Score Question & Test Center Woes

[nadair]

Three questions after taking the GMAT for the first time today...

(1) The text in one of the quant questions was cut off on the computer screen. I raised my hand and told the proctor about it, but he said that he couldn't do anything. Is it possible (or probable) to successfully raise this to GMAT's attention and get the question thrown-out?

(2) The proctor was horrible about paying attention. It seemed like every time I raised my hand for a new scratch pad, it took him at least one minute to respond (which distracted me from the test and wasted time). I'd rather not have to deal with the proctor at all, but I tend to use a lot of scratch pad. Is there any way to get more than one scratch pad prior to starting the test so that I don't have to raise my hand wait for him to finish his donut?

(3) I took the test and scored a 550 without studying (except for looking over a basic essay strategy guide). I now have all the Manhattan books and plan on studying up. One, is it feasible to improve my score to a 700? Two, how much time should I spend studying prior to taking the test again. I took the test to get a baseline and I would like to attend Kellogg or Booth.

[StaceyKoprince]

(1) The text in one of the quant questions was cut off on the computer screen. I raised my hand and told the proctor about it, but he said that he couldn't do anything. Is it possible (or probable) to successfully raise this to GMAT's attention and get the question thrown-out?

Yes, you should contact GMAC and file a formal complaint immediately. For future (and for others reading this), you can file a complaint at the test center itself and you should do so - get the system rolling right away. (After the test is over, of course.)

You should mention in your complaint that you brought this to the proctor's attention and that the proctor both said he couldn't help you and didn't suggest that you file a complaint - basically, he didn't help at all.

Is there any way to get more than one scratch pad prior to starting the test

No, we're only permitted to have one pad at a time. Raise your hand when you still have some room left - at a point where you can let the pad go when they come in (eg, you don't have 5 lines of calculations and you need one more line to finish when they want to take the book).

Also, practice using your scratch pad more efficiently. You have 9 legal-sized surfaces and 37 quant questions, which means you can use a quarter of a page for each question. That's a lot of space, if you use it efficiently. Then, you don't have to change during the quant section - you can change at the break. Ditto for verbal - you have just under a quarter of a page per question, on average.

One, is it feasible to improve my score to a 700?

Sure - there are plenty of people who start out in the mid-500s "cold" and then get up to the high 600s or 700 after they study. Not everybody will, of course - you have to do the work and you have to do the work well in order to get to a 700. You'll need to read up a bit on how best to study (there are lots of posts you can examine here and there are also a lot of good resources at www.beatthegmat.com) and choose the tactics / techniques that you think will be best for you (your strengths and weaknesses, your learning style, etc).

Most people looking to go from 550 to 700 take somewhere between 2 and 4 months to study - depending, obviously, on how much work you do, how frequently you study, and the kind of progress you make over time.

You'll also obviously have to factor in any deadlines if you're planning to apply for this year - but I'm guessing not because we're already pretty late in the application season for US full-time programs.

Good luck - let us know how it goes!