GMAT Test Center Review: Pearson Professional Center, Bangalore, India

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Hi Reader,

I have been out of blogosphere for a long time. I was preparing for GMAT and working on my application. These past six months have been a roller-coaster ride. I too GMAT twice. In the first attempt I scored a 680 and in the second attempt scored a 770. I will write in detail about GMAT preparation in next few posts. This post is about GMAT Test Center Review so that others can make a good decision.

I took both my GMATs at Pearson Professional Center, Dickenson Road, Bangalore, India. For those who are not aware, there are two GMAT centers in Bangalore – NTTF in Electronics City and Pearson Professional Center in Dickenson Road. I chose Pearson although NTTF is closer to my area because I had got some negative feedbacks about the NTTF Center.

I visited the Pearson Center a couple of days before my actual GMAT test day so that I don’t get lost on test day. Although the test center is located in Bangalore’s prime region, the center is still in a peaceful area. So traffic noise does not create a disturbance while taking test. On both occasions I had scheduled my exam in the morning session (9 AM slot). I reached the test center around 45 minutes before scheduled time. I had to sign on a visitors register and was asked to switch off my mobile before entering the test center. The staff was very friendly and professional. We were some 7 test takers. The lady on the front desk collected our passports gave us a leaflet to read the Terms of Agreement. She then called us one by one to take signature, photograph, and palm vein scan. I was not even asked for the print-out of the GMAT appointment confirmation. I then put my bag in the locker assigned to me. After these formalities, I was taken to test room and my palm vein was scanned again before I was allowed to enter the test room. The second lady was also friendly and professional. She explained some test center rules and gave me marker and erasable pads. During the test, I didn’t face any issues or disturbance. I took both of my 8 minute breaks. The test administrator promptly came to assist me whenever I raised my hand to take my minute break. My palm vein was scanned every time I came out of the test room and entered the test room. Washroom is just outside the test room. After I finished my test, the administrator assisted me outside the test room. I came to the front desk and collected my unofficial score report. It is important to collect your unofficial score report because the Authentication Code to assess the Official report is printed ONLY on the unofficial score report. After coming out of the test center, I had to sign again on the visitors register and then left the venue.

Overall, it was a great GMAT test experience with no problems of any kind on part of Test Center and Staff. I would highly recommend the Pearson Test Center for anyone planning to take GMAT in Bangalore. One advice for test day, Do not carry and reading material to the test center. You will not be able to assess it.

Hope this review helps. Coming up next is a snapshot of my GMAT preparation. Stay Connected..!!!

And So begins the MBA Application Season 2013-14…!!!

The journey has now started. I have been away from blogging for quite some time now as I am concentrating on GMAT. I have not yet taken my GMAT but am planning to take soon. By the way, many business schools have already posted their application deadlines and application essays for the Class of 2016. Online discussion forums like GMAT Club and Beat the GMAT are already flourishing with discussion threads of “Calling all aspirants – Target business school”. One great thing about these forums is that many successful applicants from previous year are offering their help on different business school. So if you have not visited these forum threads, do make a stop.

Last year around this time, I was a lot more relaxed just browsing through forums researching business schools. I was relaxed because I was not applying last year but this time I am hell anxious as the heat is on. Having read the essay prompts of some schools, I constantly keep thinking about the story of my life. This self introspection is eating up my brain but at the same time it’s a great feeling. I had never thought so much about me and my feelings ever in my life, at least not for such prolonged hours. I am yet to come across that a-ha moment when I find my story but hopefully I will realize it before the deadlines. For now the strategy is to concentrate more on GMAT and keep thinking through the story in spare time. On the GMAT side, I have a lot of work to do on Sentence Correction and Critical Reasoning.

I will share some GMAT strategies and Essay advice that I have collected from various people in the upcoming post. Stay Connected…!!!

Published Blog Post..!!!

A couple of months back, I had written a blog post in which I had talked about issues that an International MBA Applicant must consider while selecting business schools. The article was posted in two parts.
The two posts have been consolidated and published in the prestigious "The Graduate Advisor". This quarterly publication is published by Pericles ABLE Project based out of Moscow, Russia. My article is published on Pages 6 to 8.

Graduate advisor 28-8 from Amit Pandey

Thank You All for supporting..
On the GMAT Preparation side, I have been progressing slowly. I have a few tips to share but more on that in the next post. Stay Connected..!!!

GMAT Practice Timer

A very Happy New Year to you all. It has been long since I’ve written a post. Work and GMAT Preparations are keeping me busy. I formally started preparing for GMAT this January. I’ve even scheduled my GMAT test appointment on 24^th June. So given the amount of time at hand, I’ve to put in some extra hours on studying for GMAT.

As far as preparation material is concerned, I have started with Manhattan GMAT Strategy Guides which I borrowed from a friend. The strategy guides are very good and I started with GMAT Verbal Foundation. I have also registered for the BTG’s (Beat the Gmat) Verbal and Quant Question in mail. So far, I feel that Quant should not create a problem. My verbal is really miserable and I have to work a lot on it.

Here is one piece of help that I can do to you. I realized that while practicing for GMAT, it is very important to keep track of time. GMAT is a timed test. You get approximately 2 minutes to solve a question both on Verbal and Quant sections. When I started this journey, I struggled with keeping track of time in a precise manner. Hence, to help myself, I created this “GMAT Practice Timer” application. If you are interested, I can send you the application by mail (drop your mail id in the comments below, Don’t Worry-Your mail id is safe with me. The comments are moderated and I will not publish your comment if you wish so, just mention the same in comment). A screenshot of the application is shown below.

Enter the number of questions for practice and the time per question (that you want to schedule). Press START to start the timer. (I have put 10 questions for practice with 2 mins per question in the example screenshot below).

As soon as you press START, the start clock time of the test is recorded. After every time interval that you have specified, the number count is increased and a beep sound is played.

When the question count reaches the number of questions (as specified earlier), a message of Test Over is displayed.

Moreover, if you stop the test before finishing the time (due to some reason or the other), you can stop the test and press CONTINUE to re-start the timer from the previous position. You can also restart the test altogether by changing Questions and Time/Question.

Hope you like it and the application is useful for GMAT preparation. Just drop a comment with your mail id. I am working on a couple of more application which may be useful in GMAT practice. This is my way of giving back to the internet (GMAT) community from which I have benefited immensely. I will keep posting the progress of my GMAT preparations. Pardon me if post is not grammatically correct (I’ve just started GMAT verbal) and Stay Connected..!!!