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Giving back to the GMAT community with a 700

Find out how Beat The GMAT members tackled GMAT test prep with positive results. Get tips on GMAT test prep materials, online courses, study tips, and more.
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Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
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Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 3:02 pm
Location: Chicago
GMAT Score:700

Giving back to the GMAT community with a 700

by beatdaGMATlikeaBOILER » Thu Jun 18, 2009 3:31 pm
I scored a 700 on 6/18/09 with the following as my practice test history:
Kaplan Diagnostic(w/o Essay) 530 2/28/09
MGMAT(w/o Essay) 620 5/11/09
MGMAT(w/o Essay) 630 5/13/09
MGMAT(w/o Essay) 660 5/27/09
GMAC CAT 1 640 6/3/09
MGMAT 690 6/9/09
GMAC CAT 2 620 6/16/09

I studied for about 2.5 months using the following materials:
MGMAT 8 book series (summarized what I learned in each chapter of every book and kept a notebook of my summaries for review/reference)
OG 11 (did every problem)
OG 12 ( did about 300 additional probs)

I haven't really been active on this site but decided to make my contribution with some tips, etc. Read a few books and/or journals with scientific articles to accompany your verbal studying. Exhaust your abilities on the quantitative sections which you find difficult.

The day before Test Day:
I spent the morning reviewing notes and reviewing essay formats. I took the afternoon off and hit some golf balls followed by a workout. Slept 7 hours the night before the exam.

Test Day:
Ate breakfast of cereal with a sugar free Red Bull (not in the same bowl). Reviewed notes for 30mins, wrote out 5 quant probs to get into the motions, read an article from the Economist. Drank a double espresso right before getting to the test center. Not the best idea, but it works for me since I'm not a morning person. Take full advantage of your breaks during the exam...the mind needs time to rest and recover.

My journey to the MBA started with seeing how well I could do on the GMAT before I got my hopes up to go to a top school. I have an undergrad gpa of 3.2 from a top 5 ranked engineering program and have spent 1 year in consulting. Any recommendations on where I could get it?

Best of luck to you all, I feel like if I can perform this well, all one needs is focus, hard work, and patience. You must believe to achieve!
Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.
Don't worry, be happy
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by Perfecto888 » Thu Jun 18, 2009 5:17 pm
Hey congrats I am also about to take my test June 23, any pointers.

I have a similar background (got engineering degree from top program) GPA around same ballpark and all and I also bought the online self study MGMAT...i finished may 6 of the 8 and have half of WT and SC untouched.....did you find the online labs helpful???

My strategy:

Doing all problems in OG 11
Will be doing GMAT Prep software twice
Took 2 of the MGMAT's got 580 on both :(
...any tips .. what should i be focusing on? did you find the test more like the GMAT prep or OG 11 ....when going over my wrong answers I always feel like "DUHH" and could be doing so much better but its just that clock that really defeats me.....

anyway congrats... you have a lot of options, but given your work experience I would say more of the top schools such as a stanford and harvard smile upon that where as a wharton or MIT would probably want you to get may another year or so....thats from my HW from looking into those school.. not sure of other programs ....
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Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 3:02 pm
Location: Chicago
GMAT Score:700

by beatdaGMATlikeaBOILER » Thu Jun 18, 2009 8:05 pm
Perfecto888 wrote:Hey congrats I am also about to take my test June 23, any pointers.

I have a similar background (got engineering degree from top program) GPA around same ballpark and all and I also bought the online self study MGMAT...i finished may 6 of the 8 and have half of WT and SC untouched.....did you find the online labs helpful???

My strategy:

Doing all problems in OG 11
Will be doing GMAT Prep software twice
Took 2 of the MGMAT's got 580 on both :(
...any tips .. what should i be focusing on? did you find the test more like the GMAT prep or OG 11 ....when going over my wrong answers I always feel like "DUHH" and could be doing so much better but its just that clock that really defeats me.....

anyway congrats... you have a lot of options, but given your work experience I would say more of the top schools such as a stanford and harvard smile upon that where as a wharton or MIT would probably want you to get may another year or so....thats from my HW from looking into those school.. not sure of other programs ....

First off, you may want to consider postponing the GMAT for a few weeks, for engineers like us, the SC and RC are usually the most challenging, I would spend some more time reviewing the SC material...there is no way to get better at SC other than to study until you recognize reoccurring problems and themes...also, I'm not a big reader, but I did a search on SAT level fiction books (Cannery Row by Steinbeck is a solid read) and started reading The Economist as well, focus on the Science and Tech articles in The Economist.
I found the MGMAT CATs more difficult than the actual test, but that's good because it prepares you for worse, not the worst :)

Another huge method, study the 600-800 probs from the MGMATs you've taken and learn from your mistakes...don't give up on these, many times I would spend a few days redoing the MGMAT problems then finding similar probs in the OG11 or 12 and doing those...also, its worth doing the MGMAT Question Banks if you see that you're struggling in any of those areas, the solutions are explained very well.

Bottom line, unless you're a great test taker or simply a genius, time/effort dedicated to studying is the most important aspect to doing well...Let me know if you have any other questions....happy to help.
Don't worry, be happy
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