I always recommend that my students practice with the markerboard before the test, if not during normal study, at least on their practice exams. Remember: practice exams are supposed to be a "dry run" for the real thing, so you want to simulate actual testing center conditions as closely as possible. The markerboard is quite annoying so it's good to have a chance to work with it beforehand to get used to it.

I've never taken the real gmat before and thus have no experience with the scratch system. Just wondering if you guys think this will be a big detriment or anything like that.

abcdefg wrote:I've never taken the real gmat before and thus have no experience with the scratch system. Just wondering if you guys think this will be a big detriment or anything like that.

I don't knock anyone's entrepreneurial hustle or anything like that, but to buy their simulated tablet and marker it would be like 14+, I bought an erasable board and marker from target for 4. I would recommend doing the same unless you just have to have as close to the real thing as possible. It is awkward to get used to, and you have to pay special attention to how you write things to be certain you can understand what you wrote.

I took the test without ever having practiced with it. Honestly, I don't know that it mattered much for me, but it certainly can't HURT to practice with the whiteboard/graph paper. Let's say you learn while practicing that you easily fill up the 5 sheets during the Q section after 20 minutes. Then when you take your test, you can ask for two to start and not have to wait until you've run out and lose time on the test while they bring you a new one.

Personally, I don't think it's that important. Paper and pen simulate it better than a white board -- what I had was laminated graph paper with a thin-tip marker. I didn't practice with a board at all before the test and don't think it would have made any difference.

Hope this helps!

Tim