-
jcrespo1695
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2010 1:22 pm
Hi everyone,
Before I begin, just want to thank you all, my comrade test takers, the folks from beatthegmat and the folks from different prep companies that take the time to read and answer these questions.
Take home point...I took the GMAT today and missed my target score of 700. Had I met my goal I was going to submit an application to HBS for round 2. If I didn't, I was going to wait and apply next year in R1.
My first question is...when should I hit the books again? Work is extremely intense right now with a project that is due in mid January. The project is both important for my professional career, but is also something that matters personally to me. Should I continue with momentum I have now, but continue to burn the candle at both ends? [With my test scores declining (more below) I am afraid I am reaching burn out, plus my work product is suffering somewhat] Should I wait until I finish my project in mid January before I renew my path to beating the GMAT, but give up the momentum I have and risk forgetting content (if that really does happen)?
My second question is...how I should approach the second round of study now that that there is no need to rush to take the exam and I can properly give the GMAT the 2.5 months prep time it deserves. Any suggestions on how I can improve my prep strategy (in addition to spreading the studying out over longer period to not "cram so much in a day")
The back-story if you don't mind reading: My original plan was to apply to HBS in October of 2012. I did not intend to do a "rush study job" but I decided 5.5 weeks ago that staying in Washington, D.C. was no longer sustainable. Since the start of November, I averaged about 4hrs of study a day during work days and about 6-8 hours on weekend days and holidays (I know it is suggested not to do more than 2, but given the time crunch...I pushed). I used the Manhattan guide books (old version a friend gave me a long time ago), Manhattan practice tests, the OG guide and the GMAT Bible. I used the question log and took 6 practice tests (4 MGM, 2 gmac prep). I was doing well eventually scoring two 700s in practice exams, but fell short on actual exam day. A wrinkle worth mentioning came when due to an important work situation I was forced to change my test date from December 6th at 2pm to December 12th at 8am (both bad timing and missing opportunity to retest before Jan 10 deadline).
My process consisted of:
Went through content of the Manhattan guide books, after completing content (no practice questions) I took my first practice test on 11/14: scored 620 Q42 V33. With this I highlighted my weaknesses and did about 40 quant questions a day from the OG (doing intense review of the practice problems as suggested by manhattan gmat and slackman of gmathacks). I would use remaining time to review content I was struggling with or go through the practice problems in the Manhattan SC guide.
On 11/23 I took my second practice test. I had major issues with timing resulting in not even finishing the sections and scored a 520 Q24 V36. I choose to double my efforts thanks to having a week home for the holidays and studied like crazy working both on content and timing. I should note that this was hard on me and my family (studying for 8 hours on Thanksgiving and another 8 hours on my sister's b-day)...but it seemed to pay off.
On 11/26 I took my third practice test and scored a 670 Q39 V42. After this exam I honed in on the areas that were giving me the most trouble and used the content and practice offered in the GMAT Bible to fill in gaps and teach me new approaches to the questions where I continued to struggle.
On 12/2, four days before my scheduled exam, I hit 700 Q43 V41. Too familiarize myself with the actual test user face, I broke the rule of taking a test within 3 days of my test date and scored a 710 on the gmat-prep test (breakdown at home on my laptop, similar to above with slightly higher verbal-slightly lower Q).
When I was forced to reschedule my test to 8am the following week, I thought, no biggie, just a bummer I would miss chance to retake. I took the second gmat-prep early Saturday morning (6:30 AM...I had a work engagement all day) and scored a 640 (breakdown at home on my laptop) needless to say, I was shaken, but tried not to psyche myself out while I improved my quant, my verbal suffered given poor time management.
I got plenty of rest over the weekend and managed to only score the 650 on test day. Looking for advice on when and how I should renew my efforts. I think the time of day hurt on both early morning tests, but honestly, it can't explain such a massive fall from previous exams. The funny thing is, both times I felt like I was doing "just fine" in fact, on the actual test day, I thought I had done a "solid" job on Math, not exceptional, but I didn't feel like I had bombed it, as I actually did. The verbal felt awful, and while I did worse than usual (due to crappy time management) I ended up doing quite well.
I am against taking a course, but considering using the money to hire a tutor to help me evaluate my strengths/weaknesses and help me create a study plan. The goal is to make sure that ALL of the OG questions are completed, including those in the supplemental books. Despite using a stopwatch in studying, I never got the timing down quite right...what are other techniques I can try to get the timing down, particularly in the verbal section where I end up going from being ahead of schedule to massively behind? Also, why is it that although I spent 80% of my study time on quant, it was the verbal where I had the most improvement?
