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richwang
- Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
- Posts: 19
- Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2010 12:45 am
- Thanked: 4 times
- GMAT Score:770
Hey all:
First time poster, long time lurker (like many on the forum, I suppose). Phew! I took the GMAT this morning and got a score of 770, Q50 (93 pctile) V46 (99 pctile). I figured since I got most of my motivation from reading success stories and debriefs from this forum, I would love to give back to the community. I hope to be more active in helping out in the GMAT forum and the admissions forum as well.
Background
- Young (24 years old), 2 years work exp only
- Engineering background from UCLA
- Native English Speaker
Preparation
I got most of my starting information (like a pointer to this forum) from a friend who is now at Haas (my dream school), so naturally I listened wisely. She said to focus on verbal, since most people can do well on quant, it's easier to get a high score on verbal. She also said to use MGMAT materials and OG like it's the Bible.
Materials:
- OG 12th, OG Quant, OG Verbal
- All 8 MGMAT Guides
- GMATPrep CAT's and MGMAT CAT's
- Minimal SC questions from this forum
- Forum flashcards
My attack was based around learning first, then honing. I powered through all 8 MGMAT guides, writing down summaries in a composition book that I would use as my review sheet later on. M-F, I would do the MGMAT routine, Saturday was my CAT day and Sunday was my CAT review day. This was a process I learned from some people on this forum.. I read way too many debriefs so I can't pin down who it was, but it might have been the Sun Tzu art of war guy
. After 4 weeks I was basically through them, and started practicing 10 questions of each type (PS, DS, SC, RC, and CR) a day from OG.
CAT Scores:
MGMAT 1 680
MGMAT 2 720
MGMAT 3 730
MGMAT 4 720
GMATPrep 1 740
MGMAT 5 770
MGMAT 6 780
GMATPrep 2 760
GMATPrep 1 (revisited 770)
Actual GMAT: 770
Right around MGMAT4 was when I finished going through the guides. Honestly, I didnt get much out of the SC guide as was touted on this forum, but the flashcards that are available free on this site were the main source of my SC prep. I think after hours and hours of practice, I finally got the hang of the GMAT question style and was able to get at the roots of the questions rather quickly.
Test Day
I didnt get nearly as much sleep the night before as I would have liked, but regardless I woke up feeling ready (my test was at 11am). I used the AWA template for the Argument question, and wrote something like this out:
1. Intro
2. Restate Conclusion
3. Dissect Argument
4. Fix Weaknesses
5. Conclusions
Then I just typed into each subheading and deleted my headings, voila! Essay done. The personal opinion one, I just started writing.
Quant.. I finished with 25 minutes remaining. I have NO idea why, but for some reason the questions seemed relatively straight forward and I saw through most of the traps right away. I think it has to do with MGMAT quant being SO difficult, it makes GMAT feel relatively easy. I took an unscheduled break for 20 minutes, got some caffeine and stretched a bit.
Verbal, I jumped right in without having the 8min break (since I used quite a bit of time).. and verbal was a blur. All I remember was the last question - right after my brain registered the right answer, my heart began pumping at a zillion times per minute as I filled out the UTTERLY REDUNDANT survey section (GMAT, worst placement ever. Suspense can kill a man!) and got my score.
Feel free to ask questions, hope this helps. In the end, honestly: practice is KING. When nerves or anything get to you during the test, resort to what you did during practice, and have confidence. Thanks!
-Rich
First time poster, long time lurker (like many on the forum, I suppose). Phew! I took the GMAT this morning and got a score of 770, Q50 (93 pctile) V46 (99 pctile). I figured since I got most of my motivation from reading success stories and debriefs from this forum, I would love to give back to the community. I hope to be more active in helping out in the GMAT forum and the admissions forum as well.
Background
- Young (24 years old), 2 years work exp only
- Engineering background from UCLA
- Native English Speaker
Preparation
I got most of my starting information (like a pointer to this forum) from a friend who is now at Haas (my dream school), so naturally I listened wisely. She said to focus on verbal, since most people can do well on quant, it's easier to get a high score on verbal. She also said to use MGMAT materials and OG like it's the Bible.
Materials:
- OG 12th, OG Quant, OG Verbal
- All 8 MGMAT Guides
- GMATPrep CAT's and MGMAT CAT's
- Minimal SC questions from this forum
- Forum flashcards
My attack was based around learning first, then honing. I powered through all 8 MGMAT guides, writing down summaries in a composition book that I would use as my review sheet later on. M-F, I would do the MGMAT routine, Saturday was my CAT day and Sunday was my CAT review day. This was a process I learned from some people on this forum.. I read way too many debriefs so I can't pin down who it was, but it might have been the Sun Tzu art of war guy
. After 4 weeks I was basically through them, and started practicing 10 questions of each type (PS, DS, SC, RC, and CR) a day from OG.CAT Scores:
MGMAT 1 680
MGMAT 2 720
MGMAT 3 730
MGMAT 4 720
GMATPrep 1 740
MGMAT 5 770
MGMAT 6 780
GMATPrep 2 760
GMATPrep 1 (revisited 770)
Actual GMAT: 770
Right around MGMAT4 was when I finished going through the guides. Honestly, I didnt get much out of the SC guide as was touted on this forum, but the flashcards that are available free on this site were the main source of my SC prep. I think after hours and hours of practice, I finally got the hang of the GMAT question style and was able to get at the roots of the questions rather quickly.
Test Day
I didnt get nearly as much sleep the night before as I would have liked, but regardless I woke up feeling ready (my test was at 11am). I used the AWA template for the Argument question, and wrote something like this out:
1. Intro
2. Restate Conclusion
3. Dissect Argument
4. Fix Weaknesses
5. Conclusions
Then I just typed into each subheading and deleted my headings, voila! Essay done. The personal opinion one, I just started writing.
Quant.. I finished with 25 minutes remaining. I have NO idea why, but for some reason the questions seemed relatively straight forward and I saw through most of the traps right away. I think it has to do with MGMAT quant being SO difficult, it makes GMAT feel relatively easy. I took an unscheduled break for 20 minutes, got some caffeine and stretched a bit.
Verbal, I jumped right in without having the 8min break (since I used quite a bit of time).. and verbal was a blur. All I remember was the last question - right after my brain registered the right answer, my heart began pumping at a zillion times per minute as I filled out the UTTERLY REDUNDANT survey section (GMAT, worst placement ever. Suspense can kill a man!) and got my score.
Feel free to ask questions, hope this helps. In the end, honestly: practice is KING. When nerves or anything get to you during the test, resort to what you did during practice, and have confidence. Thanks!
-Rich
Last edited by richwang on Fri Aug 06, 2010 1:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
