This is from something I wrote the day I completed the GMAT:
"I'm soooooo happy! Finished an hour ago and scored a fantastic XXX, more than I was hoping for.
I took the GMAT last year for the first time and scored a disappointing XXX. Decided to put it off for a while and then a couple of months ago I booked a new appointment for last week.
Did the test last Friday but during my first break the Pearson Vue server crashed so they couldnt sign me back in the exam room. They kept on saying "don't worry, it'll be ok in a couple of minutes, you wont be penalised, the test wont start" etc etc.
Eventually they let me continue the exam after 35 (!!) minutes. Needless to say, the timer started from 50 mins instead of 75. The guy tried to add those minutes back in with some code but that didnt work. He told me to do the test anyway and assured once again i wouldnt be penalised and the score would reflect the time they made me waste.
I somehow managed to score XXX (which I was kinda happy about) but I just felt that it wasnt fair, I had to do the Q section in 50 mins and that wasnt my fault at all. I left the testing centre and they told me that Pearson would call me on Monday so that we could arrange something. Once again they told me I wouldnt be penalised in any way.
On Monday this chap calls me and basically tells me that my options are 1) keeping XXX, 2) do the full exam again (which was the last thing I wanted to do). I was soo pissed off lads, you can't imagine. Plus, my laptop broke down the day before and I couldn't even practise on CATs. I eventually decided to fix another appointment for today.
So today I went to the testing centre, thank god the guy who was there last week (the one repeating "you won't be penalised") wasn't there, otherwise I would have killed him.
This time everything went fine. Kinda felt as though the quantitative section wasnt going too well, but reassured myself thinking that if I found the questions difficult it had to mean that I was doing well. Probably did few mistakes and guessed on one or two.
The verbal section flew by and I finished with more than 10 mins left. I presume I did a few mistakes but in most of the questions it just felt as though the right answer was there flashing at me and calling me. I think the verbal is not as difficult as many people think (I'm not even a native speaker), it is just about understanding how the GMAT writers think and stay focussed (which is not easy after 3 hours....). I would strongly recommend to read carefully the RC passages and not just to skim, at least if you wanna get a high score.
When I saw XXX on the screen I wanted to scream but I couldn't of course
My preparation
Studied on the Princeton Review last year.
Used that again this year but I find some of their techniques absolutely useless, even though some of the tips they give are actually good.
I also did all the questions on the GMAT prep software.
To be honest I just started a couple of weeks before the first exam, although I booked the appointment a couple of months ago. Lazy bastard I am.
After the useless exam last week I decided to buy the OG11 and I did the 50 most difficult questions on each section this week as I couldnt practice on the GMATprep. "
well that's my story... obviously you can try to guess what the XXXs stand for... :)
