Beat The GMAT a GMAT & MBA community

Hi all,
This past Saturday I took the GMAT for the second time increasing overall 20 points from my first attempt in September, from a Q49|V35|690 to a Q45|V44|710. This post is way longer than I thought it would be, so if you want to skip most of it and go down to the takeaways, feel free!

Background
I did my undergrad in Business Administration and Business Economics (double degree BBA and BS) in 2006 and have been working in Software/IT since.

Major Weaknesses
Both Quant and Verbal were big hurdles. Taking a test such as this one was very different from other tests I've taken. Without the ability to go through and answer questions I knew and come back to the harder ones, my diagnostic tests and quizzes were a disaster (480 on Kaplan and 490 on GMATPrep -- didn't finish Quant on either of them).

Resources, Review, and other Info
I searched Amazon when starting prep to see which books to get. I pretty much used Dana's recommendations as my sole buying advice for books. For everything else, I used the the BTG and GmatClub forums (though I was more active on BTG).

• Manhattan GMAT - Sentence Correction - Reviewed this book literally six times, cover to cover--Three times before the first exam and three more times before the second.
  
• Powerscore CR Bible - Went through this book three times; twice before first exam, and one more time after.
  
• Manhattan GMAT - Number Properties - Before first exam, reviewed this book twice. Reviewed once more after.
  
• Manahttan GMAT - Word Translations - Before first exam, reviewed this book twice. Reviewed once more after.
  
• Manahttan GMAT - Equations, Inequalities, & VIC's - Before first exam, reviewed this book twice. Reviewed once more after.
  
• Manahttan GMAT - Geometry - Before first exam, reviewed this book twice. Reviewed once more after.
  
• Manahttan GMAT - Advanced Quant Supplement - Wasn't able to finish all the practice sets in this book before the first exam, but had read all the material. Finished all the practice sets before second exam and reviewed it again.
  
• Manhattan GMAT CATs, OG Archer, and Thursdays with Ron videos - Watched some videos here and there before first exam, but then focused on the verbal videos before the second exam -- VERY HELPFUL! The Thursday before the second exam I was finally able to sit in on a live session. Ron is the best!
  
• Official Guide 12th Edition - Before first exam, finished all problems in the guide (but only half of the RCs). Kept track of problems in a spreadsheet, but didn't use the information in the spreadsheet as well as I should have. Reviewed hardest problems before second exam, the ones I got wrong originally, and the ones I took long on.
  
• Official Quantitative Review - Same as above.
  
• Official Verbal Review - Same as above -- didn't use the RC's at all.
  
• Kaplan Premier 2009 - Did all the timed quizzes and exams on the CD, as well as the paper diagnostics, quizzes, and tests. All the scores here are extremely lower than what I've gotten elsewhere.
  
• Pearson Objective Arithmetic (2nd Edition I think) - Used this primarily for supplemental practice on Ratios.
  
• Beat The GMAT / Magoosh questions - Got through probably 2/3rds of the questions here. This was useful as I could sit and do this in the office and not have to lug around big books. A lot of the questions I left were Easy and Medium, though some of them are still challenging. The best part about this is the fact that there are video explanations, though some of them are not as robust as I would have liked (but this was rare).
  
• Beat The GMAT 60 day study guide - Awesome guide. I was almost always behind, because I got some books late and I always tried to finish everything listed on the guide. It has links to practice CATs which I would not have known about or taken otherwise, BTG articles which are relevant to the current topics being studied and general strategies, and it is structured very nicely. I pasted everything into the same spreadsheet that I used for tracking the practice problem errors and the CAT/Quiz progress reports.
  
• Dabral Review http://www.gmatquantum.com/ - Found this literally the week before the first exam. Awesome site with wonderful video answers for all the OG and QR questions.
  
• Yellow exam board thing and marker from MGMAT - This was helpful as it allowed me to organize before hand how I would take the exam. During the tutorial of the exam, I would use the time to write down on the first couple pages my pacing strategy. I would then skip to the 9th page and write down #,A,B,C,D,E vertically and number 1-41 horizontally (1-31 and then 32-41 on a different row) for Verbal. The 10th page is where I would write down stuff for the AWA. When doing Verbal questions, my method was to write a diagonal line "/" for each incorrect answer, an underscore for possible answers "_" and a circle for my final answer. I would also note above the number the RC passages (RC1, RC2, RC3, RC4, etc.) so I would understand by the end if an RC was coming up so I would be able to judge how to manage the time.
  

