I finished the test about an hour ago ... and was VERY surprised by the result! Based on the MGMAT/GMATPREP practice exams I expected to score in the range of 690-730, however I got 750 on the actual exam!
Here are a couple of thoughts:
Background: Non-native english speaker, just a year out of college (BA in Accounting, minor in Computer science). CPA, work as an auditor at a Big 4 accounting firm.
1) Being just one year out of college (and just one year after passing the CPA exam) helped me, because I am still in a study mode.
2) Being a non-native english speaker I spent plenty of time studying for verbal. However I feel that being a non-native speaker might be an advantage in certain situations (I started to study english "from grammar - up", so I was pretty comfortable with sentense structure, etc.).
3) Increase the intensity of studying right before the test (2 to 3 weeks, except for the last 2 days before the acutal exam). This puts your mind into test-mode so you'll be ready to rockn'roll on the test day.
4) Timing is the key
5) MGMAT rocks.
Study plan:
1) Cracking the GMAT - looked through 3 to 4 months before the test - great test-taking techniques.
2) Manhattan GMAT - 2 months to 1 week before the test: went through all the guides and did all of the associated problems in the guides themselves, + some of the problems from the OG
3) OG + Verbal OG + Quant OG - went through the whole problem solving section in OG11 (some twice) did some Quant OG, didn't touch Verbal OG, since was doing pretty well on the verbal part.
4) GMAT Prep + MGMAT CATs:
GMAT Prep 1: 27-Oct-08 Q -47; V-39; Aggr:-700
MGMAT1: 14-Dec-08 Q-44; V-36; Aggr:-660
MGMAT2: 16-Dec-08 Q-43; V-41; Aggr:-700
MGMAT3: 19-Dec-08 Q-44; V-40; Aggr:-700
GMAT Prep 2: 21-Dec-08 Q-47; V-43; Aggr:-730
Real Test: 23-Dec-08 Q-49; V-42; Aggr:-750; Percentile 98%
Hope this helps. Good luck with the test!
Here are a couple of thoughts:
Background: Non-native english speaker, just a year out of college (BA in Accounting, minor in Computer science). CPA, work as an auditor at a Big 4 accounting firm.
1) Being just one year out of college (and just one year after passing the CPA exam) helped me, because I am still in a study mode.
2) Being a non-native english speaker I spent plenty of time studying for verbal. However I feel that being a non-native speaker might be an advantage in certain situations (I started to study english "from grammar - up", so I was pretty comfortable with sentense structure, etc.).
3) Increase the intensity of studying right before the test (2 to 3 weeks, except for the last 2 days before the acutal exam). This puts your mind into test-mode so you'll be ready to rockn'roll on the test day.
4) Timing is the key
5) MGMAT rocks.
Study plan:
1) Cracking the GMAT - looked through 3 to 4 months before the test - great test-taking techniques.
2) Manhattan GMAT - 2 months to 1 week before the test: went through all the guides and did all of the associated problems in the guides themselves, + some of the problems from the OG
3) OG + Verbal OG + Quant OG - went through the whole problem solving section in OG11 (some twice) did some Quant OG, didn't touch Verbal OG, since was doing pretty well on the verbal part.
4) GMAT Prep + MGMAT CATs:
GMAT Prep 1: 27-Oct-08 Q -47; V-39; Aggr:-700
MGMAT1: 14-Dec-08 Q-44; V-36; Aggr:-660
MGMAT2: 16-Dec-08 Q-43; V-41; Aggr:-700
MGMAT3: 19-Dec-08 Q-44; V-40; Aggr:-700
GMAT Prep 2: 21-Dec-08 Q-47; V-43; Aggr:-730
Real Test: 23-Dec-08 Q-49; V-42; Aggr:-750; Percentile 98%
Hope this helps. Good luck with the test!
