-
tkherrmann
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Tue May 12, 2009 6:29 am
- Location: Chicago, IL
- Thanked: 3 times
- GMAT Score:770
Hi everyone,
I took the GMAT today and got a 770 (99th %ile): 49Q (88th %ile), 47V (99th %ile)!
UPDATE: AWA 6.0
My practice scores were:
GMATPrep 1: 760, 50Q, 44V (taken after 1 month of studying)
GMATPrep 2: 760, 50Q, 44V (I know, same score, weird; 2 weeks before test)
I started studying roughly 10 weeks ago. I've used The Official Guide, 12th edition, Kaplan 800, and Manhattan's Sentence Correction book.
Review of Materials I used
The first book I used, actually, was Kaplan 800. I just went from start to finish, doing ~1 hour each morning (I'm still in college, so I had classes). It was a great way to become familiar with each type of question and see some really hard questions. I would highly recommend this book.
The book I used the most, however, was the OG. I also got the V and Q additions, for more problems; I'm not sure if they've released V and Q supplements that match the 12th edition OG, though. Anyway, I would complete a minimum of 5 questions in each section everyday, maybe more if I did poorly and wanted more practice after reviewing the answers. It's especially important to review answers for verbal so you get a chance to see "how the GMAT thinks." I've always been one of those people to over-think questions, so this was very valuable to me.
Of course, after reading another post, I decided to get Manattan GMAT's Sentence Correction Book. Honestly, I didn't notice any specific things I learned from this book on the test, but still think this book is extremely valuable (lol... "how can you remedy the contradiction above..."). By seeing many many many right/wrong sentences, I became very quick at identifying incorrect sentences. I studied this book a lot after my second test because I knew sentence correction was where I was hurting, not that I was unhappy with any of my practice test scores. This book is great -- especially the section on idioms.
My Test Taking Experience
I'm a quant person, so I was really surprised that I scored better on verbal. However, I always have 5-10 minutes left on verbal, but am rushed for time with quant.
In fact, when I took the test, I was so nervous that my teeth were chattering! On quant, there were a few questions I just had to guess on because the time factor didn't help.
For the verbal section, it went as usual. On most questions, I'm usually just 85% sure, but answer correctly. I know lots of people have different strategies for reading comprehension. I read the passage quickly and then refer back to it whenever I need to. Usually, the answer is right there! Also, I find reading comprehension to be some of the easier questions, which definitely not "normal" for me.
My Advice
1) Take lots of practice tests. Although my scores were very consistent, I doubted how valid they were. If I had taken 2-3 more practice tests, I probably would not have been nearly as nervous.
2) BUT, don't take your first test before practicing. Some people might not agree with me here, which is fine, but I think this helped me a lot. Getting a 760 on my first GMATPrep was a huge motivator. After I saw that score and knew what I was capable of, I knew that I would be disappointed with much less.
3) Do more than just problems. Of course, doing problems is probably the best one thing you can do. However, I got A LOT better after Manhattan GMAT's Sentence Correction book, even though I didn't do the problems in it. If you're struggling with something on the conceptual level, step back, slow down, and take the time to really learn what is going on. Once I started recognizing modifiers, parallelism, etc... quickly (that's the key), it makes the test a lot easier.
4) Don't come on this forum 1-2 days before your test (lol!). So, maybe this is just me, but I was nervous for this test a whole 5 days before it actually happened. This place is GREAT, don't get me wrong. But there's probably not much you can do 1-2 days out to vastly improve your score. And it just made me more nervous. Exception: I looked at some AWA posts to see strategies for organization, etc...
5) Don't worry if a passage/question seems too easy. The first passage I got covered a very basic topic -- I thought I was screwed. But then I took the time to relax, remind myself that I can't do that, and move on. Plus, a good chunk of the questions are test questions, so it might not even count.
What about AWA? Yeah, I did them in my practice tests, but didn't practice them otherwise. I did lots of writing last term, so I was used to it. It will be interesting to see what I get.
So, I don't think any of this is really groundbreaking, but maybe it will help some. Thanks for all the help, btw -- I used the posts around here a lot to plan my own study scheme. I'll check back here to make sure and answer anyone's questions!
