Debrief: 650 to 710
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Updated on: 25 Jul 2021, 10:04
Hi all,
I took my second GMAT yesterday, this time online, and here is my hopefully not overly emotional debrief from this experience. But first some stats.
Male, non-native, 34 in a couple of weeks. Undergrad in nordic languages with a bit of statistics, now heading for an MBA from a "better" european school due to a fast growing interest in public financing. Quite lacking of relevant work experience, I am of the opinion that an above-average GMAT is essential.
I had 3 months of preparation (no mocks) before my first GMAT. Used the question bank here and exhausted the one at VeritasPrep. Scored 650 in a test center: V35, Q44, IR6, AWA6 - in that order. Had another month of preparation (more focused on CR, DS and SC, and some mocks this time) and took my second GMAT online yesterday.
Mocks:
GMAT Prep 1: 710 (Q50, V36, IR8)
GMAT Prep 2: 730 (Q48, V41, IR8)
GMAT Prep 3: 720 (Q49, V40, IR8)
Debrief: GMAT Online
Score: 710 (Q44, V42, IR8, AWA5)
Knowing that my humongous (just had to use that word once...) weakness is to be test-ready when the test begins, I took quant first as verbal requires a more stable focus and I did not want to spoil verbal again. Also, I had a great quant scorecard from three GMAT Prep mocks (50, 48, 49) and started to feel quite confident. Too confident, it would turn out.
Proctor: Fast-paced, friendly, professional. Instant responses and seemed to proctor only me. Big up for him, whoever the man is.
Quant: I was more afflicted by the situation than I thought I would be. I was struggling with the first question for more than 4 min, only to hours later realize it was a poser. There were no real solutions. For once, the correct answer was: none, and my brain was not flexible enough this early on to realize that. Second question and likely another poser. Two more minutes wasted and another one of the "important early questions" left as a complete guess. Somewhere about here my entire life passed before my eyes. I closed them, took a deep breath and started all over. The algorithm must have smelled my anxiety. He was merciful and I managed to get into a flow with some easier questions. I punted a couple of geometry time traps along the road and finally had 6 mins left for the last 6 questions. Overall and with the start I got, quant became a nightmare. It felt much harder than all of the mocks and my first GMAT. It was a debacle and the only reason I am not satisfied with my score today, while at the same time being relieved and grateful for breaking the 700-barrier.
Verbal: Thinking my quant would be a dull sight anyway, my anxiety ran off and I was able to reach my optimal test-taking state of mind. As usual in a test-taking situation, I need one stressful section before I get in the zone. And with the logical flaw CR-question towards the end even my mood was getting better. I got hopeful.
IR: Completely in the zone here. 11 mins left for two questions. Solutions just came to me.
AWA: Inconvenient, to put it mildly. As Ive read from other experiences of the online exam, the lagging was severe. I had to wait maybe 5 seconds until the newly written text showed up on the screen. This was a huge distraction. Normally I can easily get my 500 words but with this issue Im glad if I got up to 400. This is something GMAC need to investigate if they dont want to run out of vouchers. To me, Im glad any technical issue did not affect my score in any way significant.
In conclusion, I would not recommend the online version to anyone who has the possibility to do the exam in a test-center. The risk of losing about 1-2 mins per section in pure lagging is too high to make up for the convenience of being able to take the exam anywhere.
I consider another retake in a test-center but would need to wait at least a month. If not else, so to prove for myself that my quant result was nothing but a fly in the ointment.
Over and out, at least for now.
Posted from my mobile device
Originally posted by
Bambi2021 on 23 Jul 2021, 16:03.
Last edited by
Bambi2021 on 25 Jul 2021, 10:04, edited 4 times in total.