I just Beat The GMAT!

At last all the study and hard work pays off. Though my target score was 760, still no regrets.750 is enough.Debrief tomorrow.

Congrats Sulabh..

750 is an awsome score !

sulabh wrote:At last all the study and hard work pays off. Though my target score was 760, still no regrets.750 is enough.Debrief tomorrow.

Congrats Sulabh!!!

Hey all, finally I have completed my debrief. I hope it helps people as other debriefs have hepled me. Here it is:

Three months back I knew absolutely nothing about GMAT.It all started when one of my collegue in the office got a score of 730 and I heard that he will make to a decent MBA college with that score. That really fascinated me given the highly competitive CAT in India. So I got hooked and decided that its GMAT time.My target score being 740 (obviously I had to score 10 points more than my collegue). Searched internet extensively and gathered all the information. Started my prep with OG11 and after 3 weeks of prep have a GMATPREP practice test and scored 740. Voila ! I was on cloud nine. Then came the reality check. I get a call from my friend who scored 780 on GMAT To be honest till that time I didn't even know that one can score that high on GMAT. He also told me that with my background (Indian/IT male) I need atleast 750 or above. So now I raised my target score to 760. After one month of prep I felt that its time to get my test appointment.


SECTION WISE-PREPRATION AND STRATERGIES

AWA

TWO ESSAYS !!! That was my first reaction when I came to know that GMAT consists of two essays.
But I was really relieved when I discovered that the essays score is separate from the main score. Still I was quite apprehensive about this section given that the last time I wrote an essay was may be 15 or 16 years back. So I searched a lot regarding this section.Some key points
that I discovered were that all one needs to do is write these essays in a certain format in grammatically correct manner, add some real life examples to them so that the essays are atleast 300 words.Content really doesn't matter as long as one keeps all these points in mind.What a
relief !So I collected a lot of essays templates and mixed them to make Lenghty templates.
Templated help in two ways:
1.They give you confidence that you have atleast something to write even if you don't know much about the topic.
2.Since you have already prepared the structure of the essays, while writing GMAT you can concentrate on the topic rather than on the structure. So in effect you just have to plug your points in between.

Here are the templates that I used :

Analysis of an argument:

In this argument the author concludes that ….. Author's contention is based on the anecdotal evidence that.... At first glance the argument appears to be coherent, however, upon careful examination of the author's rationale and the underlying structure of the argument, a number of flaws become evident to such an extent that one can neither take the argument nor its conclusion seriously. Among the most pivotal shortcomings of the argument are its inability to address its
gratuitous assumptions and lack of information to substantiate its claims.

First, the argument readily assumes that/The first nebulous assumption stems from <blah>.
For Example, <blah>...

The second tenuous assumption that <blah> leaves the possibility for <blah> open…..

Additionally, the logic that <blah> is weak because <blah>. As a result, this conclusion has no legs to stand on.

In sum, this argument is fraught with vague, oversimplified and unwarranted claims, the most blatant of which have been discussed above. To buttress his conclusion <>, the author would have
to provide evidence that <>. To further corroborate his argument, the author must ....<>. In order to assess the merits of a certain situation/decision, it is essential to have full knowledge of all contributing factors. Had the argument managed to address the aforesaid
concerns, both its persuasive ability and its apparent legitimacy would have been greatly reinforced. The argument<>, as it stands, is not persuasive because of the caveats in the premises and assumptions.


Analysis Of Issue:

The issue of........ is a controversial/contentious/interesting one. On the one hand many people argue that ...... while others believe that...... In this age, when ........., this issue is increasingly becoming one of the most pertinent question to evaluate. In this essay, I will argue
that ........

Main reason for my view is .....................
For example,...


Another reason is ............
To illustrate,...

Moreover ...

However, many people argue that...... (counter and then refute)

Consequently / In nutshell, I have argued that....... , while there are arguments to be made for both sides and many of these issues can never be resolved to everybody's satisfaction, it is clear that there are greater advantages....(repeat the reasons).. Certainly,.....outweigh.......
Hence,....(re-affirm your position)

Structural Word (should be all over the essays)

Supporting examples - for example, to illustrate, for instance, because, specifically
Additional support - furthermore, in addition, similarly, just as, also, as a result, moreover
Importance - surely, truly, undoubtedly, clearly, in fact, most importantly
Contrast - on the contrary, yet, despite, rather, instead, however, although, while
Decide against - one cannot deny that, it could be argued that, granted, admittedly
Ying-yang - on the one hand/on the other hand
Concluding - therefore, in summary, consequently, hence, in conclusion, ultimately, in


I also have a document with 150 samples of both analysis Of Issue and analysis Of argument.Let me know if someone needs it.

Quant

Quant is my strong point.Another engineer !!. Yes, you have guessed correctly. so I didn't have to work that hard on it. Actually, the only practice I had was solving OG11 and practice tests. I didn't refer to anything else. So I will not be able to advise what material you should refer. The only advise that I can give to people who struggle with quant is that rather than focussing on formulas and short-cuts, they should try to grasp the fundamentals even if it means extending your study plan by a week or two, since strong quant is a real moral booster, since in quant,
more often than not, one knows whether his answer is right. So make your study plan accordingly.Don't get intimidated. GMAt doesn't test too difficult fundas. Its all simple but subtle. One more thing, many people say and I agree that one shouldn't waste too much time on a
particular question. While giving the GMATPrep test I realised that I got the most difficult questions between question 6 to 20,requiring more time to solve and the questions after that are quite easy and can be done fast.I followed the same advice while giving GMATPrep tests and as a
result I wasn't giving enough time to difficult questions,fearing that I may not have enough time to solve the rest of the section and finished with 7-8 minutes of time left. So give GMATPrep very carefully, so that you pace yourself efficiently.

