I just Beat The GMAT!

I have been a silent spectator on this site for many months now. Enjoyed reading the debriefs posted by various people, so its only fair that i chip in with my experiece.I am a software engineer with 4 years of work experience, having worked for accenture and amdocs,currently working with Sungard at Pune.

Took my GMAT today- got a 700, which i think is an average to decent score. I am a working professional , so it was kind of tough for me to take time out and stay devoted to the "cause of gmat". I didnt take any leave to study for gmat either.

GMAT SCORE : 700
QUANT : 45
VERBAL: 40

It was a surprise since i have always considered english to be my forte. I have been an avid reader since childhood, and was quite cocky about my chances in the english section.

As for the preparation, i really never did much in terms of preparation.The real gist of my preparation was over the last month consisting of haphazard study spells at work, and about an hour each in the morning and the evening.For quant, i would recommend all the MGMAT books for clarifying concepts. Besides this i did the last 100 questions of OG12 and QR.
I didnt prepare anything for english.

I however took lots of mock tests :
5 Test of 800Score.com the questions are of moderate level, but i dont think its any use preparing for quant as if you are preparing for some math olympiad .I found the approach of working on the basics and practicing lots on TEST questions to be better.(faced with a time crunch)
Kaplan's exam (from the book) - 680

GMAT Prep 1- 690
GMAT Prep 2- 700
Real GMAT - 700.

Never prepared for essays either. Just skimmed through a few sample essays to get a generic idea of the structure.Topics were fairly easy and i would like to think that i have done fairly well in this section.

I started off well in the quant section, but surprisingly i got MORE of DS questions than PS. I think i mut have got atleast 19-20 DS questions, a significant departure from the usual expected 14-15.I wish i had got more of PS, but its ok..

English proved surprisingly challenging, maybe due to a lack of practice on my part. My level of intensity was also on the wane by the time i reached the verbal section, i just wanted to finish the test ASAP and get back to my leisurely and stress free days , im a hopelessly laid back character, and as of now i dont know if i would ever want to better this score!

Will weigh my options in a few days from now.

Thanks,
Vatsav

That's pretty natural to feel over-confident when you think that you're really strong in one part. But anyways, you have come over it with great success. I think that you can now proceed with the apps.

My 2 cents on quant again :

As far as permutations and combinations/probability go, people either spend an exorbitant amount of time trying to master these topics,or they totally let go off these topics for the test. I was guilty of doing the same till the last week leading up to my exam.

However , i found this wonderful site as far as the BASICS of permutations and combinations/probability are concerned :

https://www.prepfortests.com/gmat/tutori ... s/counting

I would advise future aspirants to at least go through the basics of both the topics, since the questions from these topics on the test are most often of a very basic level which can be dealt with just a mere familiarity with the topics.I got 2 questions from PnC on the gmat, and they could be solved just by knowing the formulae for Permutations and Combinations.If i had totally skipped these topics, i would have missed out on 2 sitters by having to randomly guess..

I cannot overstate the importance of Number Properties and Inequalities books of the MGMAT series. The advanced sections may seem like overkill , but they are definitely worth going through as if one can initially invest time in going through them systematically and make important notes to revise at the last moment, one can reap rich rewards in quant.

GMAT quant is not tough, but very tricky! The MGMAT books identify all the pitfalls one can come across, especially if you have been out of touch with quant for a while.

Vastav,

Greatly appreciate your debrief, thank you~!!!

Hi,

what is the best way to study for quant and verbal? nice score.

Hi,

Verbal - i cant comment really , since i did absolutely ZERO prep for verbal. However, over the months i have seen people recommed the MGMAT SC correction book .


For Quant :

If you have time, you must buy all the 5 MGMAT Quant books and go through them without leaving out a single detail. They cover all possible aspects, and the concepts are presented in such a clear manner that even if one is hard pressed for time, he or she can easily go through all the 5 books at a pretty rapid rate.

While MGMAT books are good for PS, they dont offer much for DS except good theory and a few tough examples. So if you feel you need additional practice for DS, do the last 100 questions of OG and QR, as they are tougher than the initial problems( initial questions might prove ridiculously easy and may inspire a false sense of confidence.)

I also bought the MGMAT question banks. It contains a question bank of some tough questions covering all aspects of the gmat, 25 questions each on PS,DS,RC,CR AND SC. However, i would recommend doing that ONLY if you have finished what i have stated previously.

It is also important to test yourself by way of mock tests. Dont give a mock test just for the sake of giving it, and dont take one like EVERY DAY. Once you have given a mock, give yourself sufficient time to analyze your mistakes and work on them.Over the past month, i took 1 mock every 3 days and i could see a slow but steady improvement in my quant score.

*Please not all these tips are for people who are hard pressed for time, those having more time at their disposal should adopt a more intensive approach by way of going through more books and more questions.If i had time at my disposal, say 3 months , my approach would have been :

Quant :

MGMAT Books
OG
QR

Verbal :

OG
VR
MGMAT SC