# Decide whether to retake my admissions test and plan the next attempt

A clear retake decision weighing likely gain, deadlines, and cost, plus a revised plan or a way to strengthen the rest of your application.

- Topic: Thinking & Decisions
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Advanced
- Tags: Plan, Fill-in Template, Step-by-step
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/decide-whether-to-retake-my-admissions-test-and-plan-the-next-attempt

## Prompt

```text
Help me decide whether to retake my graduate admissions test and, if so, plan the next attempt.

**Test and my official score(s):** [SCORES WITH SECTION BREAKDOWN AND DATES]
**Target score:** [PASTE FROM STEP 1, or state it]
**My recent practice test scores:** [SCORES AND DATES]
**What happened on test day:** [e.g. "ran out of time in section 2", "felt sick", "went as expected"]
**My programs' policies on multiple scores:** [PASTE WHAT EACH SAYS - e.g. highest score, most recent, all scores reported]
**Application deadlines:** [DATES]
**Retake rules and cost:** [WAITING PERIOD, ATTEMPT LIMITS, FEES - from the testing organization]
**Time I can give to prep now:** [HOURS PER WEEK]
**Rest of my application:** [GPA, ESSAYS, RECOMMENDATIONS, EXPERIENCE - status of each]

Weigh:
1. Likely improvement: compare my official score to my practice range. A score well below my practice average suggests test-day factors that are fixable; a score at my practice ceiling suggests I need more prep, not just another sitting.
2. Timing: can I retake and still have scores reported before my deadlines?
3. Score policies: how a lower retake score would be seen by each program, based only on what I pasted.
4. Opportunity cost: would the same hours improve my essays or other parts more?
5. Cost and my wellbeing.

Return:
- A recommendation (retake / don't retake / retake only if X) with the reasoning.
- If retaking: a revised plan that targets what went wrong, with a new test date.
- If not: the 3 best uses of my time to strengthen my application.

Mark anything about program or testing policies [CONFIRM with the program or testing organization]. This is step 5 of the "Prepare for a graduate admissions test" pack. It works on its own, and can use the targets and analysis from earlier steps.
```

## What to fill in

- SCORES WITH SECTION BREAKDOWN AND DATES
- PASTE FROM STEP 1, or state it
- SCORES AND DATES
- DATES
- HOURS PER WEEK
- GPA, ESSAYS, RECOMMENDATIONS, EXPERIENCE - status of each
- CONFIRM with the program or testing organization

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.