Kill me! (hic!) Kill me! (hic!)...
Oct 05 '00 (Updated Oct 11 '00)
Like the lemmings, I have embarked on a process that is destined to kill me. Unlike the lemmings, I don't get to go swimming when it's done. I am taking the GMAT.
As anyone who has prepared to go to business school knows, the GMAT exam is one of the most dreaded parts of the application process. Like the SAT, the GMAT is an exam required by every school prior to admission. Unlike the SAT, the bulk of the exam is extremely counter-intuitive.
The Educational Testing Service (ETS) switched the exam from a paper-based test to a computer-based test several years ago. No problem!, I thought, I spend most of my life on computers, so this should actually be easier for me! I could not have been more wrong.
WHAT THE EXAM LOOKS LIKE:
The exam comprises three parts: the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA), the Verbal section and the Math section. You are allotted one hour for the AWA, and 75 minutes each for the Math and Verbal sections. The Math section has 37 questions, which gives you around two minutes per question. The Verbal section has 42 questions, so time is slightly crunched, but if you pace yourself you can do well. The format of the exam is two questions for the AWA, which are two typed essays that you compose on the spot, followed by the Math and Verbal sections in no particular order. For the Math and Verbal sections, questions are presented one at a time on the screen. You can not skip any questions, you can not go back and you can not skip ahead!! No other aspect of the GMAT has caused me as much fear as this.
A CHANGE IN TEST-TAKING STRATEGY IS REQUIRED:
When I took the SATs (oh my gosh! It was eight years ago!!), I had a great strategy. Since you got one point (raw) for each correct answer, no points deducted or gained by skipping a question, and one-quarter-of-one-point deducted for incorrect answers, I had a plan! As soon as the proctor fired the starting gun (I think that's what they used… it's been a while) I would plow through whatever section I was on, answering as many questions as I could, as quickly as I could. Then I would double back and try to work on the questions I couldn't answer straight off of the bat through to the end, and lastly, I would try to spend all of my remaining time on the questions I was having trouble with. My plan worked out very well, and I wound up with a 1460.
The GMAT is formatted and scored completely differently from the (old) SAT. The AWA is a two-part writing section, and is taken first out of the three sections of the GMAT. Each section takes 30 minutes and is broken into a Critical Reasoning and an Analysis of an Argument. One question is presented for each section, and you have a half-hour to write a clear, concise essay for each. The Critical Reasoning portion gives you a statement on which you must take a position (like abortion, to give an extreme example). You are graded on your ability to effectively persuade the reader on your position, the quality of your writing and the structure of your essay. The Analysis of an Argument section presents a quotation, which you must judge and comment on its persuasiveness. You are not judged on whether or not you agree with the quotation, but rather, how well you break apart the argument and critique it. Each AWA is graded one through five, and your total score is an average of the two essays' scores.
Now the Verbal and Math sections. These scare the heck out of me! The new computer format means that I can't breeze through the questions I know and return to the harder ones, SAT-style; it requires a whole new strategy. As I said above, you can't skip questions, and you can't go back. You receive a raw score for the Verbal and Math sections, which then converts into a total grade of 200-800 along with your percentile (the percentage of people who scored lower than you did on the exam that day). The scoring is actually pretty complicated, and relies on how hard the question is that you answer for your last question. Huh??? Let me explain…
THE GMAT SCORING, EXPLAINED IN A NUTSHELL:
The exam starts out with a medium-difficulty question, as judged by the ETS. If you get it right, your next question will be slightly harder. If you get it wrong, your next question will be slightly easier. If the questions appear to get easier, that means you have answered the last few questions wrong, but they will begin to pick back up in difficulty if you start to answer the questions right. The more questions you get right, the harder the questions become (in a shorter time!), and your final score is based on the difficulty rating of the final question you answer before time is up. Whew!
The best strategy trick I have learned is that the bulk of your score is determined in the first five questions. Why? I have no idea. But if you get the first five questions correct, you can guarantee yourself a score of at least 600 (the average is 500, and the average score at top schools is around 680).
WHY DID THEY DECIDE TO CHANGE THE FORMAT? THE OLD ONE SEEMED TO WORK SO WELL!!
The advantage to the computer-based exam is that you get your score immediately. As soon as you finish, your score is presented on the screen. The AWA takes about three weeks to grade, and you receive that, along with your official score-sheet, in the mail in two-to-three weeks. Another advantage is that now you can take the exam in any city (usually at a Sylvan Learning Center) on any day during the last three weeks of any month, at almost any time of day. Previously, it was scheduled only four times a year, so scheduling your exam became very hard.
TIPS, TRICKS AND SIGNING UP:
Make sure to sign up for a test-prep class! It does not have to be a "name-brand" class like Kaplan or Princeton review. You can save many hundreds of dollars by calling your local college and seeing if they offer a GMAT review-class. I am in the Process of taking the Princeton Review and you can find my review at:
http://mawrter.epinions.com/educ-review-2B6A-8B5BA7D-39DD33A5-prod1
Also, make sure to call early to schedule! Believe it or not, although they offer year-round testing, it can be hard to find a slot that jives with your schedule. The exam costs $190, and is best paid for by credit card so that you can schedule immediately when you call. (800) GMAT-NOW. My advice is to go to the GMAT web site (http://www.gmac.org) to find the closest center to you and call the center directly. I had been told to call the 800-number (which I did), and I was scheduled at 8:00 a.m. on October 23rd (the exam lasts four hours and you have to be there a half-hour before!). I am not a morning person, so this upset me, but not nearly as much as when I found out that if you call the center directly, you get to pick the time of day! I tried to reschedule for later, but it costs $40 to reschedule and there were no open time slots later that day. Oh well! Also, no coffee - or any drinks or food for that matter - are allowed in the testing room, and they provide you with "official" scrap paper for the questions.
The exams are hard. Very hard! The worst part is how counter-intuitive some of the answers are! However, with enough practice, anyone can get the hang of how the ETS test-writers think. If you are taking the GMAT, good luck! If not, congrats! You are smarter than I! :)
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