I just Beat The GMAT!

Hi all,

I just completed my first ever GMAT test, got a 690 Q47V38. My total prep amounts to taking one of the two GMATprep tests on the free software.

Was originally planning to study for this one (test date set ages ago), but other things came in the way. Decided to give it a shot anyway, and considering my ultimate goal was to get a 700 I'm feeling pretty good right about now. Hoping to go up by 30 or 40 points when I re-take in June.

Am applying to HBS 2+2 in the summer.

Will update on my studying progress for my new test date in June. Got killed by data suffiency questions today (never seen anything like it, really) so that's my first priority.

What is your background? Do you think being in u-grad made the content fresher in your mind?

What is your study plan for the re-take this summer?

pJackson79 wrote:What is your background? Do you think being in u-grad made the content fresher in your mind?

What is your study plan for the re-take this summer?

I'm an Econ major at a pretty large university in Europe.

I think two things made me take (parts of) the GMAT pretty well.
1) I've always been very, very good at arithmetic and "quick" maths in my head, while only being decent at proper maths. This made me score very, very highly in a national maths challenge back in school, and meant that parts of the quant section were pretty okay. I got burned by DS questions though..
2) I'm originally a non-native English speaker, but went to boarding school in the UK and would classify myself as completely fluent/native level. This meant that I first approached English in a very grammar-based manner rather than the usual cognitive approach (and I actually know all the grammar rules rather than just knowing what sounds right) - which probably was rather helpful in the sentence correction questions in the verbal part.

Wrt. my study plan; I've bought the Princeton Review book+cd as well as the OG question books. I see my weaknesses as being DS, CR and RC. AFAIK, the PR book covers verbal pretty well - but does anyone have any suggestions for a good book on data sufficiency questions?

Best,
OJS

OJS,

Thanks for the detailed background information. It is very helpful to get the context of your excellent (and speedy) success. I'll be interested to see if anyone has a good DS resource to suggest.

Hi OJS,
I scored the same as you for my 1st GMAT. 690, V38, Q47. AWA 6.

According to the official score sheet that i got, it showed the verbal percentile is higher than the quantitative percentile. however, does that mean anything? for e.g. we should work harder for quantitative instead?

and, another concern i had was (correct me if im wrong) it would be relatively more difficult to bridge that 690 - 700+ gap as compared to if we scored a 610 to 680.

currently, im also a final year engineering student. Re-take is due in 2 months. originally, i thought i needed to buck up on the quantitative portion (since it showed a lower percentile), and the horrors i faced with some really nasty "prime-numbered" style weird questions on the GMAT.

However, as i read other posts, it seemed that now the area i should buck up is at the verbal section. so im pretty confused. I looked at the Manhattan Online Prep courses...thats quite a bostly thing...from where i look at it, to bridge that gap of (690-700+), its not just a manner of grilling and hardcore practice. it seems that the fundamentals and techniques need to be drudged up and relooked again (thus my consideration for the Manhattan Online prep course).

any advice on this?

Hi OJS,
I scored the same as you for my 1st GMAT. 690, V38, Q47. AWA 6.

According to the official score sheet that i got, it showed the verbal percentile is higher than the quantitative percentile. however, does that mean anything? for e.g. we should work harder for quantitative instead?

and, another concern i had was (correct me if im wrong) it would be relatively more difficult to bridge that 690 - 700+ gap as compared to if we scored a 610 to 680.

currently, im also a final year engineering student. Re-take is due in 2 months. originally, i thought i needed to buck up on the quantitative portion (since it showed a lower percentile), and the horrors i faced with some really nasty "prime-numbered" style weird questions on the GMAT.

However, as i read other posts, it seemed that now the area i should buck up is at the verbal section. so im pretty confused. I looked at the Manhattan Online Prep courses...thats quite a bostly thing...from where i look at it, to bridge that gap of (690-700+), its not just a manner of grilling and hardcore practice. it seems that the fundamentals and techniques need to be drudged up and relooked again (thus my consideration for the Manhattan Online prep course).

any advice on this?