Hey all,
Just finished with my GMAT Enhanced Online yesterday and wanted to share my experience. Hope it helps anyone who’s giving the test online anytime soon.
TL;DR: Check-in: Smooth, Quant: Smooth, Verbal: 3 Disruptions, IR: 1 Disruption, AWA: 1 Disruption. Sounds bad but is very manageable if you keep your cool. Did not lose more than 30 seconds of time during any of the disruptions.
TL Version:
Original GMAT Appointment: I had booked my GMAT in-center test for the 8th of July, as soon as slots for my local center (Mumbai, India) opened up. Happy I was able to snag a slot at my preferred time of 4 PM. Switched from whiteboard to laminated pad for mocks. On 29th June, I got an email saying the appointment had been cancelled due to local timing restrictions. The local government body had restricted operations post 4 PM, and all appointments in the later part of the day were getting cancelled. I definitely wasn’t up for a morning test (terrible sleep cycle in the past month), and I couldn’t see any slots until 19th July anyways. Ah well, whiteboard it is then again.
Test Taking Experience:Check-in and room scan:
Appointment was scheduled for 3 PM. I was ready at 2:20. I was only able to launch the Examity portal at 2:30, and then connect to the proctor after 2:47 (They say 15 minutes before appointment). The “Connect to Proctor” button launched a GotoMeeting window (So install the desktop client if you haven’t already). The proctor introduced herself and asked me to share my screen, and I had to relaunch GotoMeeting to do that. She read out the Examity and GMAC test regulations which I had to accept on camera. In the midst of that, she said my webcam video was lagging, and we won’t be able to proceed. I quickly pulled up fast.com and showed her there were no connection issues at my end. She acknowledged that, and proceeded in a minute when the video got better. There’s also the alternative to switch to Zoom, but do keep in mind they have to start the whole check-in process all over if you do that.
Post that, I disconnected my laptop from the power source and showed her around my room, below the desk and behind the desk. Showed her my blank whiteboard. Made sure to plug the laptop back in. Verified my ID, and we were good to go. She launched the exam, entered her access code (had an error, another proctor hopped on the call and put in a different code), and the ESS browser launched without any trouble. Accepted the T&Cs, selected my section order (Q-V-IR-AWA) and we were rolling.
Quant:Truly flawless. It felt as if I was giving a mock test on the mba.com website. Super smooth, no lag, no freezes. The first couple of questions I got felt super easy. I was feeling suspicious but decided to focus only and only on the question on the screen. Contrary to most recent accounts, I felt the Quant was super easy and mostly in line with mba.com tests. Towards the end, I was feeling like I bombed. I was easily seeing through a few DS traps (A few questions felt like variations on GMAT Advanced questions). Zero Co-ordinate geometry questions, just one Geometry. Really weird as those are topics I’m generally strong at and was expecting to capitalise on those strengths.
Breaks:
Submitted the last quant answer with 30 seconds on the clock, and saw the break screen. You have one minute to skip the break, or you’re automatically placed on break. Make sure not to click the button twice, as that would skip the break! Wave, smile and holler to catch your proctor’s attention, show them the whiteboard and then you can get up from your seat. Went to the restroom, washed my face, ate a couple of bananas, psyched myself up and went back to my seat. Do keep in mind, you’ll have to do a room and desk scan every time you return from break, and you don’t get any extra time for that. So it’s a good idea to return to your seat with at least 2:00 minutes on the clock.
Verbal:
Started out well, same as quant. Was getting a few medium level SC, CR questions, and then a long science passage. Midway through the RC, the exam screen got stuck. I couldn’t submit my answer, and couldn’t click anywhere else. Called out to the proctor (takes them 20-30 seconds to respond) and she paused the exam. She then quit the ESS browser, and had to re-enter the access code (again the second proctor came on, entered their code, took a couple minutes), and re-launched ESS browser. The exam still showed as paused, the proctor then un-paused after informing me and I was back to where I was before I got stuck. The annoying part was, that since this was RC, and this wasn’t the last question, I had to skim the passage once again to re-acquaint myself with the topic and reasoning.
Same procedure repeated again at the 30 minutes remaining mark. And then again at the 20 minutes remaining mark. This time, I had to force-restart my laptop, as the proctor didn’t have control of my computer, and there’s no way to close the ESS browser without entering a password only they have. Once I restarted, I re-connected to Go-To meeting, all my crashed tabs opened up and the proctor restarted the exam in a couple of minutes again.
I kept my cool throughout this ordeal, and feel very lucky that I was able to do so. Normally I’d be very neurotic about something like this, but I had a sense of calm that was just unnatural for me. I was very cordial with the proctor and at no point did I express any displeasure to her. She was also very apologetic and helpful. Ended verbal with 30 seconds on the clock as well, semi-guessing on the last question.
IR: After the second break, I was in a bit of a daze. I didn’t know how I had done on the test, and there was only one way to find out. IR was fairly easy as well, in some cases easier than the mba.com tests. I did run out of time though, so guessed on the last question. Also, if anyone from GMAC is reading this, skeuomorphism is not a good design aesthetic for the calculator on a high-stakes exam. The calculator is all 3-D and shiny and resembles a physical Texas Instruments calculator!
AWA: Just FYI, the AWA window does not have the cut/copy/paste buttons/functionality that it does on the mocks. I found that out the hard way. After my first paragraph, the screen froze again. Tried getting the attention of the proctor, but she didn’t respond for a minute. Then suddenly all was good again. So I thought let me try copying the essay to my clipboard so I can paste it if it freezes again (stupid, I know). The moment I pressed Option+C, my entire first paragraph vanished. No amount of key combinations would undo this mishap. Re-wrote the first paragraph, and again, submitted the essay with 30 seconds on the clock. But that’s not all. Now the submit button wouldn’t click. I clicked on it half a dozen times, and suddenly the screen flashed the result.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I almost half-jumped out of my chair in excitement. Then the proctor came online, walked me through the exit formalities, asked me to end the exam, and closed the GoToMeeting window. Just like that, I was done with the GMAT.
