My journey ends here - 730(Q49V40) - THAT weird feeling

In advance sorry for my poor english but it is 2 in the morning and I am exhausted, I will try to make it better anytime soon

Good morning/night/evening everyone,


The title says it all, I took my gmat this very day and here is my debrief. During the whole process I was actually looking forward to writing it. Overall I can't really say that I used the forum a lot but I did check the "Share GMAT Experience" almost everyday, I liked the idea of ending it once and for all and these stories enabled me to know how it would feel like. Let me tell you: it is weird... I will now try to describe more precisely my situation and give some advices.

My 'profile'

I am a 20 y.o. student, currently on my last year of an undergraduate program-business engineering-in the best university of my small country. I have never studied a lot, so staying focused for several hours on a regular basis was a challenge.

English : I am a non native (my first language is french) yet, I have lived moreless 6 months in an English-speaking environment (Toronto).

The Gmat ? : I am willing to apply for a master in Switzerland and therefore needed to pass the exam.

My preparation / CAT's taken

Material used:
OG13 - If you don't have it do not even consider taking the GMAT
MGMAT GUIDES 0 to 10 (the whole thing)
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---- > What is useful : everything but the RC and CR guides IMO. The rest is ok and SC and number properties are must-have.

I started a month ago, as an university student I have almost no class that is mandatory, so I had plenty of time available for the study of the GMAT. At first I was not really involved enough in the process, I studied maybe only 2hours a day despite having the entire 24hours free...This was a mistake, this is cheesy but what is worth doing is worth doing well, and this is particularly true for the gmat, especially since you need to pay $250 for it ...
You should be in or out, but not in between. (I actually studied for a week in holiday last august. It took me 1 week to do what I did in 3 hours in a library last month)

The facts of taking CATS and schedule the exam really help to stay motivated and focused.

First CAT- Two weeks ago GMATPrep (I had done the verbal guides, no quant yet) 680 Q48V35.I was not really pleased by the score and was really exhausted at the end of the test. Taking it on screen is also really different from what I had done on paper.

First CAT VERBAL RETAKE- Last week I had NOT checked the answer of my first cat since I turned my computer off (like a baws) before completion of the review. I really thought I was able of more than 35. So I retook only the verbal and got a .....47 on verbal. I realised the problem, I was good in verbal, but I needed to be fresh when taking the verbal part. Afterwards I concentrated on building my stamina and taking my next cat at the same time in order to get ready in terms of food, sleep, beverage...

Second CAT - 2 days ago 720 Q50V37 Not much to say ... I was much more comfortable with the lenght of the exam. Felt almost capable of studying right after having taken it.

TEST DAY

My test was scheduled at 13:00 - this is important - I was the last one today to take the test, the good thing is that I did not have anyone typing his essay while I took my verbal or quand, I actually was alone for the verbal part which I found very comfortable ! I hate to be distracted by people's noises.

Arrived early, had my food routine ready, took the test

Essay

- Chinese Burn template : nuff said. (I had already done two awa before cat so I had the template ready in my head.)

IR

- Really did NOT care about that part : I made sure to waste as little energy as possible, ended with almost 10 minutes remaining

And then the real party started, these are the 150 minutes that determine your score, you need to be ready for them, and confident, I had a really relaxed and laid back attitude, almost cocky. I do think it can be positive to be (over)confident. Well, everyone is different I just knew how my state of mind needed to be in order to perform at my best level.

Quant

- Went ok, my timing strategy was kind of weird, I had the thing written down but I function in a way that just can't be put on paper: I either take 25 seconds or 5 minutes, so I kept checking every 5 minutes or so and was always ahead so I made sure to double check afterwards. I am quite disappointed somehow by my score since the gmat is basically elementary school math problems...Having studied complex math and statistics it feels weird to study what odd numbers are but well.... let's come back to my story : I got 3 questions that were really poorly written, I was not able to figure out what the questions were, it had not happened(me not being able to understant a question) during my prep so it surely explains my 49 (still decent duh)

Verbal

- After my first gmatprep I took a difficult decision => to focus on verbal. I knew I could score 50/51 in quand but they would be of no help if I had a 33 in verbal, so I barely finished the OG13 quant questions, but I did do all the verbal ones and took care to understand how the questions are asked, and how the answers are presented. This is really important, after a while you can smell the traps coming. And in the end it appeared cleverer to take my V from 35 to 40 than my Q 48 to 51, in terms of overall score ! On the actual test the questions were relatively similar to what I had studied. It felt like I had a lot of RC and SC and less CR but I just tried to stay focused throughout the 41 questions and took them one at the time

The score going through the data was pure torture... So I just clicked next and saw.... 730. It was a relief since I had no idea on how well I had performed, yet I felt a bit annoyed by the fact that a 740 would have gotten me 5 more "admission points" at the university of my choice, 5 important points because I have poor academic performances. But in the end the score is decent so I was "happy" <= Also known as the weird feeling I mentioned earlier.


Takeaways/Advices (raw)

>Do it seriously, 100% into it.
>Know your weaknesses, work on them since they will give you the more points for your efforts.
>Get ready in terms of sleeping / eating / drinking routine. This is easily 10% of your test right there.
>Take cats at the same time than that of the test, and practice the above-mentioned routine during them.
>Have this as your alarm on D-DAY yt/watch?v=m0ysMOV8TYU this will get you in that cocky attitude. haha just kidding but I found it really funny because I started the day with a good laugh and had that cocky dumb arrogant mode ON.


I you have any question, please go ahead and ask them !


GOOD LUCK ON YOUR OWN JOURNEY. I know what it is like to work hard and read this section of the forum while eagerly preparing for G-day, keep on going and give it your best shot.

And in the end it might cost a little, but this is ONLY A TEST ... You are not a number ! (but if you want one you should take a look at my 'signature')