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ahmad.kadry
- Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:48 am
- GMAT Score:710
Well, I am very please to share with everybody on this forum that I finally got a 710 on the GMAT last week, this has been my third trial and finally I got a satisfying score; I won't detail a study plan, but hoping to help other test takers, I just need to share the SEVEN most significant lessons learned during my preparation.
1 - DON'T LOSE HOPE...in my first attempt I got a 650...in my second attempt I went down to an extremely disappointing 610, thankfully in the last attempt I got a 710. Although I know why I got a 610 on the 2nd attempt - which I will discuss later - I was very disappointed, but I took it too personal as well. I decided that it doesn't matter if I apply to b.schools this year or not, I will get this GMAT whatsoever. And finally I got it after the third attempt. If I didn't get a good score, I would do it again. It just became too personal.
2 - EXAM NIGHT, RELAX and GET SOME GOOD SLEEP .... that was my mistake in the 2nd attempt, I was nicely prepared and confident, but I just over killed my case, I studied too many flashcards, study notes and challenging questions in the exam night and early morning in the exam day....I drove an hour to the test location...I finished the 1 hour AWA...and right after 10+ quant. problems, I was sure I don't have enough power to focus during the rest of the exam, and the 8 min.s break between the Quant. and the Verbal didn't save me. Although I expected to get below the score I want, I didn't expect to get lower than the first time while I am way better prepared, and that's why it was extremely disappointing. So, do your best and study as long as you can, but do not exhaust your self in the exam night. Additionally, your last home test must not be less than three days before your exam; finish it, review it the next day, review your notes and challenging questions the day after and then relax.
3 - BUILD ENDURANCE, BE PATIENT... the exam is exhausting and LONG, but every question counts. You need to be extra patient till the very last verbal question. Surprisingly, that doesn't only involve the exam; I found out that I had to be calm and tolerant during the preparation period in both my professional and personal lives. Train yourself to be tolerant and calm all over the day, believe me, IT HELPS BIG TIME. It will reflect on ur performance during the home tests and will lead to a smooth ride during the final exam. Also, try to solve exams in different times of the day and not only under the best conditions, 15 minutes after you wake up solve an exam, half an hour after coming back from work solve another exam, and so on. Solving an exam in these severe conditions and training your self to be calm till the completion will help you be even more tolerant during the real thing. Don't do it too much however since the scores might not reflect the truth, just do it twice or so to test how patient you are.
4 - DO NOT IGNORE THE AWA.... whether you want to prepare for it or not, don't solve a single exam without it. It takes an hour of mental fitness to finish the AWA section of the exam, and it absorbs a lot of your energy; train yourself to always finish this hour before starting the Quant. section; otherwise, you will feel urself under a lot of pressure during the exam. And moreover, your scores without it won't be so accurate.
5 - LEARN TO FORGET....yes, forget how well or bad you performed in the previous question or section. Get out of the AWA and think about the last movie you saw, get out of the Quant. and think about what you would do in the weekend...just think about anything that has nothing to do with the exam; Don't let your performance affect your mental state for the next section, all what you have are 8 minutes to calm down. The reason is simple, if you did well in a question, you will be almost sure you solved it correctly, if you did extremely bad on a question and you ran out of time, you will probably make a guess; so, you won't ever know whether you made the right guess; therefore, you don't need to worry, you might have made the right guess anyways, paying more attention to what comes next is more important. Even worse, you might have chosen the wrong answer in a question that you are sure you answered correctly, so what is the point of thinking the prev. question or section over and over again; do it and you will just get more and more tense.
6 - TIME, TIME, TIME...probably you read a lot about managing time and doing educated guess for difficult questions; luckily that is all TRUE. But more importantly, learn how to track your time in the exam, and please don't do it question by question, you will probably waste more time doing this. I followed a simple strategy, for the quant. I trained my self that each 5 questions should take 10 minutes, not more. So I used to look at the timer every 5 questions and see how far I am from the 10th or 20th or 30th....minute. Same applies for the Verbal section; each 10 questions should take no more than 18 minutes, so every 10 questions I used to check where I am from the 18th, 36th, 54th minute. Do this in your home tests and you will master it and learn how to spend more time/guess and move on in the exam.
7 - STATISTICS. I don't mean the Quant. related questions, I mean the exam statistics. Do a lot of comparisons and evaluations for your home tests. I don't intend to do some marketing here, but Manhattan GMAT tests proved to be the most helpful for me - and also the most accurate scoring mechanism. After I finish an exam I look at the "Assessment reports" for all my previous exams compiled. By time, you will notice what is your weak area, for example, the Quant. "Number properties", "Word translation" and the Verbal "SC - Modifiers" were almost behind my low score and loss of time. Study the questions you failed to answer, study related challenging questions in this forum or somewhere else and get ready for the next exam. Finish it and include it your next assessment report, and so on.
I am sure every one has his/her own strategy and feels comfortable following a certain study plan or schedule, but I felt that the advices above are generic for anybody taking the exam. I learned them the hard way during my several attempts, and I hope they would be as valuable to somebody as they were for me.
