GMAT Online - What We Know [Master Topic]

Hello again, Brian. I wanted to take the time to write a proper response when I had time, not just dash off some missive between lessons. I will respond in-line below.

Yes, evolved to the point that I have seen a single 800 since the shorter test was unveiled in 2018, and none since that very year (thus, no perfect online attempts). Neither have I seen any evidence of such a score in the ranges listed at top business schools. Finally, I know at least one confirmed 780-scorer who earned a 730 more recently. On the whole, the body of evidence suggests to me that the test has gotten harder.

You and I seem to approach the same problem, then, from a different angle. In my head, there is no eight-time limit. I am giving this next attempt everything I have got—no backups, no failsafes. If I believe I can earn an 800, then I know I have to be willing to put myself through what it takes to achieve it.

Where I used to live was quite hilly, and I rode my bike everywhere to meet my clients (packing an appropriate change of clothes in my backpack to maintain a sense of professionalism). During one of my last assignments, I rode 9.8 miles each way to get to my destination. My reward was a long ride home after a full workday of being on my feet. The kicker? The hardest part was right at the end. My apartment was at the top of a hill, maybe a tenth or two-tenths of a mile, the first two-thirds of which pitched at a 9.5 percent gradient. I rode my bike as a fixie, so no gear changes. I hit the bottom of that hill, it kicked up, and I counted my crank turnover. By the time I would get to twenty, my momentum from the bottom was gone, and by forty, I could already feel the burn in my quads; by sixty, my legs were screaming for me to stop, and by eighty, the cranks were barely turning. At first, I listened to my body. I would pull off into this parking lot that served as a plateau, ride a lap on that flat surface, and then, with legs only half full of lactic acid, I would finish my push, round a curve, and crest the hill. Every time I pulled off, though, I got down on myself.

I remember one night, soon after one of my close family members died, I was going up that hill and I entertained a different notion: What if? What if I pushed beyond the parking lot and emptied the tank completely instead of holding anything back? You know, you think a little differently when major life events occur. Well, you can guess what happened. I kept counting those steps and grinding, legs be d**ned. When I got to one hundred turns of the crank, I was on that crest, with nothing more than a slight incline to almost coast through. I could feel my heart in my throat, and my legs were shot, but that was the point at which I had broken myself and pushed through that particular challenge.

I know the GMAT™ will prove the same for me. I cannot rely on innate ability or even my training. I have to teach myself to embrace that grind, question after question, hour after hour. If the exam wants to throw sixty-seven questions my way, I want to be ready to take on a hundred.

I have the utmost respect for people who take their parenting seriously. If I were a father, I have no doubt I would put my GMAT™ aspirations behind me and devote myself more to my family. If you can manage to juggle both challenges simultaneously, then I applaud your efforts and wish you the best in both.

Should you decide to participate in my 2021-2022 GMAT™ challenge once I get it up and running, you have an open invitation. I would welcome the Expert company.

- Andrew

Now we wait for the enhanced GMAT online debriefs to roll in...

Here is the first one I've found: https://gmatclub.com/forum/unofficial-s ... l#p2787974

Unsurprisingly, I have also heard early reports of technical challenges with the enhanced GMAT online, and the required ESSecureBrowser in particular appears problematic.

Here is what one Reddit user had to say:

"Hello friends,

I had exam scheduled today. I connected with proctor, we went through check-in process, yet we couldn’t launch the exam because of the technical issue on examity/mba.com’s end. Proctor reassured that it’s an issue on their end, yet I’m a bit concerned.

Did anybody have the same experience?"

The same person later wrote:

"Connected to proctor, went through check in process but the exam itself couldn’t begin because of technical issues on gmac’s end.

Logistics wise, Examity checkin felt way smoother than Pearson Vue’s."

Hey guys,

I had my “enhanced online gmat” exam today. The one everybody was waiting for so much. 😉

What can I say?

