First off, let me congratulate my buddy Elijah Nicolas. He got his Multi-Engine Private Pilot rating yesterday. We often flew together back when he was a student at UCSD (with him as my passenger). After he graduated, however, he moved to Florida and enrolled in Embry-Riddle’s CAPT program to become a professional pilot. He has since gotten his Single-Engine Private Pilot license, Instrument Rating, and now his Multi-Engine private license. The scary thing is that he now has more ratings than I have. I am very proud of you Elijah…..keep up the good work.

Anyway…..on to the GMAT. I am DONE!!! No more LSAT. No more GMAT. Nothing stands between me and China (well….other than half the world if you want to get technical).

I got to the test center about an hour early and they let me get started right away. The test center was very strange….I guess they give all sorts of computer tests from the GMAT to GRE to the nursing exam to the NASD Series 7 etc. In the room there were about 100 video cameras taping every move the people at the 15 computer terminals made. You couldn’t bring anything into the testing room. At each terminal they had scratch paper, sharpened pencils, erasers, ear plugs, over the ear noise blocking headphones, and cubicle style walls so you couldn’t see anyone else.

The environment was very quiet and everything went off without a hitch. First there were two essays. I felt decent about both of them. I finished one and 3/4 passes over the first essay and two passes over the second essay. I had better support for the first, but good support for the second. I feel confident, but will not get my essay scores for another two weeks.

The multiple choice section of the GMAT is strange in that the test gets harder or easier depending on how you are doing. If you do well, the computer starts to give you tougher questions, and if you get a question wrong, the next question is easier. You thus know that if you get tough questions, you are doing decently, and if you get 2+2=?, well….you are crashing and burning. The math question turned out to be EXTREMELY tough. I think I spent 10 minutes on one problem alone (you are given 2 minutes per problem). I knew I was doing well, but I knew I was missing questions due to the sheer difficulty of the problems. I finished the math section with 7 seconds to spare and guessed on about 5 questions.

The verbal section went well. I didn’t feel as though the questions were above my level, and while this could have been a bad thing, I knew that I wasn’t getting a bunch wrong. The reading comprehension passages were interesting which helped me stay focused while reading them. I finished the section with a TON of time to spare–about 16 minutes.

After a quick marketing survey, it spit out my score for the multiple choice sections. 81 percent scored below me on the quantitative section, 93 percent scored below me on the verbal section, and 96 % scored below me overall. When I saw this I nearly screamed out in the test center. I was SOOOOO happy to see it. I have been dancing around ever since. This will put me above the average at the 5 business schools I am going to apply to.

DONE AND DONE

Anyway, I am going to sign off and finish packing for China. My next post will be from Shijiazhuang, China!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are a few pictures I have taken around the house over the past couple of days. The first two were taken in a poorly lit room with no light other than the light from my speed light 580EX flash. The third is Mikey in a swing across the street, and the remaining ones were taken in front of the house.