Hi people..
I thought I would finally put down the details of my GMAT preperation.
The short story is that I took the GMAT and got a 690(Q 49, V 34, AWA 5) the first time. I had been doing far better in the practice tests and was convinced that I could score atleast 20 to 30 points higher. I gave myself around 40 days to fix my weaknesses and give the GMAT another go.
My second attempt, last monday, got me a 760(Q 48, V 47, AWA 5.5).
I wont go over everything that I did across both my attempts, I'll just mention whatever I think might be relevant. My old post [https://www.beatthegmat.com/690-to-720-4 ... 35384.html] has the details of what I did for my first attempt, for those interested.
Now for long story(it is long...)
About me:
I have a degree in Computer Engineering, and have been working in a top software firm for the last 5 years, ever since I completed my under grad course. I have generally been reasonably good at academics, but not really the academic type. I have a long and colourful history of messing up exams at various levels, and always scoring a little less than I was actually capable of(hence my conviction that I could improve my score in the GMAT as well!!! unfortunately few other exams in school give you a 2nd attempt!!).
By now you guys must be thinking: "Ha!! and he said he was only going to talk about what was relevant!!".. just bear with me, Im trying to paint a clear picture of what it takes to get to a certain score in this exam, and that its not necessarilly that tough..
1st Attempt:
The GMAT Original Guide(OG) had been liying around around 6 months and I had done nothing with it. At some point,a few friends of mine took their GMAT and started applying, so I decided it was high time, I started doing something about it as well. I started going over OG, little by little, but without any real timeframe. I finished about half of OG over the next month,before I finally got serious and booked a date, which gave me another 1.5 months to complete my preparation. Over the next Month and a half, I finished OG, and the Kaplan Premier Program book. I went through whatever practice material and tests that were there in the Kaplan CD, along with the GMAT Prep Tests. The Kaplan tests were generally lower scoring, but overall, I started getting between 710 and 730 on most tests. Please note that I did retake tests, so some of the scores were a bit inflated.
After I had gone over all this material once, I did the complete set of OG Quant problems again, as well as the Sentence Correction(SC) problems in OG. I did not go over Critical Reasoning(CR) and Reading Comprehension(RC) again, thinking I was already pretty good at them, and did not need any more practice. Another point to note is that I had always skipped the Essay(AWA) section in the practice tests so far.
I took one final practice test a few days before the GMAT and scored a 760 in it. This was also the first time that I acually did the AWA section, and this score again was slightly inflated because it was another retake of the GMAT Prep. Overall I wwas pretty confident at this point and thought I could acheive the 710 to 730 score that I was aiming for.
The GMAT was right in the middle of the week, so I took 2 days off from work. Didn't do much the day before, generally went through the material in Kaplan and OG. Next day, the test started off fine, AWA was all right, and I was quite satisfied with the Quant section. This however changed rather rapidly in the Verbal section. I couldn't pick an answer confidently for a number of initial questions, after which I started to get into "panic mode". I then hit an impossible Biology RC question, which I think was more or less the last nail in the coffin. At that point all the answers started sounding the same, and I started losing a lot of time. I kept guessing, thinking that I would recover from the next question, but I didn't get any better. Towards the end I was very short of time, and just picked random answers for the last few(at least 6 or 7) questions. Report Score - 690 - I was quite shocked at the overall outcome.
2nd Attempt:
Thinking that my exam would go off well, I had planned 2 back to back vacations to relax after the few months of studying that I had been doing. Needless to say the results put quite a damper on all those plans. Anyhow, the tickets were booked, and vacations approved at the office, so I went ahead and took the time off. Thats when I first wrote in to this forum to get some feedback on what my approack should be for my next attempt. I also booked another date 45 days away.
For my next attempt I was initially tempted to go all out, study day and night, and get all the material that was out there, and solve everything, to make sure that nothing would stand in my way of getting a better GMAT score.
Good sense then prevailed. I did put in a lot of effort, but I didnt go overboard with the material.
Heres what I used in addition to the initial OG and Kaplan:
Manhattan Sentence Correction Guide - very very good.. a must for the GMAT
Kaplan 800 - I used this primarily for RC & CR. Did the Quant section as well, didn't end up doing the SC problems from this but might he helpful if you have the time.
and thats it!
I did about 2 hours of work every morning, and one practice test a week. I was sort of confused about what to do for the practice tests. Kaplan never really gave an accurate score, and that left me with only the 2 free GMAT Prep Tests. From what I had heard, most other tests also just gave you an estimate of your performance, and were not really 100% accurate. Someone then told me something interesting: at least keep taking the GMAT Prep tests over and over again until you start hitting the score your looking for, before moving on to other test software. If your not hitting your target score even after repeated attempts at the same GMAT Prep tests, theres no way you will hit that score with a completely fresh set of questions.
