Seemingly mundane, but important question re pen & paper

Expert replies

fltingley: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 47; Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2006 4:19 am; Thanked: 3 times

by fltingley » Thu Mar 26, 2009 6:42 am

As I understand it, when you take the GMAT you have a double-sided wet-erase sheet of paper and a sharpie-thing to write with.

I bought one of these (GREAT investment, by the way), but have a question about the one on test day.

Do they provide you with any items to clean your sheet off with? I have been using spit (sorry!) and paper towels and this takes a good 15 seconds to do. Assuming you have to "towel off" every 10 or so questions or so, that ends up adding up to over a minute! Maybe that doesn't sounds like a lot of time, but on the quant section every second counts!

So, does the testing center provide an efficient way to clean your pen & paper?

Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Thu Mar 26, 2009 6:42 am

wgrau: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 56; Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:02 pm; Thanked: 5 times; GMAT Score:720

by wgrau » Thu Mar 26, 2009 6:50 am

When I took my test, I was given 5 double-sided, legal size sheets. If you need more, you need to raise your hand and ask for more. Don't mess with trying to clean it yourself. Plan ahead - if you use your pad to take notes for your AWA sections and you know you need a lot of space for math, during your break get new sheets.

VP_Jim: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1223; Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 3:29 pmFollowed by: 15 members; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 185 times

by VP_Jim » Thu Mar 26, 2009 7:15 am

You are not able to clean/erase your paper, unless you spit on it and use your sleeve (eww!).

As mentioned above, you can ask for a new set of paper if you run out of room. Just raise your hand and the proctor will come in.

Jim S. | GMAT Instructor | Veritas Prep

Vitalina: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 116; Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2008 12:30 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 3 times; GMAT Score:670

by Vitalina » Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:48 pm

Ok, so the amount of paper is not limited? I am a terrible writer when it comes to quant, I can do my calculations all across the page and exhaust the space pretty quickly

VP_Jim: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1223; Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 3:29 pmFollowed by: 15 members; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 185 times

by VP_Jim » Thu Mar 26, 2009 5:40 pm

That's correct; you can get a new pad as many times as you need. I should caution, however, that unless you're writing really big, if you fill up more than one book on the math section you are probably writing down too much at the detriment of your timing!

Jim S. | GMAT Instructor | Veritas Prep

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Bara: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 383; Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2008 5:20 pmFollowed by: 21 members; Location: Online Conferencing - in person in select cities.; Thanked: 55 times

by Bara » Fri Mar 27, 2009 8:22 pm

And keep in mind that you can raise your hand to get another pad WHILE you're still working...so don't lose time by 'waiting...'

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mizzzie: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 6; Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2008 7:24 am; Location: New York, NY

silly question...

by mizzzie » Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:36 pm

when they bring you the 2nd notepad do they take your first one away or do you get to keep both? because if I wrote down reference info on the first notepad I wouldn't want it to be taken away... Thanks

VP_Jim: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1223; Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 3:29 pmFollowed by: 15 members; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 185 times

by VP_Jim » Sat Apr 11, 2009 4:36 pm

Yes, they take away your old notebook if you ask for a new one, so make sure you don't write anything on the old one that you'll need (and won't remember) later!

Jim S. | GMAT Instructor | Veritas Prep

4seasoncentre: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 211; Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2009 12:17 pm; Thanked: 12 times; GMAT Score:680

by 4seasoncentre » Sat Apr 11, 2009 7:00 pm

In the Kaplan guide it said that you wouldn't be able to erase if you made a mistake, but i found you could rub stuff off with your finger (at least after having just written it) quite easily. I practiced with thick markers (like a teacher would use on a board) so I was pleasantly surprised with how thin (relatively) the marker was.

If you wish to save a bit of time, I found it helped to raise my hand to get the proctor's attention, then just show him/her your yellow booklet to inidcate that you would like another one. This you don't waste time having him/her come over to you, ask what you need, have him/her go back etc...

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