Hey all,
I wanted to post my strategies so that others could benefit. I took the GMAT on Saturday after about a month of prep. A couple stats:
Age: 21
Status: College Senior, Operations Management and Political Science Major
Employment: Will begin working with Deloitte Consulting on Summer 2010
Deloitte requires its business analysts to go to a top ten business school within three years, so I figured I would get the studying out of the way now.
Prep:
I began prep the week before New Years. I took GMAT Prep 1 and scored a 730. I knew I needed to focus on data sufficiency and sentence correction, so I did 50 problems out of the OG 12 in each section each day for about three days. I then did practice tests, mainly MGMAT and Kaplan, every other day for a week or so. Strangely, my score dropped with each exam, and I bottomed out at about 680. Then, something clicked. I did a practice exam then almost every day for the two weeks leading up the exam. I averaged around 760 for those 12 or so exams (a combination of Kaplan, MGMAT, Free online tests, and retakes of GMAT Prep.) I took the second GMATPrep two days before the exam and got a 770.
The Actual Test:
AWA: I hated preping for this section, but I thought the two essays went well. I wrote slower on the test than I did in practice, and I generally finished proofreading just before the buzzer.
Quant: I spent too long on some early questions, and found myself rushing to catch up in the middle. Fortunately, I hit a string of easy conceptual questions, so I was able to finish 10 minutes ahead of time.
Verbal: Went as it had on the practice tests. I didn't find any part terribly hard.
Strategies:
What clicked for me was understanding two things:
1. Turn everything into an equation, if possible, in the quant section, and simplify every equation you get.
2. Understanding noun-verb pairing and idioms is the key to sentence correction.
Previously, I had tried to solve data sufficiency just using logic. Once I started turning things into equations, that section got a lot easier.
The book Ace the GMAT was invaluable. It offers the best recap of all the math and verbal topics covered on the exam.
I think the Kaplan tests mirrored the actual test the most, except for GMATPrep, of course. The MGMAT exams were extremely tough, but not graded terribly hard.
Materials:
OG12 - Did a lot of problems
Kaplan Premier Live Online - Never even opened the book. Used it for the practice tests
Ace the GMAT - Great, Great book
Manhatten GMAT Sentence Correction - Used mainly for the practice tests online
GMAT 800 - not as helpful as many people made it seem it would be
Now awaiting AWA scores, although I thought it went very well.
Let me know if anyone has any other questions. I'll be happy to help.
I wanted to post my strategies so that others could benefit. I took the GMAT on Saturday after about a month of prep. A couple stats:
Age: 21
Status: College Senior, Operations Management and Political Science Major
Employment: Will begin working with Deloitte Consulting on Summer 2010
Deloitte requires its business analysts to go to a top ten business school within three years, so I figured I would get the studying out of the way now.
Prep:
I began prep the week before New Years. I took GMAT Prep 1 and scored a 730. I knew I needed to focus on data sufficiency and sentence correction, so I did 50 problems out of the OG 12 in each section each day for about three days. I then did practice tests, mainly MGMAT and Kaplan, every other day for a week or so. Strangely, my score dropped with each exam, and I bottomed out at about 680. Then, something clicked. I did a practice exam then almost every day for the two weeks leading up the exam. I averaged around 760 for those 12 or so exams (a combination of Kaplan, MGMAT, Free online tests, and retakes of GMAT Prep.) I took the second GMATPrep two days before the exam and got a 770.
The Actual Test:
AWA: I hated preping for this section, but I thought the two essays went well. I wrote slower on the test than I did in practice, and I generally finished proofreading just before the buzzer.
Quant: I spent too long on some early questions, and found myself rushing to catch up in the middle. Fortunately, I hit a string of easy conceptual questions, so I was able to finish 10 minutes ahead of time.
Verbal: Went as it had on the practice tests. I didn't find any part terribly hard.
Strategies:
What clicked for me was understanding two things:
1. Turn everything into an equation, if possible, in the quant section, and simplify every equation you get.
2. Understanding noun-verb pairing and idioms is the key to sentence correction.
Previously, I had tried to solve data sufficiency just using logic. Once I started turning things into equations, that section got a lot easier.
The book Ace the GMAT was invaluable. It offers the best recap of all the math and verbal topics covered on the exam.
I think the Kaplan tests mirrored the actual test the most, except for GMATPrep, of course. The MGMAT exams were extremely tough, but not graded terribly hard.
Materials:
OG12 - Did a lot of problems
Kaplan Premier Live Online - Never even opened the book. Used it for the practice tests
Ace the GMAT - Great, Great book
Manhatten GMAT Sentence Correction - Used mainly for the practice tests online
GMAT 800 - not as helpful as many people made it seem it would be
Now awaiting AWA scores, although I thought it went very well.
Let me know if anyone has any other questions. I'll be happy to help.
