I took the GMAT on Monday, Nov. 24th at 2:00 p.m. I'm pretty happy with my score, and since I found this board to be tremendously helpful during my study period, I thought I'd give back a few cents and briefly summarize my experience.
First off, my situation is a bit anomalous, so it may not be helpful for most people.
I have a B.S. in electrical engineering, so math is something that has come naturally to me, and my engineering classes provided me a solid foundation to do well on the quant section of the GMAT. While my quantitative skills have not been tested since I was in college (I don't work in any tech field), the questions in 11th ed. OG and practice tests were all I needed to brush up on the basic quant skills so I could be confident on test day. For any question that I got wrong, and where I still felt shaky about the concept it tested, I jotted down that concept on a note card and reviewed a growing stack of notecards once every day.
I also have a J.D. And as some of you already know, the reading comprehension and logical reasoning sections on the LSAT are nearly identical to (and in my opinion, a bit more difficult than) the reading comprehension and critical reasoning questions on the GMAT. LSAT study and three years of law school are great training for the verbal section of the GMAT, so I did not have to spend much time prepping for the verbal or writing section.
I started working through the Official Guide (11th ed.) sometime in June 2008. My study was fairly sporadic, e.g., a few hours here and there, and was neither structured nor consistent. Sometime in early October, after working through nearly all of the OG, I took GMAT Prep I, and scored a 730. I was fairly shocked by my score, and due to the adaptive nature of the exam, until I actually saw my score, I believed I had done quite poorly. I almost decided to not even finish the exam, and in fact, I guessed on the last seven questions of the quant section. I chalked my score up to a bit of educated guessing and luck. Still, I decided that I had scored high enough to warrant scheduling a GMAT test appointment for six weeks later. However, I did not want to replicate the GMAT Prep I experience, during which I did not feel confident. I decided that I would not take the GMAT unless I was fully confident that I would score above 700. So, during the next six weeks, I finished the 11th ed. OG, and took 8 practice exams. I also purchased the set of practice test sections at GMAT Club (https://gmatclub.com/wiki/Tests).
A few things to note:
Not surprisingly, GMATPrep tests are the closest simulators of the actual GMAT. 800Score tests do not simulate the GMAT well. The verbal questions are too easy, and the quantitative questions are too difficult and/or time-consuming. MGMAT tests are close simulators of the actual GMAT, although the quant questions are too difficult and/or time-consuming. The same goes for the GMAT Club Challenges - quant questions too difficult and/or time consuming. Nonetheless, MGMAT and GMAT Club Challenges were invaluable practice, and working through difficult problems gave me the confidence to do well on the actual GMAT.
Speaking of confidence, it is, in my opinion one of the most important predictors of success on the GMAT. You will likely score only as well as you think you can. Study, prepare, and over-prepare until you are supremely confident of your ability to achieve your desired score.
I took GMAT Prep 2 two days before my scheduled exam day. The day before my exam, I did NOTHING but relax, to ensure that I was physically, mentally, and emotionally charged for test day.
Lastly, I consistently had timing problems on the quantitative section, and repeatedly spent too much time on a handful of questions that stumped me, only to get them wrong anyway. Someone else posted this timing distribution, which which corrected my timing issue immediately:
Q5:66m Q10:56m Q15:46m Q20:36m Q25:26m Q30:16m Q35:6m
Thanks to all who contribute to this board. Hopefully my experience will be helpful to some of you and best of luck.
Official Guide (11th ed.)
GMAT Club Challenges (https://gmatclub.com/wiki/Tests)
GMATPrep1, AWA: 730 (I didn't record the section scores)
800Score1: 710 (39Q, 48V)
800Score2: 670 (37Q, 46V)
800Score3: 710 (37Q, 49V)
MGMAT1: 690 (44Q, 39V)
MGMAT2: 630 (40Q, 35V)
MGMAT3: 690 (46Q, 38V)
GMATPrep1 (2nd attempt): 740 (48Q, 42V)
GMATPrep2, AWA: 750 (48Q, 45V)
First off, my situation is a bit anomalous, so it may not be helpful for most people.
