Hey everyone I just wanted to share my story and offer some encouragement for those of you who wonder if you will ever get to your GMAT goal!
I guess you could classify me as an average student 3.3 GPA in a relatively easy major. I have never done well on standardized tests (1070 SAT). The last math class I took was Trigonometry as a Junior in high school. No college math, got a C- in stats, no other quantitative classes.
When I first started studying for the GMAT I tried to brush up on my math but it only resulted in a 510 my first time with a dismal 32Q score. Then I found a mentor, someone who had scored a 760 and he told me that he scored a 530 on his first go around and then figured a few things out. The biggest thing he taught me was to quit trying to do the math and start figuring out the quantitative problems using logic and reasoning. That was the turning point for me. I went from missing half the problems I was doing in the OG to getting about 90% of them right. Here is my GMAT history
Attempt 1 Jan 2010- 510 32Q, 28V (Felt like my score was a fluke)
Attempt 2 Feb 2010- 580 35Q, 35V (Felt like a TOTAL LOSER--almost quit)
Attempt 3 Apr 2010- 650 42Q, 36V (Wondered how anyone ever scores a 700!)
Attempt 4 Dec 2010- 700 46Q, 40V (Glad I didn't quit!)
Here are the resources I used and a brief review on each one:
OG 11/12 - This truly is the bible of the GMAT, it is absolutely indispensable, but it is only the bible, meaning it will teach you the principles but you have to learn to take those principles to the next level on the actual test once you get in the 680+ range.
OG Verbal/Quantitative Review 2nd Ed. - More of drilling those fundamentals that you need to master for a good GMAT score.
MGMAT Sentence Correction Guide - Pretty useful for learning the basic grammar rules
Princeton Review 2010 GMAT Guide - great if you are trying to score a 510 -- This guide was 100% useless, I threw mine away.
MGMAT CAT practice exams - Everyone kept raving about these tests so I took 3 of these. My conclusion? I hate them! MGMAT is okay for the verbal section but the math is ridiculous. They write the questions in such a way that the only way to solve most of them is doing stupid math problems (I don't do math, I do logic and reasoning). That type of math just DOESN'T come up on the real test, so why learn it? I guess if you are an engineer or someone else with REALLY strong math background you would prefer that approach but a guy like me who had absolutely zero quantitative mojo when I started, it was NOT the way to go.
Official GMAT Paper Tests (9) - I loved this resource! I know most people do not because it is not the CAT format but it is still really good practice with past questions. I found that the paper tests tend to be way easier but you also have way less time so it balances out. I ended up scoring a 700 on my last of the 9 paper tests and so I thought it coorelated well with my actual 700 score...a word of warning though, do not just take paper tests without some SERIOUS drilling in the CAT format or you will be severely disappointed on test day.
GMATPrep CAT Software - Ahhh, this one is an absolute lifesaver. Not only is the GMATPrep an accurate indicator of where your true ability is currently, it also is a bank of over 1000 actual test questions. It's like having a OG13! I literally spent over 2 weeks "breaking the bank" of test questions by redoing the tests over and over and over...
GMAT Focus - I didn't even discover this tool until about a week before my most recent test, but I'm glad I did because it was an absolute lifesaver! The questions are way more like the actual test than even the official GMATPrep tests on the quantitative side. I took this 4 times and had the range of 43-48 on first try, 41-47 on second try, 38-46 on third, and 43-49 on the last. I actually scored a 46 on the test so I think whatever range you are averaging on these tests, take the median and juice it up by about a point - that should indicate where your true ability lies.
My methodology: I only know of one way to get better at this: practice, practice, practice. I logged 300 hours of study time to get my 650 score and another 600+ hours to get my 700. So there you go, either you are really smart and can skate into the testing center with a few weeks practice and pull of a 700+ (don't you hate those guys!) or you can log upwards of 1,000 hours over the course of 6+ months and still get there. It really comes down to how much do you want it, not how smart you are.
My approach to the GMAT was one of high volume. I did NOT TIME my sets, that is useless. It never made sense to me how some instructors/students insist that you time every set. If you are missing problems and you start timing yourself, what does that do, now you are just missing problems faster! You must learn the content! Sometimes that means spending 10 minutes on a problem. There were times when it would take me over an hour to do a set of 10 problems in the OG! most instructors would tell you that is inefficient, but guess what? I learned how to do the problems AND with time I started picking up speed. I finally got to the point where on the official test I finished the Verbal section with time to spare because I knew how to do the problems. By the time you finish both OG's, Verbal and Quant Review 2nd Ed. , the paper tests and GMATPrep question bank you will have picked apart over 3,000 official GMAT questions!
So there you have it. I don't care who you are, if you are willing to make the commitment in time and energy, you will get your GMAT goal.
