Hi guys,
Finally it's my turn to report the scores.
I wrote the GMAT on Apr 15. Scored 700 (Q45,V40).
It was my first attempt, and I had 2 months to prepare for the exam. I am not a native english speaker, and my Quant was not strong either. So I really had to work on both parts.
My first diagnostic test (Gmat prep was in Feb and I scored 550 -Q44, V28). So I knew where I was standing. I needed to get a score somewhere near 600s, for the school that I was aiming for. However, inspired by posts of gmat beaters on this forum I have decided I need to cross that 700 score line in order to be satisfied with myself.
I worked hard but was not getting crazy. Probably the best thing was to allow myself good breaks, which was hard, because whatever I did my mind was always going back to gmat. But if you don't let your brain relax and get distracted from studying once in a while, you burn out soon. In general, I devoted 3-4 hrs to gmat almost every day.
I did not have a systematic strategy. I simply started from the basics. For math I covered the theoretic part and then practiced with OG, Kaplan, MGMAT tests.
Pretty much the same thing for Verbal. Studied the Manhattan GMAT books for Verbal, Kaplan800, Kaplan comprehensive program, Princeton Review and then practiced practiced practiced. Also tried to incorporate some strategies of people in this forum.
My scores were improving slowly. Sometimes I was getting very frustrated because of that. But practice really helps and with every test they were getting higher:
GMATPrep1 - 550
GMAT Prep2 - 590
MGMAT1 - 620
MGMAT2 - 640
MGMAT3 - 660
MGMAT4 - 680
MGMAT5 - 690
GMATPrep1 - 690
MGMAT6 - 720
Kaplan - 570 (got me in really bad mood so I decided not to do any kaplan tests)
GMAT Prep2 -730 (a few questions repeated)
GMAT Prep1 - 770 (many questions repeated).
Besides, I ran Quant section on GMAT prep many times just to practice all the math questions it had. I am not quite sure if it was helpful, for one thing, I stopped making silly mistakes.
The actual GMAT test:
AWA was ok, but I almost did not practice it. I did get a book by Arco Real answers, read a few essays, underlined key words and practiced writing one or 2 essays.
Quant: the questions were a bit harder than gmat prep. I had to guess 2nd question, and a few in the very beginning and the end. My score has not improved much, as I wrote my first diagnostic test Q44, on the actual thing (after 2 months of studying) it was Q45:-(
Verbal: I was mentally exhausted. It was so hard to concentrate, I had to read everything twice! My verbal score has improved a lot from where I had started, even with the lack of concentration. In this section I also had to guess some questions in the beginning and throughout the test. At the end I was so tired that wanted to finish as soon as possible whatever the score is. When I saw 700 I was not happy, not sad, just relieved:-)
That is it. I thank all the people in this forum for support, for sharing their stories and the inspiration. Good luck to you all!
Finally it's my turn to report the scores.
I wrote the GMAT on Apr 15. Scored 700 (Q45,V40).
It was my first attempt, and I had 2 months to prepare for the exam. I am not a native english speaker, and my Quant was not strong either. So I really had to work on both parts.
My first diagnostic test (Gmat prep was in Feb and I scored 550 -Q44, V28). So I knew where I was standing. I needed to get a score somewhere near 600s, for the school that I was aiming for. However, inspired by posts of gmat beaters on this forum I have decided I need to cross that 700 score line in order to be satisfied with myself.
I worked hard but was not getting crazy. Probably the best thing was to allow myself good breaks, which was hard, because whatever I did my mind was always going back to gmat. But if you don't let your brain relax and get distracted from studying once in a while, you burn out soon. In general, I devoted 3-4 hrs to gmat almost every day.
I did not have a systematic strategy. I simply started from the basics. For math I covered the theoretic part and then practiced with OG, Kaplan, MGMAT tests.
Pretty much the same thing for Verbal. Studied the Manhattan GMAT books for Verbal, Kaplan800, Kaplan comprehensive program, Princeton Review and then practiced practiced practiced. Also tried to incorporate some strategies of people in this forum.
My scores were improving slowly. Sometimes I was getting very frustrated because of that. But practice really helps and with every test they were getting higher:
GMATPrep1 - 550
GMAT Prep2 - 590
MGMAT1 - 620
MGMAT2 - 640
MGMAT3 - 660
MGMAT4 - 680
MGMAT5 - 690
GMATPrep1 - 690
MGMAT6 - 720
Kaplan - 570 (got me in really bad mood so I decided not to do any kaplan tests)
GMAT Prep2 -730 (a few questions repeated)
GMAT Prep1 - 770 (many questions repeated).
Besides, I ran Quant section on GMAT prep many times just to practice all the math questions it had. I am not quite sure if it was helpful, for one thing, I stopped making silly mistakes.
The actual GMAT test:
AWA was ok, but I almost did not practice it. I did get a book by Arco Real answers, read a few essays, underlined key words and practiced writing one or 2 essays.
Quant: the questions were a bit harder than gmat prep. I had to guess 2nd question, and a few in the very beginning and the end. My score has not improved much, as I wrote my first diagnostic test Q44, on the actual thing (after 2 months of studying) it was Q45:-(
Verbal: I was mentally exhausted. It was so hard to concentrate, I had to read everything twice! My verbal score has improved a lot from where I had started, even with the lack of concentration. In this section I also had to guess some questions in the beginning and throughout the test. At the end I was so tired that wanted to finish as soon as possible whatever the score is. When I saw 700 I was not happy, not sad, just relieved:-)
That is it. I thank all the people in this forum for support, for sharing their stories and the inspiration. Good luck to you all!
.gif)
