u1983 wrote:
Hello Experts,
There could be many answers to this question and there is no one-fit-to-all answer.
But again, there are numerous people who already have conquered GMAT . I would like to invite comments on ' Best utilization of Break Times during the section breaks of GMAT ' .
These responses will definitely be helpful as a whole . It will be really helpful if we get quite a number of replies ...... as there might be one nice advise that fits a particular someone.
Thanks in appreciation
Thanks for bringing up this topic. I think it can be overlooked, but it's quite important!
The breaks go by very quickly, especially if the restrooms happen to be somewhat far from the testing room, as was the case at my testing center. The staff can also vary in how quickly they scan your palm, check your glasses, examine your pockets, etc. So I'd say you don't want to try to do too much during either break. Otherwise, you risk mistiming the break and having valuable time deducted from your exam. I also think it's important to just take a moment to reset mentally--if you're rushing to get back, you may not be fully prepared to "switch gears" from Verbal to Quant or vice versa. Even if you're well-prepared, it can be jarring to try to solve a complicated word problem when your mind was occupied with something completely different a moment before.
If you know you'll want to visit the restroom during each break, then that means you may not get to eat more than a few bites from your snack--so make sure you eat enough before the test!
And, a very important note: Don't click "yes" on the "Do you want to take your break?" screen before the attendant has seen you! I did this between my Verbal and Quant section, and she did not see me for over a minute. I kept waving to get her attention, but she just didn't look up. Meanwhile, my break time was counting down. I'm not sure she would have noticed me even then if another test-taker hadn't needed to enter the testing room. I think this was partly due to the fact that Pearson administers many exams other than the GMAT, most of which are only one section and not nearly as high-stakes. The staff members always seemed genuinely surprised when I said I was just taking a break and had not yet finished with my exam--it's as though it did not occur to them that getting in and out of the testing room quickly might be important to my exam performance. This may vary from center to center, but keep in mind your test center staff may not "get" how important the GMAT is, so you have to be your own advocate.