Beat The GMAT!

Here's a recap of my G-Day:

I began my day by waking up at 9:30 AM. My test was scheduled for 1:00 PM, so I had the luxury of being able to sleep in a little bit. I had no problems sleeping during the night, and I woke up feeling rested and refreshed. After reading some e-mails and taking a shower, I went down to the kitchen and ate a huge breakfast around 11:00 AM. My sister was kind enough to prepare for me: an enormous omelet, some canadian bacon, and a giant peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It took me a while to get all this food down, since my stomach was a little uneasy from nerves. After my meal, I played around on the computer for a little bit and then took off for the test center at 12:10 PM.

I'm fortunate to have a Prometric test center within ten minutes of my parent's house (just to clarify, I've been at my parent's place for the last few days). I walked into the test center around 12:20 PM and was greeted by two friendly Prometric employees. They had me fill out a nondisclosure agreement, and then I put all of my belongings into a locker, except for my license and a pair of foam earplugs I brought with me. A Prometric employee checked my identification before I entered the testing room and then escorted me to my computer terminal.

I really liked how Prometric set up its computers. Where I went--and it may be the case for all Prometric centers--I was given a cubicle of my own with very high walls. My terminal featured a desktop computer, large CRT monitor, and an adjustable desk chair. In each cubicle, a soundproof headset is provided. I didn't use my clunky headset because I had brought my own earplugs.

The Prometric employee handed me 8 blank yellow sheets of paper and two pencils, and I was able to start my test around 12:30 PM. I'm glad I didn't have to wait until 1:00 PM.

The AWAs were great! My analysis of argument was very easy to pick apart, and I was able to write four paragraphs and about 400 words in about 22 minutes. I had plenty of time to proofread and edit. My analysis of issue was also pretty easy, and I finished with about 3 minutes to spare. I took my AWAs to be a good sign for the rest of my test.

After the essays, I left the test room for my five minute break. I went to the bathroom and then ate one bite of a granola bar that I brought with me. Prometric provided some cold filtered water, so I took a few small sips before heading back into the testing room.

The quantitative section was a breeze for me today! I only saw one combinations problem, which I was able to easily solve. I solved a lot of arithmetic word problems and number property data sufficiency questions. Many of the problems were strikingly similar to OG questions that I had previously reviewed--it almost felt like I was cheating. Thus, in my experience today I found that the difficulty level of quant problems on the real GMAT matched that of the practice questions in OG. I have to admit though, by question 20 I was freaking out a little bit because it didn't seem like the questions were getting any harder. But I reminded myself that I was well prepared for quant and everything should seem easy to me. I finished with 8 minutes to spare!

Following my quant section, I took another five minute break. I followed the same routine as my previous break--went to the bathroom, took a bite out of the granola bar, drank water, headed back into the test. At this point I thought to myself, "it's almost over, finish hard!"

The verbal section started out fairly well. The first ten questions didn't seem too harsh. I got a bold face question around question #6, and then two back-to-back reading comprehension passages around question #10. In general, the reading comprehension wasn't as tough as I had anticipated. I got 1 science passage, 2 history passages, and 1 business-related passage--all of them were under 45 lines. Around question 20, however, I started to run into problems. I just couldn't keep up the intensity of my concentration. I think I had overexerted myself during the quant section, and my attention began to drift in and out. By question 30, I snapped back into gear as I was getting excited about the test ending soon.

So after clicking my final verbal question, I went through about 12 screens of survey questions. I blew through them to get to my scores. I was hoping to jump up for joy, seeing a 750, but instead I had a rather emotionless 720. I was pretty disappointed in my verbal score, but extremely happy about my quant performance.

I walked out of the testing room somewhat somber, but a Prometric employee greeted me with a huge smile and said, "Wow! You blew this test out of the water!"

They printed out my unofficial score report for me, told me I'd get my official report in 2 weeks, gave me a small pamphlet called "Interpreting Your Scores," and then I got my stuff and left the building for home. By then it was 4:45 PM.

***

At the moment, I'm debating whether I should retake the GMAT. However, I'm leaning towards not retaking it. Even though I am convinced that I could score above 40 in verbal upon second try, I have to take the GMAT in perspective. What good would 20 more points, or even 40 more points do for my MBA candidacy? The answer is not that much. My 720 score all ready would put me in competitive position for the elite MBA programs. Also, it's important to remember that the GMAT is a means to an end--not an end in itself.

In any event, I feel like I deserve a long break from the GMAT. I'll let you all know how my AWAs go. Thanks for reading this long post!

Labels: Test Experience

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 16, 2005 at 8:44 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.