Now this is not something I would necessarily recommend for everyone.. youve got to see what works for you, but I do believe that theres no point in going overboard and just buying loads of tests and books. Its important very important to study smart.
I would recommend the following(and this is advice that has already been repeated a number of times in various posts):
1. In all practice tests, do the complete test!! Do the AWA section..take a maximum of a 10 minute break between AWA and Quant, and between Quant and Verbal. (There was this one time when I did the Quant section, then made a half an hour phone call, and then came back and completed the Verbal section - NOT GOOD - ALWAYS TIME YOUR TESTS PRECISELY)
2. Learn to work under pressure. Do not abort a test just because its going horribly wrong. Try to keep the panic in check, and complete the test.You never know what questions you will face in the GMAT, and you must learn to recover from a few difficult questions, and complete the test to the best of your ability. This more than anything else proved invaluable for me.
3. Along the same lines - Time each and every question that you do. Keep a stop watch ready, and try and complete every question within 1:45 to 2 mins depending on Verbal, or Quant question type.
4. If your naturally ok in SC, then its fine if you just revise whats there in OG. I was also under the impression that my grammar was pretty good, and thought it would come to me naturally, and didnt really study for it first time. If thats true for you : awesome, you have no need to worry. What however happened to me was that under pressure, it suddenly wasent that easy to "naturally" figure out the right answer just by ear. To make your preparation really solid, solve the complete Manhattan Sentence correction guide(yes.. do all the chapters, especially the last few)!!
5. RC & CR: I really think that Kaplan 800 is all you need for this(post OG of course). Just read the book.. it tells you everything that you need to know.. wont repeat..
6. Quant: now I don't have that much to say about Quant, I was already doing OK in this, and didnt really have to try improving very much, since my target score was only around a 720 or so(in fact I actually messed it up quite a bit in the actual GMAT 2nd time around). What I would say is go over as many different problem types as you can. Do the complete OG & Kaplan books.. multiple times if necessary..
Learn the tricks and keep an eye on the time!! Back solving and learning how to pick numbers is essential, timing is everything, and technique means nothing if it isnt fast enough. With my whole engineering background etc, picking numbers really wasent my thing.. I preferred solving everyhting algebraically, but in the GMAT you HAVE to learn to pick numbers, and very fast at that.
7. AWA: I honestly didn't do anything for this other than just doing the section every test, post my first GMAT attempt(did the same 2 topics every time).
8. Overall Quant and Verbal: spend more time analyzing why a certain answer is right, and why the other 4 are wrong rather just solving a whole lot of problems. In the GMAT you will sometimes be able to just pick the right option because you know its definitey correct, and on other occassions have to know why 4 other options are wrong, in order to pick the remaining 5th option as the right answer!.
Looking back, this write up has turned out to be rather long.. I think it makes up for all the AWA sections that I skipped all this time.
The GMAT tests your stamina, as much as it tests your Quant and Verbal skills. It is essential to remain calm, and make use of all the time that you have remaining. Only when your calm, collected and confident will you be able to solve problems correctly, and in time. Even in my 2nd attempt I hadn't done too much Quant practice and wasen't very confident and lost my cool a bit in that section.. my score went down by a point at least.
Also, never be in a hurry to complete the test. Lets say your in the Verbal section, and have 20 to 30 mins left to go.. your looking forward to the test completing, and you not having to go through the rigorous study routine any more.. you just want to get out and not have to think about the GMAT again.. take the time to collect your thoughts and focus on the remainder of the test. The last few minutes also help to make or break your score. Losing focus in these last few minutes could mean having to study for the test all over again, and taking it again!!
That apart remember to chill as well, as you prepare for the exam. In most cases you already have your regular work/study to do everyday, other chores etc, and then need to put in extra time for the GMAT. Dont carry it too far.. Take a break and skip a few days whenever you feel you need some time out... and while I dont recommend this, with my exam on Monday, I spent all saturday watching the complete 6th season of Two and Half Men!!
Also unless you really feel the need to, dont go out and buy every book under the sun for your GMAT preperation..
Well with that, I think I'll wrap up this already masive writeup. I think its a tad preachy, and repeats things that have already been said before, but I had also read all those things, and still went on to make so many of the same mistakes..
All the best
Regards..
I thought I would finally put down the details of my GMAT preperation.