Verbal

Hmm, listen guys I am not a verbal expert(My scores prove that). But still I ll like to share my stratergies and observations.

RC

I didn't refer to any book for RC. Practice tests were my only source of practice for RC .One thing regarding RC, I don't think one has to worry too much about 'reading speed'.I don't think reading the passage quickly helps in any way.On the contrary, I feel one should read RC
carefully, understanding each line.Most of the RC questions are straight forward that most people will answer right,whether they read the passage quickly or slowly, but inference based questions
are the tricky ones.So if you have just skimmed through the passage, these questions will trouble you, making you refer back to the passage.So even if you take a little more time while reading
the passage, you save that much time while answering the questions with higher accuracy. This worked for me. Most of the RCs aren't too long.So don't bother about power reading stuff.

CR

I started with CR bible( sorry I don't remember the name).Read few pages. Aquainted myself with the basic fundamentals such as premises, assumptions and stuff. Used OG11 edition for practice. I
followed a very simple approach, taking each option and plugging it into the question to see if it is the answer.However even if got the correct answer I made sure the rest are definitely wrong.

SC

This is the area on which I worked really hard as I suppose most of the non native english speakers do.For SC I used Manhattan SC guide, Sumit's notes for SC, Amateur's note for SC ,
Sahil's note, spidey's GMAT notes.I also used this forum a lot. I think the best way to practice SC is through such forums. Try to answer maximum post. When you answer a post seeking an
explanation of a question, it makes you think. Also the discussions help in claryfying your doubts. The best approach is not only to look for the answer but also the reason for your answer. Thread bare all the options. Identifying whats wrong with rest of the options will help you clear
your fundamentals.

PRACTICE TEST SCORES
I think only GMATPrep scores must be taken seriously. Rest of the test shold be used only for practice.Dont use these test for prognosis. The tests which I found the most useful,apart from GMATPrep, are MGMAT tests. Though the questions are difficult. Still questions are really good with nice explanations.

MGMAT tests
----------------
MGMAT 1 - 760 (Q50,V44)
MGMAT 2 - 730 (Q49,V40)
MGMAT 3 - 730 (Q49, V40)
MGMAT 4 - 760 (Q51, V41)
MGMAT 5 - 780 (Q51, V45)

Kaplan
---------
KP 1 -670
KP 2 - 650

Official GMAT software
---------------------------
GP 1 - 740 (Q50, V39)
GP 2 - 730 (Q49, V39)
GP 1 #2 - 740

MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE

DON'T TAKE A TEST DATE IN HASTE. I have seen so many people asking for help as their test date is approaches and they are still not ready. Post such as 'i only prepared for two weeks and scored 700+' may make people doubt themselves. Whether it takes two weeks or two months, test date should be taken only when one feels that he is close to his target or at least moving in that direction.

GMAT DAY
Appointment time-1:15 PM, 4th July. The most expensive appointment of my life.

This PM thing got to my head as I thought that I may not be able to concentrate 100 % in the afternoon and though to pr
The day didn't start on a great note for me. Didn't have sound sleep. Maid didn't come so left empty stomach. Then couldn't find my test center because of the construction in the vicinity. Still I reached the Pearson’s office one hour before my appointment time and I was shocked to see that Pearson can’t even afford a reception in their office. They charge you $ 250 for the test and make you stand outside the office gate in the heat. The guard told me that it will take around 15 minutes to let me in. So I rushed downstairs to NIRULAs , quickly had a chicken sandwich and was standing again at Pearson’s gate in 15 min. But they made me stand outside for another 45 min. Finally I get in. After all the regular rules and regulation, fingerprit stuff finally the wait was over.
AWA section went pretty good.Finished both essays just in time. Took a break. Washed my face and came back in 2 minutes to start the quant section. It was a dream start. Quant was of GMATPrep level and I finished the section utilising full time. I felt really good and was hopng for a good score now. Took another 2 min break and started the verbal section. First SC left me bamboozled.Believe me guys all the rules and idioms went thru my head nut still I had no clue(given that I prepared really hard on SC). With 3 min gone, I guessed on it (Yes, guessed my first question. What a start).And that really was the case with almost all the SCs. Most of them had two options so close that it was really hard to choose the correct one. RC and CR were GMATPrep level. Finished verbal with 3 spare minutes. After all the information screens, it was the moment of truth. Analysing my performance in verbal I was dissappointed and hoped that I get atleast 730. But when the screen flashed a score of 750(Q-50,V-40), it was a moment of sweet surrender. I was ecstatic.

I would like to thank beatthegmat forum for providing such a wonderful platform and all the participating members for helping me with my doubts. I really appreciate all your efforts. I hope I will get the same kind of help with my application process.

I would be more than happy to help anyone who has anything to ask me.

I also have a document with 150 samples of both analysis Of Issue and analysis Of argument.Let me know if someone needs it.

Hi,
Could you please upload this document. It would be a lot of help.

Thanks

Here is the document with sample AWAs , which I downloaded from the internet. I hope this is not against the policy of this forum