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September 01, 2026
 Kushagrasarswat

Joined: Jan 09, 2024

Posts: 2

Kudos: 0

Drilling noise above the test centre throughout the duration of the exam

REVIEWER IDENTITY VERIFIED by membership [?]

Center * Pearson VUE GMAT Test Center

Location Mumbai, India

I had a very disappointing experience at the test centre. Throughout my exam, there was constant drilling/construction noise coming from nearby, which made it extremely difficult to concentrate, read carefully, and maintain my timing. The noise was particularly disruptive during the Verbal and Data Insights sections, where sustained concentration is critical. Despite consistently performing significantly better in my practice tests, I ended up scoring around 120 points lower than my usual performance. The environment was extremely distracting and, in my opinion, not conducive to taking a high-stakes standardized test. I understand that some external noise may be unavoidable, but I expected the test centre to provide a reasonably quiet and controlled environment. Overall, this significantly affected my test-taking experience and ultimately my performance. It impacted my mental health so much I couldn't recover for 10 months but am feeling like giving it a shot now..

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