GMAT Exam

Last Saturday I went up to Draper to take the GMAT (the entrance exam for graduate business schools). It was kind of interesting how tight the security was! I almost felt like I was going into a high-security prison, or something. You have to show them your ID, and they take your picture. Then they take your fingerprints, and they even have a little device you put your hand on that reads the vein patterns in your palm. I half-expected the DNA testing to come next... :)

Then you have to pass through the security station. You have to store all your belongings in a locker. You have to (literally) turn your pockets inside out. If someone has a long-sleeve shirt, they make you roll up the sleeves to prove you aren't hiding any notes. They check your arms and hands for writing. Then they escort you through the electronically-locked doors into the testing room.

The actual testing room is triangular-shaped. Two legs of the triangle are lined with about 7 computers each separated by divider walls. Each station has video and audio recording. The third side of the triangular room is a big glass wall. On the other side of that glass wall, a man sits and watches your back the entire time you take the test. For notepaper, they don't use paper; instead, they give you a little spiral-bound notebook with about 8 laminated sheets of paper in it, and they give you an erasable marker (almost like an overhead projector pen). When you complete the test, they again check your ID, lookup your picture in their system, and take another palm vein pattern reading. Your fingerprints, photo, palm pattern, and the four hours of audio and video of you taking the test are all sent to back to GMAC with your exam answers.

Anyway, I don't have my scores for the writing section yet; those get reported to grad schools separately. But my composite for the quantitative and verbal sections was 760 (99th percentile), so I was happy about that!