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Winner2013
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
- Posts: 57
- Joined: Sun Jul 07, 2013 5:35 am
How I got beaten by GMAT....
Hi All,
I recently appeared for GMAT and scored 590(Q 48 V 23) with IR score 5. I was shocked when the score appeared on my screen. I have taken a long time to accept this. I still get dreams about various verbal questions in my sleep. �
I am writing this post mainly to thank all those people who have helped me in my journey of 6 months. Thank you Rich, Brent and Mitch for excellent explanations on variety of questions. I also thank all those people who post queries and participate on BTG forum. BTG is a fantastic forum for every GMAT aspirant.
I had put my heart and soul in my preparation. My test scores are:
MGMAT 1 - 430 - this was the first test which I wrote before I started preparing
MGMAT 2 - 590 - after a month of preparation
MGMAT 3 - 600
MGMAT 4 - 610
MGMAT 5 - 640
MGMAT 6 - 680
I started with OG and after my third test I realized I haven't studied the strategies yet. Manhattan strategy guides are the most critical for GMAT prep. I studied all strategy guides in next 2 months. Meanwhile I also realized that I am poor in verbal so I started reading variety of magazines - Economist, scientific American, Smithsonian etc. I used to choose small articles of approximately 2-3 paragraphs. I used to set a timer of 4 mins and after reading I used to analyze the entire article to understand the gist of the article. This helped me a lot. I started feeling more comfortable with the kind of RC passages we face in GMAT and the writing style tested. I started getting better score in verbal and I understood that the idea worked. Prior to this exercise, I used to take approximately 15 mins to answer one RC,but later I started completing one RC in 8-9 mins with good accuracy.
Materials used:
1. Manhattan GMAT strategy guides
2. OG 13th
3. GMAT quant review 2nd edition
4. GMAT verbal review 2nd edition
5. Kaplan premier
6. Manhattan advanced quant
During those 30 days prior to my exam date, I wrote 3 more tests :
1. Veritas prep free test - 710
2. GMAT Prep 1 650
3. GMAT Prep2 660
I slogged like crazy in last 15 days. I reviewed all strategy guides and solved entire OG and Review books(GMAT review 2nd edition)
I thought I was doing good and hoped to get 700+, but something messed it up and the sad part is I haven't yet understood what went wrong on the test day.
I am writing this post because I want to share my experience and I need suggestions to prepare better this time. I never thought I will write GMAT one more time but after my test in the night I listened to the song - 'Don't you worry Don't you worry child. The heaven has got plan for you' by Swedish mafia, over and over till 3am next morning, and that is when I realized I was ready- re energized to give everything I have for this second shot. I haven't booked my date yet, but need suggestions from people on this forum.
Can somebody please suggest a few good books to practice verbal? I can not read OG now because I will be able to guess the answer even before I read the question completely.
GMAT SC and CR grail is one suggested by people on this forum. Can anybody comment on these books and suggest a few more good sources to practice verbal. I have been scoring 48/49 constantly on quant. My verbal score deviates a lot, never got 23 � not even in my first test which I had written without preparing at all.
I am open to new ideas and valuable inputs.
Once again thank you all. If there is anybody out there who is facing a similar situation, I would like to say just one thing - Never lose faith in yourself. If you believe that you can do it, you will do it.
-Pooja
Hi All,
I recently appeared for GMAT and scored 590(Q 48 V 23) with IR score 5. I was shocked when the score appeared on my screen. I have taken a long time to accept this. I still get dreams about various verbal questions in my sleep. �
I am writing this post mainly to thank all those people who have helped me in my journey of 6 months. Thank you Rich, Brent and Mitch for excellent explanations on variety of questions. I also thank all those people who post queries and participate on BTG forum. BTG is a fantastic forum for every GMAT aspirant.
I had put my heart and soul in my preparation. My test scores are:
MGMAT 1 - 430 - this was the first test which I wrote before I started preparing
MGMAT 2 - 590 - after a month of preparation
MGMAT 3 - 600
MGMAT 4 - 610
MGMAT 5 - 640
MGMAT 6 - 680
I started with OG and after my third test I realized I haven't studied the strategies yet. Manhattan strategy guides are the most critical for GMAT prep. I studied all strategy guides in next 2 months. Meanwhile I also realized that I am poor in verbal so I started reading variety of magazines - Economist, scientific American, Smithsonian etc. I used to choose small articles of approximately 2-3 paragraphs. I used to set a timer of 4 mins and after reading I used to analyze the entire article to understand the gist of the article. This helped me a lot. I started feeling more comfortable with the kind of RC passages we face in GMAT and the writing style tested. I started getting better score in verbal and I understood that the idea worked. Prior to this exercise, I used to take approximately 15 mins to answer one RC,but later I started completing one RC in 8-9 mins with good accuracy.
Materials used:
1. Manhattan GMAT strategy guides
2. OG 13th
3. GMAT quant review 2nd edition
4. GMAT verbal review 2nd edition
5. Kaplan premier
6. Manhattan advanced quant
During those 30 days prior to my exam date, I wrote 3 more tests :
1. Veritas prep free test - 710
2. GMAT Prep 1 650
3. GMAT Prep2 660
I slogged like crazy in last 15 days. I reviewed all strategy guides and solved entire OG and Review books(GMAT review 2nd edition)
I thought I was doing good and hoped to get 700+, but something messed it up and the sad part is I haven't yet understood what went wrong on the test day.
I am writing this post because I want to share my experience and I need suggestions to prepare better this time. I never thought I will write GMAT one more time but after my test in the night I listened to the song - 'Don't you worry Don't you worry child. The heaven has got plan for you' by Swedish mafia, over and over till 3am next morning, and that is when I realized I was ready- re energized to give everything I have for this second shot. I haven't booked my date yet, but need suggestions from people on this forum.
Can somebody please suggest a few good books to practice verbal? I can not read OG now because I will be able to guess the answer even before I read the question completely.
GMAT SC and CR grail is one suggested by people on this forum. Can anybody comment on these books and suggest a few more good sources to practice verbal. I have been scoring 48/49 constantly on quant. My verbal score deviates a lot, never got 23 � not even in my first test which I had written without preparing at all.
I am open to new ideas and valuable inputs.
Once again thank you all. If there is anybody out there who is facing a similar situation, I would like to say just one thing - Never lose faith in yourself. If you believe that you can do it, you will do it.
-Pooja
