I gave the GMAT today and got a 770 (Q50, V44) and just wanted to thank the GMAT community... I got a lot of help from the forums here! This was my first (and only) try. I didn't do close to this well on most of the practice tests I took.
My verbal was pretty good to begin with for a non-native speaker so I didn't study for that at all. But I realized early that I needed help and practice for my quant. As I run my own business, I didn't really have the time or energy to study 2-3 hours every day. The one post that was by far the most helpful was an old one from Eric. He mentioned that for people who don't have a lot of time (I only decided to take the GMAT a month and a half ago), doing problems in the OG is the best use of this time. I found this post about 10 days ago, after getting really frustrated with not being able to improve my quant score by much even after a month of taking practice tests and studying the MGMAT guides. Just as Eric said, after doing all the OG quant problems, during the real thing it almost felt like I had already seen these problems before!!
Overall the BTG forums helped me overcome the issues I had noticed in my own test taking. So a thank you to the BTG members and a special thank you to Eric!
Below is a list of the things that helped me and hopefully they will help others as well:
MGMAT quant guides: Studied a couple of them for a few hours to completely understand all the concepts.
MGMAT CATs and other free CATs: Helped me identify test taking issues (especially with timing)
OG 12: The best resource by far, helped me practice, practice, practice!
BTG Forums: Got tips and help with with overcoming problems I identified. Also helped with identifying the correct study materials.
Also worth mentioning, for the last two days before the exam, I didn't do anything GMAT related at all - another thing I picked up from the forums.
My practice test history as follows:
09/14 GMATPrep 1 - 690 (Didn't know anything about the GMAT, even used a calculator!!)
09/17 MGMAT CAT 1 - 720 (Q47, V41)
09/25 PR Free CAT - 730 (Q50, V41)
10/03 MGMAT CAT 2 - 730 (Q45, V45)
10/05 MGMAT CAT 3 - 720 (Q45, V42)
10/09 Kewton Free - 730 (Q46, V45)
10/15 MGMAT CAT 4 - 720 (Q47, V42)
10/22 GMATPrep 2 - 760 (Q49, V44)
10/25 Real Thing - 770 (Q50, V44)
As you can see I didn't have much of an improvement until my last practice test. During the week between my second to last practice test and my last practice test, I heavily (and for the first time) solved problems from the OG. I spent 1-2 hours every day and finished every quant problem in the OG. Again I have to say, that was the key for me!
Next steps:
1) Enjoy my score tonight and dream of getting into a top b-school.
2) Wake up tomorrow morning and face the reality of having to write umpteen essays over the next month and a half!
My verbal was pretty good to begin with for a non-native speaker so I didn't study for that at all. But I realized early that I needed help and practice for my quant. As I run my own business, I didn't really have the time or energy to study 2-3 hours every day. The one post that was by far the most helpful was an old one from Eric. He mentioned that for people who don't have a lot of time (I only decided to take the GMAT a month and a half ago), doing problems in the OG is the best use of this time. I found this post about 10 days ago, after getting really frustrated with not being able to improve my quant score by much even after a month of taking practice tests and studying the MGMAT guides. Just as Eric said, after doing all the OG quant problems, during the real thing it almost felt like I had already seen these problems before!!
Overall the BTG forums helped me overcome the issues I had noticed in my own test taking. So a thank you to the BTG members and a special thank you to Eric!
Below is a list of the things that helped me and hopefully they will help others as well:
MGMAT quant guides: Studied a couple of them for a few hours to completely understand all the concepts.
MGMAT CATs and other free CATs: Helped me identify test taking issues (especially with timing)
OG 12: The best resource by far, helped me practice, practice, practice!
BTG Forums: Got tips and help with with overcoming problems I identified. Also helped with identifying the correct study materials.
Also worth mentioning, for the last two days before the exam, I didn't do anything GMAT related at all - another thing I picked up from the forums.
My practice test history as follows:
09/14 GMATPrep 1 - 690 (Didn't know anything about the GMAT, even used a calculator!!)
09/17 MGMAT CAT 1 - 720 (Q47, V41)
09/25 PR Free CAT - 730 (Q50, V41)
10/03 MGMAT CAT 2 - 730 (Q45, V45)
10/05 MGMAT CAT 3 - 720 (Q45, V42)
10/09 Kewton Free - 730 (Q46, V45)
10/15 MGMAT CAT 4 - 720 (Q47, V42)
10/22 GMATPrep 2 - 760 (Q49, V44)
10/25 Real Thing - 770 (Q50, V44)
As you can see I didn't have much of an improvement until my last practice test. During the week between my second to last practice test and my last practice test, I heavily (and for the first time) solved problems from the OG. I spent 1-2 hours every day and finished every quant problem in the OG. Again I have to say, that was the key for me!
Next steps:
1) Enjoy my score tonight and dream of getting into a top b-school.
2) Wake up tomorrow morning and face the reality of having to write umpteen essays over the next month and a half!
marvelous
