The GMAT (insert ominous music here)

Grade 10 Math and English....that's what the level of questions on the GMAT supposedly represent.

When you first start prepping for the GMAT with the prep books you think, this is easy! Especially for me. After all, I did graduate high school with honours. I signed up for a test prep course anyway, Oxford Seminars, and soon learned that it has actually less to do with your knowledge of the questions (because I do believe most of us could really solve those questions after a bit of brushing up), but more on the strategy of answering questions within the allotted time.

POE (process of elimination) and "strategic" guessing were some of the techniques taught. Many in the class were at first skeptical...until you do your first mock test.

It was ridiculous.

I honestly felt the mock test was mocking me. Playing a game of catch me if you can. But I was determined to conquer.

Many many prep hours later when the mock tests stopped mocking and started cheering, I felt ready.

I went into the test centre one rainy afternoon. They took my picture on a web cam and scanned my finger print at the registration desk. They then scanned it again just outside the test room. I'm not sure why they scanned my print twice, perhaps there are people who pull a Copperfield between the front desk and the room- a hall way of about 8-10 feet!
I entered the test room. There were a number of computer stations lined up with wooden barriers between them so you couldn't see the one next to you once you sat down. There was a window by the door I entered and the invigilator watched through there, slightly elevated. She looked like she was in a commentator's box at a sports game. I was given a few plastic pages and a couple of dry erase pens.

I began.