730 in GMAT today..

[shounakparida]

Hi I am shounak parida. I used this forum extensively for my gmat preparation. I took the GMAT today (26 April 2008) and scored a 730. I am happy with my score and here goes my debrief.

Background


The Preparation

I referred the following books for my prep

Kaplan Gmat (Premier program)
Kaplan 800
Manhattan RC guide
OG 11th edition

I started with the Kaplan Premier book and found it really helpful in the verbal part. Kaplan strength lies in verbal and the math part is not at all representative of real gmat tough problems. After finishing this book I took the first Kaplan Gmat provided in the CD. I got a 610 but was not shocked; thanks to this forum I came to know that the Kaplan Gmat scores are actually off the mark by about 70 points. I gave the other tests and my highest score was 650. The Problem with Kaplan Quantitative part is that it is very predictable and does not throw any real surprises; rest assured you will have quite a few surprises in the real GMAT. In Kaplan tests I used to finish quant 10-15 minutes before time something which will never happen on a actual gmat.

The next book I referred was Kaplan 800. This book is good for the verbal part but I found it lacking in the quantitative part. I had a very low hit rate in verbal questions but I was okay with it, rather make mistakes while practicing as long as I don�t make the same in the real GMAT. I followed the advice given in this forum and dutifully maintained a notebook for SC which contained all the idioms and other pointers. I revised this on my way to work and trust me continuous practice and revision is the only way to get around the SC part.

My hit rate was improving in SC but RC and critical reasoning were still giving me a lot of trouble. So I went to Amazon.com and ordered the Manhattan RC guide and the OG 11th edition. I found the Manhattan RC guide to be decent but nothing great. Frankly speaking RC is very difficult to improve upon if you aren�t a regular reader the best thing to do is to read newspapers and magazines. But buying the Manhattan RC guide was not a bad decision because with it came the 6 online tests which are really awesome! I cannot praise Manhattan enough for the tests. They are really identical to the GMAT tests and give scores which are really representative of your ability. I scored 700 on the first test but quantitative section did give me a few problems and I could just about scamper home in the last minute. This is the good thing about Manhattan ,the quantitative section is tough and does throw a few surprises which will take a hell lot of time to solve. My Manhattan Gmat scores are given below.

FREEGMAT Verbal � 36 Quant � 49 Overall - 700
MGMAT1 Verbal � 33 Quant � 48 Overall � 670
MGMAT2 Verbal � 33 Quant � 49 Overall - 670
MGMAT3 Verbal � 38 Quant � 51 Overall - 730
MGMAT4 Verbal � 36 Quant � 51 Overall - 710
MGMAT5 Verbal � 41 Quant � 51 Overall � 750

The OGstopwatch is also a great feature to use and very convenient too. You can download the results to a msexcel spreadsheet and do an analysis of your weak points, another Gem from Manhattan.

The last book I did was OG 11th edition. I was pressed for time and just concentrated on critical reasoning and SC. For critical reasoning its best to start doing the problems from question number 50 onwards if you are pressed for time. The initial questions are very easy and can be skipped. The SC part though must be done completely . I could not practice the RC or the quantitative part from OG and can�t comment on it. Overall a good book to practice and please use the Manhattan OG stop watch to keep track of time while doing the problems.

Read the AWA part from the OG and see a few topics, read the 6 score essays and try a few topics. Remember 30 minutes is not a very long time and writing a structured essay does take some effort. Please find time and practice at least two so that you don�t get caught unawares on the test day.

The actual test

The AWA topics were pretty routine and I could write a decent essay in the given time. I again emphasize that one must at least practice two essays before the test day. I am normally good at creative writing but analyzing an issue and argument is not my forte.

The Quant section was moderate, the test did throw a few surprises at me but thanks to Manhattan Gmat I was prepared to handle them . Please do not get stuck in a problem, GMAT is also a test which tests whether you have the ability to let go of a problem if you can�t crack it in time. I scampered home with 32 seconds left on the clock. I took a 6 minute break, and then went in to battle the verbal section.

The Verbal section was moderate too. Remember you will make a few mistakes on RC and critical reasoning even though you have practiced enough. This is because your perception might not match the person�s who prepared the question. This is not to say that one can neglect RC and critical reasoning but that one must be prepared to let go of a tough one. Sentence correction is an area which one must try to make amends especially if one is weak in RC and critical reasoning. The advice to maintain a small notebook of grammar patterns, idioms etc which I got from this forum made sure that I did not falter here.

I finished the verbal with 20 seconds left on the clock, and waited for my result with my eyes shut tight. I opened my eyes and saw �730� and the last two months flashed before my eyes, all those days where I got up at 5:00 am to study, revising my notes while on a crowded train, rushing back from office to put in a few hours of study , spending my weekends studying instead of enjoying myself. Well I said to myself-- It finally did pay off. I took my score sheet thanked the people at Pearson Vue and stepped into the Boston sunshine full of confidence ready to go for my dreams.

[mleviko]

Congrats!

[abhaypratapsingh]

How did u prepare for CR ?
Any suggestion will be of great help.

[shounakparida]

I did the following for CR

Completed Kapland premier program CR exercises; these are of moderate level.

Completed Kaplan 800 CR exercises;These are tough but make for good practice.

Finally I did the OG 11 cr exercises. The first sixty odd problems are easy and the difficulty level increases from there on.

Make sure you complete the OG 11 CR exercise properly.. This should be enough