I just Beat The GMAT!

Took the GMAT 2 days ago, so haven't received the AWA score yet.

In roughly the order I tackled them over the course of 2 months:
Princeton Review Crack the GMAT - a good intro for me
CliffsTestPrep GMAT (8th Ed) - not highly recommended, but okay practice
ManhattanGMATPrep Fractions, Decimals & Percents - skip
ManhattanGMATPrep Sentence Correction - highly recommended
McGraw-Hill's GMAT - same as CliffsTest
9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Edition Official Guides - Most useful practice

4 weeks before the GMAT: 650 (online Princeton Review CAT #1)
3 weeks before the GMAT: 640 (online Princeton Review CAT #2)
2 weeks before the GMAT: ~690
1 week before the GMAT: 750 on GMATPrep CAT #1
3 days before the GMAT: 730 on GMATPrep CAT #2

2 days before GMAT: reviewed question-types I was struggling with (Data Sufficiency and Sentence Correction)
1 day before GMAT: Ate healthy, light review of flash cards, NO PRACTICE, rest, exercise

I don't really have a long story to share, but I'd say the key for me turned out to be analyzing which types of questions I struggled with and then redoubling my concentration whenever I saw them appear in practice. It definitely took some time for me to calm down and not rush through the test. If I came across a question that seemed difficult, I just took a deep breath and took the time to think it out. It meant I might have to rush on other questions, but the gamble seemed to work out in my favor at the end.

Great score, thanks for sharing... can I ask why so many OG's? Did you find that the older ones were of any help or did you see a lot of overlap in terms of the questions. I have the 11th and 12th and so far have just stuck with 12th.

How many hours per day did you study? What was your breakdown (verbal vs. quant). What is your educational background?

M.

msf995 wrote:Great score, thanks for sharing... can I ask why so many OG's? Did you find that the older ones were of any help or did you see a lot of overlap in terms of the questions. I have the 11th and 12th and so far have just stuck with 12th.

How many hours per day did you study? What was your breakdown (verbal vs. quant). What is your educational background?

M.

I just went through the OGs because I found copies at my local library and thought it was worth doing the practice problems. There were a lot of repeats, but I focused on understanding the question rather than simply remembering what the answer was. But yeah, in retrospect I don't think I gained anything new from edition to edition. What I would recommend is trying to find some OLD GMAT books (like 1990s or early 2000s) and practicing some of their problems. Especially their Verbal problems. Seemed much harder and therefore better practice.

I studied for 2 around two months. My test was on a Monday so I took practice tests every Monday at roughly the same time as I was going to take the real thing. From tuesday to saturday I would study between an hour and a half and 3 hours a day, usually dividing my practice time equally between Q and V. For Verbal, since I've taken the LSAT last year, the RC and CR questions were a breeze - I only focused on SC.

My breakdown is in the subject (49Q and 47V). I was only in the 87th percentile in Q, but earned a 99th percentile in V. I don't have a lot of business experience but spent two years working as a legal assistant at a top law firm. My education might not be a good indicator about anything: I got my BA (GPA ~3.1) from a top 3 U.S. university in history without taking any math courses, and a MSc from London School of Economics in a social science dept. (also no quant coursework). My concern is that my lack of management experience and quant background will hurt my application, but it didn't hurt my GMAT Q score very much.

Hi MastermindExcello,

Congrats on your great Score. I am sure you can show ur GMAT Q score to help you to a good extent for not having much of a quant background.

I need some advice from you on time management. I am appearing for the test in 2 weeks. So far my preparation is decent (close to my expectation) in non-timed condition. So What Strategy would you recommend for me to work on my timing for the next two weeks.

Thanks & Cheers

tomahawk003 wrote:Hi MastermindExcello,

Congrats on your great Score. I am sure you can show ur GMAT Q score to help you to a good extent for not having much of a quant background.

I need some advice from you on time management. I am appearing for the test in 2 weeks. So far my preparation is decent (close to my expectation) in non-timed condition. So What Strategy would you recommend for me to work on my timing for the next two weeks.

Thanks & Cheers

I guess for the next two weeks just make sure you're always timing yourself. Even if you don't practice a large number of problems a day, always keep track of your pace. And I'd say practice looking at problems on a desktop computer screen (it's a different experience from a laptop). Your speed tackling problems from a book is not necessarily going to transfer to a CAT. For the last week I studied, I ditched my macbook and studied exclusively off scans on a desktop computer, and I felt this definitely helped me simulate the testing environment. Lastly, I think you should just tailor your approach to your own honest assessment of your abilities. For some people, if they hit a question you really don't know how to tackle, they'll just guess and move on so as to not lose too much time. For me, I practiced enough questions that I knew which question-types I could breeze through without double-checking my work, and which questions I should really sit back and toil through, even if that meant I had to spend 4 or 5 minutes each for those questions. It was a bit of a gamble - I only finished my quant section with about 10 seconds left. Timing on the Verbal section is never a problem for me. Even if I take my sweet time on practice tests, I almost always finished 8-10 minutes early, so I never really worried about timing there.

MastermindExcello wrote:
And I'd say practice looking at problems on a desktop computer screen (it's a different experience from a laptop). Your speed tackling problems from a book is not necessarily going to transfer to a CAT. For the last week I studied, I ditched my macbook and studied exclusively off scans on a desktop computer, and I felt this definitely helped me simulate the testing environment.

Funny suggestions all around, seems the exact same(bear with this redundancy) desktop of testing center will help even further, I can only guess how much negatively the flat screen of laptop have contributed, should one also stop watching one's LCD's and start watching the TV in last days too on some desktop or desktop like TV's, so that eyes are all set to those oval looking screens. or in last few days stop looking at anything that is not oval like desktop screen.

Thanks Guys.

Also,any idea on how many of the Probablity/Combinatorics quesions are being asked on an average? I am having trouble in those areas. Any last Minute TIP/TRICKS to tackle these kind of questions (especially if they start appearing in the first 10 questions).

Thanks & Cheers

i got one permutations and one probability question...i think permutation one was in first 10...and prob was 15th or 16th

please refer my post on A to Z of PnC....believe me ...if you go through the link that i have given in that post you will kill PnC and probability...