Reviewing my GMAT experience (Part 2)

I don't imagine many people are interested in the minute details of how my test day went. Instead I will lay out some of my personal lessons learned, observations about test day, and other tidbits from my experience.

Some of the points here are highly geared to my personal preferences but the idea is to try and deviate from the more generic advice you've already been given/read.

• Register early for two reasons. First, it gives you a date certain by which you need to be done studying - this allows you to set in stone a study plan/schedule and acts as a goal to work towards/light at the end of the tunnel. I made the mistake of not registering very early but I already had point one taken care of - I was trying to get it over with before Christmas/New Years travel - what I missed out on is reason two. Reason two is that there are a set number of slots and you want to make sure to get one that works for you. When I registered I think a lot of Round 2 applicants were trying to get in their test as well. The only available time slot was a Saturday 8am (December 20?). Ugh. I am not a morning person.
• Scope out the test center ahead of time, especially if you're in a city. For me the test center was only a half mile walk, but it was in an office suite, with a pretty much unmarked door (small placard), at the end of a hallway, on a random floor of a nondescript office building I had never been to. Yeah, awesome. Add in a -30 degree wind-chill and 7:30am on a Saturday… well there aren't many people walking around. The building was totally deserted save for a lone security guard by the single unlocked door (of about 10 entrances). If I hadn't visited to make sure of the location ahead of time there's no way I would have found it.
• This one is more for my own piece of mind: I'm pretty sure they call you in order of when you registered… not when you check in. I had a very unnerving experience of being the first one to check in and the last one called into the testing room. Others seemed to be going in no particular order and the guy at the desk was less helpful than someone at the DMV. He did little to allay my fears that I had been forgotten as I waited until 8:20 to be called for my 8:00am test slot. Just an FYI from my own experience, no idea if it's the norm. I registered really late so I assume this is what was going on.

Now to the actual test experience

• Sound. I used the headphones provided by the test center to block out the furious keyboard tapping of other test takers. Luckily once I'm "in the zone" I can tune out almost anything. If you're more easily distracted I'd recommend doing practice tests with your own earplugs to get used to them and then bringing those to test day.

• Keyboard. I have a personal hatred of those seemingly ubiquitous black Dell keyboards with huge spaces between the keys… which is what my test center had. I can't type on them to save my life; probably about 75% of my normal speed which is frustrating during a timed essay. Thankfully I checked out the test center ahead of time and was aware of this so I did some practice at the library.
• Scratch paper. You would think this knowledge is more prevalent but I didn't find it out until well into my classroom GMAT sessions (maybe I'm just slow). The laminated yellow legal-sized notepad that the prep-class providers all give along with a crappy erasable marker? Yeah, that's what you actually get on test day. If you write small or tend to erase a lot in math, I'm sure this will wreak havoc with your math. It's also kind of awkward working with 6 pages of spiral bound legal paper.
  

I'll finish with 2 more items that are probably on every other advice article but I believe bear repeating

• Don't solve practice problems in the practice book! Use scratch paper (or the erasable notepad but you won't be able to review the problems later)! You have to use scratch paper on test day… solving problems presented on a computer screen is VERY VERY different than solving them directly in the practice book next to the problem itself. If you don't practice this ahead of time you WILL be slower and you WILL make stupid mistakes.
• Use your breaks. Go to the bathroom at each break even if you don’t think you need to. Drink a little bit of water and have a little food (almonds & a chewy granola bar for me). Being thirsty/hungry/gotta pee! are small distractions that are easily avoided - there's simply no need for them. Along with this tip I'd make sure to eat well the day before your test. Your previous day's lunch and dinner will have more of an effect than test day breakfast if you have a morning session.

Good luck!