After a lot of research I decided to take a course with Manhattan Gmat in December. It did not disappoint. BUT let me give some much needed advice here. If you are going to take a course, make sure that you are at least 90% committed to it. I say 90% because most people taking the courses also have full time jobs. I was one of the individuals who was NOT committed. This was a grave error. During the course, I would keep up with the lesson plans, but in a pretty lazy way. It wasn't till after the course concluded that I said to myself "what the heck did you just do!". LOL.
To be clear I am not a spokesman of any kind. If you want a fully comprehensive course, Manhattan is the best. The company seriously thinks about every issue and detail that is needed for success. The books, as many of you know are phenomenal. I would recommend buying (if you don't want to take the course) the SC, Number Properties, and Word Translations math books. I saw these books at a Barnes and Nobles, so they are accessible at mortar stores.
My Study Plan
Everything that Manhattan gave me was sufficient. Again, they think about everything. Along with the multiple books they give you on each subject, they also supply the OG 11 orange, and the subsequent OG verbal and Math books. As all of you know these represent the best source of material.
I read each of the Manhattan books math books, but when reading each one I took notes on all of the most important issues. I did this because this is a way to actively learn. Just reading something won't ingrain the concept in your memory (unless you are a genius). I found that writing down the concepts in a notebook really helped me in understanding the intricacies of each concepts.
I also made a bunch of flashcards for SC and CR. For SC I made sure that each card had a purpose. I had about 3 cards full of just idioms. I felt knowing the idioms was crucial in mastering SC. For CR the cards were basically detailing what the steps would be for encountering each question type, for instance if it was an "Assumption" question I would try and identify which assumption type it was (i.e. analogy, causation etc).
I would review all the notes and then proceed to taking the CATs. Manhattan has a total of 6 legit CATs. The first CAT I took was before I started my course. I scored a 610-Q40 V33. I was thinking to myself, wow this is a pretty hard test. I would definitely advise buying these 6 CATs from Manahttan (again if you are not going to take the course). There is a general impression on this site that the Manhattan tests are harder than the real deal. I concur...the math sections are really really hard! I felt like the issues were quite complex...but I felt that MGMAT had the mindset of "we are teaching you in this particular way to best prepare you..." These CATs are top tier, not only because they are challenging, but the explanations were amazing. The explanations were crucial to my preparation methods. For each CAT I took, I went through each explanation, copy and pasted the question and explanation to a word file. I had basically a stack of 40 pages where I could go back and try to solve the problems that I had gotten wrong.
My last two months of studying basically comprised of this model...taking a CAT...jotting down the necessary notes....learning from those mistakes...then taking another CAT, then pushing hard on the OG. :!: Another crucial studying technique. MGMAT gives to each student a notepad and water washable pen. These were the same pad and pen that the ACTUAL GMAT gives you. Again MGMAT thinks about everything. I made sure that every question I did, every CAT i took, that I used the notepad. I tried to simulate the exact conditions, and let me tell you, doing math on the slippery notepads is NOT the same thing as doing math on simple paper. I felt that getting used to the sensation of writing on the slippery notepad was again crucial. (Of course you can go buy the notepad and pen anywhere else...online they sell the pens, Staedler Luminocolor fine tip).
Here is a breakdown of the CATs I took in the 2 months leading up to test day. I made sure to get PowerPrep and GMAT prep tests. These are in order in which I took them. I made sure to utilize the GMAT prep tests for the last leg, as they are the most similar to the real deal.
MGMAT2: 640-Q44 V33
MGMAT3: 660-Q46 V34
MGMAT4: 650-Q44 V33
PowerPrep1: 690 (sorry forgot Breakdown)
PowerPrep2: 760
MGMAT5: 700-Q48 V37
MGMAT6: 700-Q47 V38
GmatPrep1: 710-Q47 V41
GmatPrep2: 750-Q49 V42
Some of the other sources I used: Princeton Review Cracking the GMAT, it was okay.
Make sure you download the BeattheGmat Flash Cards. There is some really good info on those.
Before I get to test day I want to give a shoutout to mayonnai5e
https://www.beatthegmat.com/my-blog-erro ... 9-60.html
I definitely tried to mimic the way he attacked the Gmat...much thanks.
