My GMATprep scores were 710 (before any prep) and 730 (yesterday), so this was kinda lower..
My preparation has been all but regular. I first began in 2001, then stopped abruptly. I've started some 5 times between now and back then, but finally this March I began getting serious! These are tough times and I could no longer afford to postpone my exam! So, I began and it was a rocky start... the diag test in the OG 11th ed comprehensively threw me off guard! But all I can say is, don't get disheartened. This is among the toughest tests you'll face. The real deal certainly seemed easier.
I completed the GMATprep CAT1 and scored a cool 710. I was pretty happy with that. Then I dwelled into the individual sections in OG11. I was always struggling with RC during my GRE days, but apparently things got bettter. I used to think of the entire Q section in GRE as piece of cake, but it seemed tougher here in the GMAT, perhaps due to lack of touch.
In about 5 weeks, I completed OG 11, stealing time here and there from work and family life. Then I was hungry for more, so I bought the Verbal and Quant reviews from GMATprep. They were very good additional practice on real questions and took me an additional 2 weeks to get through. The order of questions being in the order of difficulty was a good help.
Then I took my travels into Kaplan 800, getting a bit ambitious. Those questions literally raped me in SC, but it also gave me good feel for the questions and methods used to eliminate wrong answers.
By now, I was completely out of touch with CATs, so I decided to try out the CD that came with a new book I bought, Kaplan Premier program. I'd recommend this one any day over the standard Kaplan book. The CD had 4 CATs. I got through 3. The first two saw some of my lowest scores ever, 570 and 620. In the 3rd, I improved to 700. I thought Kaplan was a bit too tough in RC and even quant. It was kind of misleading actually.
Then I got into CAT mode, with no other mode of practice. I went on to take the 3 ARCO Thomson CATs. These were well crafted questions and believe it or not, in the last one, I scored 800!!! I was elated, but knew better than to celebrate.
I took 2 more CATs in Manhattan GMAT (free CAT) preceded by Crack The GMAT diag CAT. The latter had some interesting questions, but was quite different from other CATs I took. It was also particularly low scoring. I got a 610, but was comforted by the note that said, I would score a 100 points higher in the real deal. I could live with 710!
The Manhattan GMAT was among the best tests I have taken. It had some killer questions in quant and some really good questions in verbal. I felt I was flopping all the way, but was very happy with the score of 700 on what I considered to be a very tough test.
Then back to home base, with GMATprep II. I was a bit nervous going into this one, because I read in the forums that this score was the closest to your real score. I simulated the test just as the real one would be in about 24 hours. I scored a cool 730 and was happy with the finishing touches. I still don't agree with a couple of answers that I read during review. But hey, I'd take 730.
Then as I had been doing for the past 2-3 weeks, I was going over the Beat the GMAT flash cards furiously. It was very useful and helped me boost my SC performance.
The test went well overall today and I don't have much to complain. Perhaps the difference between my prep tests and the real one was my time management. I managed it very well during prep, but not so much in the real one. Maybe it was lack of confidence on some questions, but I almost ran out of time on the Q section, having to guess quickly on the last 2. Verbal was much more comfortable, but maybe because I missed a few in the beginning, in the CR.
I am mostly thinking about Part Time or Online MBA programs, so I think 680 should suffice. I certainly decided that I am not going to attempt this again, no matter what the score. This score just makes me feel better about not having another attempt.
Any suggestions for which schools might accept me with about 10 years of exp, this score and Project Management experience? I have been thinking Kelley, IE and W P Carey.
I would really like to thank Beat the GMAT forum founders, moderators, contributors and Twitterers for all the help! I couldn't have done it alone!
