GMAT Strategy

Hi I had a question regarding the scratch pad used on the actual GMAT exam

I tend to use a lot of sheets on the scratch pad provided since I want a sheet per problem.I often finish all the sheets on my scratch pad and go to paper in order to finish my quant section while giving tests.

On actual test day I am sure I will run out the sheets on the scratch pad.My questions are the following

1) How quickly do the proctors respond when you raise your hand with a fresh scratch pad
2) Would I waste time in opening the plastic on my scratch pad while doing the quant section
3) can I ask for more than 1 scratch pad at a go

I am taking the test at Somerset,NJ so wanted to know any experiences

On actual test day I am sure I will run out the sheets on the scratch pad.My questions are the following

1) How quickly do the proctors respond when you raise your hand with a fresh scratch pad
2) Would I waste time in opening the plastic on my scratch pad while doing the quant section
3) can I ask for more than 1 scratch pad at a go

The answers are:

1) It depends on the proctor. In the U.S. proctors are pretty good, however, I would still hold up your hand before you absolutely need the scratch pad in case it takes them a couple of minutes.

2) There is no plastic to open up. The scratch pad is not wrapped as far as I know. This would be very inconvenient and loud. The scratch pads are washed and reused from person to person so they are not new, so not wrapped.

3) As far as I know you cannot have more than one pad at a time. The reason for the pads is test security. They want to know that you always have one pad and you cannot walk out with it. If they gave some people two and some people one then it would be easier to lose track of the pads and someone might smuggle out some official questions. This is what they are in fear of.

I tend to use a lot of sheets on the scratch pad provided since I want a sheet per problem.

My advice to you: See if you can do 1.5 problems per page on average. This still leaves a ton of room. I mean some questions may take a full page, but some data sufficiency in particular may take no room at all. If you can just get 19 problems on 12 pages, then you will only need 1 new pad during the section.

David@VeritasPrep wrote:If you can just get 19 problems on 12 pages, then you will only need 1 new pad during the section.

Hey David,

Thanks for the insight. While the question was not raised by me, I was also looking for inputs regarding the scratch pad.
One query regarding your quote above. Do we get 12 sheets to do our rough work on? I read on one of the forums that it is 5 or 6 pages only per scratch pad.

Thanks.Cheers...

Six pages but each page has two sides to it. So you have the front and back of 6 pages. So I call it 12 pages but in reality it is 12 "sides."

Brilliant! Thanks David. One thing less to worry about(I hope) as I was really uncomfortable with the idea of using just 6 sides/sheets for 37 Q questions.

Cheers...