GMAT SCORE: 760- The story of an underdog

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GMAT SCORE: 760- The story of an underdog

by cipher17 » Sun Nov 21, 2010 12:35 pm
Hi friends

I attempted GMAT last monday and scored an unbelievable 760 ( v44 / Q49 ). My friend suggested that I share my story in this forum so that future test takers may be benefited.

I went through the following study materials to prepare for GMAT in the chronological order:

1. OG12
2. Quant supplement to OG12
3. Verbal supplement to OG12
4. Aristotle SC Grail
5. Manhattan SC
6. Manhattan Critical Reasoning Study guide
7. Kaplan GMAT 800
8. RC 99
9. 1000 SC
10. GMAT Powerprep software
11. GMATPrepr software
12. Manhattan online tests.


I am working in IT and I started preparing for GMAT in mid June. I did a lot of research for study and prep tips. What I came to know were the following:

1. Study for 3 months
2. Study for 2 hours in weekdays and 5 hours in weekends.

However, as I am working in client location. My work schedule was irregular and so I could not spend 2 hours everyday. I tried to study an average of 1 hour every weekday. On weekends, no matter how hard I studies, I could not study more than 4 hours. However, it took me 5 months to prepare for the exam. The point I am trying to make that it is very important for one to understand what kind of study plan suits best to him/her. This is something that one would realize gradually as he/she progresses with the studies.

The most important thing is to understand the nature of study that we need to do for GMAT. GMAT prep involves lot of practice. We need to practice the RC, SC, CR and quant sections and to sharpen our understanding of the concept. As such the preparation may seem to get boring at times and you may feel like dragging yourself. Please stop studying immediately at that time. Take a break, watch a movie or do whatever you want to do to be happy at that point. If you have the focus the urge to study again will come back in a few hours or a day. Also, in the long run, it does not matter how many questions you solved in your studies, what matters is that whatever you studied, you understood that completely. Whenever, you feel like dragging yourself, do not push yourself.

My study mode involved the following steps:

1. Solve a few questions.
2. Check how many you attempted correctly. This will give you an idea of how good you are in solving these questions and also would you in measuring your improvements over a period of time.
3. Go through the answer explanations irrespective of whether your attempt was correct or incorrect. There are different ways in answering a question. And you would want to learn the best way in order to ace the exam.
4. Go through the explanation for the incorrect choices. THIS IS MOST IMPORTANT. Your performance in the exam would depend largely on how you eliminate the wrong choices. And going through the explanation for eliminating the wrong choice will help you in developing this skill.

You can divide your entire prep period in the following stages:

1. Brush up basic. You can go through study materials numbered 1 to 6 in my list.
2. Go through the tougher study materials numbered 7 to 9. Also start giving mock tests numbered 10 -12 every weekend.
3. Continue giving tests and improve your weak areas.

Mock tests:

I attempted the following tests which were very useful.

GMAT Powerprep:

This is an old softeware from GMAC and has lots of practice questions apart from 2 mock tests. Though GMAC has launched a new software GMATPrep, this software is available for download in the internet.

GMATPREP:

This software can be downloaded from mba.com. It has two tests and a few practice questions. GMATPrep and Powerprep are the closest that one can get to the actual GMAT as they are provided by GMAC. Only disadvantage is that these softwares do not provide answer explanations for the test questions. Even so, taking these tests is a must before going for GMAT.

Manhattan GMAT tests:

Manhattan provides 6 mock tests that you have to buy. I believe that the cost is worth. The tests are tougher than GMAT standard and that makes you more focussed and shapes you well for the actual GMAT. So, do not lose heart if you are not scoring well; treat these as practice. GMATPrep and Powerprep are better indicators of how you will score in the actual tests.

Last note: As your exam dates closes on you, try to practice more from the OGs and Powerprep, GMATPrep as these have questions from the GMAC, the GMAT test creators. No other material in the market can provide you better questions suitable for GMAT than the test creator themselves. SO you may like to redo some questions during the last days of preparation. Also keep a cool during the end days and book your dates only when you are confident. Rescheduling the dates is not a big deal, I myslef did it thrice :wink:

All the best. Doubts and questions are welcome.

