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When I first started studying for the GMAT, I knew I only had 5 chances to take it in a year.
So, I figured I'd start taking it monthly from April to hit my target score before Round 1 deadlines.
I registered for a test at the end of April.
As the test date approached, I just couldn't bring myself to study. I kept wanting to postpone it.
For the last week before the exam, I was probably doing only about a third of my usual study volume, and on the day before the test, I literally just read webtoons. Even though I hadn't studied for that long, I felt like I'd caught a severe case of "GMAT-hate-itis."
When I took a mock test in April, my score range was 626-675.
So, I initially aimed for 675, the best score within that range. During the actual test, the RC passages flowed surprisingly well, and I found myself hoping for a score over 700.
1. Data Insights
Sitting in front of the PC at the test center, I felt a pang of regret. I'm not even that good at English, and I wondered if I should have warmed up by reading some simple English passages beforehand. Instead, I just meticulously read the exam instructions page, trying to kill time.
After reading the problems, I couldn't immediately grasp what they were saying, so I had to re-read them. This took much longer than I expected. The Multi-Source Reasoning (MSR) section took me almost 10 minutes to solve just 3 questions. My time management completely failed. When the "5 minutes left" message popped up, I still had 3 questions remaining.
I rushed through them, answering all three roughly. Looking back, I wonder if it would have been better to focus on just two questions, as 5 minutes is certainly enough time for that. I got 2 out of the last 3 rushed questions wrong. And the MSR section, where I spent so much time, also saw me get 2 out of 3 wrong. It's quite a shame.
2. Verbal Reasoning
To avoid letting my disappointment carry over, I took the break. Considering the time it takes for identity checks before re-entry, I only had about 7-8 minutes to actually relax outside and grab a snack. I was worried about losing precious time if I lingered, so I just took a sip of water and had a piece of chocolate for a quick sugar boost before heading back in.
One point that left me feeling a bit frustrated was that the later RC passages felt easier than the first one. Since it's an adaptive test, you can roughly gauge how well you're doing by the difficulty of the questions. So, when the questions seemed to get easier, I mentally thought, "Oh no, I've messed up."
Checking the results, it turns out I got 3 out of the first 5 questions wrong! Hahahaha. And on the first RC passage, which had 4 questions, I got 3 of them wrong. I didn't think I'd misunderstood it that much, but I guess I severely misjudged it.
3. Quantitative Reasoning
Honestly, this was the most surprising part of the exam for me. Usually, I'd finish this section in 20-30 minutes during mock tests, and to minimize careless errors, I'd take my time and finish around 30-35 minutes. But this time, I used almost the full 45 minutes. I hadn't really practiced time management for QR because I always had time left over. However, in this exam, I had 3 questions that each took me nearly 5 minutes.
For QR, I always feel like I haven't made any mistakes, but when I see the actual errors, it means I've messed up somewhere. Unlike PREP, I can't review them, but I guess I'll have to solve more problems to pinpoint the sources of my mistakes.
So, I figured I'd start taking it monthly from April to hit my target score before Round 1 deadlines.
I registered for a test at the end of April.
As the test date approached, I just couldn't bring myself to study. I kept wanting to postpone it.
For the last week before the exam, I was probably doing only about a third of my usual study volume, and on the day before the test, I literally just read webtoons. Even though I hadn't studied for that long, I felt like I'd caught a severe case of "GMAT-hate-itis."
When I took a mock test in April, my score range was 626-675.
So, I initially aimed for 675, the best score within that range. During the actual test, the RC passages flowed surprisingly well, and I found myself hoping for a score over 700.
1. Data Insights
Sitting in front of the PC at the test center, I felt a pang of regret. I'm not even that good at English, and I wondered if I should have warmed up by reading some simple English passages beforehand. Instead, I just meticulously read the exam instructions page, trying to kill time.
After reading the problems, I couldn't immediately grasp what they were saying, so I had to re-read them. This took much longer than I expected. The Multi-Source Reasoning (MSR) section took me almost 10 minutes to solve just 3 questions. My time management completely failed. When the "5 minutes left" message popped up, I still had 3 questions remaining.
I rushed through them, answering all three roughly. Looking back, I wonder if it would have been better to focus on just two questions, as 5 minutes is certainly enough time for that. I got 2 out of the last 3 rushed questions wrong. And the MSR section, where I spent so much time, also saw me get 2 out of 3 wrong. It's quite a shame.
2. Verbal Reasoning
To avoid letting my disappointment carry over, I took the break. Considering the time it takes for identity checks before re-entry, I only had about 7-8 minutes to actually relax outside and grab a snack. I was worried about losing precious time if I lingered, so I just took a sip of water and had a piece of chocolate for a quick sugar boost before heading back in.
One point that left me feeling a bit frustrated was that the later RC passages felt easier than the first one. Since it's an adaptive test, you can roughly gauge how well you're doing by the difficulty of the questions. So, when the questions seemed to get easier, I mentally thought, "Oh no, I've messed up."
Checking the results, it turns out I got 3 out of the first 5 questions wrong! Hahahaha. And on the first RC passage, which had 4 questions, I got 3 of them wrong. I didn't think I'd misunderstood it that much, but I guess I severely misjudged it.
3. Quantitative Reasoning
Honestly, this was the most surprising part of the exam for me. Usually, I'd finish this section in 20-30 minutes during mock tests, and to minimize careless errors, I'd take my time and finish around 30-35 minutes. But this time, I used almost the full 45 minutes. I hadn't really practiced time management for QR because I always had time left over. However, in this exam, I had 3 questions that each took me nearly 5 minutes.
For QR, I always feel like I haven't made any mistakes, but when I see the actual errors, it means I've messed up somewhere. Unlike PREP, I can't review them, but I guess I'll have to solve more problems to pinpoint the sources of my mistakes.
