Hello everyone,
My name is Sarah, I am from Rwanda but currently living in Kenya. I am planning to retake the GMAT exam,and I thought I would share my first GMAT exam experience for advice and suggestions. I am not good at math and I am a nonnative speaker
I did my first GMAT exam on 7th March 2016 and I got a 400, 21v 25Q ( very disappointing). I started preparing for the GMAT exam 3months before the real test and throughout my preparation, I moved from 320 ( my first mock exam) to 690( last mock). because I was not planning to apply to competitive schools, I thought that being able to score between 600- 650 will be enough for me to be admitted into a non-competitive business school.
PREPARATION MATERIALS
the only book is used was the manhattan review 2015 and a couple of free Gmat resources and exercises online ( I thought it was enough and I was wrong).
TEST DAY
my test was in the afternoon and I arrived at the test center 30 min before. I was very nervous that I couldn't even eat , so I bought a sandwich thinking that I would be able to access my locker during the break time.
I have read many topics saying that the more you get a hard question the more, the more you are likely to get a high score, so instead of focusing on answering the questions in the right way, I spend much time thinking whether it was an easy, medium or hard question. When I reached in the middle of the test I started feeling hungry, my head was hurting and I could concentrate at all. as a result, I started answering questions not because I actually cared about them, but because I didn't want to leave anything unanswered.
MISTAKES I REGRET
- not using the right and useful material to prepare for the GMAT exam
- not adopting a strategy for my weaknesses
- get intimidated by the timer during the test
- not eating before the exam
- not concentrating during the exam
SOME OF THE GOALS FOR MY NEXT GMAT EXAM
- subscribe for
Magoosh premium courses ( it has good reviews and it is in line with my budget)
- buy GMAT books ( It is really hard to get GMAT books in Kenya so this is still a problem)
- use GMAT club more ( I have come to find it very useful)
- coming up with a strategy for both the verbal and quantitative section.
- limited mix up of online materials ( the more they get, the more I get confused)
I am planning to retake the test end of January or beginning of February 2017, and my target score is <650.
I am open to any advice and suggestions that can help me to achieve this score. thanks.