-
ashwinlobo
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2009 11:06 pm
Hi,
I'll start off with how I went about the whole thing and then some highlights/tips which I hope can help some of you (quant challenged especially!).
I made my first attempt in Sep 2009. Got a 610 (Q35, V38). Needless to say I was complete devastated since I self-studied from Kaplan books for months and also enrolled for a princeton course besides doing the OG books. Anyways, not going into the details, in the weeks after the test and after regaining some sense of resolve, I found Beathegmat and started figuring out what went wrong.
Reading the various posts, I realised that my expectations just did not match with my whole study process. I realised that I was woefully unprepared for the Quants section although i practiced so much. I also realised the importance of pacing on the test. Trolling the website, I came across many recommendations for MGMAT books. I think i did the best thing by listening to that advice....MGMAT books had so much information, I had to read it 5 times over to digest all of it. It took me a couple of months because maths is just not my thing. I didn't go in for the verbal books because I was strong in this area...though MGMAT books seemed to be highly recommended for verbal too (which I tend to believe now
). So I read the guides, and each time i finished a topic, I followed their OG problems lists which is divided into easy and hard types. This was very helpful because I realized I was making stupid mistakes in the easy section too! After OG, I attempted the online question banks without timing them. They are really hard but worthwhile!
Once i was confident enough that I've extracted as much as i can from the MGMAT guides, I started attempting various mock tests. I didn't do MGMAT (the tests come free with the books) initially because I wanted to get the feel of doing full length tests first.
Princeton free test 710 (Q44, V44)....I felt both sections seemed to ask very simple questions
Veritas Free test 680 (Q47, V40).....Maths seemed on the easier side. But overall ok.
MGMAT 1st Test 670 (Q44, V38)
Kaplan Free Test 570 (Q30, V39).....waste of time. Just don't bother about the scores. Don't do it for the practice either, because MGMAT is more than enough
MGMAT 2nd Test 710 (Q45, V41)
MGMAT 3rd Test 640 (Q42, V35)...found the verbal super difficult. Getting nervous
GMAC 1st Prep 710 (Q48, V40)...over the moon..this score really counts
MGMAT 4th test 690 (Q44, V39)
MGMAT 5th Test 670 (Q44, V38)...finished Maths ahead of time for the 1st time. Made a few silly mistakes
GMAC 2nd prep 650 (Q42, V38)....super nervous now. But realized that I was somehow rushing through maths. Made a lot of silly mistakes among the first 13 questions.
MGMAT 6th Test 700 (Q44, V40)
I did the Princeton and Veritas tests in mid September. Once I saw the score of my first MGMAT test in early oct, I decided to take two weeks off from work and attempt the GMAT on the 25th. During my leave, I did one test every alternate day.
Some points what I did different from my first attempt
- I highly recommend MGMAT. Its way better than Kaplan and definitely better than Princeton
- The MGMAT tests are really close to the actual GMAT. The quants and verbal are infact harder. But the questions are definitely worded similar to GMAC. And the analysis is very useful. I could easily make out I was weak in reading comprehension Inference questions and sentence correction modifiers
- You must realize it's not about the number of mistakes you make. It's about the difficulty level at which you make them at. The MGMAT analysis really drilled that into me.
- Do the GMAC tests at least 3 times over. Pay attention to your first attempt scores only. They are the only truly indicative scores. The subsequent scores are irrelevant. However you'll be surprised how many new questions you'll come across. Just make sure that even among your mistakes, that there are no sums totally beyond your understanding...otherwise you may have a problem. After reading the MGMAT, I never had this problem.
- Pacing is so important....aim for 7 questions per 15mins in quants; in verbal aim for 8 questions 15mins. Don't worry much that you cannot wholeheartedly do the last 3 or 4 questions. You should expect to make educated guesses on them.
- Work out your mistakes without looking at the answer first. Re-work those sums you got right by fluke or were 50:50 on. Always search for ways to make it simple. There is always a simple way to attack any sum on the gmat.
- Remember that content comes first...you have to be clear on all your concepts. And only if you are getting 670 or above in various tests and especially on the GMAC , can you reasonably expect 700. I never got more than 640 in my mock tests in my first attempt. So I was foolish to expect anything more in the real gmat.
- I haven't got my awa scores yet. I referred to chineseburn's post on gmatclub. His template is so simple and obvious yet so elegant and time saving! I'll update once I get my Essay scores.
I hope this will help someone who has struggled as much as I have in quants. I felt like an utter dunce when I saw posts by my fellow compatriots about their mind numbing quant scores. However, I also realized I'm not the only one in such a situation. And now I can gladly report that in my mind, I have beaten the GMAT! Thank you Beatthegmat!. Thank you MGMAT!!
