GMAT Strategy

Devastated the first time I took the GMAT (520), I'm taking it again tomorrow.

ROUND #1:
Study Materials:
-Kaplan Premier 12-13
-Manhattan Verbal

Practice Exams, In Order:
-Kaplan CAT: 630
-Kaplan CAT: 620
-GMATPrep: 660
-Kaplan CAT: 600
-GMATPrep: 680

Actual Exam Score:
-520


ROUND #2:
Study Materials:
OG '13
OG Verbal
OG Quant
MGMAT Verbal Guide
MGMAT SC

Practice Exams, In Order:
MGMAT #1: 640
MGMAT #2: 640
MGMAT #3: 640
MGMAT #4: 660
GMATPrep: #1: 680
MGMAT #5: 680

Goal: 660 (UT-Houston or Rice part time programs)

I hope to have great news tomorrow!

All the very best.
Keep us posted how it goes.

Good luck! I'll be on the lookout for a success story tomorrow!

UNOFFICIAL SCORE:

48Q - 78th Percentile
38V - 84th Percentile
700 - 90th Percentile

I'll be honest, my eyes teared up a bit.

This is more than what I needed!

Done Deal!

Bye Bye GMAT; Hello B-School! Thank you BeatTheGMAT website! This webpage is truly an inspiration to keep working hard, and a wealth of good knowledge!

Forgot to mention:

With regard to the results from my first attempt, I studied 2-1/2 weeks.

With regard to the results from the exam I took today, I studied the above materials for approx 3 hours in the weekday evenings, and spend approx 16 hours on weekends all within a 1 month duration.

The key differences between first a second attempt, using first attempt as a reference:
1) This time I knew that I couldn't use a calculator (yeah, I made that mistake...)
2) I was extremely relaxed, and felt zero pressure with the exception of the last 2-3 problems of each section.
3) The OG materials really are the way to go. I worked 1600+ OG problems from 3 books and the actual exam did not feel too much different.

Quant Sec Notes:
I felt like the Quant section was very, very easy with the exception of 2 problems that I guessed on due to time constraints. In fact, I thought I was headed for another 500 score because of how I felt on this section.

Verbal Sec Notes:
I never have a very good feel for this section. In fact, SC aside, I don't apply any strategies to RC, and CR questions. For this reason, I think I have room to possibly do better, but I don't really need a higher score. I do believe that SC is something that is key to doing well on the GMAT verbal. I say this because I feel that more so than any other verbal section, this is something that you can quickly study, learn, and conquer.

Background:
26-Years-Old
Mechanical Engineering (BSME) from the University of Houston
5 Years Project Management Experience (Rotating Equipment Capital Projects)
6 Months Management Experience

Good luck to all in your future endeavors!

Congrats.. !!

Congratulations! That's excellent news. I'm very happy for you!

And your aggressive study schedule in such a short time frame has motivated me to push very hard. Thanks for sharing!

Anything is possible!

(Trust me, haha)