I took it on a MacBook Air 11’ screen, but worked well. OS X High Sierra on it. Crashed my MacBook Pro, when trying to downgrade the OS from Big Sur to Catalina. Unfortunately, Mba.com did not reply to my request, if Big Sur would be okay.

Anyways, checkin was all good. I shared my screen using the application go to meeting, which I had to download and install during the checkin process.

I chose to start with verbal and continued with quant.

Breaks were all okay. At the first one, I showed my whiteboard according to the instructions, stood up, went to the restroom and after being at my table again, I was asked why I left without telling anything to my proctor. As I did not know that I had to tell anything to him before I left, I just did what I did. Normally, you should tell that you leave before you do, so don’t forget. Still, my proctor was okay. A good person, who is aware that my actions were recorded on screen during the whole test.

Integrated reasoning was okay.

My proctor talked to me one time during the quant section and one time during the IR section of the test. He wanted me to tilt my screen a bit making sure that I was not doing whatever I may have done, except for focusing as hell. Bit disturbing, but still doable.

Finally, in AWA, the writing part was really annoying. This is the only thing I can really criticize about this exam. On some occasions, when I pressed shift, in order to write capitalized letters - e.g beginning a new sentence - it just selected the previous paragraph and I DELETED, what I was writing before. This happened various times to me. I managed to adapt to the situation, but it was still a real hassle.

You can see the final unofficial results immediately after completing AWA. For me it was:

710, Q49, V40, IR7

Cheers
Rudolf

Posted from my mobile device

Hello rudywip,

Congratulations on your score. And thank you for posting one of the very few detailed experiences. By the way, did you take any test-center based exam in the past, and in case you did, how would rate the difficulty by sections in the enhanced format?

What I am actually surprised about is the score. A Q49 V40 should place someone at a comfortable 730 but I see that it was a 710 in this case. Wonder if it is normal or if the scoring algorithm is to blame here.


Thanks
Avinash.

Hey avinash,

thank you! I took the test at the test center twice and scored very low. Maybe I’m going to post a debrief after all the efforts it took so far. However, it was roughly the same difficulty level. At home felt more convenient, but I would have liked to use earplugs.

It was a real journey and my target is set for 730. On the mock two weeks ago, I actually scored 730, Q49, V40, IR7, but today it seemed to be 710 for the same result. I’m also puzzled, but may contact mba.com after receiving the official results.

What would you suggest? bb maybe a word?

Posted from my mobile device

Thank you so much for the dBrief. Let me copy it into a separate topic in the shared your experience so we have a record of it. I will reply to your question in detail shortly afterwards.

PS. Your post is super helpful so I will be happy to repay in kind 👍🙂

rudywip, congrats on your score and being the first to take the ENHANCED GMAT Online and post about it in detail on GMAT Club.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-online- ... 58536.html

First of all - thank you!

Second, about your question. It is not uncommon to get a different Q/V combination and total score that's the same or vice versa. Usually that means 10 points up/down. Though I have to say 710 to 730 is a big stretch and is UNUSUAL. I have not seen such a so I would check with them.... I got Q49, V42 and that was a 750. You can see more scores and sample table here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-scores-83890.html (I am working to update it by the way with real scores from the past year but waiting on the tech team to pull those from the database). I would not hold your breath for a change but your score is really close. You are pretty close and it seems that you likely got something like 714 or perhaps 714.4 so it did not bump you into 720.

If you are still looking for that 730 and thinking of retaking (though I would say your 710 is competitive for most programs as long as you are not coming from a very over-represented background like the poor Indian Engineer and IT folks, you should be set with a 710 too, though I know some try to compensate for slightly lower GPA and other missteps of their youth). Anyway, if youa re looking to retake, I would do it very soon - within 2-4 weeks and not wait longer than that. If you decide to retake, focus on your mistakes - you are already at a great spot with Q49, V40. There is not that much more room to grow in either direction really (V41 is not very common and I can't ever remembering seeing anyone with a V43) but V42 is likely more realistic goal and possibly Q50. You can get to 750 if you can focus on both. I would look at your mistakes, weaknesses, and just be honest with yourself as to what you are lacking and how would you tell someone else to improve... then follow your own advice

P.S. Let me know if any other questions. I really appreciate you taking the time to post the debrief.

