Subjects

Here are a couple of scenarios in which you might be wise to consider canceling your test scores after you take the GMAT:

• You're too sick to concentrate. First of all, if you're ill on test day — and you think you might be contagious — stay away. If a headache, stomach malady, or some other discomfort creeps up on you during the exam, you may be distracted enough to go belly up with even the best preparation.
• Something really big is clouding your thoughts. A tragedy in your personal life might derail your ability to think clearly. If your mind wanders away from the test-taking at hand for any reason, you may run out of time. Large numbers of unanswered verbal and quantitative questions are sure to plague your score.

In most cases, you should resist the GMAT's invitation to cancel your scores. You'll see the "cancel" option right after you finish taking the test. Here are a few reasons why you may live to regret getting rid of your GMAT results:

• Your GMAT record will display your decision to cancel. Schools won't be privy to how poorly you were feeling on test day. They'll only know see that your confidence, along with your skills, was sorely tested.
• You'll never know if or where you need to improve. Without the feedback granted by test scores, you'll have little information to let you know which areas to polish up for the next time around.
• The next time around may get lost in the shuffle. Retaking the GMAT requires a financial outlay and a fair amount of calendar balancing. You may not be able to retest before your graduate school application deadline.
• You may have cheated yourself out of a decent score. After all your angst at the end of your GMAT experience, a better-than-you-expected score might have been within arm's reach. Test takers often over- or underestimate their performance. Truth is, if you've put yourself to the task of answering as many questions as possible, with a fair understanding of what's being asked, you probably did okay.