The short story is that I took the GMAT and got a 690(Q 49, V 34, AWA 5) the first time. I had been doing far better in the practice tests and was convinced that I could score atleast 20 to 30 points higher. I gave myself around 40 days to fix my weaknesses and give the GMAT another go.
My second attempt, last monday, got me a 760(Q 48, V 47, AWA 5.5).
I wont go over everything that I did across both my attempts, I'll just mention whatever I think might be relevant. My old post [https://www.beatthegmat.com/690-to-720-4 ... 35384.html] has the details of what I did for my first attempt, for those interested.
Now for long story(it is long...)
About me:
I have a degree in Computer Engineering, and have been working in a top software firm for the last 5 years, ever since I completed my under grad course. I have generally been reasonably good at academics, but not really the academic type. I have a long and colourful history of messing up exams at various levels, and always scoring a little less than I was actually capable of(hence my conviction that I could improve my score in the GMAT as well!!! unfortunately few other exams in school give you a 2nd attempt!!).
By now you guys must be thinking: "Ha!! and he said he was only going to talk about what was relevant!!".. just bear with me, Im trying to paint a clear picture of what it takes to get to a certain score in this exam, and that its not necessarilly that tough..
1st Attempt:
The GMAT Original Guide(OG) had been liying around around 6 months and I had done nothing with it. At some point,a few friends of mine took their GMAT and started applying, so I decided it was high time, I started doing something about it as well. I started going over OG, little by little, but without any real timeframe. I finished about half of OG over the next month,before I finally got serious and booked a date, which gave me another 1.5 months to complete my preparation. Over the next Month and a half, I finished OG, and the Kaplan Premier Program book. I went through whatever practice material and tests that were there in the Kaplan CD, along with the GMAT Prep Tests. The Kaplan tests were generally lower scoring, but overall, I started getting between 710 and 730 on most tests. Please note that I did retake tests, so some of the scores were a bit inflated.
After I had gone over all this material once, I did the complete set of OG Quant problems again, as well as the Sentence Correction(SC) problems in OG. I did not go over Critical Reasoning(CR) and Reading Comprehension(RC) again, thinking I was already pretty good at them, and did not need any more practice. Another point to note is that I had always skipped the Essay(AWA) section in the practice tests so far.
I took one final practice test a few days before the GMAT and scored a 760 in it. This was also the first time that I acually did the AWA section, and this score again was slightly inflated because it was another retake of the GMAT Prep. Overall I wwas pretty confident at this point and thought I could acheive the 710 to 730 score that I was aiming for.
The GMAT was right in the middle of the week, so I took 2 days off from work. Didn't do much the day before, generally went through the material in Kaplan and OG. Next day, the test started off fine, AWA was all right, and I was quite satisfied with the Quant section. This however changed rather rapidly in the Verbal section. I couldn't pick an answer confidently for a number of initial questions, after which I started to get into "panic mode". I then hit an impossible Biology RC question, which I think was more or less the last nail in the coffin. At that point all the answers started sounding the same, and I started losing a lot of time. I kept guessing, thinking that I would recover from the next question, but I didn't get any better. Towards the end I was very short of time, and just picked random answers for the last few(at least 6 or 7) questions. Report Score - 690 - I was quite shocked at the overall outcome.
2nd Attempt:
Thinking that my exam would go off well, I had planned 2 back to back vacations to relax after the few months of studying that I had been doing. Needless to say the results put quite a damper on all those plans. Anyhow, the tickets were booked, and vacations approved at the office, so I went ahead and took the time off. Thats when I first wrote in to this forum to get some feedback on what my approack should be for my next attempt. I also booked another date 45 days away.
For my next attempt I was initially tempted to go all out, study day and night, and get all the material that was out there, and solve everything, to make sure that nothing would stand in my way of getting a better GMAT score.
Good sense then prevailed. I did put in a lot of effort, but I didnt go overboard with the material.
Heres what I used in addition to the initial OG and Kaplan:
Manhattan Sentence Correction Guide - very very good.. a must for the GMAT
Kaplan 800 - I used this primarily for RC & CR. Did the Quant section as well, didn't end up doing the SC problems from this but might he helpful if you have the time.
and thats it!
I did about 2 hours of work every morning, and one practice test a week. I was sort of confused about what to do for the practice tests. Kaplan never really gave an accurate score, and that left me with only the 2 free GMAT Prep Tests. From what I had heard, most other tests also just gave you an estimate of your performance, and were not really 100% accurate. Someone then told me something interesting: at least keep taking the GMAT Prep tests over and over again until you start hitting the score your looking for, before moving on to other test software. If your not hitting your target score even after repeated attempts at the same GMAT Prep tests, theres no way you will hit that score with a completely fresh set of questions.
