710 - and still a tad bit disappointed!!!!!

Cybermusings

After 2 months of posting relentlessly on this website, and pestering Stacey and Jay for explanations, I finally gave my GMAT today. I raked up a 710. Frankly, when I started off, I used to be starry eyed about breaking into the elite 700+ club. However, even after a 710 I am not too satisfied. Very Happy

Anyways, I got an aggregate 94 pecentile. The AWA section went awesome.. Guess what? I got the same topic in " Analyse an argument" as the moderator had posted on the webiste. Needless to say I was thrilled to bits.

I had been running a temperature since yesterday, and the 16 degrees temperature within the Testing Center made things very uncomfortable for me. However, the 2 10-minute breaks and some aspirin kept me going Smile

The 2nd question in the Maths section was pretty challenging, and so was the 3rd one. I am sure I goofed up, atleast in one of them. Things went downhill as I went nervous and anxious, struggling with the timelines.

Believe me I was 100% sure I would score in the 600-640 band. However, I pulled up my socks for the verbal section. As someone earlier rightly pointed out, GMAT verban section comprises of well-organized passages and critical reasoning paragraphs. Be sure to practise from PowerPrep and the OG 11

Some quick tips from my side

1) Wear comfortable clothing and try to carry anti-glare vision glasses. 4 hours of staring at the screen gets very tiresome

2) Stay composed during the exam. Never get nervous if you goof up one question (learn from my mistakes!)

3) Always take one Question at a time. Even if you've goofed up your last one, detach yourself from it and move on. Don't let it bother you. Believe me you can swing 20-30 points in your favour with this approach

4) Have a hearty meal before your exam (not a sleep inducing one though). You don't want to dream about sandwiches while you're at a tough DS Question Smile

5) Don't let the scratch pad issue bother you. Personal experience

6) Don'e ever obssess yourself with one single topic. I did this mistake with permutation. At the end of the day 37 questions would be drawn from 15 different topics!

7) Post religiously on this forum!!!! I joined in late March and I saw great benefits. You get to share alternative approaches and consequently prune time. Stacey offers excellent advice. Moderators are great too....

In the end a special thanks to JayHawk...He's been very kind with all his great explanations!!!! Thanks mate

All the best preparing...And remember if I can rake in a 710 after messing up so much...You can too! Very Happy

P.S : I'll give a debrief about the practise tests and study material used later....I am ravenous right now!!!

f2001290 · Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 4:55 am Post subject:

Hey Cybermusings

Congratulations on your score !!! I feel a person of your calibre deserve a 750+!!!

Prasanna · Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 5:31 am Post subject:

Congrats Cybermusings. Great score. You deserve more though.

gabriel · Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 8:49 am Post subject:

... cheer up cybermusing ... 710 is a good score ... good enuf for the top schools ... best of luck for ur application process ...

PS .. hope to see ur continued participation in the forum ...

jayhawk2001 · Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 9:01 am Post subject:

Congrats on your great score, Cybermusings ! 710 is a good score.

Great to see your tips as well.

beatthegmat · Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 9:40 am Post subject:

Cybermusings:

Congratulations! I'm super thrilled to see your joining the 700 club. Thanks so much for your contributions to date--I think your 500+ posts in 2 months is a record!

Best of luck to you!