1) What Practice Tests do you recommend taking? What Practice Test or Tests do you think helped you out the most for your preparation? How many do you Practice Tests do you recommend taking?
Here’s my impression of the 4 types of practice tests I took
Retired Paper Tests from GMAC: Way too easy, not reflective of the difficulty of the actual test. Don’t waste your time
Kaplan CATs: (from the class via the internet) – Fairly reprehensive of the difficulty of the actual test, quant might be a little soft, but the scores are reflective of your potential on the actual exam
Kaplan CATs: (From CD rom that comes with book) – Overall tests a far too difficult and scores are ~50 pts below where they should be, not sure why the discrepancy between Kaplan’s 2 test types.
Manhattan GMAT CATs: (Included with most book purchases) – The quant question are much more difficult than the actual test but are great for practice. Verbal is great. Although the quant is hard, the scoring is accurate (it doesn’t punish you much for missing the really hard questions)
GMATPrep: These tests are the closest to the actual test (go figure). With no feed back or explanation they are not the best for learning. Take these right before your test and use this forum to get answers to the questions you have difficulty with.
2) What books would you most recommend to study? Do you think Quality or Quantity is more important for Quant prep?
I used the OG and both accompanying guides (I think these are a must have but lack 700-800 level problems). I supplemented the OG guides with Kaplan 800 (great resource for difficult problems) and the Manhattan SC guide (Also a must have). I thought that these books alone along with the resources on this web site we sufficient.
3) Is it worth spending any time on probability or permutation/combination problems if I am just targeting a mid-40 Quant score?
You should understand the basics of all the math concepts on the GMAT. If you have aspirations of a 700, I would shoot a little higher than the mid 40’s for quant. I’m not sure it is possible unless you score 99%ile in verbal.
4) How has your experience been with your Stacy Blackman consultant? Would you recommend her service?
Now that I am on to the essay portion of my application, I have so thankful to have my consultant. She is a Stanford (GSB) alumnus (my target school) and her insight is priceless. An admit from Stanford is worth what they charge, ten fold.
5) Any other words of wisdom for 700 aspirants?
Set up a study plan (an attack plan as I called it)
Study under pressure (timed study, lots of practice cats, be sure to write essays before all cats as it allows you to train your mind to stay focused for the full 3.5 hours)
Be confident, second guessing your ability right before the test can be detrimental to your success.
Identify your strengths.
I have attached practice CAT progress tracker, Use it to identify strengths, progresses, and weaknesses.
Good luck.
-
Attachments
-
- Practice Test Analysis.xls
- (56.5 KiB) Downloaded 183 times
Giles
