GMAT: My first experience and few tips
Hello!
I decided to separate all my stories about study, and created a new publication.
Today, as my memory still fresh, I will share with you my experience with GMAT exam.
What is GMAT
GMAT is Graduate Management Admission Test, which is very important for people who want to do MBA, or applying for Management departments. GMAT costs 250$, and once you paid the exam fee, you will not able to get a full-refund, just partial one. And for every action (change the date, cancel or reinstate score etc) you will need to pay. There is nothing for free in GMAT.
GMAT consists of 4 parts: Quantitative reasoning, Verbal reasoning, Integrated reasoning, Analytical writing. In GMAT exam, you can choose the sequence in which you would like to solve the test.
GMAT is an adaptive test, so it is very important to choose correct answers on first questions, so then you will get harder questions, and it means that if you response correctly on them, you will get higher score. So, try to focus on the beginning part.
Also, it is very important to provide answer at each question, even if you don’t know the solution. Because for the questions with no answer you will get penalties: minus in score.
How did I study
First of all, I had less than 2 weeks for preparation, and of course I didn’t study 24/7. I was super far from it. Due to my lazy nature. Furthemore, I graduated high-school many years ago, and I forgot almost all math theories, formulas, basics. And, my English is far from perfect too, especially grammatical part.
So, from my personal experience I recommend to try to solve the sample test, so you will understand the basics of exam, and learn what are your weak and strong parts. My experience showed that all parts are my weak parts haha just kidding, it was surprising, but almost all answers from sentence correction part were correct. I assume that I was lucky enough.
Here so useful links, books, programmes, mobile apps articles…whatever, what I used while preparing for the GMAT exam.
- Official GMAT Prep. Everyone who applied for exam, get a free exam prep pack, which consists of 90 questions, 2 sample tests. I like that after solving the sample test, you can check your incorrect answers, and the right solutions.
- GMAT FREE. It is a very nice site with a lot of useful information.
- The Economist — GMAT Tutor. This is an online tutor from The Economist. Actually, I would call it online-lessons. They provide a free-trial version for 7 days, and then you have to pay in order to use it. I didn’t pay. As I already told you, I didn’t have much time to study. In GMAT Tutor you can learn some cool tips, also there is 1 free sample test. And a good thing is that, there is a tutor, and if you have any questions, you can ask him/her.
4. GMAT formulas. I didn’t this source a lot, but I revised some maths formulas here. Well, if be honest I forgot almost all algebra and geometry, which I loved and studied at school…
5. GMAT Club. It is a forum, where you can find everything about GMAT. Some solutions, tips, advises, feedbacks. Or even ask any question which is related to GMAT.
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6. Different GMAT books. I didn’t buy hardcopies, I just download these books from internet, and now I am sharing them with you. Feel free to use it.
7. GMAT App by Edu Rev. It is not perfect, but still very useful. They have many different questions, tests.
Exam date…
My exam was at 8AM, and it take me about an hour to get to exam place. So I woke up at 5AM, prepared and went to a subway station.
It is important to arrive to exam taking place 30 mins before exam starts, so I had to be there at 7:30 AM.
When I arrived there, a lady checked my name, opend a door, which is locked. When they gave me a list with rules, restrictions, punishments etc. I got a order number, and was waiting when another lady will call me. When my turn came I showed my passport, they check it. Checked the name, number, is it correct with one I provided on the website. Then, if I am agree with all rules, I need to sign the agreement. Everything is proceeding digitally. There is a pad for digital sign. After I signed the agreement, they took a picture, and then registered my palm vein pattern.
Why do they do it? You will need to scan your palm vein pattern whenever you enter or leave the classroom.
Before entering the classroom you have to leave all the belongings in the locker. Include braceletes, rings, earings, everything. All you can take with you is your passport.
Before entering the classroom they check your pockets, hands. If you are wearing glasses, they check them too.
They provided me a plastic pad with markers, which I can use during exam, and return it when exam will be done.
You can choose up to 5 universities, where you wish your scores will be sent. It is free on exam day, but it will be not free, if you do it online later.
There is 8 mins optional break after each section of exam. But whenever you leave or enter the classroom, you need to pass a security check: your pockets, scan your palm etc. So at the end, you will have less than 5 mis break. If you are late, the delayed time will be deducted from your actual exam time. In one word, you will get time penalty.
In total exam takes about 210 mins. So I decided to not use breaks, and just stayed sitting in front of computer, and kept solving the test.
My last section was Analytical Writing Assessment, which takes 30 mins. I couldn’t finish it properly, and didn’t click ‘Next’ bottom, so I was scared that the score will be 0, but they said that it is saving automatically, so no worries are needed. When you finish the test, you will have 2 mins to choose whether accept your scores or not. If you decline it, but then changed your mind, you will need to pay 25$ to reinstate it. If you accept your score, you will get a printed copy of your non-official score. The official one will be available in 2 weeks after exam day.
My score was higher than I estimated, but lower than I wished ahah. And there is no way for me to get admission to the World TOP Business schools haha
So, Good luck with your studies!