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by ezhilkumarank » Sun Nov 21, 2010 1:26 pm
3. Go through the answer explanations irrespective of whether your attempt was correct or incorrect. There are different ways in answering a question. And you would want to learn the best way in order to ace the exam.
4. Go through the explanation for the incorrect choices. THIS IS MOST IMPORTANT. Your performance in the exam would depend largely on how you eliminate the wrong choices. And going through the explanation for eliminating the wrong choice will help you in developing this skill.
Congrats cipher17 on your great score. All the best for your next steps.
"The will-to-do achieves the deed, when the mind that wills is strong indeed"

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by aspire_mba2013 » Sun Nov 21, 2010 1:35 pm
Congrats Mr.Underdog !!!

Great score and nice debrief.
You can take a horse to the water but you can't make it drink !!!

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by gsbjake » Sun Nov 21, 2010 6:44 pm
Congrats Mr. Underdog!

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by Victory_GMAT » Sun Nov 21, 2010 7:00 pm
You nailed it down! Congrats!!!! I don't think any top Business School in the world will not accept you as long as your other things are also as competitive as GMAT score such as GPA, rec, essay, exp. I assume, that your Experience would obviously be great as you are in Consulting type industry (you said Client) but Wharton, HBS, Columbia will also look at the quality of previous educational institution's brand. Let me put this way:

Bachelors from University of New York + 730 GMAT = Admitted!!

Bachelor from any less known or unknown University + 760 GMAT = can't Say

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by cipher17 » Sun Nov 21, 2010 9:15 pm
You nailed it down! Congrats!!!! I don't think any top Business School in the world will not accept you as long as your other things are also as competitive as GMAT score such as GPA, rec, essay, exp. I assume, that your Experience would obviously be great as you are in Consulting type industry (you said Client) but Wharton, HBS, Columbia will also look at the quality of previous educational institution's brand. Let me put this way:

Bachelors from University of New York + 730 GMAT = Admitted!!

Bachelor from any less known or unknown University + 760 GMAT = can't Say
Thanks dude. I am actually doing an evaluation of where I stand. I m planning to get admitted by fall 2012. I did my Btech from India ( NIT Silchar ) in Mechanical engineering with GPA 8.5 /10 and have been working in IT industry for 4 and 1/2 years now. Currently I am in client location in US.

As being in IT, I belong to the mass of applicants, I am not sure of how good are my chances to get into the best 15 schools. Any idea or suggestion would be appreciated.

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by mundasingh123 » Tue Nov 23, 2010 8:18 am
cipher17 wrote:Hi friends

I attempted GMAT last monday and scored an unbelievable 760 ( v44 / Q49 ). My friend suggested that I share my story in this forum so that future test takers may be benefited.
I went through the following study materials to prepare for GMAT in the chronological order:
1. OG12
2. Quant supplement to OG12
3. Verbal supplement to OG12
4. Aristotle SC Grail
5. Manhattan SC
6. Manhattan Critical Reasoning Study guide
7. Kaplan GMAT 800
8. RC 99
9. 1000 SC
10. GMAT Powerprep software
11. GMATPrepr software
12. Manhattan online tests.
All the best. Doubts and questions are welcome.
How effective did you find studying from RC 99.Where did you get it from . Do you have to pay for it.I got something resembling RC 99 by aristotle but i dont think it has the solutions.

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by just_ranajit » Tue Nov 23, 2010 9:26 am
Congrats!!!

I have a question, item #2 and #3 are different than #1. I believe 1 has all the contents(#2,#3).
1. OG12
2. Quant supplement to OG12
3. Verbal supplement to OG12

I am also from India and trying to shoot GMAT within 3 months. Where did you convert your score to GPA? Any help would be appreciated.