Now this is not something I would necessarily recommend for everyone.. youve got to see what works for you, but I do believe that theres no point in going overboard and just buying loads of tests and books. Its important very important to study smart.
I would recommend the following(and this is advice that has already been repeated a number of times in various posts):
1. In all practice tests, do the complete test!! Do the AWA section..take a maximum of a 10 minute break between AWA and Quant, and between Quant and Verbal. (There was this one time when I did the Quant section, then made a half an hour phone call, and then came back and completed the Verbal section - NOT GOOD - ALWAYS TIME YOUR TESTS PRECISELY)
2. Learn to work under pressure. Do not abort a test just because its going horribly wrong. Try to keep the panic in check, and complete the test.You never know what questions you will face in the GMAT, and you must learn to recover from a few difficult questions, and complete the test to the best of your ability. This more than anything else proved invaluable for me.
3. Along the same lines - Time each and every question that you do. Keep a stop watch ready, and try and complete every question within 1:45 to 2 mins depending on Verbal, or Quant question type.
4. If your naturally ok in SC, then its fine if you just revise whats there in OG. I was also under the impression that my grammar was pretty good, and thought it would come to me naturally, and didnt really study for it first time. If thats true for you : awesome, you have no need to worry. What however happened to me was that under pressure, it suddenly wasent that easy to "naturally" figure out the right answer just by ear. To make your preparation really solid, solve the complete Manhattan Sentence correction guide(yes.. do all the chapters, especially the last few)!!
5. RC & CR: I really think that Kaplan 800 is all you need for this(post OG of course). Just read the book.. it tells you everything that you need to know.. wont repeat..
6. Quant: now I don't have that much to say about Quant, I was already doing OK in this, and didnt really have to try improving very much, since my target score was only around a 720 or so(in fact I actually messed it up quite a bit in the actual GMAT 2nd time around). What I would say is go over as many different problem types as you can. Do the complete OG & Kaplan books.. multiple times if necessary..
Learn the tricks and keep an eye on the time!! Back solving and learning how to pick numbers is essential, timing is everything, and technique means nothing if it isnt fast enough. With my whole engineering background etc, picking numbers really wasent my thing.. I preferred solving everyhting algebraically, but in the GMAT you HAVE to learn to pick numbers, and very fast at that.
7. AWA: I honestly didn't do anything for this other than just doing the section every test, post my first GMAT attempt(did the same 2 topics every time).
8. Overall Quant and Verbal: spend more time analyzing why a certain answer is right, and why the other 4 are wrong rather just solving a whole lot of problems. In the GMAT you will sometimes be able to just pick the right option because you know its definitey correct, and on other occassions have to know why 4 other options are wrong, in order to pick the remaining 5th option as the right answer!.
Looking back, this write up has turned out to be rather long.. I think it makes up for all the AWA sections that I skipped all this time.
The GMAT tests your stamina, as much as it tests your Quant and Verbal skills. It is essential to remain calm, and make use of all the time that you have remaining. Only when your calm, collected and confident will you be able to solve problems correctly, and in time. Even in my 2nd attempt I hadn't done too much Quant practice and wasen't very confident and lost my cool a bit in that section.. my score went down by a point at least.
Also, never be in a hurry to complete the test. Lets say your in the Verbal section, and have 20 to 30 mins left to go.. your looking forward to the test completing, and you not having to go through the rigorous study routine any more.. you just want to get out and not have to think about the GMAT again.. take the time to collect your thoughts and focus on the remainder of the test. The last few minutes also help to make or break your score. Losing focus in these last few minutes could mean having to study for the test all over again, and taking it again!!
That apart remember to chill as well, as you prepare for the exam. In most cases you already have your regular work/study to do everyday, other chores etc, and then need to put in extra time for the GMAT. Dont carry it too far.. Take a break and skip a few days whenever you feel you need some time out... and while I dont recommend this, with my exam on Monday, I spent all saturday watching the complete 6th season of Two and Half Men!!
Also unless you really feel the need to, dont go out and buy every book under the sun for your GMAT preperation..
Well with that, I think I'll wrap up this already masive writeup. I think its a tad preachy, and repeats things that have already been said before, but I had also read all those things, and still went on to make so many of the same mistakes..
All the best
Regards..
Last edited by pritna on Thu Jul 02, 2009 8:01 am, edited 6 times in total.
1st Attempt: Q 49, V 34, AWA 5, Total 690
2nd Attempt: Q 48, V 47, AWA 5.5, Total 760
2nd Attempt: Q 48, V 47, AWA 5.5, Total 760
