I just Beat The GMAT!

All,

This is my first post in this forum though I have been visiting this forum almost everyday since April. I wrote my gmat today and scored 730 - Q50 and V38.

My practice test scores are as below :

OG Diagnostic test - scored 'average' on DS, CR and RC. Got above average score for PS and 'Poor' (5 of 17) for SC.

Gmat prep 1 - only Maths - 49 (after 1 month prep)
MGMAT 1 - untimed - 730 (after 2 months prep)
MGMAT 2 - (gave myself 90 minutes for both sections) - 750
Gmat Prep 1 - 740
MGMAT 3 - 730
kaplan 1 - 610
Kaplan 2 - 640
Kaplan 3 - 610
MGMAT 4 - 740
MGMAT 5 - 750
Gmat Prep 2 - 730 (51 + 37)

Actual Gmat : 730 - 50Q + 38 V
I will try to post more info on my strategies by tomorrow.

Cheers,

Hi :
Congrats mate ...

I have given one MGMAT test and scored 680 .
Aiming for 700+ on real deal. have about three weeks to go .

Has all your test of MGMAT been untimed ?
How did you find dificulty level of MGMAT test compared to actual gmat?

THANKS,
abhay

My first MGMAT was untimed. In the second one, I gave 90 minutes for each section - Finished Quants in 80 minutes and Verbal in 75 minutes. The 3rd, 4th and 5th were timed (75 mins for each section).

MGMAT Maths is tougher than the actual GMAT. But verbal is easier. I used to get 41, 40, 44 etc... in my MGMAT vebal. But in the actual GMAT I got only 38. The SC questions in MGMAT are easier than the actual GMAT. But RC is tougher. CR is at same difficulty level.

I strongly believe that for verbal practice, you should depend mostly on official material. If you are in your last 3 weeks of your exam, try doing GMATPrep as many times as possible especially the verbal section

Cheers,

I got my AWA score as well - It is 6.0.

Since I got a lot from this forum, a few tips from my side are pending. Here they are :

Background : I am working in Indian IT industry and has got 10+ years of experience. My preparation time was 3 months.

Prep Material : Used mainly OG guide, OG quant guide and Manhattan SC. I bought Kaplan 800 and Kaplan Premier also, but did not use them extensively. I think it was a mistake on my part not to buy the verbal official guide. My Verbal target was 40, but I ended up with 38. I believe the SC section hurt me. In Manhattan practice tests, I was able to do well in SC, probably because the questions were based on their SC guide. But in GMATPREP (which I took towards the end) and actual GMAT, the SC questins were of a different hue.
I prepared Notes / flashcards for most of the things I studied and I limited the reading to these Notes in the last couple of days.

AWA : I had not done much prep for this. Just used the templates given by some of the material available on the net. That was sufficient.

Practice Tests : gmatrep is the best. MGMAT is the second best. Kaplan Maths is too easy. Verbal is too tough. But still you can try thee tests, especially the Non-English speakers. Dont bother about the score you get in Kaplan. That is nowhere near your actual GMAT score.

Test Day : The Noteboard was very different from what I had imagined ! The pens I got were not very good - I had to change the pens twice. Overall, I thought the Noteboards were not of good quality. I used 3 noteboards to complete my work (more than 22 pages), in my practice tests I used to use only 5 sheets of paper.
Do not try to evaluate yourself during the exam. Though this was posted many times in this forum, I commited the same mistake. Never ever do that !
During my practice exams, I used to run out of time or hardly manage to finish the verbal section. But in actual GMAT, I had some 5 minutes left on both sections. I think, I hurried through the initial questions, which might have hurt my score.

General Tips : I believe it is your hardwork which is your passport to the 700+ club, more than your IQ. At least it is true for me.
For Maths, get your foundation strong. Just going through the answers in the GMAT prep books may not be sufficient to get a strong foundation.
Official material is closer to the actual exam. Buy all the 3 OG books if you are aiming for 700+. Take Notes on whatever new concepts / formulae you study. This will be a good reading material in last 1 week. Besides, you can keep going through these Notes when you are travelling etc...

HI :
I am going to take the test on 11 aug, ie, next monday. I am not sure about my verbal score.
In your opinion which test are accurate indicator of verbal score.

thanks,

gmat007 wrote:I got my AWA score as well - It is 6.0.

Since I got a lot from this forum, a few tips from my side are pending. Here they are :

Background : I am working in Indian IT industry and has got 10+ years of experience. My preparation time was 3 months.

Prep Material : Used mainly OG guide, OG quant guide and Manhattan SC. I bought Kaplan 800 and Kaplan Premier also, but did not use them extensively. I think it was a mistake on my part not to buy the verbal official guide. My Verbal target was 40, but I ended up with 38. I believe the SC section hurt me. In Manhattan practice tests, I was able to do well in SC, probably because the questions were based on their SC guide. But in GMATPREP (which I took towards the end) and actual GMAT, the SC questins were of a different hue.
I prepared Notes / flashcards for most of the things I studied and I limited the reading to these Notes in the last couple of days.

AWA : I had not done much prep for this. Just used the templates given by some of the material available on the net. That was sufficient.

Practice Tests : gmatrep is the best. MGMAT is the second best. Kaplan Maths is too easy. Verbal is too tough. But still you can try thee tests, especially the Non-English speakers. Dont bother about the score you get in Kaplan. That is nowhere near your actual GMAT score.

Test Day : The Noteboard was very different from what I had imagined ! The pens I got were not very good - I had to change the pens twice. Overall, I thought the Noteboards were not of good quality. I used 3 noteboards to complete my work (more than 22 pages), in my practice tests I used to use only 5 sheets of paper.
Do not try to evaluate yourself during the exam. Though this was posted many times in this forum, I commited the same mistake. Never ever do that !
During my practice exams, I used to run out of time or hardly manage to finish the verbal section. But in actual GMAT, I had some 5 minutes left on both sections. I think, I hurried through the initial questions, which might have hurt my score.

General Tips : I believe it is your hardwork which is your passport to the 700+ club, more than your IQ. At least it is true for me.
For Maths, get your foundation strong. Just going through the answers in the GMAT prep books may not be sufficient to get a strong foundation.
Official material is closer to the actual exam. Buy all the 3 OG books if you are aiming for 700+. Take Notes on whatever new concepts / formulae you study. This will be a good reading material in last 1 week. Besides, you can keep going through these Notes when you are travelling etc...

How was your Quant section. From which topic you got maximum questions.

congratulation!!!

730 is a gr8 score.

could u explain ur strtegies for verbal in detail.

Abhay - the gmatprep score is closer to your actual score. So go by that.

gmattester - regarding the questions I got in quants, there were questions from geometry, probability (but it was easy), series, work rate related etc.. etc... (In short, there were questions from every topic listed in various prep books) The difficulty level was above that of Kaplan tests, below MGMAT tests and almost same as GMATPrep.

MissionMBA - Let me know if you are a non-English-speaker. Otherwise, my strategies will not suit you, I guess.

Regards,
gmat007

yes i am a non-English-speaker.