The GMAT girl and why I scored (only) 760

Disclaimer: By using the word "only" in the title of this post, I do not intend to convey that on the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), 760 is a low score. It's a phenomenal score, as anyone in the GMAT/MBA sphere will testify. The only reason why I've called 760 as "only" is that I had strongly hoped for a 780 (based on my performance in the over 40 practice tests, etc., I took).


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I first heard her voice when I called up at Jetking, Chandigarh a couple of weeks back (to get some information on GMAT). When I kept down the phone, I remember feeling both good and surprised. How can someone talk so nicely? How can someone give you information so politely and sweetly? Wow, I thought.

Then I forgot.

I heard her the second time when I called up at Jetking a few days back (GMAT, again). I remember feeling good and surprised once again. How in the world can someone be so soft-spoken? Someone whose voice shows so much real concern. I was impressed.

Then came the judgment day - 30-Sep-10. I went to Jetking, Chandigarh, and as soon as I saw her, I was like 99% sure that it's her (even before I had heard her voice). She was wearing blue jeans and a green top, and when she asked me to sit on the chair in front of her, I knew it was her. She's one of the sweetest and politest and loveliest females I've ever seen in my life. I won't call her a woman, but she's not a girl either. Perhaps she's what Britney says - Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman. I was mesmerized, and her concern helped to lower the slight nervousness that had dawned upon me before the test. She looked at names of the five schools I had written on a piece of paper, and gave a childlike surprised gesture. Then, for the next ~4 hours, she helped me in every way a responsible test-administrator should. She would notice on her monitor that my scratchpad is about to finish, and would proactively supply me with a new one (but she never broke a single rule). She helped me through the navigation screens. She probably noticed the weird gestures I emanate whenever I give a test (I tend to do weird-looking actions whenever I'm doing a test), and perhaps thought of me as a madman, but when she printed my Unofficial Score Report, like a child with a curious twinkle in her eyes, like a deer with big, baby-like eyes, she curiously gazed at the Report, and with a gleam in her eyes, she exclaimed "760? Wow!". However, to her dismay - and now I feel sorry for dismaying such a helpful, innocent and nice girl - I gave a repulsive reply that I had expected 780 (to which she apparently didn't know what to say).

Then, I reminded myself something and hurriedly left the scene, singing, once again:

"But it's time to face the truth, I will never be with you"

I'm no painter, and I can't draw her. I can only say that she looked something like each of these five photos.

All photos shamelessly copied without permission...

Oh, I forgot to write why I (probably) didn't score 780. During the Quantitative section, the test-room was very cold. And I faced quite a lot of difficulty because of this cold and it probably took a toll on my performance. She had probably noticed me shivering because she turned off the air-conditioning system during the break between Quantitative and Verbal, and my Verbal went great!