I am 26 yr old female from India, working as an IT professional. I decided to give GMAT around Jan 2010. That is when I stumbled upon this wonderful site.(Thanks a ton Eric).I bought OG 12, MGMAT SC. Studied for few days, then GMAT took backseat due to various reasons (Never ever do this - its very difficult to gain the same momentum you start off with). I strongly decided late Dec 2010 that I will give my GMAT first half of 2011. I was at home for 2 full months (Jan & Feb) - thanks to my surgery. This is the time i really did study for this exam.
Following are the books I "intended" to use:
1)OG 12
2)Verbal & Quant guides
3)MGMAT SC
4)E-gmat online course
5)Aristotle SC Grail
6)Powerscore CR Bible
7)Aristotle CR Question bank
8)Kaplan Premier Edition
9)RC 99
But it was a different story when I started my prep. BTG became an important source. I started off with Kaplan Premier - nothing great to write about. But if you have time on your side, you can start off with this. Boosts your confidence as the question bank is rather at a medium level. Then came OG - THE BIBLE. Even though it is said many times, I would still say it once more - Do each and every problem from OG - the way Ron advises you to. Though I implemented Ron's method only for the SC. For Quant, it was a pain for me to analyse the answers which I got right - I know you are supposed to do that, but I didnt. SC - I analysed each option for every question.
Quant:
Coming to the section wise prep, Quant - it was only OG for me. Being brought up in India, quant was something I was fed upon. Didnt have much difficulty in this section. I wrote down few formulas and concepts I picked up from BTG and mock tests, and revised them. I did OG PS section early on in my prep.
CR:
I decided to study Powerscore after I heard rave reviews about it. Trust me, its a great source if you are struggling with the CR part. But for me it was the opp. AFter studying few chapters, when I tried to implement the technique, I found out that my CR accurachy actaullly dropped. I stumbled upon Ron's post at the sametime in which he advised to reatin inherent abilities if any for CR strengthen and weaken questions. I only used negation technique from CR Bible. Rest I left it to my reasoning capabilities.
RC:
I did struggle in this section early on. I tried various methods such as skimming, reading the first and last paras for this section.Also, theres too much emphasis on writing notes. I am not saying its not a right strategy, but one size doesnt fit all. I actually lost track of what I was reading, if I wrote down something. My reading speed and comprehension abilities are decent, so I realised I am better off reading the entire passage once and only then start with the questions.Practised this with RC 99. Did all the easy level passages and about half of the medium level ones. RC 99 is quite different from GMAT. So use it with caution. Only you can decide whether it suits you or not. Do not be intimidated by the length or content of the passages. Also, few answers are at best debatable. So dont fret much over those.GMATprep RC's - I actually enjoyed doing them. Not very lengthy but tricky ones.
SC:
Now, to my favourite part(pun intended
). I hate this section. MGMAT SC is great. I will not waste your time praising that book. Enough has been said already. I also went through e-gmat and aristotle grail But still I reached a stagnation level with my SC's. I could not push beyond. Instead of learning new rules, I thought I am better off being able to implement correctly the ones I already know. So I decided to concentrate on the following in my mock tests SC's(thanks to Ron for this too):1)Meaning
2)Parallelism
3)Modifiers
4)Idioms(if it falls into the small list I had prepared)
5)Verb Tense
If I could figure out the correct answer from the above, fine else I decided I would trust my ear. My 40 in verbal I am sure is because of my SC. I must have for sure got around 4-5 SC's wrong.
Mock Tests:
The important part of one's prep. GMAT is all about patience. A lotttt (trust me this lottt is a lotttt) depends on how well can you concentrate for 4 long hours. Never give your mocks without AWA.Its a waste in my view. I gave all my tests with AWA and at the same timings my actual exam was. It is important to make sure you give mocks in almost the same environment as you would be giving your GMAT. Have proper sleep even before the day you give mocks. A sleep deprived mind cant concentrate for long. I even made sure I gave my mocks with lens on (as I did for my actual exam), coz I wanted to see whether my eyes could concentrate for 4 hours even with my lens on.I gave 6 MGMAT tests, GMAT prep - 4 times, 1 PR free test, Kaplan - 4 tests, Veritas free one - so total around 16 tests. This is what I did every weekend for the past 2 months.