I'll start off with how I went about the whole thing and then some highlights/tips which I hope can help some of you (quant challenged especially!).
I made my first attempt in Sep 2009. Got a 610 (Q35, V38). Needless to say I was complete devastated since I self-studied from Kaplan books for months and also enrolled for a princeton course besides doing the OG books. Anyways, not going into the details, in the weeks after the test and after regaining some sense of resolve, I found Beathegmat and started figuring out what went wrong.
Reading the various posts, I realised that my expectations just did not match with my whole study process. I realised that I was woefully unprepared for the Quants section although i practiced so much. I also realised the importance of pacing on the test. Trolling the website, I came across many recommendations for MGMAT books. I think i did the best thing by listening to that advice....MGMAT books had so much information, I had to read it 5 times over to digest all of it. It took me a couple of months because maths is just not my thing. I didn't go in for the verbal books because I was strong in this area...though MGMAT books seemed to be highly recommended for verbal too (which I tend to believe now
). So I read the guides, and each time i finished a topic, I followed their OG problems lists which is divided into easy and hard types. This was very helpful because I realized I was making stupid mistakes in the easy section too! After OG, I attempted the online question banks without timing them. They are really hard but worthwhile!Once i was confident enough that I've extracted as much as i can from the MGMAT guides, I started attempting various mock tests. I didn't do MGMAT (the tests come free with the books) initially because I wanted to get the feel of doing full length tests first.
Princeton free test 710 (Q44, V44)....I felt both sections seemed to ask very simple questions
Veritas Free test 680 (Q47, V40).....Maths seemed on the easier side. But overall ok.
MGMAT 1st Test 670 (Q44, V38)
Kaplan Free Test 570 (Q30, V39).....waste of time. Just don't bother about the scores. Don't do it for the practice either, because MGMAT is more than enough
MGMAT 2nd Test 710 (Q45, V41)
MGMAT 3rd Test 640 (Q42, V35)...found the verbal super difficult. Getting nervous
GMAC 1st Prep 710 (Q48, V40)...over the moon..this score really counts
MGMAT 4th test 690 (Q44, V39)
MGMAT 5th Test 670 (Q44, V38)...finished Maths ahead of time for the 1st time. Made a few silly mistakes
GMAC 2nd prep 650 (Q42, V38)....super nervous now. But realized that I was somehow rushing through maths. Made a lot of silly mistakes among the first 13 questions.
MGMAT 6th Test 700 (Q44, V40)
I did the Princeton and Veritas tests in mid September. Once I saw the score of my first MGMAT test in early oct, I decided to take two weeks off from work and attempt the GMAT on the 25th. During my leave, I did one test every alternate day.
Some points what I did different from my first attempt
- I highly recommend MGMAT. Its way better than Kaplan and definitely better than Princeton
- The MGMAT tests are really close to the actual GMAT. The quants and verbal are infact harder. But the questions are definitely worded similar to GMAC. And the analysis is very useful. I could easily make out I was weak in reading comprehension Inference questions and sentence correction modifiers
- You must realize it's not about the number of mistakes you make. It's about the difficulty level at which you make them at. The MGMAT analysis really drilled that into me.
- Do the GMAC tests at least 3 times over. Pay attention to your first attempt scores only. They are the only truly indicative scores. The subsequent scores are irrelevant. However you'll be surprised how many new questions you'll come across. Just make sure that even among your mistakes, that there are no sums totally beyond your understanding...otherwise you may have a problem. After reading the MGMAT, I never had this problem.
- Pacing is so important....aim for 7 questions per 15mins in quants; in verbal aim for 8 questions 15mins. Don't worry much that you cannot wholeheartedly do the last 3 or 4 questions. You should expect to make educated guesses on them.
- Work out your mistakes without looking at the answer first. Re-work those sums you got right by fluke or were 50:50 on. Always search for ways to make it simple. There is always a simple way to attack any sum on the gmat.
- Remember that content comes first...you have to be clear on all your concepts. And only if you are getting 670 or above in various tests and especially on the GMAC , can you reasonably expect 700. I never got more than 640 in my mock tests in my first attempt. So I was foolish to expect anything more in the real gmat.
- I haven't got my awa scores yet. I referred to chineseburn's post on gmatclub. His template is so simple and obvious yet so elegant and time saving! I'll update once I get my Essay scores.
I hope this will help someone who has struggled as much as I have in quants. I felt like an utter dunce when I saw posts by my fellow compatriots about their mind numbing quant scores. However, I also realized I'm not the only one in such a situation. And now I can gladly report that in my mind, I have beaten the GMAT! Thank you Beatthegmat!. Thank you MGMAT!!