First: thanks for the debrief and nice work!

Second: wow, what a strange score (Q49 / V40 / 710)! Are you sure that you are remembering it correctly?

Historically, Q49 / V40 has always converted to a 730 or 720 composite at worst.

Hi rudywip,

Excellent debrief, thank you for taking the time to share. I have GMAT Online exam scheduled tomorrow and would be great if you could answer a few questions.

1. Do you need to take pictures of your room in phone (like that of Pearson online) or will the proctor scan the room throgh webcam.
2. Will there be prompt stating 'show whiteboard to proctor' before you begin/end the break? - just confused if we need to voluntarily show the whiteboard or will it be asked on the screen (as part of exam)
3. When you inform the proctor that you are leaving for break, do you need to wait for their confirmation before you leave the desk?

Excellent tip on AWA about the shift key. I will watch out for this - note, am used to 'shift key' very much - will be tough to adapt I suppose

Thanks,
Prabhakar

Hey bb

Thank you for your reply!

BTW: This forum and all of you guys helped me so much thus far. I really appreciate all the efforts everyone put inside! Also got a bit addicted to this litte torture called GMAT! 😉

Sure thing! I wanted to quickly post in order to help everyone after to be a bit more prepared than I was.

Thank you for your thoughts on my score. I am quite sure I was not mistaking, when I remembered it, but it was really confusing to see this result as I scored with the same stats 730 two weeks before. I am going to write GMAC's customer care today and give you guys an update on the progress - it's called unofficial score, so maybe there can be adjustments. Hopefully. If not, I am going to retake in 2.5 weeks. At first I need a few days off and after, I am going to take it easy. Pressure is a bit off now. I just want to score a bit higher in order to be eligible for a scholarship at the very best business schools and get closer to my goal of 750. Thanks for your advice related to improving my weaknesses. I am going to try hard. A bit of luck is also necessary, I guess, but still, more effort for sure.... Follow your own advice! Good one!

Sure! 😉

Hey mcelroytutoring

quite sure I remember the score. I was almost screaming at the proctor to take a screenshot or let me take one in order not to be able to forget, but none of us managed to. 30 secs or so and the score viewed on the screen is gone. 😂

Anyways, I will be really happy to accept your score improvement suggestions. I hope gmat will be so, too.

Will let you guys know! 😉

Sure thing!

1. Webcam before starting the exam to show room and space under your table. Same before finishing your break - it counts as break time, so be sure to plan with the procedure, which roughly take 3 mins.
2. Nope. Just talk to the proctor before your exam starts and make sure to be clear. I think the proctors are not trained perfectly well, as bb already mentioned. What I did after the proctor informed me about my "mistake" during the first break: I started the next break using the button "start break", afterwards I called the proctor and told him that I will start my break now - you can just speak and he will hear you; he is muted during the exam, unless he wants to contact you, so no trouble -, then I cleaned board, showed both sides and went away. When I returned, I showed the room and space under the table, the whiteboard again and continue.
3. As described before, in my case, I was very careful, because I did not want to be dismissed, but just talk to the person. I think it is not all that standardised, as I thought.

At AWA: Stay calm and make sure you use shift key carefully. It will show you, when the paragraph before is selected as normally indicated by your office program interface highlighting the specific section. Unfortunately, I did not encounter the ctrl + z option to go a step back, but I have to be honest and tell you that I did not read the instructions section of the AWA, which may have been a good help, so do not waste those 30secs to dig in your nose.

GOOD LUCK!