I have a B.S. in electrical engineering, so math is something that has come naturally to me, and my engineering classes provided me a solid foundation to do well on the quant section of the GMAT. While my quantitative skills have not been tested since I was in college (I don't work in any tech field), the questions in 11th ed. OG and practice tests were all I needed to brush up on the basic quant skills so I could be confident on test day. For any question that I got wrong, and where I still felt shaky about the concept it tested, I jotted down that concept on a note card and reviewed a growing stack of notecards once every day.
I also have a J.D. And as some of you already know, the reading comprehension and logical reasoning sections on the LSAT are nearly identical to (and in my opinion, a bit more difficult than) the reading comprehension and critical reasoning questions on the GMAT. LSAT study and three years of law school are great training for the verbal section of the GMAT, so I did not have to spend much time prepping for the verbal or writing section.
I started working through the Official Guide (11th ed.) sometime in June 2008. My study was fairly sporadic, e.g., a few hours here and there, and was neither structured nor consistent. Sometime in early October, after working through nearly all of the OG, I took GMAT Prep I, and scored a 730. I was fairly shocked by my score, and due to the adaptive nature of the exam, until I actually saw my score, I believed I had done quite poorly. I almost decided to not even finish the exam, and in fact, I guessed on the last seven questions of the quant section. I chalked my score up to a bit of educated guessing and luck. Still, I decided that I had scored high enough to warrant scheduling a GMAT test appointment for six weeks later. However, I did not want to replicate the GMAT Prep I experience, during which I did not feel confident. I decided that I would not take the GMAT unless I was fully confident that I would score above 700. So, during the next six weeks, I finished the 11th ed. OG, and took 8 practice exams. I also purchased the set of practice test sections at GMAT Club (https://gmatclub.com/wiki/Tests).
A few things to note:
Not surprisingly, GMATPrep tests are the closest simulators of the actual GMAT. 800Score tests do not simulate the GMAT well. The verbal questions are too easy, and the quantitative questions are too difficult and/or time-consuming. MGMAT tests are close simulators of the actual GMAT, although the quant questions are too difficult and/or time-consuming. The same goes for the GMAT Club Challenges - quant questions too difficult and/or time consuming. Nonetheless, MGMAT and GMAT Club Challenges were invaluable practice, and working through difficult problems gave me the confidence to do well on the actual GMAT.
Speaking of confidence, it is, in my opinion one of the most important predictors of success on the GMAT. You will likely score only as well as you think you can. Study, prepare, and over-prepare until you are supremely confident of your ability to achieve your desired score.
I took GMAT Prep 2 two days before my scheduled exam day. The day before my exam, I did NOTHING but relax, to ensure that I was physically, mentally, and emotionally charged for test day.
Lastly, I consistently had timing problems on the quantitative section, and repeatedly spent too much time on a handful of questions that stumped me, only to get them wrong anyway. Someone else posted this timing distribution, which which corrected my timing issue immediately:
Q5:66m Q10:56m Q15:46m Q20:36m Q25:26m Q30:16m Q35:6m
Thanks to all who contribute to this board. Hopefully my experience will be helpful to some of you and best of luck.
Official Guide (11th ed.)
GMAT Club Challenges (https://gmatclub.com/wiki/Tests)
GMATPrep1, AWA: 730 (I didn't record the section scores)
800Score1: 710 (39Q, 48V)
800Score2: 670 (37Q, 46V)
800Score3: 710 (37Q, 49V)
MGMAT1: 690 (44Q, 39V)
MGMAT2: 630 (40Q, 35V)
MGMAT3: 690 (46Q, 38V)
GMATPrep1 (2nd attempt): 740 (48Q, 42V)
GMATPrep2, AWA: 750 (48Q, 45V)