A few small but significant points:
- The test taking interface is not the same blue color as the mba.com mocks. It’s much more aesthetically pleasing and the color scheme is similar to the Practice Questions interface.
- I gave my exam on a Macbook Air – M1, Big Sur. Big Sur is officially supported as per latest mba.com system requirements. No tech issues per se attributable to my device, but I was generally confident I would be able to resolve any, if they crop up.
- For Mac users – make sure once you install Zoom & GoToMeeting, these apps have the adequate permissions to your webcam and screen recording.
- Turn off your pop-up blockers.
- Try and shut all your background processes. Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Adobe etc. which can eat up your internet bandwidth. Your proctor will make you open the Force Quit box to check for any other running apps.
Test Prep:
Disclaimer: I didn’t have an incredibly structured prep strategy and would not recommend anyone blindly follow what I did, there are hundreds of better structured sets of advice out there.
I started out with what I thought was a decent baseline(just brushed up a few quant concepts before the test):
OG Mock 1 – 640 (Q42,V36)
It was February and though it was gonna be easy to gain 100 points. Boy, was I wrong!
Ordered the Official Guides Manhattan set, and got to work. Gave another mock after a month.
OG Mock 2 – 690(Q47,V38)
Not bad, progress. Halfway there!
After my second mock, I decided to preserve my
OG mocks and started using other prep companies’ mocks. Got the GMATClub Premium MBA bundle (Incredible Value!)
When I started giving the other mocks I realised there were gaping holes in my quant prep. There were topics I would simply guess on, or apply some nonsensical logic to get the right answer. When they were right, they were right, but I realised this approach isn’t taking me anywhere. Decided to overhaul my quant prep from scratch, pushed my test date by at least a month, and got to work. From there on, apart from a few moments of insecurity, I didn’t look back.
Material/Courses used:1. GMATClub – First and foremost, truly indebted to this platform. I still can’t believe the amount of advice available on this forum, and the incredible amount of effort
bb and the mod team (put /puts?) into MAINTAINING the quality of discussions on this site. Also
Bunuel,
souvik101990,
Nikhil and everyone else who has made this community what it is.
2.
Target Test Prep: I got this after I decided to overhaul my quant prep. My current
TTP dashboard says I’ve spend over 250 hours on the platform, and solved over 3500 problems. I did every lesson, every chapter test, and every review quiz (except the last two). Read a few chapters of SC verbal as well and they were immensely helpful. I'd say I owe my complete quant score to
TTP. Yes, it's long, but it's so extensive, there really won't be any question you would find "unfamiliar" on the GMAT.
3. GMATNinja Youtube videos: Absolute gold. Helped me build a process for SC like nothing else. I had some base for SC from the Manhattan guides, but this took it to another level! Watched all the CR & RC videos as well. Thanks a lot
GMATNinja4. Powerscore CR Bible: Great resource for building a base of CR. Engaged reading+targeted practice after each chapter should easily push you to 90%+ accuracy in CR. Big shoutout to
nightblade354 for his concise summary document of the book. Used it on the day before the test.
5. Manhattan Guides (Set + Advanced): Used the regular set for Quant & SC. Pretty much didn’t touch them after my decision to rehaul my prep. Read through the advanced guide but I didn’t find myself using any of their techniques naturally, so abandoned them quickly.
7.
OG Guides - Main
OG, Quant Review, Verbal Review & the Advanced Guide. Used the Advanced guide only in the last month of prep, after finishing
TTP. Maintained error logs for all.
8. Reading Comprehension was naturally strong. I’ve always loved doing RC, even in school. It was just a matter of carrying over the skills developed in CR to each RC passage.
Mock Tests:1. GMATClub – Ranged from Q28-50, V34-40. Didn’t get bothered by the scores much. Treated it as practice for improving timing strategies.
2. Veritas – Gave 3 mocks – 680,690,680. Found verbal extremely weird and un-GMAT-like.
3. Manhattan – Was suggested this by many, owing to the fact that the Quant is harder than the GMAT, and would be good practice. Got 710,670. Nowhere on the GMAT did I get a single question whose solutions were as convoluted or long as those of some of the problems’ on Manhattan test were.
4.
OG Mocks 3 & 4: 710 & 770 (Q51,V44). Gave the last one a week ago. This is what finally pushed me to pick a test date.(Despite the fact that some say Prep 4 is the easiest among the 6). I didn’t want to give the Mocks 5 & 6 for two reasons: firstly, I wanted to save them for a retake after a couple weeks, and secondly, I wanted to ride the high straight from the 770 onto the actual GMAT. I’d say that worked out well.
Bonus:
1.
ved02 recommended me these:
https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B084YZ ... UTF8&psc=1And I’m recommending them further. Experiment with the dosage to see what suits you best.
2. Get the thinnest tip markers you can for your whiteboard. I ordered these:
https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B084G5 ... UTF8&psc=1And they arrived ON THE MORNING of the test. I of course had other markers, but they were thicker and the tip used to split a bit going through the entire quant section, making the writing even thicker.
Apologies if this post is too long, but this is a massive brain dump for me. I may come back and edit it for brevity/format/structure in a few days.
Hope it helps,
Sid.
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Updated on: 26 Jan 2022, 23:06
