Monday, August 21, 2006

My GMAT Experience...in great detail.

My test date was on a Monday, and I studied up until Noon on Sunday afternoon. It was hard for me to drop everything and just decide that I've studied all I could. As much as I was sick of studying, it was hard to resist picking up those flashcards or thumbing through O.G. one last time. But I slammed all my prep books shut and stacked them on the floor. I was going nuts from anxiety, but I knew I was ready as I'd ever be. I spent my Sunday relaxing with friends, shopping, eating out, and sleeping early.

My test was at 1 pm Monday afternoon, and I woke up around 9 am. I didn't think I'd have trouble sleeping that night, but I ended up waking up every few hours or so. And I did dream about the test. I dreamt that I received an amazing score and was pretty damn disappointed upon waking up to realize I hadn't even taken the test yet! After I finally got up, I had breakfast, gave myself several pep talks in the mirror, and found myself with nothing to do at 11 am. I ended up lounging in front of the television and watching a few TiVo'ed episodes of Family Guy. Not exactly the best way to stimulate my brain before the GMAT, but I needed to calm myself down and a vodka shot wasn't a viable option.

Eventually 12 pm rolled around and I headed off to the test center, which was only a mile or two from my home. My heart started to pound. Looking back, I don't know why it worried me so much. Even if I didn't do well, I could have taken it again. And I knew I wouldn't completely bomb the test. But I suppose that the months of studying and hype around this test would make anyone nervous.

Certainly the security surrounding the test only gave me more anxiety. Digital thumbprints and photos, escorts to the bathroom, ID at all times?! I should have known about and expected this already, I know.

I placed all my items in the locker and went to the restroom for one final pep talk. "You can DO IT!" I told myself. Cheesy as it was, I convinced myself that I was fucking amazing and that I've come so far and accomplished so many things I never thought I could--so what's a little test? I was smart, I had studied, and I could only do well. It was now or never.

I was escorted to my computer and sat down to the writing. My analysis of an argument was about an international-themed amusement park, and my analysis of an issue was about unemployment...I think. I did well on the first, but was 3/4 through the second when I realized I wasn't really answering the question. In a panic, I inserted a paragraph into the body and a few lines into the conclusion just so it would appear as if I were answering the question. Oh well, I didn't care, it was the writing. I was unphased by my shaky performance, but did take a break to prepare myself for the quant.

It was a little irritating that my slow ass proctor started the quant section for me before I was even able to sit down. The clock was ticking and he had not moved out of the way! He also insisted on pulling my chair out for me, eating up more valuable seconds. Finally I was able to sit down and start. I was a little unnerved from losing time. I chugged through the first few questions, but realized that I might have gotten the 3rd or 4th question wrong, AFTER the fact. What a way to raise my blood pressure...After getting through half the questions, I started to feel like I was getting the hang of it. The questions were tough but I was handling them. I ended up having to guess on the last two but I was satisifed with that--as I've had to blindly guess on up to 7 in the practice tests.

Verbal was relatively easy, as it always had been for me. Like other test-takers, I found verbal to be rather relaxing as I no longer had to scribble or calculate anything. I did get a few more RC passages than I would have wanted...and each one was lengthy. I think I did feel a little too relaxed, as I felt like the worst was over, and took more time than I needed on verbal. While I usually finished with 10-15 minutes left on practice tests, I actually ran out of time like an idiot on the real thing! I blindly guessed on the last two and let out a GIANT sigh of relief.

I went through the post-test survey rather slowly, trying to treasure the happiness I felt in finishing before my world crashed down when I saw my 550 or whatever horrible score was I was expecting. Finally the page arrived where my score would be calculated. I closed my eyes and my heart was pounding harder and louder than ever. I kept peeking up at the screen but the damned thing was still calculating. Eventually, I looked up and saw my score. I saw a 7 and jumped for joy. It was better than all my practice exams! I had doubted myself too much--because I sat there in disbelief for a few seconds. I managed to get up from my seat and receive my print-out. I gathered my things and left. It was fucking over!

After a mass text-message with my score to all my friends and supporters, I happily drove home and got drunk.

Here are some tidbits for your reference. I'll save my crappy advice (if anyone out there hasn't taken the test?) for a later post.

Prep materials:

Kaplan GMAT
Kaplan GMAT 800
Official Guide 11
Kaplan pocket guide
www.beatthegmat.com's flashcards
Kaplan Kaptest CD
Official GMATprep CD

Practice Scores:

Kaplan Diagonostic: 680
Kaplan CAT 1: 580
GMATprep CAT 1: 710
Kaplan CAT 2: 560
GMATprep CAT 2: 710

THE REAL THING: >710
Official Writing Score: 5

12 comments:

Forrest Gump said...

Congratulations. That's pretty cool. Good luck with the essays

atypical HBS said...

I love your writings. Good score and great debrief. I have to do the dumb test in two months, however, i'm confident i'll perform well.

Good luck on the rst of your applications.

Continental Drift said...

That's great! Congrats! Only the essays to go!

I just started writing my essays, and all I'll say is be prepared for lots of edditing and re-writing...

Juggler said...

Congratulations!

FSM said...

congrats! I watched "office space" on dvd the night before GMAT. It was an amazing way to relax!

FooBarMe said...

Great Score!! Best of luck with your essays!!

Anuj said...

Congrats.. thats a really good score

Hobbes said...

Heyyyy! Thats an awesome score! :) Congrats!

Keven said...

Nice job. We were discussing the KAPLAN practice GMATs earlier in the week and we thought that maybe they intentionally scored lower to encourage you to keep practicing before the real test.

KK said...

hi..have a look at this..Useful one:GMAT - http://gmat-mba.blogspot.com

1effect said...

Hello, and congrats on your excellent blog! Because you follow MBA news, we wanted to tell you about an interesting program that happened recently in Nashville involving Fortune 500 corporations and students from around the world.

Shortly after Donald Trump announced that he was moving on from "The Apprentice," Acceleratorä, a four-week business boot camp at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, challenged students to learn business by doing business.

For 30 days, 45 top-notch college students from the U.S. and around the world were exposed to CEOs and other executives from a variety of industries. They were given real-world business problems to solve for companies like American Airlines, FedEx, Lexus, Whirlpool, and Hospital Corporation of America, competing "Apprentice-style" for once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that included:

- Time in the flight simulators at FedEx
- A trip to Dallas, courtesy of American Airlines, to present their recommendations to their executive management team
- A table at the National Civil Rights Museum's Freedom Award celebrity dinner, honoring those who made significant contributions to civil rights movements
- Internships
- And more

The program ended on June 24, 2007 but you can get the 411 at http://www.owen.vanderbilt.edu/vanderbilt/Programs/accelerator/index.cfm. You can also peek inside this action-packed immersion into all areas of business at the Accelerator blog (http://accelerator2007.blogspot.com/), maintained by Michael Burcham, CEO of ParadigmHealth and Accelerator's entrepreneurial faculty director.

preeti said...

Cracking GMAT is never easy. So those preparing for GMAT exam should give extra efforts in the preparation.

Best Regards
GMAT Sentence Correction