Done and dusted!! 730 (Q49 V40)

Congrats on a fantastic score!

I wanted to clarify something, so the shortcuts are Alt+N and Alt+Y, NOT Cntrl+N/Y as some have posted above, correct?

Are there any other shortcuts you can tell us?

Also is the GMATPrep interface exactly the same one sees in GMAT? What, if any, are the differences?

Thanks a lot
MainHoon

@mainhoon,

Yeah, the shortcuts are Alt+N to go to the next question. This will show a popup asking you whether you want to confirm your answer. Use Alt+Y to confirm. You can try this out on the GMATPrep interface as well.
I think there is a way to get to each answer choice using the keyboard, but I'd rather choose the answer by hand using the mouse rather than risk selecting a wrong answer with a keyboard shortcut.

One thing came to mind just now: When I was writing my essays I could do a Shift+End to select the rest of the line from the point where the cursor currently was. I could not however do a Shift+Home to select the part of the line before the cursor. This is pretty trivial but it caught me by surprise and I had to adjust accordingly while editing my essays, so I thought I might as well mention it here.
Not sure of any other shortcuts.

The GMATPrep interface is exactly like the actual GMAT interface except for the school selection part which is the first thing you have to do once you get logged in. Also the tutorial sections are timed unlike in the GMATPrep interface.

Thanks a lot Sidhu! Great job on the GMAT.

-The shortcuts are fantastic. I was telling myself on the GMATprep there has to be a better way than drag the mouse to the bottomright each time. Also do they give out earplugs?
-The tutorials you say were timed on the actual GMAT, obviously they are to be skipped correct? Anytime spent on them will come out of the 75 minutes?
-Also, the schools need to be entered upfront? So you had decided on them before going to the center?
-Do you think the time slot matters for GMAT? I have mine at 8am, perhaps that is the first one?

Any other tips will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
MainHoon

@mainhoon,

Yes, the invigilator gives out earplugs. They're soft rubber ones that you squeeze and then put inside your ear. The buds expand slowly and completely block out sound.

The tutorials do not count to the 75 minutes. Only the actual quant and verbal questions count toward the 75 minutes. The tutorials are timed meaning they are allocated around 4-5 minutes (don't remember exactly how much) which does not count toward your 75 minutes. You should get a feel for these tutorials during your GMATPrep tests so that you don't really need to read these during the exam. I used a bit of time during the tutorials to do two things:
- to calm myself, focus and get into exam mode
- to type out a few sentences just to test the keyboard and warm up my fingers

Yes, the schools need to be entered upfront. The 5 schools you select before the test will be the ones to which your official score report will be sent, provided you click Yes at the end of the test to report scores. You can always send your scores to additional schools by ordering additional reports on mba.com.

The time slot matters only if you are comfortable doing the test at a particular time. My test was at 9am so I practiced doing tests around the same time during the last 2 weeks leading up to the actual GMAT. I guess the 8am slot is the first one.

Thanks for such a nice debrief
I have already given GMAT earlier this year and scored pathetic in Verbal.
just trying to improve my score there. Any advice as I have still another month before my xam....!!!!

Thanks Sidhu for the answers, you have been most helpful. I took a GMATPrep test today and ended up with 740, I had about 5 mins left in each section, I got nearly 10 wrong each in V and Q and still got a 740? I think then that the GMAT prep is a little more generous than the real thing...

So if I understand right, I really need to take nothing to the center, apart from myself and my passport. They will provide me with everything else - can I ask for more paper and pencil than they allocate?
Is the setup the regular cubicle type with separators? Do I get to choose where to sit or they tell me?
Thanks
MainHoon

Great Score!!!!

@amneetpadda,
Have you any idea which section is weak? You could analyse this by taking a GMATPrep test or the MGMAT sample online test. One month is plenty of time to improve your score provided you do the right analysis and use the right material.

@sid4674,
You're welcome.

@milapshah,
Thanks.

@mainhoon,
740 is very good. 10 wrong in quant is fine as that is most likely what will happen during your final GMAT too. However you should try to reduce the number of mistakes in verbal as they tend to pull down your score a lot more than quant.
I took the confirmation of gmat appointment sheet to the center but it wasn't necessary. Make sure you take some chocolate for the breaks.
You'll be provided with that laminated booklet and 2 marker pens, I think that would do for all your calculation. I used it only for the quant section.
The seating area is in the form of side by side cubicles with separators, you cannot choose where you want to sit. Don't really worry about these factors, once the test begins you'll be totally absorbed in your own screen.

I have heard this, and it makes me assume I should focus more on verbal.. however the scoring matrix given to me by Princeton Review must be incorrect. (PR vs. a reputable member of this board.. I'm fairly confident we will all know who is going to be correct, just please elaborate so I will understand.)

I think it is established, that doing well in Verbal will pull up your score more than Quant. I think incrementally V adds more than Q... Correct me if I am wrong folks...

@jcurry, mainhoon.

There's no doubt about this at all. Do any number of GMATPrep tests. You will notice that you can get 750 even with 13-14 mistakes in quant. However it just takes a few mistakes to pull down the verbal. In quant with those 13 mistakes you would still probably get a 49. However with 6 mistakes in verbal you would go to V41 or so. From the tests that I did I got V32(18 wrong), V39(11 wrong), V47(2 wrong), V41(6 wrong) and so on. Quant score was always significantly higher. I was a little doubtful of this at first but after doing the GMATPrep tests I am sure that verbal somehow contributes more to a higher score.

@Sidhu : Actually i had already given GMAT once before in January and scored 550 (Q-47, V-20) with that score i am forced to believe that all my sections are weak...
I gave all the kaplan test and my score was never that bad May be a one bad day......!!!!
So this time around I want to do whatever possible to improve my verbal score so
So i just want some guidance

I am totally confused.....

This is really helpful. Thanks for posting!!

@amneetpadda,
Sit and work on verbal with determination and you will definitely get better. It only takes some effort from your side. You have all the materials at your disposal. The only thing left for you to do now is take it section by section and really go through everything. Start off with the SC section as you will see the fastest improvement there.
It just takes dedication from your side, and this requires a first step so make sure you take that first step.

@Rollaite,
Thanks.

Hi dude, I got the exact same score as you. Even the same section scores. Could you gimme an idea which universities would it be ideal to target at this score ?

I was wondering if this is a good score or not and as per your post, even I felt the GMAT was a way lot tougher than I expected. I practically ran out of time, so the guesswork at the end cost me a chance at 760

Thanks Sidhu

Awsome debrief.