Here is a link to the spreadsheet I was using:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aiis5NEZXwwedDd1SVY0NGNXMlQwOG9ZSzdoQUstQ3c
It is a modification of the BTG one and has all of the 60-day guide information (with all of the extra modifications I through in), a modified version of the BTG progress sheet and error log. Feel free to save a copy for yourself and use it / change it however you feel fit. If I were to take the exam again, I would rather use the MGMAT OG Archer tool for answering because it has a nice interface and gives good analysis on what needs work.

Pacing Strategy
For Quant:
50 min - 12th question
45 min - 15th question
25 min - 25th question
10 min - 33rd question

For Verbal:
50 min - 14th question
30 min - 25th question
25 min - 28th question
10 min - 36th question

I used the above on both exams, but on the second, I added the 15 minute intervals also http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/keeping-pace.cfm:
Quant:
60 - 7-8
50 - 12
45 - 14-15
40 - 18
30 - 21-22
25 - 25
15 - 28-29
10 - 33

Verbal:
60 - 8-10
50 - 14
45 - 16-18
30 - 24-26
25 - 28
15 - 32-34
10 - 36

Practice Test Scores
They're all over the place...I've got everything from Q19 - Q48, V29 - V45, and T480 - T750:
Test -- Quant -- Verbal -- Overall Score
Kaplan GMAT Exam 1 -- 19 -- 31 -- 480
GMATPrep Exam 1 -- 25 -- 33 -- 490
GMATPrep Exam 1 -- 47 -- 33 -- 650
GMATPrep Exam 1 -- 43 -- 40 -- 680
Veritas Exam 1 -- 45 -- 32 -- 620
Manhattan GMAT Exam 1 -- 47 -- 41 -- 720
Manhattan GMAT Exam 1 -- 46 -- 41 -- 710
Princeton Review Exam 1 -- 33 -- 32 -- 550
Kaplan GMAT Exam 2 -- 37 -- 29 -- 560
Kaplan GMAT Exam 3 -- 34 -- 36 -- 590
Kaplan GMAT Paper -- 47 -- 38 -- 650
Manhattan GMAT Exam 2 40 -- 37 -- 640
Manhattan GMAT Exam 3 -- 48 -- 42 -- 730
Manhattan GMAT Exam 4 -- 47 -- 42 -- 720
GMATPrep Exam 2 -- 48 -- 38 -- 700
Actual GMAT Exam 1 -- 49 -- 35 -- 690
Manhattan GMAT Exam 5 -- 44 -- 45 -- 720
Manhattan GMAT Exam 6 -- 48 -- 45 -- 750
Kaplan GMAT Exam 4 -- 38 -- 32 -- 580
GMATPrep Exam 2 -- 49 -- 38 -- 710
Actual GMAT Exam 2 -- 45 -- 44 -- 710

What happened on the first exam
The 2 weeks prior to the first exam I was busy taking practice CATs and reviewing the results, practicing pacing, and trying to cram as much into that time period as possible. Ron has said many times that you need at least one day off while studying for your brain to make lateral connections, but unfortunately, I was obstinate and did as much as I could every day, literally for the two months before the exam (I scheduled the exam 72 days before taking it).
For the first five odd CATs I took, I did the full thing, including the AWA essays to see how much stamina is needed. For the rest of them though, I only noted down what I would write for each one, so I would have more time to review the test afterward.
On the practice exams, I would always need the full time for Quant, and mostly always finish early on the Verbal. I never wrote anything down for Verbal -- just used to eliminate answer choices on my scratch paper and move on.

The exam was 8:00 in the morning, so I tried to take a CAT before work each day before the exam. I took maybe about four of them before wearing myself out.
The day before the exam I did GMATPrep #2 and the morning of the exam I got up and did it again; just the Quant section for more practice pacing.

The exam itself went relatively smooth. If I recall properly, I had gotten 5 RCs, which really threw off my timing on Verbal...which never really happens. Quant was tough, as always...there was a length question, a few VIC questions, a hard combinatorics/prob question, and a few hard geometry question. The rest were pretty straightforward.