Seriously, GMAT is not easy but sure can be killed, just be persistent. Good luck to any one planning to take the GMAT and wish me good luck completing my application(s) �.
1 - DON'T LOSE HOPE...in my first attempt I got a 650...in my second attempt I went down to an extremely disappointing 610, thankfully in the last attempt I got a 710. Although I know why I got a 610 on the 2nd attempt - which I will discuss later - I was very disappointed, but I took it too personal as well. I decided that it doesn't matter if I apply to b.schools this year or not, I will get this GMAT whatsoever. And finally I got it after the third attempt. If I didn't get a good score, I would do it again. It just became too personal.
2 - EXAM NIGHT, RELAX and GET SOME GOOD SLEEP .... that was my mistake in the 2nd attempt, I was nicely prepared and confident, but I just over killed my case, I studied too many flashcards, study notes and challenging questions in the exam night and early morning in the exam day....I drove an hour to the test location...I finished the 1 hour AWA...and right after 10+ quant. problems, I was sure I don't have enough power to focus during the rest of the exam, and the 8 min.s break between the Quant. and the Verbal didn't save me. Although I expected to get below the score I want, I didn't expect to get lower than the first time while I am way better prepared, and that's why it was extremely disappointing. So, do your best and study as long as you can, but do not exhaust your self in the exam night. Additionally, your last home test must not be less than three days before your exam; finish it, review it the next day, review your notes and challenging questions the day after and then relax.
3 - BUILD ENDURANCE, BE PATIENT... the exam is exhausting and LONG, but every question counts. You need to be extra patient till the very last verbal question. Surprisingly, that doesn't only involve the exam; I found out that I had to be calm and tolerant during the preparation period in both my professional and personal lives. Train yourself to be tolerant and calm all over the day, believe me, IT HELPS BIG TIME. It will reflect on ur performance during the home tests and will lead to a smooth ride during the final exam. Also, try to solve exams in different times of the day and not only under the best conditions, 15 minutes after you wake up solve an exam, half an hour after coming back from work solve another exam, and so on. Solving an exam in these severe conditions and training your self to be calm till the completion will help you be even more tolerant during the real thing. Don't do it too much however since the scores might not reflect the truth, just do it twice or so to test how patient you are.
4 - DO NOT IGNORE THE AWA.... whether you want to prepare for it or not, don't solve a single exam without it. It takes an hour of mental fitness to finish the AWA section of the exam, and it absorbs a lot of your energy; train yourself to always finish this hour before starting the Quant. section; otherwise, you will feel urself under a lot of pressure during the exam. And moreover, your scores without it won't be so accurate.
5 - LEARN TO FORGET....yes, forget how well or bad you performed in the previous question or section. Get out of the AWA and think about the last movie you saw, get out of the Quant. and think about what you would do in the weekend...just think about anything that has nothing to do with the exam; Don't let your performance affect your mental state for the next section, all what you have are 8 minutes to calm down. The reason is simple, if you did well in a question, you will be almost sure you solved it correctly, if you did extremely bad on a question and you ran out of time, you will probably make a guess; so, you won't ever know whether you made the right guess; therefore, you don't need to worry, you might have made the right guess anyways, paying more attention to what comes next is more important. Even worse, you might have chosen the wrong answer in a question that you are sure you answered correctly, so what is the point of thinking the prev. question or section over and over again; do it and you will just get more and more tense.
6 - TIME, TIME, TIME...probably you read a lot about managing time and doing educated guess for difficult questions; luckily that is all TRUE. But more importantly, learn how to track your time in the exam, and please don't do it question by question, you will probably waste more time doing this. I followed a simple strategy, for the quant. I trained my self that each 5 questions should take 10 minutes, not more. So I used to look at the timer every 5 questions and see how far I am from the 10th or 20th or 30th....minute. Same applies for the Verbal section; each 10 questions should take no more than 18 minutes, so every 10 questions I used to check where I am from the 18th, 36th, 54th minute. Do this in your home tests and you will master it and learn how to spend more time/guess and move on in the exam.
7 - STATISTICS. I don't mean the Quant. related questions, I mean the exam statistics. Do a lot of comparisons and evaluations for your home tests. I don't intend to do some marketing here, but Manhattan GMAT tests proved to be the most helpful for me - and also the most accurate scoring mechanism. After I finish an exam I look at the "Assessment reports" for all my previous exams compiled. By time, you will notice what is your weak area, for example, the Quant. "Number properties", "Word translation" and the Verbal "SC - Modifiers" were almost behind my low score and loss of time. Study the questions you failed to answer, study related challenging questions in this forum or somewhere else and get ready for the next exam. Finish it and include it your next assessment report, and so on.
I am sure every one has his/her own strategy and feels comfortable following a certain study plan or schedule, but I felt that the advices above are generic for anybody taking the exam. I learned them the hard way during my several attempts, and I hope they would be as valuable to somebody as they were for me.
Seriously, GMAT is not easy but sure can be killed, just be persistent. Good luck to any one planning to take the GMAT and wish me good luck completing my application(s) �.
