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by Tame the CAT » Sun Mar 04, 2007 6:26 pm
Hi All,

It's my very first post. Alittle about me. I wouldn't necessarily consider myself a very intelligent person nor a natural writer but I did get solid grades on exams and essay's (generally speaking) in college. However, I had to study hours upon hours and edited my essays a dozen times or more. In order to excel like some people, I had to prepare a lot more. The few times I did not prepare, I either did average or got killed.

After some grueling months at work, I now have time to commit to studying for the GMAT. I just took my first class at Manhattan GMAT yesterday and took their practice exam and got killed. Scored a 500. The timing just totally messed me up. Initially, I got distraught. Then I remembered, I didn't even study.

The only reason I took it this early is because I had to for class. I am very competitive, so I need to do much better.

I will post a blog on here in every two weeks.

QUESTION:

For the people who scored 600+ on the practice test - how long did you study for? And how many hours per day & days per week??
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by beatthegmat » Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:08 pm
Tame the CAT wrote:Hi All,

It's my very first post. Alittle about me. I wouldn't necessarily consider myself a very intelligent person nor a natural writer but I did get solid grades on exams and essay's (generally speaking) in college. However, I had to study hours upon hours and edited my essays a dozen times or more. In order to excel like some people, I had to prepare a lot more. The few times I did not prepare, I either did average or got killed.

After some grueling months at work, I now have time to commit to studying for the GMAT. I just took my first class at Manhattan GMAT yesterday and took their practice exam and got killed. Scored a 500. The timing just totally messed me up. Initially, I got distraught. Then I remembered, I didn't even study.

The only reason I took it this early is because I had to for class. I am very competitive, so I need to do much better.

I will post a blog on here in every two weeks.

QUESTION:

For the people who scored 600+ on the practice test - how long did you study for? And how many hours per day & days per week??
Hi Tame the CAT:

Welcome to the Beat The GMAT Forum! Don't be too discouraged about your first GMAT practice test--you've got time to improve, and with the right practice/prep, you can certainly score well.

With regard to your last question--when I was prepping for the test, I typically spent 1-2 hours during the weekday, and a few more hours on the weekend.

Best of luck! I look forward to seeing your progress...
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by fsar45 » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:45 pm
Please don't get discouraged so quickly! You can definitely do it!!

I agree with Eric...a few hours on weeknights and then more on weekends is a good way to prep. Try to do practice questions on weeknights, one question type at a time. That way you can pick up patterns in your errors more easily. Keep an error log too.

Then do a full practice question each weekend, and take time to review your progress there too. If you're answering questions correctly in untimed practice, but not on the full tests, then you need to work on timing, concentration, nerves, etc. If you're you're struggling on both, then focus more on your errors and mastering the fundamentals before you take any more practice tests.

Hope this helps!
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by Stacey Koprince » Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:41 pm
Fully agree with the earlier posts. Do NOT worry about your starting score - it's actually better to take it cold (that is, without studying). The reason we make you take a test right away is so you can figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are. Take a look at the score report and look at the categories in which you did well and not so well. Use that to help prioritize your study.

Also, do sign up for your free weekly tutoring session - that can be really useful to work through your problem areas one-on-one with an instructor. The instructions for signing up are in your Welcome Guide (the thick packet handed out in class 1, if you're in an in-person class, or the document emailed to you if you're in a live virtual class).

And talk to your instructor - s/he will be very happy to help with any difficulties you encounter! Good luck!
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by Tame the CAT » Thu Mar 08, 2007 6:44 pm
WOW. thanks for the encouragement.

I have been following the Manhattan GMAT program (it's still early). I will definitely update my progress. This week I have put in 2.5 hours a day of studying, I'll probably put in about 90 on Saturdays and Sundays. There will be days I will probably put in 45 to 60 minutes and days I put in 3 hours or so. Need some time for myself as well. Do not want to fry my brain.

Although I have not registered for the official exam, I plan on taking it at the very beginning of June. I was a little discouraged, but now I have gained some confidence. I just see this as a challenge that I will conquer.

Like just about everyone - My goal is 700+.

Stacey, it is clear to me what my weaknesses are and what my strengths are. I will have to cater more to those weaknesses.
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by Tame the CAT » Sun Apr 01, 2007 11:54 am
Take II

Got a 600 on the MGMAT practice exam. Still not happy with my performance.

43Q 30V

I got killed in both the CR and RC. Mind you, I did only 7 practice CR problems and no RC problems. I was focusing on the SC and got much better, although I have not mastered it. I need to break 38 or better.

The math I feel I can break 50 and was somewhat displeased with my score. I should at least break 47.
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by Stacey Koprince » Sun Apr 01, 2007 5:44 pm
FYI although the sub-scores officially go up to 60, the highest score you can really get in math is 51. So saying that you can break 50 is essentially saying you can score in the 99th percentile. (I'm not saying you shouldn't have that as a goal! Just be aware what it really means.)

And, no, no one knows why they have an official scale that goes up to 60 but then they don't actually assign scores that high. They're weird. :)

Oh, and for verbal, 99th percentile starts at 45. And math and verbal scores, although they are both on the 0-60 scale, aren't actually scaled the same, so the same numerical two-digit score will correspond to two different percentiles depending on whether you're talking about math or verbal. e.g., a 40 on math is low-60's and a 40 on verbal is low 90s. Very strange.
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by Tame the CAT » Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:14 am
I will definitely take that under consideration. What does a 47Q and a 35V get you? Is there a site that can tell me what certain Q/V combos get???
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by Stacey Koprince » Mon Apr 02, 2007 2:10 pm
That should be 650-ish. There isn't an official chart or anything published; I've got something I use to approximate (which is how I came up with ~650), but it isn't official or anything.
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