Different kind of anxiety

[steven.sheph]

I take the test in a little more than a week. As we get close to our test date we all experience some form of anxiety. But mine is a bit different. Normally I am not that worried about tests. If I do not perform up to my expectations, I will try again.

However, I took the test 6 months ago and had a horrific experience. I don't know if I did poorly or not, or if I would have done poorly. But I do know that GMAT messed up and they refused to admit it, although they did grant me another free test. I was one of the first takers of the IR section. Whatever happened to me I hope never happens again.

About 1/2 way through the IR section I received a series of questions based on a graph I was looking at. The graph had to do with temperatures in a city. Unfortunately, all of the questions were about how much income a company made.

I raised my hand and showed the Pearson test administrator. She could not believe what she was seeing either. She called GMAT while I sat there and did nothing. Finally she came back and said, try to answer it. I put down some random bs. Anyway, you would think that it would not affect my quantitative. Then for some reason, as I started my quant section, all of the questions were ridiculously easy. I am exaggerating but they were almost as bad as 2+3=? and which one is a number.

I filed an appeal and so did the test center on my behalf. A week later GMAT responded awarding me a free retake. However, they refused to admit fault. I had studied all summer and my window to take the test was that week. So next week, I try to rectify the problem.

However, I have lost my faith in the GMAT. Every time I look at the questions I am worried that the writers answers will be wrong or they have worded the questions poorly.

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry you had such a rough test experience and I can understand why this is causing you anxiety as you get ready to take the test again.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "they refused to admit fault." Clearly, something went wrong with the software or they wouldn't have given you a free re-take. What was it that you were looking for them to say besides that? Did you finish the Q and V sections on that test, and they gave you a score - but you want them to cancel that score or something like that?

For what it's worth, I do know that IR is run on a completely separate / different software program - it's literally not connected to the Q and V software at all. It's certainly possible that, because of your experience with IR, you were predisposed to be suspicious once quant started - but the systems are completely separate.

So I can understand why GMAC wouldn't say that something was wrong with Q or V - but I also think that your experience during IR was upsetting enough that it should have been obvious anyone would continue to be shaken during Q and V. For that reason alone, they should have cancelled the test (if that's what you wanted).

For next time, remember that (a) the software is completely separate and (b) I have never heard of something like this happening on the Q or V sections. The IR was new at the time and clearly there was a glitch in the software, but the Q and V software has been running for more than 15 years now and hasn't had these kinds of problems. So even if something went wrong with IR again (which is very unlikely at this stage), just ignore it - you really only care about Q and V.

Good luck - let us know how it goes.