Before I begin, just want to thank you all, my comrade test takers, the folks from beatthegmat and the folks from different prep companies that take the time to read and answer these questions.
Take home point...I took the GMAT today and missed my target score of 700. Had I met my goal I was going to submit an application to HBS for round 2. If I didn't, I was going to wait and apply next year in R1.
My first question is...when should I hit the books again? Work is extremely intense right now with a project that is due in mid January. The project is both important for my professional career, but is also something that matters personally to me. Should I continue with momentum I have now, but continue to burn the candle at both ends? [With my test scores declining (more below) I am afraid I am reaching burn out, plus my work product is suffering somewhat] Should I wait until I finish my project in mid January before I renew my path to beating the GMAT, but give up the momentum I have and risk forgetting content (if that really does happen)?
My second question is...how I should approach the second round of study now that that there is no need to rush to take the exam and I can properly give the GMAT the 2.5 months prep time it deserves. Any suggestions on how I can improve my prep strategy (in addition to spreading the studying out over longer period to not "cram so much in a day")
The back-story if you don't mind reading: My original plan was to apply to HBS in October of 2012. I did not intend to do a "rush study job" but I decided 5.5 weeks ago that staying in Washington, D.C. was no longer sustainable. Since the start of November, I averaged about 4hrs of study a day during work days and about 6-8 hours on weekend days and holidays (I know it is suggested not to do more than 2, but given the time crunch...I pushed). I used the Manhattan guide books (old version a friend gave me a long time ago), Manhattan practice tests, the OG guide and the GMAT Bible. I used the question log and took 6 practice tests (4 MGM, 2 gmac prep). I was doing well eventually scoring two 700s in practice exams, but fell short on actual exam day. A wrinkle worth mentioning came when due to an important work situation I was forced to change my test date from December 6th at 2pm to December 12th at 8am (both bad timing and missing opportunity to retest before Jan 10 deadline).
My process consisted of:
Went through content of the Manhattan guide books, after completing content (no practice questions) I took my first practice test on 11/14: scored 620 Q42 V33. With this I highlighted my weaknesses and did about 40 quant questions a day from the OG (doing intense review of the practice problems as suggested by manhattan gmat and slackman of gmathacks). I would use remaining time to review content I was struggling with or go through the practice problems in the Manhattan SC guide.
On 11/23 I took my second practice test. I had major issues with timing resulting in not even finishing the sections and scored a 520 Q24 V36. I choose to double my efforts thanks to having a week home for the holidays and studied like crazy working both on content and timing. I should note that this was hard on me and my family (studying for 8 hours on Thanksgiving and another 8 hours on my sister's b-day)...but it seemed to pay off.
On 11/26 I took my third practice test and scored a 670 Q39 V42. After this exam I honed in on the areas that were giving me the most trouble and used the content and practice offered in the GMAT Bible to fill in gaps and teach me new approaches to the questions where I continued to struggle.
On 12/2, four days before my scheduled exam, I hit 700 Q43 V41. Too familiarize myself with the actual test user face, I broke the rule of taking a test within 3 days of my test date and scored a 710 on the gmat-prep test (breakdown at home on my laptop, similar to above with slightly higher verbal-slightly lower Q).
When I was forced to reschedule my test to 8am the following week, I thought, no biggie, just a bummer I would miss chance to retake. I took the second gmat-prep early Saturday morning (6:30 AM...I had a work engagement all day) and scored a 640 (breakdown at home on my laptop) needless to say, I was shaken, but tried not to psyche myself out while I improved my quant, my verbal suffered given poor time management.
I got plenty of rest over the weekend and managed to only score the 650 on test day. Looking for advice on when and how I should renew my efforts. I think the time of day hurt on both early morning tests, but honestly, it can't explain such a massive fall from previous exams. The funny thing is, both times I felt like I was doing "just fine" in fact, on the actual test day, I thought I had done a "solid" job on Math, not exceptional, but I didn't feel like I had bombed it, as I actually did. The verbal felt awful, and while I did worse than usual (due to crappy time management) I ended up doing quite well.
I am against taking a course, but considering using the money to hire a tutor to help me evaluate my strengths/weaknesses and help me create a study plan. The goal is to make sure that ALL of the OG questions are completed, including those in the supplemental books. Despite using a stopwatch in studying, I never got the timing down quite right...what are other techniques I can try to get the timing down, particularly in the verbal section where I end up going from being ahead of schedule to massively behind? Also, why is it that although I spent 80% of my study time on quant, it was the verbal where I had the most improvement?
