I just Beat The GMAT!

I sat for the GMAT last week Saturday. My practice test three days before the test, GMAT Prep, was Q35 V38 600. It was the first time I ever got to 600 and took me about a month to do. On Saturday, an hour before the test, I drank lots of coffee and half a can of Red Bull, thinking it would give me an advantage. By the time I got to the verbal section, I was crashing on caffeine and my final score was Q42 V 23 540 AWA 6.0.

I was shocked. I've always been stronger in verbal than quant ( I was a social science major ) but my verbal was almost half of my quant. The result was also surprising because of the 7 point increase in quant something that was inconceivable to me. The verbal section was much harder than any practice I've ever seen, and while crashing on caffeine I was not as mentally acute. In addition, I only completed one practice test with the AWA, so endurance was an issue, thus my decision to consume large amounts of coffee, which was in retrospect the dumbest thing I could have done. I left the test center not as angry or crushed as I thought I would have been but with a new found sense of confidence. It looks like my month of quant focus had paid off when it came to the clutch. However, for the actual test, I did not study combinatorics or probability as much as I should have, and saw at least 4-5 probability questions.

A few days after the test, I started studying combinatorics and probability in more detail, completed the Veritas books for those sections, did well on the advanced sections and on the OG questions as per Manhattan's Guide. I continued practicing on all other sections and on last week Wednesday I completed a practice test, GMAT Life by Veritas Prep, their newest test. I scored Q45 V39 total score of 710. This is the first time I've ever broken the 700 mark. What's interesting is the consistent jump in quant score from my previous practice tests and the actual test. The latest result has given me a shot of confidence, because it did take me about a month to get to 600 but less than a week to 710. Knowing that it is only a practice test and that I can expect there to be a 50 point discrepancy I pose a question to all those in the 700 club, a club that I would most definitely love to be apart of.

In the course of your studies, what were some factors that catapulted you to mid to high 600's to 700? Did you differ in your approach to studying? Assuming that the old adage is correct and perfect practice makes perfect, how did you all approach practice questions and tests after seeing your score climbing? Sources of practice questions are almost depleted, but I still have 3 MGMAT tests,3 Veritas and 2 800 score. I'm going to focus more on MGMAT because I feel the test content is much more difficult. I'm planning to retake the GMAT as soon as I can so any recommendations, suggestions or advice is appreciated from 700 club.

Thanks in advance!

My advice is to focus each day on one section, either math or verbal, and take a practice test of only that section. Then spend your time after the test figuring out where you went wrong and fixing your mistakes. The next day, take another partial test and so on. You can take mgmat, powerprep, and gmatprep tests more then once so material shouldnt be a problem. I took gmatprep tests like 6 times and my real gmat score was only about 20 points off what i scored on my final take.


Hope this helps

Perminology wrote:The verbal section was much harder than any practice I've ever seen, and while crashing on caffeine I was not as mentally acute.

In what ways did you feel the verbal section differed from the GMATPrep? Was each CR/RC/SC section harder than GMATPrep or only certain sections harder?

no

jewbagel wrote:My advice is to focus each day on one section, either math or verbal, and take a practice test of only that section. Then spend your time after the test figuring out where you went wrong and fixing your mistakes. The next day, take another partial test and so on. You can take mgmat, powerprep, and gmatprep tests more then once so material shouldnt be a problem. I took gmatprep tests like 6 times and my real gmat score was only about 20 points off what i scored on my final take.


Hope this helps

I have been looking for individual tests for the Verbal and Math but I have not been able to find good individual tests yet. Any recommendations?

Thanks

jewbagel wrote:My advice is to focus each day on one section, either math or verbal, and take a practice test of only that section.... I took gmatprep tests like 6 times and my real gmat score was only about 20 points off what i scored on my final take.


Hope this helps

Interesting, I would have thought that the score would be inflated because you took the same test over and over again. Will give it a shot near the last two weeks of my prep and tell you how it goes.