Hi all
Sharing my experience of the enhanced GMAT.
So i had my exam scheduled for 9th June 4pm IST. Everything started well initially . Login process was smooth ,was able to connect to the proctor and all the verification and pre checks were completed in time. Then I was asked to begin the exam where in it will launch a secure browser and the exam would begin. This is were the actual problem began.
Initially the secure browser got stuck and it was all white screen , the proctor said to me that it is loading please wait and i almost waited for around 10-15 mins for it to load. Meanwhile i was continuously asking the proctor if there is any issue and all and he said to wait. After a long wait he started checking on his side and couldn't find any issue. I asked him if i can restart the system and open this again ( task manager and all applications were blocked seems the browser takes over admin control and restricts anything in the background) . Initially he said no but then later agreed and before i could write down the meeting link he disconnected the call.
Next i restarted my system with a hope that GoTo meeting(used to connect to proctor) would have saved the chat somewhere. Somehow managed to get the link and when i tried to login it said meeting is invalid or expired. Then i had to contact support and after around 15 -20 mins i got another link to connect with the proctor. So we repeated the same steps and fortunately this time i was able to see something in the browser.
Next read the list of instructions and reached the page where you need to select the order of sections. To my unfortunate luck the page got stuck there itself with the timer running(FYI we just have 1 min to make a selection) and i kept on selecting on my preferred order but nothing happened the proctor asked me to hit on the other options but no response from the browser and after some time it picked up the
quant-verbal-ir-awa order which something i didn't want.
First was the quant section where for first few questions the browser was okay but after that selecting or deselecting an option used to take so much time and also progressing to the next question was so difficult because every time i used to click on next the browser used to say evaluating and would take it's own time. Entire section there was lag and sometimes the screen would completely be in hung state. Terrible Quants section. Somehow managed to finish it.
Next I had an option to take a break of 8 mins but thanks to my proctor he didn't even respond. You will be given 1 min to select whether you want a break or you want to continue. After that screen popped up i kept on calling out for my proctor even messaged him on GoTo meeting but no response so somehow i started the break and informed in the call that i am starting the break because the call was being recorded. But to getup from your seat you need proctor's permission and there was no response. I kept on asking and he replied back when i had around 2 mins left in the break time. Went to the loo and by the time i came back and followed the same checks time was almost complete.
Interestingly my luck was so bad that the break timer went into negative and kept taking time from the Verbal section because i was not able to proceed as the browser was not allowing me to. after multiple clicks it somehow went into the 1st question and a message kept popping .Somehow managed to answer the 1st question post that it was similar to what i experienced in quants except here proceeding to the next questions was taking around 30 mins.
IR section was okay except the calculator was slow that i preferred calculating on the whiteboard.
Next the AWA section began where the entire browser was so laggy. After every 4-5 words the editor would stop responding and i had made a habit of typing fast so by the time i would realize that it's stuck i would have typed quite a number of words. This lag was consistent throughout the section. Couldn't complete my essay too properly and i am assure i would have missed some words in between due to this glitch.
Overall I would say they are charging such a high fee for the exam but the infrastructure and the system is so poor that one should avoid. I know there are folks who never know when you will have such a worst day.
System and ISP Details:
Windows 10 laptop with 16gb ram and3 ISP providers including Airtel 4G Hotspot
Trust me you may be feel that you are prepared for the worst but if something like this happens your confidence dips down and never regains back to the same level.
At the end i received a score of
620 (Q49 V27) which is way below what i was expecting considering my previous mock scores (target score of 720+)
Veritas Free mock- 690
GMAT mock 1 -690
GMAT mock 1 -710
GMAT mock 1 -700
GMAT mock 4 -730
GMAT mock 5 - 760
GMAT mock 6 - 750
Manhattan Free mock - 700
Currently i am completely shattered after what has happened with me because there was a point in time during the exam when i was super panicked and could never control it because the issues kept on happening. I am not sure what needs to be done next but would need some advice from the experts on this.
PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!VeritasKarishmaGMATBustersGMATNinjabb