My Mock test scores:
MGMAT 1: 700
MGMAT 2: 690
MGMAT 3: 740
MGMAT 4: 690
MGMAT 5: 750
MGMAT 6: 740
PR free test: 720
GMAT PREP 1:730
GMAT PREP 2: 740
GMAT PREP 1(Retake):720
GMAT PREP 2(Retake):740
Kaplan Diag Test: 640
Kaplan 1:650
Kaplan 2:710
Kaplan 3:720
MGMAT CAT's are the next best after GMAT Prep. Kaplan tests - give them only to test your stamina. Not very advisable.
Exam Day:
Day prior to the exam I was solving the 198 questions from GMATPREP. Its an awesome collection. But I couldnt do many.
I had my slot at 11 o clk in Hyd, India. (Quick advice for people in Hyd, the Pearson Vue centre is exactly opp to Levis showroom in Begumpet. Not exactly opp to Shopper Stop as mentioned in the GMAC website.Levis is few blocks before SS.) I didnt take any granula bars or energy drinks (as most of them here mention they do). I knew my body wouldnt like them. I packed good old water.
I was allowed to start exam at 10 30. AWA went pretty fine. Came out, had some water. I finished writing my issue 10 mins before. So wrote my timing shcedule for Quant on the scratch pad. I followed MGMAT's timing schedule all thru my mock tests. So used the same for Q and V. Quant started. Spent almost 4 mins on the first question. It was a simple one though. Didnt panic as I knew I can nail quant. I had 50 in all the gmatpreps. Rest went pretty fine. I was surprised to see around 4-5 set theory questions. Guessed on the last one. Felt I performed ebough to get a 50. As i knew from gmatprep, even if I make more than 5 mistakes, 50 can be achieved. Another break, another glass of water.
Verbal started. I had no idea how it was going, except for I felt good when I got a bold faced CR at Q 11.(I felt I Was performing well
) One thing I knew, I was performing at the same level as I did on my gmatprep. Finished on time. No surprises in the verbal section(Lost of discussions going on here about GMAC changing algorithm, Verbal getting tougher etc). I can say now for sure, GMATPREP is the closest you can get. Nothing, mind you no prep company's mock test can come even relatively close to the original than Gmatprep. This is repeated so often, but only when you give the exam you realise how true it is.
I could not sit through the IR section. Finished it off in 10 mins. No way I was cancelling my score. Next, I see a 730 - was more than elated. Came out, had a close look at teh print the proctor had given, it still said 730
. Smiles all round!!Few Pointers:
A is not equal to B. You are not like me. This is very important. We keep reading so manyy strategies on net and try to follow them. Never do that. Your mind cant function the same as others. You gotto figure out what works best for you. Be it the way you will prepare for exam, be it the way you write your mocks, or what you carry with you on test day. Anyhting. Take advice, but make sure it works for you. This exam is so different from the others(atleast what I have given in my life till date).
Taking off from your prep is very important (as Ron says about Latent retention). Do not study if you dont feel like. Also, imagine yourself writing a debrief on BTG. It may help you like it did in my case. Never loose your self belief even though whatever people may say about Verbal getting tougher or GMAC has changed their algorithm. I have gone thru all this, you read such stories and start to panic. Never helps.
Hindsight, I would have loved to finish off the verbal guide too and review my OG verbal questions I got wrong. I wasnt able to do any.
Nd yeah, btw, I love Ron. hes simply awesum!!!
Infact all the experts here and my co-BTG memebers, all of you are awesum.
Wish me luck in my apps!!
~Cheers,
Rohini