I took all the breaks; I drank some water and gatorade, used the bathroom, washed my face, stretched, ate a Ferrero Rocher and a bite of a sandwich during each break.

Result: Quant was the highest I ever scored and verbal was about how I usually scored, Q49, V35, T690. If I am to be competitive at the schools I want to attend, I had to cross 700, which means raising the Verbal score.

What happened on the second exam
I scheduled the exam after the 31 calendar days from the first exam...but wanted to give some more time to finish up. I got a little lazy during the first 1/4, but started back full force when the time got nearer and nearer. The exam was scheduled for 11:30 on Saturday, which is A LOT better than 8:00 in the morning -- my brain functions much better after it's warmed up!

Leading up to the second exam, I started noting down things during RCs and CRs. I made a passage map, which I never referred to; I made it to help me understand what is going on in the passage. Some passages which seem very structured, I would fully read the first and last paragraph, the first and last lines of each other paragraph, and skim the remainder. On passages which look really "blah," I would read everything and note down the point/purpose. This really helps increase comprehension. As Ron said in one study hall, paraphrase/rephrase in a way that you would say it out loud. Most passages are neutral, but on one passage I got on the Verbal section, the author used the words "he failed to do x," and other negative type words. I wrote down "critical," and sure enough one of the answer choices said that the passage was a "critique" of something.

In Quant, I finished up the advanced sets and tried as many hard questions as I could...but this really brought my confidence down as I would take an average of 3-4 minutes on these questions. Some advanced strategies don't work on easier question types, such as the C-trap. In some cases on easier questions, C is the correct answer so there is no C-trap; but on harder questions this is usually not the case...so this type of stuff can trip you up especially when you're trying to chug through as quickly as possible. I didn't do as well on Quant as I would have hoped -- had to guess a few questions in between to keep on target, but, eh, you win some, you lose some.

Again, the day before the exam I took a practice CAT and spent time reviewing it. It was GMATPrep #2 and I scored a Q49, V38, T710. The morning of the Exam I did the usual things: showered, ate, prayed (more than usual ;-P), and reviewed as much as I could. I made an index card with things to remember: formulas, phrases, etc.. I also reviewed Chineseburned's essays and tried to memorize as much of it as possible.

One thing I wanted to mention is that on both exams, my Argument essay was the same prompt. It had to do with Protesting students and the fact that since only 200 out of the 12,000 students at the school are protesting, the majority of students are not interested in the protest and thus the legislation should not listen to the protesters. I think the fact that I got the same exact prompt tripped me up; I knew what to write about and spent more time on trying to recall the essay template and phrasing than actually writing and I ended up running short of time.

The issue question had to do with how to choose careers. I had a lot to say about that, so hopefully I'll get a 5.5.
[EDIT] Just received the official emailed score report and the AWA is indeed a 5.5.[/EDIT]

I did the same thing during the breaks this time as the last time, except I had mini Butterfingers from Halloween to eat instead of the Ferrero's .

In the end, I got a dismal Q45 but the V44 made all the difference in the world bringing the total to 710.

Key Takeaways

• Before you take a diagnostic test, review whatever basic material you can find. It will make the diagnostic a better indicator of your level.
  
• Don't neglect Verbal. More people get higher Quant scores than Verbal, making it non-beneficial, score-wise, to do the same. Do what it takes to rephrase the passage. Before reading answer choices, prepare an answer yourself.
  
• Don't focus *only* on really hard Quant problems. Be sure that you understand what the question is asking for before you start writing down anything. You never want to solve for the wrong question, because chances are high that your wrong answer will be an answer choice.
  
• Understand your weaknesses, so when it comes time to guess on test day, you know which questions you should skip in order to maximize your score.
  
• Don't worry about question difficulty -- aim to get as many right as possible.
  
• Practice everything in real life. Do mental math instead of using the calculator. Analyze people's arguments. Use phrases from the AWA templates in your emails and correspondence. Make the GMAT a part of your life and you will benefit as it will become natural.
  
• A score is just that -- a score. It's one part of your admission's package. Don't spend too much time focusing on the GMAT and overlook the rest of your application(s).
  

Thanks for all the help Ron, Vivian, Stacey, Ian, and all the other BTG Experts and Members.
Best of luck to everyone else who is currently preparing!
--Rishi