I just Beat The GMAT!

I haven't posted much on this forum, but I've found it immensely helpful over the last month so I feel as though I should try to give something back with a quick debrief.

I just took the test and received a 760 (49/45). The 49 in quant was slightly disappionting given that I had consistenly scored higher in practice and finished the section with more than 10 minutes to spare, but I've always been and most likely will continue to be prone to making careless mistakes. The verbal was about what I had expected, although I thought the sentence correction was easier than the GMATPrep.

Some takeaways, based on my experience and what I've read on this board.

Studying:
- I thought Manhattan GMAT was very helpful here - the books and question banks cover just about everything, although like their CATs there is an over emphasis on probability and combinations. You'll probaly have trouble finishing the math in time, dont let is discourage you (I was haivng trouble and I finished the actual GMAT math with 10 minutes +)
- The last 6 CATS I took (MGMAT and GMATPREP) were all above 760 except a Kaplan test when I got a 590...the math was good practice but dont let the score get you down.
- The MGMAT sentence correction book is a must, but I thought the critical reasoning guide was helpful as well.
- For sentence correction, I didnt find that practice really made me all that better until i looked at the MGMAT book - there are a few key (4 or 5) concepts to learn that will help you on just about every question. Learn those from the MGMAT SC book before you do all the problems in the OGs.
- Try to do a little bit everyday. I suppose it varies from person to person, but for me I found that my mind started fading out of GMAT mode after a day or two off.
- Take a lot of practice tests - its a good chance to learn and to get a feel for what it feels like to get a certain score. This will go a long way toward helping your stay calm when taking the real test. Review all your mistakes thoroughly - MGMAT is great b/c of the detailed explanations, and this board is a great source for explanations for GMATPREP tests. I took one every day this week after work (even though I REALLY didnt feel like it)
- I used this board a lot to practice data sufficiency. It really helped me get a handle on some of the tougher problems that involed absolute values and divisibility.
- In SC a possessive cannot modify a pronoun, dont be fooled by this, they seem to love it. REALLY focus on finding modifier errors as well.
- Know that A^-B^2 is (a-b)(a+b). I think you are almost guaranteed to get a radical in a denominator somewhere.
- Know overlapping sets
- Know the application of prime factorization (LCD,GCF, etc)...you'll use it more than once
- Dont get too worried about p&c, i only had 1 question.

Test:
- Its natural for your hands to shake and your palms to sweat when you begin a section...we all feel the same nerves.
- The first question on the quant was the hardest, it took me 3 minutes. Dont go into the test thinking hte first question is going to be really easy and then freak out when it isnt. I'm sure it varies, but mine was hard.
- I've heard that a lot of people find the quant harder than the GMATPREP tests...maybe a little but not signicantly in my experience.
- Make sure you have your timing down - I finished really early and must have made some careless errors...if you are good at math and will have some time to spare, try to get in the habit of checking your errors.
- I thought the SC was easier than the GMATPREP, and just about every answer was a case of pronoun error, parallellism, tense, subject/verb agreement, modifier
- Reading comp was pretty clear and not as long as you'll see on Kaplan or MGMAT tests.

Thats about it...for studying I used all the MGMAT books, the OGs and a bunch of practice tests.

Thanks again to everyone, this board is really a great resource.

congrats your 760 !

congratulations for a wonderful score!!

could you please post the details regarding your practice test scores ??

Hi Bill,
How did u prepare for CR? what are the resources you used? Any tip/strategy is greatly appreciated