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by cipher17 » Tue Nov 23, 2010 9:28 am
How effective did you find studying from RC 99.Where did you get it from . Do you have to pay for it.I got something resembling RC 99 by aristotle but i dont think it has the solutions.
I found RC 99 very effective. The prons are:

1. It has divided the passages into 3 difficulty levels, easy, medium and difficult. So you can see the transition.
2. It has 3-4 questions per passage which simulates GMAT standard.
3. As there are 99 passages, the range of topics is wide and also relevant to the GMAT standard.

Cons ??

1. The passages are longer than the ones you will find in GMAT. But I feel it is better to practice with tougher materials so that the test materials looks easier.

I got it from Aristotle site. And it does have solutions and answer explanations. You can go through it only if you feel that you need lot of practice in RC.[/list]

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by cipher17 » Tue Nov 23, 2010 9:33 am
Congrats!!!

I have a question, item #2 and #3 are different than #1. I believe 1 has all the contents(#2,#3).
1. OG12
2. Quant supplement to OG12
3. Verbal supplement to OG12

I am also from India and trying to shoot GMAT within 3 months. Where did you convert your score to GPA? Any help would be appreciated.
#1 is different from #2 and #3. There are hardly any questions common between these books, however they do have the common theories explained in all the books. #2 and #3 offer extra questions for practice and it is highly recommended.

I did not have to convert my score to GPA. My BTech University used to give us score in a scale of 10 and we used to call it CPA i.e Cumulative Performance Index.

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by just_ranajit » Tue Nov 23, 2010 10:16 am
Thanks for your reply.

I found online study (OGC book and OGC plus) in Manhattan website.
https://www.manhattangmat.com/ogc-plus.cfm

Do you have the account in Manhattan? Physical OG12 book and an account in Manhattan seems to be same? And the pricing looks good too. do you have any information on this? thanks.

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by mundasingh123 » Tue Nov 23, 2010 10:38 am
cipher17 wrote:
How effective did you find studying from RC 99.Where did you get it from . Do you have to pay for it.I got something resembling RC 99 by aristotle but i dont think it has the solutions.
I found RC 99 very effective. The prons are:

I got it from Aristotle site. And it does have solutions and answer explanations. You can go through it only if you feel that you need lot of practice in RC.[/list]
can you also tell me abt the Sc grail . How effective was it.I already have the Manhattan Sc strategy guide . How helpful would be the Sc grail if i were to use it as well.

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by mundasingh123 » Tue Nov 23, 2010 10:41 am
The Rc 99 at the following url is selling for 15$.
I thought you were talking about the free version.
How different is the free version from the one i have mentioned here.
https://aristotleprep.com/book/rc99

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by cipher17 » Tue Nov 23, 2010 12:17 pm
just_ranajit wrote:Thanks for your reply.

I found online study (OGC book and OGC plus) in Manhattan website.
https://www.manhattangmat.com/ogc-plus.cfm

Do you have the account in Manhattan? Physical OG12 book and an account in Manhattan seems to be same? And the pricing looks good too. do you have any information on this? thanks.
I do not know about the companion to the OG book in the ManhattanGMAT site . If you are in India, then you can buy the OG from any bookstore.

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by cipher17 » Tue Nov 23, 2010 12:19 pm
mundasingh123 wrote:
cipher17 wrote:
How effective did you find studying from RC 99.Where did you get it from . Do you have to pay for it.I got something resembling RC 99 by aristotle but i dont think it has the solutions.
I found RC 99 very effective. The prons are:

I got it from Aristotle site. And it does have solutions and answer explanations. You can go through it only if you feel that you need lot of practice in RC.[/list]
can you also tell me abt the Sc grail . How effective was it.I already have the Manhattan Sc strategy guide . How helpful would be the Sc grail if i were to use it as well.
SC Grail is as good as the Manhattan SC. I would suggest go through both as it does not take much time to go through these materials. It will only expand your understanding. Also, the list of idioms in Aristotle SC Grail is very good.