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krasher134
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Fri May 18, 2012 7:39 am
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Just got my official score report back, so I thought I would share my GMAT experience. In case you're here just to see my score breakdown: Q49, V47, 770 Overall, 6.0 AWA. Now, onto my experience.
I took my first practice test cold back in January, which was GMATPrep 1, and managed a 720 with zero prior studying... Unfortunately, I didn't know any better and so I wasted the first of the two best free CAT exams. I didn't study during the month of February, and began doing about 15-20 hours a week of studying at the beginning of March. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford a prep class, so I had to kick my butt every day to make sure I answered as many practice questions as I could, which I'll tell you, is not easy. I primarily used the GMAT prep books from the GMAC, but had the Manhattan books from a friend, which I used as a reference for more difficult concepts.
After 2 months of studying and 2 more practice tests (Kaplan and Manhattan, respectively), on which my scores were 660 and 680, respectively, I stopped studying and began taking practice tests every 3 days, starting 12 days before my test, without studying in between. I felt like the practice test I took that was most like the GMATPrep tests in terms of difficulty was the Veritas Prep test, on which I got a 750. Kaplan was far too difficult and therefore not an accurate representation of how you would do on an actual GMAT, and Manhattan felt tough, but a good prep mechanism. Princeton Review's practice test was AWFUL, with several typos, poorly proofread passages (for example, asking you what a word in line "XX" was referring to, instead of giving you an actual number), and strange answers to quantitative questions. I'd definitely recommend Veritas and Manhattan for anyone trying to get an accurate feel for the test.
Taking the practice tests every 3 days helped me get into a rhythm (not only for taking the test but for recovering mentally afterward as well), and my last two practice tests (GMATPrep 1, which I took again 6 days before my test and only saw about 5% repeated questions whose answers I didn't even remember, and GMATPrep 2, which I had saved 'til the end with 3 days to go) netted me a 780 and 770 respectively.
This was a great confidence boost heading into the exam, and since I had trained myself to take tests every 3 days for the previous 2 weeks, once I got into the exam, it was not only a lot more comfortable, but also reflexive, as it felt expected and was easier to get my brain in the right mindset. The main thing I had struggled with throughout my practice tests was taking too long on the quantitative section and not long enough on the verbal section, and so I worked to keep myself 100% focused during the quantitative section and to evaluate questions 2, even 3 times on the verbal section, which I think helped calm some of the inevitable nerves.
Anyway, I just figured I would share with you all the methods that I used, and hopefully I was able to help provide some insight to those preparing to take the test.
If you have any other questions or want some advice, let me know if I can help you out in any way!
-Matt
I took my first practice test cold back in January, which was GMATPrep 1, and managed a 720 with zero prior studying... Unfortunately, I didn't know any better and so I wasted the first of the two best free CAT exams. I didn't study during the month of February, and began doing about 15-20 hours a week of studying at the beginning of March. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford a prep class, so I had to kick my butt every day to make sure I answered as many practice questions as I could, which I'll tell you, is not easy. I primarily used the GMAT prep books from the GMAC, but had the Manhattan books from a friend, which I used as a reference for more difficult concepts.
After 2 months of studying and 2 more practice tests (Kaplan and Manhattan, respectively), on which my scores were 660 and 680, respectively, I stopped studying and began taking practice tests every 3 days, starting 12 days before my test, without studying in between. I felt like the practice test I took that was most like the GMATPrep tests in terms of difficulty was the Veritas Prep test, on which I got a 750. Kaplan was far too difficult and therefore not an accurate representation of how you would do on an actual GMAT, and Manhattan felt tough, but a good prep mechanism. Princeton Review's practice test was AWFUL, with several typos, poorly proofread passages (for example, asking you what a word in line "XX" was referring to, instead of giving you an actual number), and strange answers to quantitative questions. I'd definitely recommend Veritas and Manhattan for anyone trying to get an accurate feel for the test.
Taking the practice tests every 3 days helped me get into a rhythm (not only for taking the test but for recovering mentally afterward as well), and my last two practice tests (GMATPrep 1, which I took again 6 days before my test and only saw about 5% repeated questions whose answers I didn't even remember, and GMATPrep 2, which I had saved 'til the end with 3 days to go) netted me a 780 and 770 respectively.
This was a great confidence boost heading into the exam, and since I had trained myself to take tests every 3 days for the previous 2 weeks, once I got into the exam, it was not only a lot more comfortable, but also reflexive, as it felt expected and was easier to get my brain in the right mindset. The main thing I had struggled with throughout my practice tests was taking too long on the quantitative section and not long enough on the verbal section, and so I worked to keep myself 100% focused during the quantitative section and to evaluate questions 2, even 3 times on the verbal section, which I think helped calm some of the inevitable nerves.
Anyway, I just figured I would share with you all the methods that I used, and hopefully I was able to help provide some insight to those preparing to take the test.
If you have any other questions or want some advice, let me know if I can help you out in any way!
-Matt
