What kind of pen do they give you at GMAT test center

Question

Sorry, I tried to search for my question but couldn't find any similar post... Anyway... I heard the test center gives test takers some sort of markers that are nasty thick and instead of papaer the test center gives some sort of white board papers in binder style. In addition, some people feel totally uncomfortable using the pen and the paper.. So as my test date is coming in 13 days, I would like to practice doing questions on the GMAT pen and paper...

Can anyone who has taken the test already tell me what type of pen and/or paper it is? And where can I get it? 

Thank you very much. =)

rhyme · Answer

I cant remember the model. Just go buy a medium thickness marker and an erasable noteboard.

Though.... I really dont know why people get hung up on the pen and stuff... it makes no difference in my mind

haas_mba07 · Answer

I actually checked and looks like they give you a Staedtler Lumocolor Non-permanent 3119 Superfine black pen (9 is the code for black 311 the model#). This is a wet erase pen.
 I checked around and couldn't find one around; the next best thing to practice would be an superfine wet-erase pen. I found that the Expo Vis-a-Via black superfine wet-erase (bought it @ Staples for $5.99 set of 5), works just as well. Just make sure it is wet-erase to get out of the habit of trying to avoid the "erase-rewrite" cycle during calculations. This will also make you think before you write out anything.

laineyz · Answer

I took the test yesterday. They give you a black marker. It is like the crayola markers (the line ones). but it dries out real fast. The board is a spiral bound notebook with about 6 pages in it. You can write on the front and back. However being left handed I got black marker all over my arm. There is no gum chewing, no watches, no braclets. I am used to my keyboard being on a tray. This test center it is on the desk. I am short so to have my chair up where my wrists were not hurting (beginning of carpal tunnel) my feet were going to sleep. Then they are video recording you. I think if I knew all of this I would have felt better. I didn't I felt like a prisoner.

Therefore I bombed my test!!

I hope this helps! :gl

ensheep · Answer

Actually, the only thing I am concerned is:
1) the thickness of the pen-it matters if the pen is so thick that not only it occupies white board space but also it is not easy to be used for heavy calculation. 

I tend to do a lot of calculation in math and do find it faster than some techniques such as plugging in or POE. If the pen is too thick then i might need to change my way taking math.

I heard the board is 8 x 14 legal size... I will purchase the pen today and start practicing.....

I just don't get it though, to prevent someone recording any GMAT questions on paper, they may just used thicker paper or thin cardboard so that the paper/board size is big enough to sneak it out of the test center. In this case, people can still use regular 0.5mm ballpen. Why do they have to change both the pens and paper which gives a headache for many test takers (from what I have been told)??? No one is going to erase any writing during the test anyway.... arghhh!

At last, thanks for the info!!!

afrofrasian · Answer

the ink tends to stick to your hand while doing it they might let you bring some tissue in

chudik · Answer

As far as i know they do not permit to take any pen, pencils, paper with you. I have got 3 pencils in case one is broken. It was o.k.

Gauss · Answer

if u take the test in Rome they give u a regular pen with paper

hrowaihy · Answer

the reason for using the laminated paper and pens are :

To save Money from buying millions of papers to all the test takers
and if one said let them raise the fee from 250 to 260 to get us the normal papers and pens

the greater reason is to help the environment. How , cuz the more normal paper they need the more trees are cut. same reason when u go to a restroom and not find papers after u wash ur hands , u find a DRYER.

this reason will be beside the idea of copying questions.

ensheep · Answer

good point w/ the saving paper... maybe GMAC ought to stop charing us for the GMAT review books and use eletronic versions.. That would be much more effective in environmental protection :lol:

TandooriKnight · Answer

The pen does make a bit of a difference.In my case it was more of a unnecsary worry as I had bought the manhattan scratchpad and pen. The   over there shipped me the s tip pen instead of the f tip pen. Writing with the s tip sucks and I hated everytime I used my scratch paper because the s tip's thickness while writing is not consistent. Writing with the f tip is much easier so no need to worry about it too much. It is more of a nice to have rather than a mandatory experience but it does make the practice test more realistic.

From what I have heard The GMAC does not do it to save paper. The paper savings are trivial compared to the integrity of the gmat exam. Since paper is easier to smuggle out you can have people write down the exam questions and take them out. This is especially seen to be a problem in Asia. In order to minimize cheating they instituted this new practice. I would think having the answer sheets shredded immediately after the exam would be sufficient to prevent people from taking out the exams. I personally would like to use paper over the pad since I dislike the scratchpad but it is something you get used to it I guess.

bpeyster · Answer

Manhattan sells an exact replica of the book and marker. Look around their site and it's on there.

DarkMight · Answer

Hi

Does anyone have an idea how the situation presents today as this post is from 2006?

Greets

Registero

laserglare · Answer

its this exact marker...black and superfine...
this is the cheapest place you can get it (correct me if i'm wrong)
https://www.artstuff.net/Staedtler-Lumoc ... rkers.html

they are 1.67 each but shipping is like 5 dollars so you should buy like 10 at a time to make it worth it lol

DarkMight · Answer

Great, thank you very much. One thing less to worry about on the test date

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What kind of pen do they give you at GMAT test center

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