{"id":2826,"date":"2012-10-10T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2012-10-10T16:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/?p=2826"},"modified":"2020-01-15T10:50:26","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T18:50:26","slug":"pre-exam-procedure-for-the-gmat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/pre-exam-procedure-for-the-gmat\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-Exam Procedure for the GMAT"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As readers of the blog know, I recently took the <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/gmat-101\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">GMAT<\/a>.\u00a0 This is a brief description of the testing location and my experience with the pre-exam procedure for the GMAT, for those who have never taken it.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Pearson VUE<\/h2>\n<p>If you take an official GMAT, the location you will use is <a href=\"https:\/\/home.pearsonvue.com\/About-Pearson-VUE\/Company-information.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pearson VUE<\/a>.\u00a0 I found the Pearson employees in the downtown Oakland branch particularly friendly and supportive &#8212; those folks were great! \ud83d\ude42 Nevertheless, it\u2019s just the nature of the way we practice security in the modern world: you are subjected to an experience that is not too different from what TSA puts you through at the airport.\u00a0 You have to empty your pockets and lock everything you are carrying in a small locker. When you go to take you GMAT, carry as little as you possibly can.\u00a0 Leave anything extra at home or in your car.<\/p>\n<p>You need to have your <strong>legal picture ID<\/strong> (e.g. a US State-issued Driver\u2019s License).\u00a0 In the course of the procedure, Pearson will take your picture at the beginning, and scan the palm of your hand every time you enter and leave the testing room.\u00a0 Every time you leave the testing room, you will have to show that your pockets are empty before entering the room, and you are not allowed to carry anything into the testing room except your picture ID and the key to the locker.\u00a0 If you have any \u201clucky charm\u201d item &#8212; a rabbit\u2019s foot, a favorite small stuffed animal, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bone_oracle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dragon\u2019s bones<\/a> &#8212; forget it: it&#8217;s\u00a0going in the locker.\u00a0 You want something lucky you can take into the testing room?\u00a0 Wear lucky underwear or get a lucky tattoo!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Breaks<\/h2>\n<p>On the GMAT, you begin with the AWA (30 minutes), and that\u2019s followed immediately, without break, by the IR section (30 minutes).\u00a0 At this point, you are offered optional 8-minute break #1.\u00a0\u00a0 After this break, you take the Quantitative section (62 minutes), and then you will be offered the second optional 8-minute break before the final Verbal section (65 minutes).\u00a0 At each optional break, you can choose to work straight through, or you can choose to get up, step out of the testing room, and take your break.<\/p>\n<p>I highly recommend taking both optional breaks.\u00a0 On both my breaks, I got up and moved around a little.\u00a0 On the first, I did some stretching in the hallway.\u00a0 On both breaks, I drank some water, and during my second break, I ate an organic protein bar that I had brought.\u00a0 Food and water will have to go into the locker, but you can get your water &amp; snacks out during each break.<\/p>\n<p>Moving your body, just simply walking, gets blood &amp; lymph flowing, and introduces oxygen into your blood, which helps you think.\u00a0 Of course, throughout the test and on your breaks, it\u2019s important to keep up quiet <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/overcome-gmat-exam-anxiety-breathe\/\">slow deep breathing.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p>If you haven\u2019t taken a live GMAT before, it\u2019s good to know what to expect, and how it\u2019s different from taking a practice GMAT on your own computer in the comfort of your own home.\u00a0 Know what to expect, so all the security measures don\u2019t jar you and psyche you out on test day.\u00a0 And for actual content of the test itself, trust <a href=\"http:\/\/gmat.magoosh.com\/plans?utm_source=gmatblog&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_campaign=gmatplans&#038;utm_term=inline&#038;utm_content=pre-exam-procedure-for-the-gmat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Magoosh<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As readers of the blog know, I recently took the GMAT.\u00a0 This is a brief description of the testing location and my experience with the pre-exam procedure for the GMAT, for those who have never taken it. &nbsp; Pearson VUE If you take an official GMAT, the location you will use is Pearson VUE.\u00a0 I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10761],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13209],"class_list":["post-2826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pre-Exam Procedure for the GMAT - Magoosh Blog \u2014 GMAT\u00ae Exam<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/pre-exam-procedure-for-the-gmat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pre-Exam Procedure for the GMAT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As readers of the blog know, I recently took the GMAT.\u00a0 This is a brief description of the testing location and my experience with the pre-exam procedure for the GMAT, for those who have never taken it. &nbsp; 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Beyond standardized testing, Mike has over 20 years of both private and public high school teaching experience specializing in math and physics. In his free time, Mike likes smashing foosballs into orbit, and despite having no obvious cranial deficiency, he insists on rooting for the NY Mets. Learn more about the GMAT through Mike's Youtube video explanations.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/MagooshGMATChannel\/featured"],"award":["Magna cum laude from Harvard"],"knowsAbout":["GMAT"],"knowsLanguage":["English"],"jobTitle":"Content Creator","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/author\/mikemcgarry\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":13209,"user_id":26,"is_guest":0,"slug":"mikemcgarry","display_name":"Mike M\u1d9cGarry","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b06de81592cd77bb46aa560cc59aee179cba4d042835c3529221ea1b344cce0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"M\u1d9cGarry","first_name":"Mike","description":"Mike served as a GMAT Expert at Magoosh, helping create hundreds of lesson videos and practice questions to help guide GMAT students to success. He was also featured as \"member of the month\" for over two years at <a href=\"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/mike-mcgarrys-gmat-experience\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GMAT Club<\/a>. Mike holds an A.B. in Physics (graduating <em>magna cum laude<\/em>) and an M.T.S. in Religions of the World, both from Harvard. Beyond standardized testing, Mike has over 20 years of both private and public high school teaching experience specializing in math and physics. In his free time, Mike likes smashing foosballs into orbit, and despite having no obvious cranial deficiency, he insists on rooting for the NY Mets. Learn more about the GMAT through Mike's <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/MagooshGMATChannel\/featured\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Youtube <\/a>video explanations and resources like <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/whats-a-good-gmat-score\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What is a Good GMAT Score?<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/gmat-diagnostic-test\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GMAT Diagnostic Test<\/a>."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2826"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}