I kinda beat the GMAT - 710 first attempt - The Beat The GMAT Forum

Just took the GMAT today for the first time, and scored a 710 (Q45/V42). I'm a little disappointed in my Quant score, and I feel like I could have done better. Here's the after-action report on things I think I could have handled better.

1. Nerves: I was FREAKING OUT, MAN! I seriously can't remember the last time I was this nervous about...well, anything. I couldn't get the nerves under control. At the test center, my hands were shaking and I could barely see straight. They offered me earplugs, but when I put them in, I could hear my heart pounding away at about 100 beats/minute, and it was actually louder than the background noise! When I started typing my essays, my fingers would freeze and hit wrong keys. After a break, I was still a wreck. I was freezing cold and sweating like something from a zombie movie. For the quant section, I panicked every time I saw a problem I couldn't solve instantly. Lots of guessing and skipping. And more freaking out. I ended up having 10 minutes left for the last problem. It took me the ENTIRE 10 MINUTES. And not because it was hard. Because I couldn't divide 132 by 6. Seriously. It took me 10 minutes to divide 132 by 6. Not good. After another break, I kind of accepted that I wasn't going to do too well, and I calmed down. I was nice and calm for the verbal section, but since I was crashing from the ultra-nervous state, I was almost catatonic. I wanted to just close my eyes and go to sleep. The verbal section went better, so I suppose catatonic is better than extreme nervousness. (by the way, I am NOT on drugs. I don't even drink coffee...)

2. Time management: I was so worried about not finishing on time that I plowed through the questions waaay too fast. Like I said before, I had ten minutes to do the last Quant problem. I also had ten minutes remaining on my last Verbal question as well (although I didn't take the whole ten minutes).

For the essay portion, I hadn't done any practice. That, combined with nerves made for a harrowing experience. Although I think the essays were good (we'll see when the official score report comes out), I was cutting it close time-wise. The old clankety keyboards at the test center didn't help either.

3. Prep: I didn't take any courses. I just used the Official Guide 12th Edition and the Verbal and Quant guides from GMAThacks.com. They were kinda pricey for ebooks, but I think they were worth it. I also didn't take any practice tests. For one, I'm a Mac user, and I didn't feel like setting up parallels and installing windows just to take the GMAC practice tests. I also didn't want to go to a friend's house to take a 4 hour test. Overall, I'm glad that I didn't take a course because I think I learned it all on my own pretty well. I'm also glad that I never tried going to my buddy's house in a futile attempt to not get get caught up in conversations and watch movies for four hours in order to take a test.

For my actual prep, I went through the GMAT Hacks guides to bone up on my rusty math skills, and did lots of problems (both Quant and Verbal) with a stopwatch. This was good for learning to work quickly, but since I was so used to looking at a stopwatch and timing each problem individually, it kind of messed me up on the actual test. That is, unless you think having ten whole minutes left over at the end of a section is a good thing.

4. Lessons Learned:
- Nerves. Since I've already taken the real test, and gotten a real score, I won't be freaking out next time. I think that's going to be the most significant difference for next time.

- Time management. I'm going to practice now by timing how long it takes for me to do 38-41 problems, rather than timing each problem individually. I have to get a better feeling of how much time I can actually take.

-Prep. Except for the timing, I'm not going to change too much here. I'll go through the GMAT Hacks material again, and I'll order the extra Quant and Verbal books from GMAC for additional practice.

So overall, I got a decent score. But I feel like I got my ass kicked as well. I guess this is like Rocky. You know, the first one, where he loses to Apollo Creed? But where he really won because he overcame adversity? Uh, yeah. Maybe the next one will be like Rocky II, where he actually knock's Apollo's ass out (he did knock him out, right? I need to watch it again...).

I'm going to sign up to take it again in two months, and hopefully I'll come out of that one feeling like a champ.

UPDATE:

Just wanted to tell everyone that I followed ElizabethWiggs' study plan. It worked really well for me, and I will continue to study like this for my re-take.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/770-49v-48q-t12258.html

I kinda beat the GMAT - 710 first attempt

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