I just Beat The GMAT!

So, after debating and wondering it finally happened. - I got my 700 (Q40 V45)

Last time I got 620( Q41 V35). So as you can see, my maths has stayed stuck, but the verbal has soared. I struggled with the prep immensely - I have a young family and studying was really hard. You single guys and girls.....honestly, finish all your studying now !!

I did 12 CATS all together - (MGMAT and Gmatprep) - and my scores varied from 660 to 730. So I figured I`d get somewhere in between. But I worked quite hard on my maths. My maths scores got stuck at 48 and refused to budge. My lowest maths score was 43. My verbal did go up to 46 - but I got common questions in Gmatprep.

Strangely, my maths questions were quite hard at one point. I had tough probability and sequence questions. They got easier from about question 23-24 - and then stayed in the 600-700 range. All I can think is from that time I must have time too many careless mistakes. Weird.

In verbal, I honestly could not tell. The level of BS on the GMAT is very high - I challenge anyone to predict how well they will do on the basis of the type of questions they are getting.
I did not see any trick long passages on CR like you get on the MGMAT or Kaplan CATs. The CRs did get tough though and the passages longer - but only on a couple. No analysis of issue questions at all.

RC - the 3rd passage was a resonably hard scientific one - again I have seen much harder passages on Gmatprep itself - never mind MGMAT.
SC - I really could not tell. I am English - so my english is ok - but GMAT english is obvously odd at times - so I just went with what sounded right.

I used the MGMAT SC book a lot and pracised SC from K800 as well. I found that the questions I was getting wrong were the ones that did not sound right to me - but ACTUALLY WERE. But in the actual exam - I just went with what sounded right to me. This is obviously different for everyone.

I ate 2 chocolates during my breaks an drank lucozade. After the quant - I splashed water all over my face and head in the loo and rubbed my scalp vigorously. I got some glances - but it made me feel fresher.
Use the breaks and take some energy snacks with you.

If you are new to this- dont believe a word of most of what you hear. There are some in this BB who offer very sound advice - Gileyal and Blueyonder are good examples. Especially Gileyal - dude I owe you !! Your stuff abot psychology is SO SO TRUE.

I think to do well in the GMAT the first thing one needs to do is - RELAX. You can do it again. Dont get bitter. If you get a bad score - step back and think what you can change. In verbal - I realised my weakness was SC - so I really went to town on it. If after all that - my verbal score stayed the same - I would put my hands up and say hey I did my best - but it wasnt good enough. So what ? I can still make money, live well, do a great job. YOU DONT NEED THE GMAT OR AN MBA TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN LIFE. CHILL OUT.

But all this does not explain my quant score - something I did work on. If anyone has any ideas, I would be greatful to hear them. I mean, how could I be getting 70-80%ile on all my practice CATs and then get a 59%ile in the real thing ?

Any questions about the exam feel free to ask.
Thanks Combo

Just wanted to say awesome score - something to be truly proud of! I hope I can do as well - now go celebrate!

thank you vaness, hope you get a good score too.

congratulations !

nice post,enjoyed reading it.

you've given me hope, thanks!

I'm stuck at 42-44 Quant range and verbal has been around 35. Any advice on how to get verbal above 40?

I'm a slower than average reader and have spent a good amount of time on MGAT SC. Any tricks or special advice would be greatly appreciated!

A well deserved score. Congratulations.