P.S. One thing, I just remembered is that the proctor may take control of your computer using go-to-meeting. He had to do so with my computer during the check in. The thing is, that he kept control during the whole session of the test. What disturbed me, was the fact that he occasionally moved my mouse cursor... 😂 So, as you want to focus, it may be a bit disturbing to see your cursor moving. Make sure, you maybe talk with your proctor about this possible issue at your check-in. Maybe he can turn off the take control function after the checkin or it may not be necessary at all.

Hi rudywip,

Great information and it is very useful. I will factor in 3 minutes dring break - so technically it will be 5 minute break session.
Good to know we can talk to Proctor - let me clarify with Proctor before the exam begins and set rules about break (showing whiteboard, asking permission to move from desk etc.)

Will watch out for the tips on AWA and about remote session by proctor.

Again, a very helpful debrief and thank you.

Hi everyone,

I had Enhanced Gmat exam today.
Actually, I had an appointment for 4 May but there was a technical error, so I scheduled another appointment for today.

Today, I used MacBook Pro with macOS Catalina 10.15.7 and it was fine, EESecure browser opened when I started the exam.

The Quant part is harder than I expected and Mock exams.
I used my first break between Quant and Verbal, although I could leave workstation during the break, I prefer to stay on my chair for safe (I saw some posts which say the proctor revoked the exam because the candidate left the area)

Verbal part was very time consuming for me, I had to blind-guess for last 6 questions, and after the Verbal part my mind was just blowing.
When Verbal part was over, I didn't want to take Optional break ,however I forget to click on Continue Exam button, then the break started. I did not want to take break so I ended the break after 1 second, but I forgot the show my whiteboard, also the proctor didn't say anything.

When the exam was over, I showed my blank white board.

I am wondering, will my exam be cancelled because I forgot to show my blank whiteboard before/after 1-second optional break, do you guys have any ideas or similar experiences?

I saw my unofficial result at the end of the exam but I couldn't take screenshots or photos ofc. I was planning send my unofficial results to business school before 31 May. My exam status is pending right now, I wonder whether I can see my unofficial results when the exam status will be "delivered".

Thank you for your replies

Hi. Thank you for your debrief and feedback.

1. Your exam will not be canceled for not showing a whiteboard if you have not left the camera. The only reason to show the whiteboard is if you are leaving on a break.

2. Even if you forget to show the whiteboard and leave on the break, many people have done that and had no issues.

3. I do not recall anyone reporting that their test got canceled for leaving the area. I know there has been some training issues with the proctors which Did not know the rules for the test well enough and sometimes would get confused. In any case, I do not remember anyone who’s test was canceled because they went on a break. If you know of such cases, please share a link.

PS. The most important question, did you like the score? Did you get the score you wanted? 😂




Posted from my mobile device

Hello everyone,
I attempted the GMAT online today. Scored a 730 on my first attempt. I was following this thread for some time now, just to get an idea about GMAT online. I would like to share my enhanced GMAT online experience on this thread, to help others.

I used SONY VAIO 2011 laptop with Intel Core i3 2.2 GHz processor and 4GB RAM. The operating system was windows 10 professional. I arranged for a 60 Mbps wired internet connection as well as a 5 Mbps WIFI connection for backup, in case something goes wrong with my wired connection. I had not faced any difficulties with my wired connection up until today, but just to be safe I arranged for an additional connection. It is recommended to install the ESS browser and ZOOM meet well before your appointment.

