-
robkso0403
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Thu Sep 12, 2013 8:13 am
Hi guys,
This is my story of my journey in reaching for the 700 club in GMAT. I have a few things that I would like to share with everyone.
You can study and do better on the GMAT. Your score is less set in stone from intellectual capacity than you think. To me, it is an exam rating the aptitude to perform well in business school, nothing more and nothing less. I hope you understand this fact the right way, as I sometimes see friends that do not and I question the fact myself at times.
You must have a positive attitude. We are human beings and complex chemical constructs that are affected by our moods. I maintained a constant realistic expectation of doing well during practice exams and actually did better.
On to the Journey:
Overview- OG 2013 Guide, Read over Princeton's Overview too.
then:
CR & RC - Powerscore Bible is king. Logic is a formula and you can learn it well here. The RC made sense but it did not work well for me. I think you have to choose things that work for you.
SC - Manhattan. Comprehensive details on all grammar.
Quants - Manhattan Adv Quants, GMAT 800
Practice test scores: 690 (OG1), 720 (OG2), 710 (Manhattan)
Official CAT 1 620. Verbal score 60th percentile. Really? ...
Distraught, Feeling helpness, I moved on to completing my CAIA Level 2 and hope to get back to it soon.
4-5 months later after moving and new job, I resumed my studies:
Veritas (SC, RC)- Had a good alternative to strategies already. My reason for taking it is 1) I paid a lot of money so I got serious again 2) Complements the main skills I learned before, but complementation I feel is the difference between 600 to 700.
Economist Challenge (RC) - Made me a great reader. Just search for it on forums.
Grockit.com (everything)- timing is always a weak point. They are good at making it easy to practice and spot your mistakes. Problem is (my opinion) questions can't take you much past 700 and they have a lot of ambiguous (incorrect) answers you can spot if your review them after. Win some lose some.
Practice (Veritas) 720 (balanced btw Quant & Verbal) - I've been here before so I didn't think much of it.
Final official GMAT score - 700, 48Q and 37V.
The aftermath of this story is I am one of those guys who think I can do both CFA and MBA. I actually do not have much direction in how to search for Business schools, what GPA's or Alternative transcripts I need to build to get into "top" schools, and finally what I need to do to prove I am well-rounded (I do a lot of sports and community but I don't know how to make it apply).
Questions I have for you the readers are:
1) Should I retake the GMAT? I feel I can get 700+ if I get a better run on math
2) Are CFA and MBA really that different from each other?
3) Where should I look for MBA school advice? I need to work on my low GPA and roundness. Do I just search online?
Thanks for reading!
This is my story of my journey in reaching for the 700 club in GMAT. I have a few things that I would like to share with everyone.
You can study and do better on the GMAT. Your score is less set in stone from intellectual capacity than you think. To me, it is an exam rating the aptitude to perform well in business school, nothing more and nothing less. I hope you understand this fact the right way, as I sometimes see friends that do not and I question the fact myself at times.
You must have a positive attitude. We are human beings and complex chemical constructs that are affected by our moods. I maintained a constant realistic expectation of doing well during practice exams and actually did better.
On to the Journey:
Overview- OG 2013 Guide, Read over Princeton's Overview too.
then:
CR & RC - Powerscore Bible is king. Logic is a formula and you can learn it well here. The RC made sense but it did not work well for me. I think you have to choose things that work for you.
SC - Manhattan. Comprehensive details on all grammar.
Quants - Manhattan Adv Quants, GMAT 800
Practice test scores: 690 (OG1), 720 (OG2), 710 (Manhattan)
Official CAT 1 620. Verbal score 60th percentile. Really? ...
Distraught, Feeling helpness, I moved on to completing my CAIA Level 2 and hope to get back to it soon.
4-5 months later after moving and new job, I resumed my studies:
Veritas (SC, RC)- Had a good alternative to strategies already. My reason for taking it is 1) I paid a lot of money so I got serious again 2) Complements the main skills I learned before, but complementation I feel is the difference between 600 to 700.
Economist Challenge (RC) - Made me a great reader. Just search for it on forums.
Grockit.com (everything)- timing is always a weak point. They are good at making it easy to practice and spot your mistakes. Problem is (my opinion) questions can't take you much past 700 and they have a lot of ambiguous (incorrect) answers you can spot if your review them after. Win some lose some.
Practice (Veritas) 720 (balanced btw Quant & Verbal) - I've been here before so I didn't think much of it.
Final official GMAT score - 700, 48Q and 37V.
The aftermath of this story is I am one of those guys who think I can do both CFA and MBA. I actually do not have much direction in how to search for Business schools, what GPA's or Alternative transcripts I need to build to get into "top" schools, and finally what I need to do to prove I am well-rounded (I do a lot of sports and community but I don't know how to make it apply).
Questions I have for you the readers are:
1) Should I retake the GMAT? I feel I can get 700+ if I get a better run on math
2) Are CFA and MBA really that different from each other?
3) Where should I look for MBA school advice? I need to work on my low GPA and roundness. Do I just search online?
Thanks for reading!
Last edited by robkso0403 on Wed Nov 13, 2013 7:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.
