than average amount of preparation, people often achieve above-average score increases of 150 points or more. Finally, people who decide to prepare extensively often achieve GMAT score increases close to or even larger than 200 points. So, we could say that a “reasonable” GMAT score increase is from 70 to around 200 points.
That said, achieving a particular score increase is easier for some people than for others, for a variety of reasons. One reason is that, generally, it’s easier to achieve a particular score increase from a lower initial score than it is to achieve the same increase from a higher initial score. For instance, it’s generally easier to go from 415 to 515 than to go from 585 to 685.
Another factor that can affect how easy it is to achieve a particular score increase is how much a student has to do to achieve that increase. For instance, someone who has to review some math to achieve a 100-point increase will likely achieve that increase more easily than someone else who has to learn the same math for the first time to achieve that increase.
KEY FACT:
A “reasonable” GMAT score increase is anything up to around 200 points.
Of course, you’ve likely noticed that not all GMAT test-takers achieve 200-point score increases or their score goals. Thus, you may be wondering why they don’t, if the reality is that they can score as high as they want, and 200 points is a relatively reasonable GMAT score increase. So, let’s explore why.
If People Can Continue to Increase Their GMAT Scores, Why Don’t They?
There are two main reasons why people’s GMAT scores stop increasing.
One of the reasons is simple: they stop preparing for the GMAT. Of course, when someone stops preparing for the GMAT, his or her score stops increasing. At the same time, the fact that this reason is simple doesn’t mean that it’s not important. After all, if much of the reason why people’s scores stop increasing is that they stop preparing, then we can clearly see that score increases are possible if we keep preparing.
The second main reason why people’s GMAT exam scores plateau is that the way they’re preparing doesn’t support further increases. In other words, they’re preparing for the GMAT in ways that will increase their scores only up to a point.
For instance, it’s possible for you to improve your quant section scores up to a certain point by learning math concepts. However, to go beyond that point, you have to do more than learn concepts. You have to improve your skills in applying those concepts. Thus, you need to learn new strategies and answer many practice questions. So, if your GMAT quant preparation focuses primarily on learning concepts, your score improvement will be limited.
KEY FACT:
The two main reasons why people’s GMAT scores stop increasing are (1) that they stop preparing and (2) that the way they’re preparing doesn’t support further score increases.
So, what can you do to keep making progress and achieve the score you need for your target MBA programs? Let’s discuss that now.
How to Continue to Increase Your GMAT Score
If one of the reasons people’s GMAT scores stop increasing is that they stop preparing, then one key aspect of improving your GMAT score and achieving your goal is by continuing to prepare. By simply continuing to “show up” and play the GMAT prep game, you can continue to improve your score.
At the same time, continuing to prepare will be sufficient only if what you’re doing is working. If what you’re doing to prepare is effective, then by doing it more, you’ll increase your score more. However, as we’ve discussed, there are GMAT prep approaches that work only up to a point. So, what can you do if your GMAT performance plateaus?
Better Understand What the GMAT Tests
One cause of a plateau in your GMAT total score is that your understanding of what the GMAT tests isn’t accurate. For instance, while the GMAT quant section presents math questions, it doesn’t test just math knowledge. It uses math questions to test your quantitative reasoning skills. Thus, if someone thinks that memorizing math formulas will get them a high quant score, their quant score may very well plateau as a result.
So, if your performance is plateauing, you may be able to resume making progress by better understanding what the GMAT tests. More than facts and figures, it tests reasoning skills, skill in the use of resources, ability to work under pressure, attention to detail, and other skills that are integral to success in both business school and the business world.
TTP PRO TIP:
Understand that the GMAT tests more than facts.
Adjust How You Are Preparing
Another thing you can do to keep your GMAT score increasing is to adjust how you are preparing. If your performance on GMAT practice tests plateaus, review the GMAT prep resources, approaches, and study plan you’re using and determine how well they’re working for you.
What do your score reports indicate? Are the concepts and methods you’re learning from your study resources helping you score higher? Are you getting a greater number of questions correct by practicing in the way you’re practicing? If not, then it’s likely that to continue to increase your score, you have to change something about how you are preparing.
You may need some new resources or strategies. Alternatively, it could be that you have great resources and strategies, but you have to adjust how you’re using them. I’ve talked with many GMAT students who radically improved the results they were getting from their preparation by just making a few key adjustments.
TTP PRO TIP:
Review the efficacy of the study resources you’re using.
Find New Levers to Pull
Finally, to continue progressing toward your GMAT score goal, it may be that you need to find new levers to pull. The possibilities are endless, but here are some examples. I’ve seen GMAT students use pattern-matching games, meditation, exercise, psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, the Pomodoro method, the Target Test Prep Streaks Method, reading coaching, accountability coaching, tutoring, and many other activities to increase their scores. You can learn through research, introspection, and trial and error what new things will work for you. The key is to keep trying things until you find something that works.
TTP PRO TIP:
To get your score to start increasing if it is plateauing, better understand what the GMAT tests, adjust how you’re preparing, or find new levers to pull.
Let’s now wrap up by reviewing what we have discussed.
How Much Can You Improve Your GMAT Score?: Key Takeaways
Here are some key takeaways from what we have discussed regarding how much of a GMAT score improvement you can achieve.
- The ideas that people have “peak GMAT scores” or that preparing too much for the GMAT can be counterproductive are myths.
- The reality is that you can increase your GMAT score as much as you want. There are examples of people who have increased their GMAT scores by 300, 400, or even 500 points.
- A reasonable GMAT score increase is an increase of up to around 200 points.
- The main reasons people’s GMAT scores stop increasing are that they stop preparing or they prepare in ways that can increase their scores only up to a point.
- You can continue to increase your GMAT score by better understanding what the GMAT tests, adjusting how you are preparing, or finding new levers to pull.
What’s Next?
For some additional insights into how to increase your GMAT score, you can read this post on how to increase your GMAT quant score or this one on how to score high on GMAT verbal.