The login process was very smooth. You cannot start the check-in process until fifteen minutes before your scheduled appointment. Before that the EXAMITY page is inaccessible. After you start your check-in on the mba.com my account page, you are directed to the EXAMITY page. There you can start your scheduled appointment. After you press start, you are connected to the proctor if you have ZOOM cloud meetings pre-installed. If not, then the ZOOM cloud meetings setup is automatically downloaded and you can install ZOOM cloud meetings. After that, you are connected to the proctor. The proctor then guides you through the entire process and gives you all instructions. The proctor asks you to open the task manager to check whether you have any other applications open in the background. After that, you have to show your ID on the camera. After that, you are asked to show both sides of the physical whiteboard, if you have opted to take one for the exam. Then, you are asked to give a complete 360-degree tour of your workspace as well as your desk (both above and below the desk, all four corners). If you have a LAN connection connected to your laptop and you will be using the webcam on the laptop, a long LAN cable is recommended, so that you can comfortably move and rotate your laptop for the room tour.

In my case, the proctor was very polite and super-helpful with all the procedures. That helped me to calm a little. It took almost twenty minutes to finish the entire process and start the exam. I selected the Verbal-Quant-IR-AWA sequence for the exam.

The verbal section was similar in difficulty to the GMAT prep mocks with two long passages and two short RC passages. Most of the CR questions were complete the passage. I was falling short of time at the end of the section, so I had to hurry with the last RC passage as well as CR and SC questions. I missed the last question of the section. After finishing my section, I was not confident about the verbal score. Anyway, after you finish the section, you get an instruction on the screen to take a break with a 30-second timer. You can select to skip the break if you want or you can select to take a break. After selecting to take a break, I asked for the proctors permission to leave the desk. The proctor instructed me to show my whiteboard and then allowed me to leave. After about four minutes, I returned to my desk. Then I was instructed to give a 360-degree room tour and show both sides of the physical whiteboard. Then I was allowed to start the quant section.

The quant section was pretty difficult compared to the quant sections of the GMAT prep mocks. I attempted the last question of the section at the last minute. Overall I had a better feeling about the quant section than the verbal section. After finishing the section, a similar procedure was followed.

After that, I finished the IR section and started the AWA section. Here comes the best part of my exam. Just as I pressed enter after completing the first paragraph everything got erased. All of a sudden, everything was deleted. I was puzzled! Then, I received a message saying the ESS browser has stopped working. Not sure what was happening, I asked the proctor for help. The proctor instructed me to close the ESS secure browser and exit the page. After suspiciously closing the page I was redirected to the EXAMITY page. The proctor requested some time to look into the problem. After a couple of minutes, the proctor said that everything on her side was okay and that I might have lost my connection. But, my computer was still showing that I was connected to the internet. So, I asked the proctor if I can open some other page to check my connection. The proctor permitted me to do so and even to take my time. So, first I opened GMAIL and it opened fine. Then, the proctor suggested opening speedtest.net and check my internet speed. And shockingly, the speed had fallen to in and around 1 Mbps. The proctor said that I compulsorily needed at least 2 Mbps speed and we cannot continue with the exam. I felt that I lost my attempt. But, anyway, I asked the proctor if I could connect to the backup connection. The proctor allowed me to check the other connection and asked me to check the speed. And again backup connection too was slow ( less than 1 Mbps). I just kept on switching between connections. But nothing worked. I had given up. Then all of a sudden the proctor decided to connect me to the exam. The proctor said that as my connection is slow, the interface might lag while switching between questions. But as I was on my essay, I felt that it wouldn't matter. After that, the proctor re-connected me to the exam. And thankfully the first paragraph was present already and the timer too started from where the exam was disconnected. As warned by the proctor, the interface did lag while typing. Still, it was not that big of an issue. And then I completed the essay.

Then the score appeared on the screen. Q49 V40 IR4 and a total of 730. The proctor was super helpful. I had already given up after the connection issue, if not for the proctor's intervention. I was expecting a V42 and Q50 and a total of 760. So, I am planning to retake the exam after a month.

Hello Everyone,

I have a MacBook Air with Big Sur OS. Though I have downloaded the ESsec browser, it doesn't open. The system requirements page of MBA.com says the OS must be Mac OS 10.14 and above, but I read somewhere online that the Big Sur OS is not supported.

Does anybody have similar issues?