Well, its done! I am not applying to a top ten program, so although my goal was a 700, I was going to be happy with a 650, and the 680 is great.
My background: I was a statistics major in undergrad, which was only 3 years ago, so I figured I would do fine on the Q. As it turns out, the DS questions were really hard for me, and my main weakness.
My studying: I really only studied 4 days, Sat and Sun for two consecutive weekends.
Day One: I bought the Princeton Review book for its overview and ease of reading and just read through the whole thing. Then I did the diagnostic test in the OG to figure out where to focus. I decided to spend no time on the regular math questions or the reading comp as I got most of those right. I spent a good amount of time on this site looking at resources and people's experiences.
Day Two: I did sets of 10 SC problems at a time from the OG starting with #1. When I would get at least 9/10, I jumped ahead 50 or so questions and did another set, until I was doing the last 30 problems in the book. Then, I did the same for CR.
Day Three: Spent the day on math review and DS. I had to brush up on a few things and then focussed on DS. I have to say that I wish I had had more time to spend on these questions because even after the day of studying I wasn't doing much better at them. I ended the day with GMATPrep 1 and scored a 660 (Q42 V40).
Day Four: This wasnt quite the marathon session the other three days were. I went through the problems I got wrong on GMATPrep 1 and reviewed some of that material. I spend a little, and I mean like 15 minutes, looking at the AWA stuff. (I think I did fine on it, of course i wont know for a few weeks...) Then, that night I did GMATPrep 2 and scored 660 again (44Q 36V).
Actual GMAT: That Tuesday, (yesterday), I took the exam. AWA's were fine, I like the advice of brainstorm and outline for 5 min, do the essay in 20 min, and leave 5 min for editting. I felt like the math was a little weird, some problems i had never seen before, especially in DS (of course thats what I get for 2 weeks prep). Verbal felt easy.
Result: 680 (44V 40Q) Seems like the GMATPrep was a very good predictor of my score.
Good luck to everyone, this forum is a great resource!
My background: I was a statistics major in undergrad, which was only 3 years ago, so I figured I would do fine on the Q. As it turns out, the DS questions were really hard for me, and my main weakness.
My studying: I really only studied 4 days, Sat and Sun for two consecutive weekends.
Day One: I bought the Princeton Review book for its overview and ease of reading and just read through the whole thing. Then I did the diagnostic test in the OG to figure out where to focus. I decided to spend no time on the regular math questions or the reading comp as I got most of those right. I spent a good amount of time on this site looking at resources and people's experiences.
Day Two: I did sets of 10 SC problems at a time from the OG starting with #1. When I would get at least 9/10, I jumped ahead 50 or so questions and did another set, until I was doing the last 30 problems in the book. Then, I did the same for CR.
Day Three: Spent the day on math review and DS. I had to brush up on a few things and then focussed on DS. I have to say that I wish I had had more time to spend on these questions because even after the day of studying I wasn't doing much better at them. I ended the day with GMATPrep 1 and scored a 660 (Q42 V40).
Day Four: This wasnt quite the marathon session the other three days were. I went through the problems I got wrong on GMATPrep 1 and reviewed some of that material. I spend a little, and I mean like 15 minutes, looking at the AWA stuff. (I think I did fine on it, of course i wont know for a few weeks...) Then, that night I did GMATPrep 2 and scored 660 again (44Q 36V).
Actual GMAT: That Tuesday, (yesterday), I took the exam. AWA's were fine, I like the advice of brainstorm and outline for 5 min, do the essay in 20 min, and leave 5 min for editting. I felt like the math was a little weird, some problems i had never seen before, especially in DS (of course thats what I get for 2 weeks prep). Verbal felt easy.
Result: 680 (44V 40Q) Seems like the GMATPrep was a very good predictor of my score.
Good luck to everyone, this forum is a great resource!
