I just Beat The GMAT!

Hi all,

After a lot of thinking I have decided to report my scores and my experience with this exam. I took my GMAT on Dec 30th. Next morning flew to florida with my hubby to celebrate my first marriage anniversary. So did not give any time to let that score sink in. And I still feel that I haven't yet taken the exam and have a loot to study!!

Coming to the point... I prepared for 6 months. For those 6 months from July to Dec, I ate, drank, slept GMAT. Therefore, I am extremely disappointed with my verbal score . Ofcourse I am very happy with my Quant score. I come from an engineering background.Scoring a 51 on Quant was a part of my dream of getting a 700+ in the gmat. I am happy that I reached atleast one of the goals. However, I have no words to express my disappointment on the verbal part. I am pretty sure this score would have been in 700's if my verbal were even 4 or 5 points more. In my practise tests I was scoring in the 34-40 range. Touched 40-42 in GMAT prep because there were many repeats. So in the worst case I was expecting a 34-36. But luck was not in my favor I believe. I don't think there is any point in discussing further about the verbal section because it won't be helpful to anyone.

Here are some pointers for Quant:

1) Manhattan Books - A MUST
2)MGMAT Exams - A MUST

My quant preparation revolved around repeatedly revising concepts from the Manhattan Books, Manhattan Flash Cards and the 6 exams, I think I did all of their quant sections atleast thrice. Every problem in the MGMAT exam is a concept in itself. Doing them over and over, especially the number properties, absolute value , inequations... All of these were my weak points. I did each problem timed. Made flashcards of concepts I forgot often or which I didn't know cold and which I knew would save time if I memorized them.

6 months back I was having trouble calculating the decimal equivalent of 1/3. I knew I was strong in all my concepts because I always did very well in Mathematics. I realized that my mind was slow and rusted and needed some oiling
So first 3 months of my preparation, I didn't care if I got the answer right or wrong, I just tried doing it mentally, that is without using a pen and paper. If you continuously train your brain to work hard, it will learn to do it and eventually, all simple problems can be calculated in memory. Writing on the paper is a waste of time. Initially I remember I used to copy the whole question even without thinking how to solve it. That was very time consuming.

So the strategy that I used in my practise tests and the main exam was -

1) Read the question carefully.
2) Think of the easiest and laziest and thus the quickest way to solve it, because you don't want to use your pen.Not wanting to use your pen will make you think more intelligently:).
3)If you find a method which is easy and can be done with minimal usage of your pen, just go for it.
4) If you find a method which is easy but might take a little more writing, meaning a little more time, go for it if you are confident that you can get the answer withing the 2 minute time frame.
5) If you find a method where you will be struggling with too many equations and not even sure if it can be completed in 2 minute frame. EVEN IF YOU KNOW HOW TO SOLVE IT, SKIP IT!!

Yes, if you see such a question , it definitely means the GMAT wants you to skip it. Nobody in the GMAT worls will be able to solve it in 2 minutes so there is no point wasting your time there.

According to me getting a 51 in quant is all about time management, knowing and identifying which question is a 500-600 level, which one is 600+ and which one is 700+. MGMAT exams are the best way to analyze your performance in quant.

In my first MGMAT exam I was horrified with the Math. I think I scored a 44 or something. Then I analyzed and saw that I was wasting my time on questions that were designed to eat your time. They appear easy and you know you can solve it. But you also know they cannot be solved within 2 minutes. Its better to guess on these questions and move on and make sure you get all your 500-600 and 600-700 right.

After the first exam, my goal was to get all questions in the range of 500-600 right and 600-700 right. After that strategy I consistently got a 48 in all my MGMAt exams.

With each exam I was able to identify my weakensses and I used to move on on those questions to save time for the ones I was good at and mark them correct.

So my friends, I hope this small piece of advise might help a few.

About the rest who are curious whether I will retake, I think I might not. I am not really sure as I have heard stories of people being able to get into top 10 schools with even lower scores. So I think I will give it a shot. I might post my score on the admissions forum to get some advice though.

For any help/questions on quant, feel free to pm me.

Finally, Thanks to this lovely forum. If this forum didn't exist, I wouldn't have known about Manhattan GMAt and all the other study resources.

Thanks to all guys, Ron, Stacey, Dana and especially testluv for helping me with the CR. I think I was doing decently well in that section a few days before my exam and I believe that most likely the RC and SC sections were responsible for my lower verbal score. No more cribbing for verbal. Thanks once again guys!!

Wish me luck for my apps.