Scores 730 Q48 V42 96Percentile
Quite happy with it, although higher will be better. After 2 months of studying. And the last one week very intense studying, Im so glad this is over. Hate that feeling in your gut before you walk into the testing room thinking shit if i mess this up its another month of studying before going through this ordeal again.
But praise God, hope this helps me get into Harvard, now time to get the rest of my act together.
Just to share some tips about the whole thing, though my study plan was quite messy and haphazard, i was jumping around the different tests that i had, got bored and tired on some days. Hope this helps anyone studying for the GMAT. Questions welcome.
But first the test itself.
AWA
Really depends on what essay topic you get, dont know my scores yet so will refrain from giving too many comments in this area. All i can say is for general issues and ideas on how to address them as well as how to punch holes in arguments in a convincing manner, I personally found the Economist magazine very good. The articles are well written and cover a wide scope of topics.
Quant
The questions here i found were slightly harder than the GMATprep, but i paced myself quite well and finished with 15 seconds left. I think there were a few careless mistakes and perhaps spent too long on the DS questions, felt like trying to solve them completely just to be sure. Good to establish a point where you know you can stop. For example when you reach two simultaneous equations, or from two unknows to one etc.
Didnt know that 48 was only the 84th percentile, thats kind of skewed.
Verbal
This was what i struggled with. I must admit that during the test itself i freaked out a little, the first few questions were pretty tough SC questions and i started rushing them, being a little worried that the rest of the test would be of similar difficulty. Mistake. The rest of the test i found easier and i ended up at an overly relaxed pace towards the end. Last 10 questions i had about 30 mins.
Key lesson learnt, know your strengths and weakness, only then can you defeat the dark side. SC is my nemesis, my bane, my Achilles heel. I find the CR quite easy and can do them quite fast and well. Knowing this i shouldn't have been worried and rushed myself just because the first 3 questions were SC.
Preparation
I used the following resouces
OG 11
1000 SC questions
Princeton review GMAT verbal
Manhattan SC
Kapalan Verbal
Practice tests
Kaplan CD
CAT 1 - 570
CAT 2 - 580
CAT 3 - 590 - this was like 5 days before my test! Way to get discouraged.
The Kapalan CD tests are good in the sense that they are tougher than what i actually encountered for the GMAT, both the Quant and the Verbal. The Kapalan RC for example has like 6 paragraphs! Whereas the ones i saw for the actual GMAT were short with haps 3. Just dont let them bum you out too much. Literally couldnt sleep after taking the latest CAT3!
800Score (old n new) - No score but i did about 3 Quant and 10 verbal, started focusing on verbal after a while.
Lots of paper tests, no idea where they come from but had test 1-31 or sth ridiculous Printed out 800 pages plus worth of tests, its good practice but a little tedious.
Wierd Korean center tests - overloaded by this time, so didnt bother with them.
Borron 2007-2008
This CD had 2 practice tests and 2 CAT tests.
Did one CAT test, thing didnt even give me a score i think, or the interface was wierd and i couldnt find the button. Either way, the questions are not very representative of the GMAT neither are they very difficult, so not worth it.
POWERPREP
CAT 1 - 680
CAT 2 - 690
Questions seemed harder than GMATprep
GMATprep
CAT 1 - 720
CAT 2 - 760
I did the CAT1 as my first test and was quite happy with it, after studying only 2 weeks. Then i did Kapalan and decided it was not the time to get complacent.
The CAT2 i saved for the last, two days before the exam and prayed hard .
Would have loved to try Manhattan but could find any in singapore.
Conclusion
Closest reprentation of actual scores is GMATprep but i strongly suggest Kapalan for its tougher questions.
Most helpful for Quant was Kapalan
Most helpful for CR and RC- reading the economist, doing many practices, making mental notes - not to add own assumptions in, refrain from using common sense if it draws upon info not in the passage or CR portion.
SC - I hate grammer, growing up in british int schools all my life i dont actually remember ever having a grammer lesson. We were just expected to know what sounds right i guess. And it served me well in life... Until i met the GMAT. I did quite alright for most of the practice questions from OG 11, but the worrying part was that i answered them not by following any rules but by virtue of what sounds right. Those questions that i did get wrong i never quite got the explanation, thats what all the Manhattan SC and Kapalan Verbal helped. When they broke it down to the sentence structures.
Pacing yourself - Get used to using a backward timing counter, i was using a stopwatch until day of the test itself, not too good. So during the AWA i had some time and scribbled out some key yardsticks. ie. for verbal must finish Qn 20 when the timer shows 37 mins. etc.
Take it easy the day before the test, really helped. I just sat back relaxed and didnt touch any questions at all.
Last but not least anyone want any material just e-mail me.