GOOD LUCK!
I guess you could classify me as an average student 3.3 GPA in a relatively easy major. I have never done well on standardized tests (1070 SAT). The last math class I took was Trigonometry as a Junior in high school. No college math, got a C- in stats, no other quantitative classes.
When I first started studying for the GMAT I tried to brush up on my math but it only resulted in a 510 my first time with a dismal 32Q score. Then I found a mentor, someone who had scored a 760 and he told me that he scored a 530 on his first go around and then figured a few things out. The biggest thing he taught me was to quit trying to do the math and start figuring out the quantitative problems using logic and reasoning. That was the turning point for me. I went from missing half the problems I was doing in the OG to getting about 90% of them right. Here is my GMAT history
Attempt 1 Jan 2010- 510 32Q, 28V (Felt like my score was a fluke)
Attempt 2 Feb 2010- 580 35Q, 35V (Felt like a TOTAL LOSER--almost quit)
Attempt 3 Apr 2010- 650 42Q, 36V (Wondered how anyone ever scores a 700!)
Attempt 4 Dec 2010- 700 46Q, 40V (Glad I didn't quit!)
Here are the resources I used and a brief review on each one:
OG 11/12 - This truly is the bible of the GMAT, it is absolutely indispensable, but it is only the bible, meaning it will teach you the principles but you have to learn to take those principles to the next level on the actual test once you get in the 680+ range.
OG Verbal/Quantitative Review 2nd Ed. - More of drilling those fundamentals that you need to master for a good GMAT score.
MGMAT Sentence Correction Guide - Pretty useful for learning the basic grammar rules
Princeton Review 2010 GMAT Guide - great if you are trying to score a 510 -- This guide was 100% useless, I threw mine away.
MGMAT CAT practice exams - Everyone kept raving about these tests so I took 3 of these. My conclusion? I hate them! MGMAT is okay for the verbal section but the math is ridiculous. They write the questions in such a way that the only way to solve most of them is doing stupid math problems (I don't do math, I do logic and reasoning). That type of math just DOESN'T come up on the real test, so why learn it? I guess if you are an engineer or someone else with REALLY strong math background you would prefer that approach but a guy like me who had absolutely zero quantitative mojo when I started, it was NOT the way to go.
Official GMAT Paper Tests (9) - I loved this resource! I know most people do not because it is not the CAT format but it is still really good practice with past questions. I found that the paper tests tend to be way easier but you also have way less time so it balances out. I ended up scoring a 700 on my last of the 9 paper tests and so I thought it coorelated well with my actual 700 score...a word of warning though, do not just take paper tests without some SERIOUS drilling in the CAT format or you will be severely disappointed on test day.
GMATPrep CAT Software - Ahhh, this one is an absolute lifesaver. Not only is the GMATPrep an accurate indicator of where your true ability is currently, it also is a bank of over 1000 actual test questions. It's like having a OG13! I literally spent over 2 weeks "breaking the bank" of test questions by redoing the tests over and over and over...
GMAT Focus - I didn't even discover this tool until about a week before my most recent test, but I'm glad I did because it was an absolute lifesaver! The questions are way more like the actual test than even the official GMATPrep tests on the quantitative side. I took this 4 times and had the range of 43-48 on first try, 41-47 on second try, 38-46 on third, and 43-49 on the last. I actually scored a 46 on the test so I think whatever range you are averaging on these tests, take the median and juice it up by about a point - that should indicate where your true ability lies.
My methodology: I only know of one way to get better at this: practice, practice, practice. I logged 300 hours of study time to get my 650 score and another 600+ hours to get my 700. So there you go, either you are really smart and can skate into the testing center with a few weeks practice and pull of a 700+ (don't you hate those guys!) or you can log upwards of 1,000 hours over the course of 6+ months and still get there. It really comes down to how much do you want it, not how smart you are.
My approach to the GMAT was one of high volume. I did NOT TIME my sets, that is useless. It never made sense to me how some instructors/students insist that you time every set. If you are missing problems and you start timing yourself, what does that do, now you are just missing problems faster! You must learn the content! Sometimes that means spending 10 minutes on a problem. There were times when it would take me over an hour to do a set of 10 problems in the OG! most instructors would tell you that is inefficient, but guess what? I learned how to do the problems AND with time I started picking up speed. I finally got to the point where on the official test I finished the Verbal section with time to spare because I knew how to do the problems. By the time you finish both OG's, Verbal and Quant Review 2nd Ed. , the paper tests and GMATPrep question bank you will have picked apart over 3,000 official GMAT questions!
So there you have it. I don't care who you are, if you are willing to make the commitment in time and energy, you will get your GMAT goal.
GOOD LUCK!
