I took the test today. The experience was different than anything I have encountered so far.
Q - 48 (84%)
V - 45 (98%)
Total Score - 750 (98%)
I'm really upset about the Q score, as I was really confident on math when I started all this mess, so 48 is somewhat lower than I expected. i'm not saying I deserved a 51, but 49-50 would probably be closer to were I actually stand. I really wish I studied more, and gone through all kind of problems before the actual test. Well, I can only blame myself.
You can find details in my preparation (if you can call it that way), here: https://www.beatthegmat.com/free-gmat-pr ... 26227.html
Test Day - Monday, January 5th.
My test was scheduled at 12:00, so I got up at 9:00, had a small breakfast and wrote down the Business Schools where the scores will be sent. Just to make sure I'm not late, I left home at 10:30, and got at the test center at 11:00 (you never know how the traffic is in my city, so I figured better be early than be late).
Unfortunately, my expected 1 hour of waiting turned out to be 2 hours, as the workstation reserved for me was used by somebody else, and they only had 1 for GMAT. It was kind of strange, as the girl that exited the test room was carrying a big English Dictionary when she got out. But I decided not to bother about that.
First step - AWA. I didn't prepare for AWA at all. I just read the sample essays from Kaplan Premier 2009 and OG 11. I don't really care about AWA, so I'm expecting somewhere between 4 and 5.
I decided not to use the break after AWA. Just a moment decision. Just didn't feel I needed a break.
Next, Q. This part really almost got me. I wasted about 20 minutes on the first 5 questions. All of them just seemed different. I actually spent about 7 minutes on the second question, and was really getting the smell of a failure. Began thinking I should have studied more intense, that I will never get even close to the target score. However, I pulled myself together. I realized that there was nothing I could change, and that I should concentrate on getting answers right. It was hard. Every time I got an easy questions I was thinking just how horrible i must be doing.
Break - didn't use the second break either. I never took breaks when I simulated the test at home, so I just thought that if got a break then, I would just rub my nose in how terrible I did at Q, and it wasn't what I needed. I just went on to Verbal.
Verbal. Can't say much about verbal either, except that every time I got a SC with only one or two words underlined, I was thinking I got the previous answer wrong. In the end, I got more on verbal that on any Prep, so I'm happy with it.
What would I change, if I turned time.
First of all, more practice questions on Quantitative. I was really confident on my math skills before the exam, and I still am, It's just that GMAT has so many, many types of Q questions. I probably could have solved any Q question on GMAT, in my own alternative way, without any shortcuts, but GMAT does not allow you the time. You either know it, or you don't. It doesn't give you time to find long alternative solutions.
Secondly, if I could, I would erase out of my head the known GMAT mechanism (that questions get harder as you get more correct answers). In my opinion, this is just something that shouldn't have been told to us. As I previously said, every time I got an easy questions, I just thought I got wrong the previous one. And it doesn't help, well it did't help me anyways.
I know 750 is a pretty good score, I just wish I got above 84% on quant. Maybe with an 49 or 50 I could have gotten above 90%. But as I got more than I actually deserve on Verbal, I will declare I'm pleased (except for the quant part, of course )
Business schools, here I come!
Good luck with your preparations and admissions!
Q - 48 (84%)
V - 45 (98%)
Total Score - 750 (98%)
I'm really upset about the Q score, as I was really confident on math when I started all this mess, so 48 is somewhat lower than I expected. i'm not saying I deserved a 51, but 49-50 would probably be closer to were I actually stand. I really wish I studied more, and gone through all kind of problems before the actual test. Well, I can only blame myself.
You can find details in my preparation (if you can call it that way), here: https://www.beatthegmat.com/free-gmat-pr ... 26227.html
Test Day - Monday, January 5th.
My test was scheduled at 12:00, so I got up at 9:00, had a small breakfast and wrote down the Business Schools where the scores will be sent. Just to make sure I'm not late, I left home at 10:30, and got at the test center at 11:00 (you never know how the traffic is in my city, so I figured better be early than be late).
Unfortunately, my expected 1 hour of waiting turned out to be 2 hours, as the workstation reserved for me was used by somebody else, and they only had 1 for GMAT. It was kind of strange, as the girl that exited the test room was carrying a big English Dictionary when she got out. But I decided not to bother about that.
First step - AWA. I didn't prepare for AWA at all. I just read the sample essays from Kaplan Premier 2009 and OG 11. I don't really care about AWA, so I'm expecting somewhere between 4 and 5.
I decided not to use the break after AWA. Just a moment decision. Just didn't feel I needed a break.
Next, Q. This part really almost got me. I wasted about 20 minutes on the first 5 questions. All of them just seemed different. I actually spent about 7 minutes on the second question, and was really getting the smell of a failure. Began thinking I should have studied more intense, that I will never get even close to the target score. However, I pulled myself together. I realized that there was nothing I could change, and that I should concentrate on getting answers right. It was hard. Every time I got an easy questions I was thinking just how horrible i must be doing.
Break - didn't use the second break either. I never took breaks when I simulated the test at home, so I just thought that if got a break then, I would just rub my nose in how terrible I did at Q, and it wasn't what I needed. I just went on to Verbal.
Verbal. Can't say much about verbal either, except that every time I got a SC with only one or two words underlined, I was thinking I got the previous answer wrong. In the end, I got more on verbal that on any Prep, so I'm happy with it.
What would I change, if I turned time.
First of all, more practice questions on Quantitative. I was really confident on my math skills before the exam, and I still am, It's just that GMAT has so many, many types of Q questions. I probably could have solved any Q question on GMAT, in my own alternative way, without any shortcuts, but GMAT does not allow you the time. You either know it, or you don't. It doesn't give you time to find long alternative solutions.
Secondly, if I could, I would erase out of my head the known GMAT mechanism (that questions get harder as you get more correct answers). In my opinion, this is just something that shouldn't have been told to us. As I previously said, every time I got an easy questions, I just thought I got wrong the previous one. And it doesn't help, well it did't help me anyways.
I know 750 is a pretty good score, I just wish I got above 84% on quant. Maybe with an 49 or 50 I could have gotten above 90%. But as I got more than I actually deserve on Verbal, I will declare I'm pleased (except for the quant part, of course )
Business schools, here I come!
Good luck with your preparations and admissions!
