I just Beat The GMAT!

Some background information, majored in management (information systems) two years ago. I basically never studied nor attended classes and crammed all my exams. It seems the only way I can study is to cram it. My original plan was to study for three months until I "internalized" the GMAT (BECOME THE GMAT), but due to my work (Consultant), I could not sustain the study.

TODAY, I just did the GMAT and received a 680, the score was not a surprise since the tests I did (with their averages) predicted between 580 and 720: (I kind of wished to get 720 true score with a reported 750 due to standard error but hey...)

GMATPrep #1 = 680
Kaplan #1 = 550
MGMAT = 630 (Q42 V34)
GMATPrep #2 = 610 (Q36 V38)
GMAT = 680 (Q49 V34) (true score 650 to 710 due to standard error from what I read)

The thing is, I only started studying serious about 10 days ago!! Before that I knew OF the GMAT and its format but it was about 6 months ago. (yes, procrastination ended costing me USD$100 more...)

Studied:
- OG11 Quantt heory to get frustrated at the poor explanation and mistakes and switched to
- Princeton Review (Q and V) book as a ramp-up
- OG11 Verbal Review
- Manhattan GMAT Sentece Correction (half of the book, only discovered it two days before the test)
- Looked up faster and better way of doing math online (e.g.: prime factoring, short division, geometry shortcuts)

Having worked in Consulting for two years made me feel that my verbal was stronger (showed by 3 practice test). The surprise was that verbal section the official was much tougher than anything I've seen in the book. The critical reasoning were quite complex compared to what I have studied.

The quant. section was much easier, in all my preparation tests, I ran out of time for the last 10 questions (GMAT Prep) or could not solve them because they were too difficult (Kaplan and MGMAT). But on the test day, taking everything one step at the time allowed me to solve most math problems. Note that I did run out of time on question 37 and had only enough time to skim it and press Confirm! (I solved question 36)

I discovered Beat The GMAT three days before the test and found the MGMAT Sentence Correction Reference to be of great help! Mainly, the community reassured me that people were people, not everyone gets 740+. And think of all the people who take the tests unprepared, I mean, 50% gets under 550?

Your opinions? comments? feedback? violent reactions?

Well, not sure on which part of your post are you expecting a 'violent reaction'!

You background in MIS definitely helped you crack maths. Verbal requires a lot more work, irrespective of whether you are a native speaker or not.
While 680 falls in the range for most of the schools, a low verbal score might be a cause of concern for the adcom.

The first time i had taken the GMAT and applied, I was given a feedback by one of the schools that even though 660 was enough, a more balanced score would have been better.. I had a similar score breakdownQ49, V33

Nevertheless, good score for 10 days worth of prep!

daemon wrote: Studied:
- OG11 Quantt heory to get frustrated at the poor explanation and mistakes and switched to
- Princeton Review (Q and V) book as a ramp-up

I discovered Beat The GMAT three days before the test and found the MGMAT Sentence Correction Reference to be of great help! Mainly, the community reassured me that people were people, not everyone gets 740+. And think of all the people who take the tests unprepared, I mean, 50% gets under 550?

Your opinions? comments? feedback? violent reactions?

680 is a great score with only 10 dys of real study!! I think you can definitely get 720.

You're right about the very poor Quant solutions in the OG. I was frustrated with the same until someone here recommended GMATFix Official Guide Companion. It basically breaks down every quant question in the OG and offers deeper explanations and (for most questions) multiple solutions.

I use the OG Companion to organize my study because there is a reference question that organizes the OG questions by difficulty (like 500 to 600 or 600 to 700) . The reference also tells you where you can find questions of each topic (like Number Properties or Inequalties). Have a look at it: www.gmatfix.com

I was going to recommend the MGMAT Sentence Correction also but it seems you already have it. Take your time going through it. It's a good resource I think.

I just received my Official Report with the AWA Scores: 5.5!

What is important is the structure of your essays (and the length!)