I feel like I've been worrying about this test for too long. I believe it has been a year since I started looking into it, but without practicing at all.

Now that it's over I feel I need to give something back to this community that "comforted" me and shared their experiences.

I took the GMAT today and scored 730. It surprised me.

I won't give you any preparation advice - you can find much better sources on this forum - however something struck me during the test and I think it's worth sharing.

I was halfway through the verbal part, and I felt it was much harder than anticipated. I lost "sight" and I was tempted to say "sc**w it, i'm just gonna guess this question, I can't be bothered". It will happen - you will find a reading comprehension question that will kill your motivation, that will annoy you for being truly unreadable. Or maybe a critical reasoning question that just doesn't make sense.

As your frustration piles up, you will want to give up.

I stopped for a second and thought: "I prepared for XX weeks/months, now I'm 75 minutes away from the finish line, and I'm throwing everything away?" No way, and I kept calm and focused. Keep your focus.

Your preparation will come back to you when you need it, but you need to keep focus on each and every question.

I'm not good at this, and probably failed to convey what happened today. I just want you to remember that during the test you are only "a couple of hours away from not having to do this ever again, if you do it right". Don't waste all the time you put into it.

Just my 2 discounted cents.

Thanks again,
Andrea