Day Before Test and Test Day
I was pretty confident that I could break the 700 mark and was aiming to score in the mid 700's. My test was scheduled for 2 pm. I scheduled it so late because back in Undergrad, every night before a midterm I would not sleep a wink. This way i thought to myself, even if i fall asleep at 5 am I can still sleep till about 11. The night before the test I went through all of the OG math and verbal I had gotten wrong. Did some math review and headed to bed at 10 pm. I couldn't believe it...but...it happened to me again. I did NOT SLEEP ONE MINUTE. I couldn't believe my luck...
The whole night I was cursing...I tried every single thing to sleep. I even chugged some wine at 2 in the morning but to no avail. I have one of the most serious cases of nerves...which i think is incurable. Once I could hear the birds chirping at 7 am I knew i was screwed. I got up at 9 am infuriated. I was certain that I was cursed from the get go. My brain was in state of zombie I tried reading a CR question and could not comprehend it for the life of me...my eyes were so tired and my brain function pretty much dead. I studied so much in the past couple of months. ALL i asked for was a chance to attack the Gmat with full brain capacity/clarity. I thought about canceling my test...but I honestly did not want to study any more. I ate a sandwich for lunch, chugged a red bull and was off to the test center. The whole ride there I was honestly angry, angry at the world that this could happen to me. I felt like i was not in any state to take a test. Anyways, I arrived at the test, stored my drinks and food in the locker, and proceeded. I would also advise anyone who easily gets distracted to wear ear plugs. There are people getting in and out of the seats at all times.
The math section was pretty hard. I felt like I couldn't even do basic arithmetic and was basically playing a guessing game. I guess my strategy was to dwindle it down to two answers and logically guess. There were many questions where the questions tried to trick me. :!: Another point of advice...once you answer the question re-read the question and make sure you are answering the given question...sometimes you have an answer and they are asking for the exact opposite, i.e. this pitfall could happen in a lot of probability questions that take the 1-x principle or in ratio questions where you mismatch the ratios. Moving forward...again thinking that I was playing the guessing game I was feeling quite dejected. On all the last few of my practice CATs I was usually confident with my answers and by the last question I usually had 10 minutes left on the clock. However, on the real test I felt hurried and barely finished on time. After the Q ended I decided to take the 10 minute break (everyone should really take this).
I took a bathroom break and realized that I missed the last question...I think the question was something like how many multiple of 3 are there from -100 to 100...I answered 66 but in the bathroom i realized i forgot that 0 was also a multiple of 3....again I started to think of how cursed I had become.
Some of you guys might be thinking...this dude is crazy.....but on zero minutes of sleep...yes i was acting pretty crazy. I realized that this was a make it or break it moment...and remembering the post from mayonnai5e, that even if you think you are doing poorly, it may not be THAT BAD. mayonnai5e even recommended doing jumping jacks which I thought not only helped to calm my nerves but also got the blood circulating.
Now for the verbal section. All of the sentence corrections seemed to be testing disproportionately towards comparisons. Although I felt that I knew comparisons pretty well, I was more confident in splitting based on idioms or pronouns. There were a few where I had dwindled it down to two, but had to guess (which I never did on my law two CAT practice tests). The RC and CR were generally hard and I felt like I had to reread some portions just because my brain was out of whack. Most of the CR questions were Strengthen/Assumption/Inference questions. Surprisingly I think there was only one weaken question and no bold face argument questions. For RC there were the usual social passages as well as a science passage that gave me fits. I finished the verbal section with 8 minutes left...which tells me that I should have checked my answers a bit more. Anyways, once finishing the verbal i shared the same sentiments as Mayonaiisee. Thinking that I had miserably failed the Q section, I felt that I needed to do exceedingly well on the verbal, which I felt like did not happen. Fearing for the worst, when the score popped up I was shocked at the Q score. I was disappointed that I did not score over 40 on V, but heck...
Even though I truly believe I can get a 740 or higher, given my last few practice tests, I am still very satisfied with the score I got, given the circumstances. There is no way I am going to take it again, because I feel like it is good enough to get into the top schools.
But I guess the lesson from testing day is this...even if you think you are doing horribly...it may not be that bad. Best of luck to all of you and I hope you guys get a good nights sleep before the big day!!
