-
tohin
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
- Posts: 42
- Joined: Thu Jul 15, 2010 6:20 pm
- Thanked: 2 times
- GMAT Score:750
Hi all,
Just took the exam today and scored 750.
My initial goal was to score above 700, but during my prep, I rose the bar to 730, as I did pretty well on the GMATprep tests I took. I beat these 2 goals and I'm more than satisfied.
Prep techniques are discussed at length in this forum, but I still would like to share a few notes.
1. Background: French, 32, Master's degree in Industrial Engineering. Work in Marketing, forgot about Maths a long time ago (esp. Geometry or Number properties)
2. Prep material:
- Manhattan GMAT 8 guides
- The 3 OG Guides (even though I mainly used the 12th edition)
- Nothing else (don't spend too much time browsing forums
and don't try to resolve the trickiest questions that can be found on forums, they won't appear on test day, unless maybe for the very strongest candidates. Focus on OG questions.
3. How did I prepare?
- Prep length: 6 weeks. Worked 30 minutes to 1 hour per day for the first two weeks; 2 hours daily during week 3 and 4, and 3-4 hours daily during week 5.
I spent more than 8 hours daily preparing for the test during week 6.
I had taken a week off from work and I must say it surely was a good decision.
I was able to work extremely hard, while also getting some rest (except in the last 2 days, as I just couldn't sleep...)
- Prep plan - week 1 to 5:
First I went through all 8 Manhattan GMAT guides (I read every single letter of each book) and did the exercises at the end of each section.
The guides will point you to the relevant practice questions in the OG, so I basically just read the different chapters and did the recommended exercices that appeared in the books.
I finished my reading 5 days before the test, which means it took me 5 weeks (while working) to go through the whole GMAT material I had.
I did no CAT prep test before week 6 as I assumed the score would not provide an accurate estimate of my performance on test day (I did not master most of the concepts before reading the guides, so I did not see the point in taking the tests before finsihing getting the basics)
- Week 6:
Monday: took my first GMATPrep test: 750 (I skipped the essay section). I was full of joy
Tuesday: worked though my mistakes (GMAT prep does not provide explanations to the questions you answer incorrectly, so you need to search google and browse forums to get details and resolution steps)
Wednesday: MGMAT PRep: 710 (only drafted the essays). This test was way more difficult than the first one, and it turns out that the MGMAT prep test is actually considered harder than GMAT prep (the quant part at least).
GMATPrep: 740 (full test, GDay-1).
Then 750 on test day.
- Success factors:
1. Based on earlier forum comments, I decided not to neglect the verbal part. I worked very hard on RC and CR, as they are way tougher than they may seem at first.
Without a lot of practicing, it is difficult to master these questions, at least for a non-native speaker (it takes a lot of practice to understand what may or may not be a proper answer to the the differetn question types).
Remember that you can only achieve a high score by doing well in both sections.
However, I did not follow MGMAT's advice regarding note taking. It just made me waste time during prep tests and I found out that it was easier and faster for me to simply read the text and answer the questions. Still, take the habit of noting down the five possible answer choices (A,B, C..) and cross the ones that are obviously incorrrect.
2. SC: studied the MGMAT guide carefully. Honestly it helped on a few questions on test day (parallelism, use of possessive forms) but I'd say that it is probably the most challenging part to improve.
My opinion is that it takes years to master SC, not months.
Still, you can probably grab a few points with solid prep as some errors are easy to spot once you know the basic rules.
3. During my last prep week I also did something that I believe was vital for my success: I re-read the Number Properties, Word translation and Equations/VIC guides from page 1 to the last and re-did all related exercises.
It was very useful, as I found that the most difficult Quant concepts/questions, were in these areas.
I was able to do this only because I finished studying all 8 guides 1 week before the test and thus was able to allocate additional time to deep dive on my weaknesses.
4. Even though not fully representative of what you'll see on test day, the MGMAT CAT prep test is interesting to take. Indeed, as it pushes you to your limits, it allows you to identify weaknesses. This allowed me to put a special emphasis on probabilities and combinatorics in the last few days, which helped on test day.
Finally, I'd like to say that GMAT prep is very similar to the actual test.
In my case, I scored 740 and 750, and got a 750 on test day. Questions were of similar difficutly.
Also, although the first 10 questions are certainly important, you may answer incorrectly to SEVERAL of them and still score high. I did 1 or 2 mistakes in both GMATprep tests I took and still got a high score.
I screwed it on the MGMAT test (4 or 5 incorrect answers in the first series of 10) and still got a 43 in Quant.
On test day, I guessed (incorrectly) on the second question and still managed to bounce back.
YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE RUNNING AFTER TIME. I spent 6 minutes on 1 question (MGMAT prep test) and could not finish the test. The penalty is stiff for this.
Instead of struggling desperately to answer a question that seems easy (and ultimately answering it wrong), just let it go. It will take you just 2 or 3 questions to bounce back (and there are 37 questions in total).
Be ready to CUT YOUR LOSSES as mentioned by many people. It can save your score.
Please also note that the last 10 to 15 questions on test day seemed extremely easy. It does not mean I did poorly though. A friend of mine experienced the same.
So don't panic if you see easy questions on test day, you might still be doing well
Last but not least: AWA is tough for non native speakers. Prepare for it. I did so only in the last few days and it revealed quite challenging to finish each essay in 30 minutes.
Forums are filled with good templates, use them !
Let me know if any question, I'll be glad to answer if I can.
