Hi Folks,
I will begin by saying that I have a tinge of disappointment as I expected about 10-20 points more. While there have been some excellent debriefs from many, let me share what I, in retrospect, consider my mistake both before and during the test.
I had a morning 9 o'clock appointment and in my quest to reach the center about 45 minutes early, I forgot to eat breakfast (ok, I am not an early eater)....just before reaching the center I realized that a hungry stomach till mid day will lower my sugar levels during the exam, a condition which usually affects sharpness and hence time management. I managed to grab a few biscuits but that was it....far from an ideal biological state to start the exam with. It may sound like a minor issue in the middle of frantic last min/last week prep, but you will realize it once you are in the middle of the action.
The test starts - AWA was simple and I scraped through it with more than 5 minutes to spare in each of the sub parts.
Now comes the Quant - After reading several posts, I was led to believe that the initial few questions will hv a few tough ones to allow the algorithm to figure one's level - and this ingrained thought proved to be my nemesis....the initial questions on quant were quite simple (with a few odd looking ridiculously easy to appear on GMAT) which got me concerned as I thought that either I am getting everything wrong (which could be one reason for simpler following questions) or I am missing the embedded trick....this quandary made me double and triple check a few of these ques, which otherwise did not merit more than 45 secs to a minute. Even half way through the test, I found the difficulty level of questions lower (even compared to GMATPrep) and this inadvertantly made me complacent on time management - I just wanted to make sure that I am getting them all right and not succumbing to some improvised trick of GMAC. Unfortunately, I started seeing some tougher questions post about 25-26 initial questions.....a look at the clock told me that now I had fewer than 2 minutes avail per question...in the end, due to time pressure, I could not comprehend the last two questions well enough and had to make a qualified guess, something which was easily avoidable and am sure is responsible for the 6 percentile point deficit in my final quant score.
Then came the verbal section - now I was far more conscious of the time but somewhere down the middle of this section, I could feel my focus lowering and my mind not comprehending as sharply and as quickly as I am otherwise used to. I did lean on verbal significantly to boost my overall score as I averaged 40 and above in 5/6 MGMAT Tests and was generally feeling quite comfortable with the level of difficulty presented in the verbal section of the test. Overall I felt satisfied with my performance in the verbal section but alas, I saw only 38, for which I honestly have no explanation.
In short, I would like to emphasize that as the d-day approaches, one should not overlook some of the points I have mentioned above......if your body is not at its peak, it will not let your mind do its best, resulting in compromised focus.
Before I finish my post, I do wish to express my gratitude to the several experts on this site who truly do a great job...
Should anyone want to know: I personally benefited from MGMAT tests (good for building stamina)...in addition, I only took a Princeton practice test and 2 GMATPreps.
Good luck to all the folks who are yet to take the GMAT!!!
I will begin by saying that I have a tinge of disappointment as I expected about 10-20 points more. While there have been some excellent debriefs from many, let me share what I, in retrospect, consider my mistake both before and during the test.
I had a morning 9 o'clock appointment and in my quest to reach the center about 45 minutes early, I forgot to eat breakfast (ok, I am not an early eater)....just before reaching the center I realized that a hungry stomach till mid day will lower my sugar levels during the exam, a condition which usually affects sharpness and hence time management. I managed to grab a few biscuits but that was it....far from an ideal biological state to start the exam with. It may sound like a minor issue in the middle of frantic last min/last week prep, but you will realize it once you are in the middle of the action.
The test starts - AWA was simple and I scraped through it with more than 5 minutes to spare in each of the sub parts.
Now comes the Quant - After reading several posts, I was led to believe that the initial few questions will hv a few tough ones to allow the algorithm to figure one's level - and this ingrained thought proved to be my nemesis....the initial questions on quant were quite simple (with a few odd looking ridiculously easy to appear on GMAT) which got me concerned as I thought that either I am getting everything wrong (which could be one reason for simpler following questions) or I am missing the embedded trick....this quandary made me double and triple check a few of these ques, which otherwise did not merit more than 45 secs to a minute. Even half way through the test, I found the difficulty level of questions lower (even compared to GMATPrep) and this inadvertantly made me complacent on time management - I just wanted to make sure that I am getting them all right and not succumbing to some improvised trick of GMAC. Unfortunately, I started seeing some tougher questions post about 25-26 initial questions.....a look at the clock told me that now I had fewer than 2 minutes avail per question...in the end, due to time pressure, I could not comprehend the last two questions well enough and had to make a qualified guess, something which was easily avoidable and am sure is responsible for the 6 percentile point deficit in my final quant score.
Then came the verbal section - now I was far more conscious of the time but somewhere down the middle of this section, I could feel my focus lowering and my mind not comprehending as sharply and as quickly as I am otherwise used to. I did lean on verbal significantly to boost my overall score as I averaged 40 and above in 5/6 MGMAT Tests and was generally feeling quite comfortable with the level of difficulty presented in the verbal section of the test. Overall I felt satisfied with my performance in the verbal section but alas, I saw only 38, for which I honestly have no explanation.
In short, I would like to emphasize that as the d-day approaches, one should not overlook some of the points I have mentioned above......if your body is not at its peak, it will not let your mind do its best, resulting in compromised focus.
Before I finish my post, I do wish to express my gratitude to the several experts on this site who truly do a great job...
Should anyone want to know: I personally benefited from MGMAT tests (good for building stamina)...in addition, I only took a Princeton practice test and 2 GMATPreps.
Good luck to all the folks who are yet to take the GMAT!!!
