I took the GMATS yesterday and all I can say it was an absolutely horrible horrible horrible HORRIBLE experience. I'm writing this to forewarn you future test takers who have anxiety issues.
I studied for the GMATS for about two months and never scored lower than a 600 on my practice. Towards the end of my studying, my scores were in the 650-680 range (I took both the GMAT-Preps and the MGMAT CATS). I felt ready and knew majority of the material and felt confident about scoring nothing lower than a 640. However, test day came and my nerves kicked in.
I get very stressed out and majority of the times my nerves get the best of me. I knew this was something I was going to have to confront on test day but I didn't think it was going to be THIS bad. A few days before exam day I started getting heart palpitations and nausea. On test day, I felt like I was going to pass out. However, I tried to calm myself and started the AWA section a bit shaky. I took a break after the AWA, got some water, gave myself a prep talk, and charged in for the Quant.
It was horrible. The questions in the beginning were so easy - nothing like any of the hard material I had studied. So for you people who are taking the GMATs soon, don't be alarmed if you're being thrown with easy questions in the beginning and DON'T second guess yourself. I started getting nervous by seeing easy questions thinking I was doing horrible. That increased my anxiety, my heart starting thumping louder in my ears (if you have anxiety and choose to wear the ear plugs or the large headphones, you will hear your heart beat and it's extremely extremely annoying. I took out the ear plugs but the noise of people typing, coughing, going in and out of the room, was just as bad), my palms got sweaty, I started feeling hot, my throat went dry and felt really tight, and then to top it all off I started a headache towards the end of quant. I was a mess. I found myself re-reading questions 5-6 times before understanding what they were asking. I had written down a time matrix in my notepad before I started Quant but had a hard time finding it towards the middle of the Quant section (it fell a few pages back and I kept flipping back but couldn't find it anywhere. I recommend you write it on your hand or something). I began rushing through the Quant and felt like beating myself up when I saw I had left myself with an EXTRA 12 MINUTES for the last question!!!!
I took a break after Quant and knew I had started off really low. I focused as much as I could during Verbal but knew I had not given it my all. I wanted to cry when I saw the 570. It's so frustrating to know that all the hard work and studying I put into preparing for this exam doesn't mirror my score. I'm in a bit of a rut and really don't think I can handle a second attempt at the GMATS. I'm thinking of just focusing and strengthening other aspects of my application, get them out by Round 1 and see what happens.
I've been beaten and I hate the GMATs.
I studied for the GMATS for about two months and never scored lower than a 600 on my practice. Towards the end of my studying, my scores were in the 650-680 range (I took both the GMAT-Preps and the MGMAT CATS). I felt ready and knew majority of the material and felt confident about scoring nothing lower than a 640. However, test day came and my nerves kicked in.
I get very stressed out and majority of the times my nerves get the best of me. I knew this was something I was going to have to confront on test day but I didn't think it was going to be THIS bad. A few days before exam day I started getting heart palpitations and nausea. On test day, I felt like I was going to pass out. However, I tried to calm myself and started the AWA section a bit shaky. I took a break after the AWA, got some water, gave myself a prep talk, and charged in for the Quant.
It was horrible. The questions in the beginning were so easy - nothing like any of the hard material I had studied. So for you people who are taking the GMATs soon, don't be alarmed if you're being thrown with easy questions in the beginning and DON'T second guess yourself. I started getting nervous by seeing easy questions thinking I was doing horrible. That increased my anxiety, my heart starting thumping louder in my ears (if you have anxiety and choose to wear the ear plugs or the large headphones, you will hear your heart beat and it's extremely extremely annoying. I took out the ear plugs but the noise of people typing, coughing, going in and out of the room, was just as bad), my palms got sweaty, I started feeling hot, my throat went dry and felt really tight, and then to top it all off I started a headache towards the end of quant. I was a mess. I found myself re-reading questions 5-6 times before understanding what they were asking. I had written down a time matrix in my notepad before I started Quant but had a hard time finding it towards the middle of the Quant section (it fell a few pages back and I kept flipping back but couldn't find it anywhere. I recommend you write it on your hand or something). I began rushing through the Quant and felt like beating myself up when I saw I had left myself with an EXTRA 12 MINUTES for the last question!!!!
I took a break after Quant and knew I had started off really low. I focused as much as I could during Verbal but knew I had not given it my all. I wanted to cry when I saw the 570. It's so frustrating to know that all the hard work and studying I put into preparing for this exam doesn't mirror my score. I'm in a bit of a rut and really don't think I can handle a second attempt at the GMATS. I'm thinking of just focusing and strengthening other aspects of my application, get them out by Round 1 and see what happens.
I've been beaten and I hate the GMATs.