Vincent
PS: I want to thank Brian, Daniel and Inkybinky for their help in the last few days.
Just took the exam today and scored 750.
My initial goal was to score above 700, but during my prep, I rose the bar to 730, as I did pretty well on the GMATprep tests I took. I beat these 2 goals and I'm more than satisfied.
Prep techniques are discussed at length in this forum, but I still would like to share a few notes.
1. Background: French, 32, Master's degree in Industrial Engineering. Work in Marketing, forgot about Maths a long time ago (esp. Geometry or Number properties)
2. Prep material:
- Manhattan GMAT 8 guides
- The 3 OG Guides (even though I mainly used the 12th edition)
- Nothing else (don't spend too much time browsing forums
and don't try to resolve the trickiest questions that can be found on forums, they won't appear on test day, unless maybe for the very strongest candidates. Focus on OG questions.3. How did I prepare?
- Prep length: 6 weeks. Worked 30 minutes to 1 hour per day for the first two weeks; 2 hours daily during week 3 and 4, and 3-4 hours daily during week 5.
I spent more than 8 hours daily preparing for the test during week 6.
I had taken a week off from work and I must say it surely was a good decision.
I was able to work extremely hard, while also getting some rest (except in the last 2 days, as I just couldn't sleep...)
- Prep plan - week 1 to 5:
First I went through all 8 Manhattan GMAT guides (I read every single letter of each book) and did the exercises at the end of each section.
The guides will point you to the relevant practice questions in the OG, so I basically just read the different chapters and did the recommended exercices that appeared in the books.
I finished my reading 5 days before the test, which means it took me 5 weeks (while working) to go through the whole GMAT material I had.
I did no CAT prep test before week 6 as I assumed the score would not provide an accurate estimate of my performance on test day (I did not master most of the concepts before reading the guides, so I did not see the point in taking the tests before finsihing getting the basics)
- Week 6:
Monday: took my first GMATPrep test: 750 (I skipped the essay section). I was full of joy
Tuesday: worked though my mistakes (GMAT prep does not provide explanations to the questions you answer incorrectly, so you need to search google and browse forums to get details and resolution steps)
Wednesday: MGMAT PRep: 710 (only drafted the essays). This test was way more difficult than the first one, and it turns out that the MGMAT prep test is actually considered harder than GMAT prep (the quant part at least).
GMATPrep: 740 (full test, GDay-1).
Then 750 on test day.
- Success factors:
1. Based on earlier forum comments, I decided not to neglect the verbal part. I worked very hard on RC and CR, as they are way tougher than they may seem at first.
Without a lot of practicing, it is difficult to master these questions, at least for a non-native speaker (it takes a lot of practice to understand what may or may not be a proper answer to the the differetn question types).
Remember that you can only achieve a high score by doing well in both sections.
However, I did not follow MGMAT's advice regarding note taking. It just made me waste time during prep tests and I found out that it was easier and faster for me to simply read the text and answer the questions. Still, take the habit of noting down the five possible answer choices (A,B, C..) and cross the ones that are obviously incorrrect.
2. SC: studied the MGMAT guide carefully. Honestly it helped on a few questions on test day (parallelism, use of possessive forms) but I'd say that it is probably the most challenging part to improve.
My opinion is that it takes years to master SC, not months.
Still, you can probably grab a few points with solid prep as some errors are easy to spot once you know the basic rules.
3. During my last prep week I also did something that I believe was vital for my success: I re-read the Number Properties, Word translation and Equations/VIC guides from page 1 to the last and re-did all related exercises.
It was very useful, as I found that the most difficult Quant concepts/questions, were in these areas.
I was able to do this only because I finished studying all 8 guides 1 week before the test and thus was able to allocate additional time to deep dive on my weaknesses.
4. Even though not fully representative of what you'll see on test day, the MGMAT CAT prep test is interesting to take. Indeed, as it pushes you to your limits, it allows you to identify weaknesses. This allowed me to put a special emphasis on probabilities and combinatorics in the last few days, which helped on test day.
Finally, I'd like to say that GMAT prep is very similar to the actual test.
In my case, I scored 740 and 750, and got a 750 on test day. Questions were of similar difficutly.
Also, although the first 10 questions are certainly important, you may answer incorrectly to SEVERAL of them and still score high. I did 1 or 2 mistakes in both GMATprep tests I took and still got a high score.
I screwed it on the MGMAT test (4 or 5 incorrect answers in the first series of 10) and still got a 43 in Quant.
On test day, I guessed (incorrectly) on the second question and still managed to bounce back.
YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE RUNNING AFTER TIME. I spent 6 minutes on 1 question (MGMAT prep test) and could not finish the test. The penalty is stiff for this.
Instead of struggling desperately to answer a question that seems easy (and ultimately answering it wrong), just let it go. It will take you just 2 or 3 questions to bounce back (and there are 37 questions in total).
Be ready to CUT YOUR LOSSES as mentioned by many people. It can save your score.
Please also note that the last 10 to 15 questions on test day seemed extremely easy. It does not mean I did poorly though. A friend of mine experienced the same.
So don't panic if you see easy questions on test day, you might still be doing well
Last but not least: AWA is tough for non native speakers. Prepare for it. I did so only in the last few days and it revealed quite challenging to finish each essay in 30 minutes.
Forums are filled with good templates, use them !
Let me know if any question, I'll be glad to answer if I can.
Vincent
PS: I want to thank Brian, Daniel and Inkybinky for their help in the last few days.