Best,
Tim
I took the GMAT today and got a 770 (99th %ile): 49Q (88th %ile), 47V (99th %ile)!
UPDATE: AWA 6.0
My practice scores were:
GMATPrep 1: 760, 50Q, 44V (taken after 1 month of studying)
GMATPrep 2: 760, 50Q, 44V (I know, same score, weird; 2 weeks before test)
I started studying roughly 10 weeks ago. I've used The Official Guide, 12th edition, Kaplan 800, and Manhattan's Sentence Correction book.
Review of Materials I used
The first book I used, actually, was Kaplan 800. I just went from start to finish, doing ~1 hour each morning (I'm still in college, so I had classes). It was a great way to become familiar with each type of question and see some really hard questions. I would highly recommend this book.
The book I used the most, however, was the OG. I also got the V and Q additions, for more problems; I'm not sure if they've released V and Q supplements that match the 12th edition OG, though. Anyway, I would complete a minimum of 5 questions in each section everyday, maybe more if I did poorly and wanted more practice after reviewing the answers. It's especially important to review answers for verbal so you get a chance to see "how the GMAT thinks." I've always been one of those people to over-think questions, so this was very valuable to me.
Of course, after reading another post, I decided to get Manattan GMAT's Sentence Correction Book. Honestly, I didn't notice any specific things I learned from this book on the test, but still think this book is extremely valuable (lol... "how can you remedy the contradiction above..."). By seeing many many many right/wrong sentences, I became very quick at identifying incorrect sentences. I studied this book a lot after my second test because I knew sentence correction was where I was hurting, not that I was unhappy with any of my practice test scores. This book is great -- especially the section on idioms.
My Test Taking Experience
I'm a quant person, so I was really surprised that I scored better on verbal. However, I always have 5-10 minutes left on verbal, but am rushed for time with quant.
In fact, when I took the test, I was so nervous that my teeth were chattering! On quant, there were a few questions I just had to guess on because the time factor didn't help.
For the verbal section, it went as usual. On most questions, I'm usually just 85% sure, but answer correctly. I know lots of people have different strategies for reading comprehension. I read the passage quickly and then refer back to it whenever I need to. Usually, the answer is right there! Also, I find reading comprehension to be some of the easier questions, which definitely not "normal" for me.
My Advice
1) Take lots of practice tests. Although my scores were very consistent, I doubted how valid they were. If I had taken 2-3 more practice tests, I probably would not have been nearly as nervous.
2) BUT, don't take your first test before practicing. Some people might not agree with me here, which is fine, but I think this helped me a lot. Getting a 760 on my first GMATPrep was a huge motivator. After I saw that score and knew what I was capable of, I knew that I would be disappointed with much less.
3) Do more than just problems. Of course, doing problems is probably the best one thing you can do. However, I got A LOT better after Manhattan GMAT's Sentence Correction book, even though I didn't do the problems in it. If you're struggling with something on the conceptual level, step back, slow down, and take the time to really learn what is going on. Once I started recognizing modifiers, parallelism, etc... quickly (that's the key), it makes the test a lot easier.
4) Don't come on this forum 1-2 days before your test (lol!). So, maybe this is just me, but I was nervous for this test a whole 5 days before it actually happened. This place is GREAT, don't get me wrong. But there's probably not much you can do 1-2 days out to vastly improve your score. And it just made me more nervous. Exception: I looked at some AWA posts to see strategies for organization, etc...
5) Don't worry if a passage/question seems too easy. The first passage I got covered a very basic topic -- I thought I was screwed. But then I took the time to relax, remind myself that I can't do that, and move on. Plus, a good chunk of the questions are test questions, so it might not even count.
What about AWA? Yeah, I did them in my practice tests, but didn't practice them otherwise. I did lots of writing last term, so I was used to it. It will be interesting to see what I get.
So, I don't think any of this is really groundbreaking, but maybe it will help some. Thanks for all the help, btw -- I used the posts around here a lot to plan my own study scheme. I'll check back here to make sure and answer anyone's questions!
Best,
Tim
Last edited by tkherrmann on Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:42 am, edited 2 times in total.
