I’m Taking the GMAT in 12 Hours

It’s 9 p.m., Friday night. In 12 hours I will be starting the GMAT. The studying is over, and now all I have to do is get to sleep, wake up, and get to the testing facility. I’ve taken the GMAT before, and I’ve taken some practice tests so I know more or less what to expect. What I don’t know, of course, is what I’m going to get on it. I’m fairly confident I’ll get over a 600, somewhat confident I’ll get at least a 650, but I’m hoping I can get close to or break 700.

Although I got a 640 on the GMAT before I’m more nervous this time around. The first time was something of a fluke. I took the test without studying because I knew I could retake it if I needed to. This time I won’t be retaking it, so it’s all or nothing. Plus, I’m a lot more rusty on the math than I was six years ago, and I feel like I have a harder time concentrating on the verbal parts than I used to. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I don’t read long books anymore, I just read short bits of news here and there. Rarely do I ever read something that requires more than 5 seconds of concentration.

What’s interesting about blogging about all this is that no one will read any of this until the results are already known. Just think, as I’m writing this I’m completely stressed out, feeling like my destiny is on the line, and yet as you read this the decision about whether I have been accepted to Harvard or not has already been made.

I also find it interesting how stressed I am about the GMAT, and yet I’m not stressed about the essays. The GMAT is certainly not as important. In fact, some people have told me the GMAT doesn’t matter much at all to Harvard. That is, as long as you’re competent on the GMAT, you’re fine. I don’t know how true that is or not, but I think it has something to do with it being a hard number. The essays are more touchy feely and subject to human interpretation whereas the GMAT is just a single number.

Well, we’ll see how I do. Next post in about 16 hours. If you’ve got a machine that sends positive karma backwards in time crank it up.

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It’s over. Done. I arrived a half hour before-hand as recommended and checked in. They have a finger-print scanner which is something new since the last time I took the test.

The test started out with two essays. I felt like they went ok, although it’s amazing how fast a half hour can go by. I feel like when I’m blogging I write a lot more in a shorter period of time, although I don’t feel like I’m trying hard to write.

After the essays came the math, of course. What I have to say about the math is this–it’s very, very much like the questions on the official practice tests. Not that there were the exact same questions, but the same type of stuff. I ended up being short on time and had to guess on the last 3-4 questions. Argh. But I spent more time making sure I got the first questions right since they count for more overall points.

Then came the verbal. I found it easier than the practice tests, although whether that’s because they were easier in reality or they seemed easier because I had been studying I don’t know. I felt like I took my time on the verbal section, and yet I finished with almost a half hour of spare time. Man, I wish I could have used that same time on the math portion.

So how did it all work out?

Scaled Score Percentile
Quantitative 39 58
Verbal 49 99
Total 710 94

The 710 is the main score, and yes, I’m pretty happy, and relieved. I wasn’t surprised by the math score at all, it’s about what I was expecting. I was quite surprised to have ended up in the 99th percentile on the verbal. I guess I only missed one question or something.

Hopefully that will be enough to outweigh my lower than preferable GPA from college (3.23) and show that academically I can do just fine. I was feeling that if I got around a 650 it might be a stretch but hopefully it would be enough, over a 680 would put me on safer territory, over a 700 would be dandy, and over a 720 would be impressive. As it turns out I feel pretty dandy about the score. Hopefully Harvard will as well, although of course the GMAT is only one of many factors and I have a feeling it doesn’t matter all that much. I suspect all this will really do is make them say “Ok, he can do ok academically, now let’s look at those essays…”

I celebrated by going out and skateboarding for four hours. If I had been able to land that switch heelflip up the step-up that would have topped off the day perfectly, but I guess you can’t have everything.