GMAT Errors / Glitches?

I went to take my test this morning and chose verbal as my first section.

I generally felt really prepared for the exam, but as I was working on my second RC passage a question came up referencing a highlighted text. Low and behold there was no highlighted text to be found. I immediately tried to get the attention of the attendant at the test center who then brought over the manager, this process took about 4-5 minutes and I couldn't go ahead and answer since they needed to see it but by this time my timing was all off and I decided to cancel the exam as soon as I realized I couldn't catch back up...

I feel so annoyed and aggravated, but a case has been made on my behalf by the test center attesting that there was indeed something wrong with the exam. I tried to follow up with the GMAC to reschedule the exam, I was hoping for later in the day or tomorrow but they want to do an additional "investigation" and will only be able to give me an answer on Monday. I am pretty distraught after 6 months of studying continuously that this happened - just feel so burnt out. I am taking the rest of the day off and not studying and looking ahead it looks like there are additional test dates open at the end of the month but my motivation is gone to study with the same vigor as I did up to this point.

Has a situation like this happened to anyone else? Just looking for advice on how to proceed.

I took the GMAT today, and I'm 99.99% positive there was an error on one of the questions in the verbal section. On a reading comprehension question, I had one of the "refer to the highlighted text" questions, but there was no highlighted text in the reading comprehension passage (I don't think there is any way I could have not seen it...). This obviously made the question much harder to answer, but I also spent a disproportionate amount of time on this question and was definitely a curve ball I was not expecting. I emailed the GMAT about it, but is this something that has happened before? What do they typically do in these types of situations?

I was literally 1 point away on verbal from getting a 700 (according to the standard score grids), so even though it was only 1 question, it could have been the difference between my target score and having to cancel / retake the test.

It is possible there was a glitch. We had a user report an error in their gmat first quant question and they have contacted the GMAC about it (I was very skeptical personally) but 2 weeks later they heard back from GMAC with apology. Their test was rescored.

You can contact GMAC about this and likely get feedback from them. Possibly hitting 700 though I don’t know that you should count on that.

PS. No matter what you should not spend a disproportionate amount of time on any question. You can recover from one mistake but you can’t recover from spending 4-5 mins on a question on verbal.


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I had the same issue. It was one of the RC questions (2nd to be precise). I called for assistance and he told me that he cant help me with this. I went to make an educated guess and proceeded forward with my exam. The weird this is my verbal score came out abnormally low (as compared to my practice tests). I am wondering if this glitch messed up something. I emailed the GMAC people and would be waiting a response from them. Man with R2 around the corner, this is a bummer.

Hello Guys and bb

Even I experienced the exact same situation when I gave my GMAT on 7th October 2017. One of the RC questions asked for the meaning of the highlighted text, but there wasn't any text highlighted in the RC. I notified the administrator and he said they will file a report on my behalf

I scored Q49 V36 - 700. Now my only worry is
- If I answered it right then probably it is already counted as a correct answer and my scoring is right
- But if I answered it incorrect and if GMAC re-scores, by any chance will my overall score reduce below 700? I'm just thinking out aloud. Hopefully it shouldn't reduce. Please help!

I have two questions
1. Can anyone help me with my above concern?
2. What do I do next and whom/how should I contact GMAC?
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I had the same situation. I took the exam today and I want a retest. What do I do?

They make you fill the feedback form about the centre,in that you can fill up the details and also please ensure you mail to GMAC today itself. In that case only they will allow a retest if possible. Promptness helps

Yet another report of a glitchy GMAT RC question: https://gmatclub.com/forum/weird-glitch ... 51134.html

You can contact GMAC about this and you can start here: https://www.mba.com/us/the-gmat-exam/pr ... cerns.aspx - that's the best place for that process.

Unfortunately OfficialGMAT is asleep on the job - they have not been engaged on the site lately. It is a pity.
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Hey Guys,

Below is the update on the above issue

- The administrator at my center reported the issue to GMAC
- GMAC replied back saying they are offering me a free retake as they think the error must have costed me some extra time or distracted me. They also said that the scoring was not affected by the error
- So I had two options.
A. Decline the free retake and accept my current score of 700
B. Accept the free retake and cancel my score of 700

I chose option A as i was happy with my current score

Moral of the Story : - In case you face any glitch / error like this. Straight away report it to admin or email GMAC later
_________________

Even I experienced the exact same situation when I gave my GMAT on 7th October 2017. One of the RC questions asked for the meaning of the highlighted text, but there wasn't any text highlighted in the RC. I notified the administrator and he said they will file a report on my behalf

I scored Q49 V36 - 700. Now my only worry is
- If I answered it right then probably it is already counted as a correct answer and my scoring is right
- But if I answered it incorrect and if GMAC re-scores, by any chance will my overall score reduce below 700? I'm just thinking out aloud. Hopefully it shouldn't reduce. Please help!

I have two questions
1. Can anyone help me with my above concern?
2. What do I do next and whom/how should I contact GMAC?[/quote]

Hey Guys,

Below is the update on the above issue

- The administrator at my center reported the issue to GMAC
- GMAC replied back saying they are offering me a free retake as they think the error must have costed me some extra time or distracted me. They also said that the scoring was not affected by the error
- So I had two options.
A. Decline the free retake and accept my current score of 700
B. Accept the free retake and cancel my score of 700

I chose option A as i was happy with my current score

Moral of the Story : - In case you face any glitch / error like this. Straight away report it to admin or email GMAC later[/quote]

I had the same error, or more specifically: two issues when testing 2 days ago.

The highlighted text issue referred to above, as well as being "timed out" with 90 seconds left. I was on question 40 when this happened. I filed a report immediately.

I scored a 94th percentile on the verbal, but this likely cost me a 96/97 due to those 3 missed questions, which is about 10 points on my test. It's disappointing for GMAC to only offer to cancel your current score and re-take: they should offer you a free re-take as a result. Nobody should get their score throw away due to a glitch; it should be remedied and a free test offered.

Even I experienced the exact same situation when I gave my GMAT on 7th October 2017. One of the RC questions asked for the meaning of the highlighted text, but there wasn't any text highlighted in the RC. I notified the administrator and he said they will file a report on my behalf

I scored Q49 V36 - 700. Now my only worry is
- If I answered it right then probably it is already counted as a correct answer and my scoring is right
- But if I answered it incorrect and if GMAC re-scores, by any chance will my overall score reduce below 700? I'm just thinking out aloud. Hopefully it shouldn't reduce. Please help!

I have two questions
1. Can anyone help me with my above concern?
2. What do I do next and whom/how should I contact GMAC?[/quote]

Hey Guys,

Below is the update on the above issue

- The administrator at my center reported the issue to GMAC
- GMAC replied back saying they are offering me a free retake as they think the error must have costed me some extra time or distracted me. They also said that the scoring was not affected by the error
- So I had two options.
A. Decline the free retake and accept my current score of 700
B. Accept the free retake and cancel my score of 700

I chose option A as i was happy with my current score

Moral of the Story : - In case you face any glitch / error like this. Straight away report it to admin or email GMAC later[/quote]

I had the same error, or more specifically: two issues when testing 2 days ago.

The highlighted text issue referred to above, as well as being "timed out" with 90 seconds left. I was on question 40 when this happened. I filed a report immediately.

I scored a 94th percentile on the verbal, but this likely cost me a 96/97 due to those 3 missed questions, which is about 10 points on my test. It's disappointing for GMAC to only offer to cancel your current score and re-take: they should offer you a free re-take as a result. Nobody should get their score throw away due to a glitch; it should be remedied and a free test offered.