-
Longhorn
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2010 7:08 pm
- Location: San Diego, CA
- Thanked: 1 times
- GMAT Score:760
Just got back from the exam, needless to say I'm quite happy with the results although I wish my quant was a hair better. Thanks to everyone on this forum, I've been reading for quite awhile though never really posted much. With that, some advice for those undergoing this experience.
Materials utilized and brief comments:
- OG 11 & 12: great resources, but use in a measured approach. More below.
- OG quant & verbal: great materials for more nuanced studying.
- Kaplan Premier w/ online tests: valuable in my opinion. CATs seemed very accurate. Good drills.
- GMATPrep: the best; save these exams and do not waste them.
- GMATWrite: buy one of these at most. Don't dedicate too much time to AWA.
- GMATFocus: a good diagnostic; very accurate in my case.
- Paper exams: Surprisingly accurate!Ddon't discount them because they are old.
- Veritas Probability book: good if you're weak with probability / combinations.
- MGMAT SC: very valuable, worth dedicating a few weeks to thoroughly understand.
- MGMAT number properties: a bit dense for me but a good resource.
- Critical Reading bible: decent to below average.
- McGraw Hill GMAT: total waste of money. What a horrible, shameful book.
General
- Practice for the exam as if you are taking the exam. That means in a quiet room, using the dry erase pad, timed questions, etc. Start your practice exams at the time you will take the actual exam; drink coffee if you plan to drink coffee on the test day; etc.
- Understand your mistakes and WHY you made your mistakes. Burning through 200 OG questions in one sitting to brag about a "99% hit rate" is a waste of time in my opinion. Quality of study is a bigger factor then quantity.
- The people are Pearson Vue are first class; I can't imagine a better testing environment
- People will disagree, but I think the MGMAT CATs are a waste of time. They are far too difficult and are nowhere near realistic.
- At the end of the day, grab your balls and take the exam. You will always have nagging doubts, suspicions that you aren't ready, everyone is smarter than you, etc.
Quant
- If you want an elite quant score, you need to study the MGMAT guides. Kaplan and the OG guides are not going to get it done. I was a little disappointed in my quant score due to this.
- It seemed to me that "elite" quant questions are pure formula questions, especially DS factoring questions. I found the PS questions to be very manageable.
Verbal
- In my opinion, your approach should be different depending upon whether you are a North American / UK applicant or not
- Foreign applicants (i.e. India, China, Japan, etc.) should dedicate much more time to verbal prep. Learning the idioms, proper sentence structure, etc. At least half the verbal answers are easily eliminable due to awkward phrasing, incorrect idiom usage, etc.
- North American applicants - read the MGMAT SC guide. Much of the everyday language we use is riddled with grammatical errors! Foreign applicants do have an advantage from this standpoint
In any case, please let me know if you have questions. A reasonably intelligent person should definitely be capable of scoring >700 on this exam, it comes down to effort, intensity, and desire. I'm glad to provide advice, tips, etc. if helpful.
EDIT - got the AWA results, 6.0 to my surprise.
Materials utilized and brief comments:
- OG 11 & 12: great resources, but use in a measured approach. More below.
- OG quant & verbal: great materials for more nuanced studying.
- Kaplan Premier w/ online tests: valuable in my opinion. CATs seemed very accurate. Good drills.
- GMATPrep: the best; save these exams and do not waste them.
- GMATWrite: buy one of these at most. Don't dedicate too much time to AWA.
- GMATFocus: a good diagnostic; very accurate in my case.
- Paper exams: Surprisingly accurate!Ddon't discount them because they are old.
- Veritas Probability book: good if you're weak with probability / combinations.
- MGMAT SC: very valuable, worth dedicating a few weeks to thoroughly understand.
- MGMAT number properties: a bit dense for me but a good resource.
- Critical Reading bible: decent to below average.
- McGraw Hill GMAT: total waste of money. What a horrible, shameful book.
General
- Practice for the exam as if you are taking the exam. That means in a quiet room, using the dry erase pad, timed questions, etc. Start your practice exams at the time you will take the actual exam; drink coffee if you plan to drink coffee on the test day; etc.
- Understand your mistakes and WHY you made your mistakes. Burning through 200 OG questions in one sitting to brag about a "99% hit rate" is a waste of time in my opinion. Quality of study is a bigger factor then quantity.
- The people are Pearson Vue are first class; I can't imagine a better testing environment
- People will disagree, but I think the MGMAT CATs are a waste of time. They are far too difficult and are nowhere near realistic.
- At the end of the day, grab your balls and take the exam. You will always have nagging doubts, suspicions that you aren't ready, everyone is smarter than you, etc.
Quant
- If you want an elite quant score, you need to study the MGMAT guides. Kaplan and the OG guides are not going to get it done. I was a little disappointed in my quant score due to this.
- It seemed to me that "elite" quant questions are pure formula questions, especially DS factoring questions. I found the PS questions to be very manageable.
Verbal
- In my opinion, your approach should be different depending upon whether you are a North American / UK applicant or not
- Foreign applicants (i.e. India, China, Japan, etc.) should dedicate much more time to verbal prep. Learning the idioms, proper sentence structure, etc. At least half the verbal answers are easily eliminable due to awkward phrasing, incorrect idiom usage, etc.
- North American applicants - read the MGMAT SC guide. Much of the everyday language we use is riddled with grammatical errors! Foreign applicants do have an advantage from this standpoint
In any case, please let me know if you have questions. A reasonably intelligent person should definitely be capable of scoring >700 on this exam, it comes down to effort, intensity, and desire. I'm glad to provide advice, tips, etc. if helpful.
EDIT - got the AWA results, 6.0 to my surprise.
Last edited by Longhorn on Wed Oct 27, 2010 12:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
