Okay I must admit that I was pleasantly SHOCKED by the score.
I got 44 in quant and 47 in verbal.
My total preparation time was exactly 1.5 months while working full time. In hindsight i can without a doubt say that the quality of the practice is much more important than quantity.
The Official Guide is the GMAT BIBLE! These are by far the most important questions you can do. My other preparation tools were Kaplan's Companion CD, the GMAT flashcards and the E-rater guide (found on this forum)
Recommendations:
1. Know your weakness. If you're an engineer, obviously you'd be better at quant. I am a doctor, which means that for the last 8 years or so, I've had very little contact with maths. I knew I was better at verbal, so most of my effort was directed at relearning concepts which had accumulated quite a bit of dust over the years.
2. Spend at least an hour on your weakness every day. Do this religiously. Wether its DS or PS or SC, spend half the time revising theory and half the time on questions. Flashcards are extremely useful, especially if you want to revise theory in a hurry before starting practice.
3. Read Slate, Forbes, Wall Street Journal online daily. Nothing helps your verbal skills as much as direct contact with the language. It also helps in AWA.
4. The mind is a muscle. If you give it a ton of easy work, it won't get any stronger than it already is. on the other hand, focusing on mind numbing difficult questions (even if your hit rate is depressing) will eventually make the actual test questions look like child's play. This is why Kaplan is important.
5. Test yourself in extreme conditions. I did no powerprep, or GMAT prep tests. The only CAT tests i did were 3 of the 4 tests on the Kaplan companion CD. My scores on Kaplan were 600, 550 and 590.
My main problem was timing. I end up guessing one too many on the quant section, and it hurts.
Overall, i'm pleased with my score. If only i had time for more quant practice, i know i could have done better.
ps. A great gmat score doen't guarantee admission. The other parts of your application are just as important!
pss. I love this forum!
I got 44 in quant and 47 in verbal.
My total preparation time was exactly 1.5 months while working full time. In hindsight i can without a doubt say that the quality of the practice is much more important than quantity.
The Official Guide is the GMAT BIBLE! These are by far the most important questions you can do. My other preparation tools were Kaplan's Companion CD, the GMAT flashcards and the E-rater guide (found on this forum)
Recommendations:
1. Know your weakness. If you're an engineer, obviously you'd be better at quant. I am a doctor, which means that for the last 8 years or so, I've had very little contact with maths. I knew I was better at verbal, so most of my effort was directed at relearning concepts which had accumulated quite a bit of dust over the years.
2. Spend at least an hour on your weakness every day. Do this religiously. Wether its DS or PS or SC, spend half the time revising theory and half the time on questions. Flashcards are extremely useful, especially if you want to revise theory in a hurry before starting practice.
3. Read Slate, Forbes, Wall Street Journal online daily. Nothing helps your verbal skills as much as direct contact with the language. It also helps in AWA.
4. The mind is a muscle. If you give it a ton of easy work, it won't get any stronger than it already is. on the other hand, focusing on mind numbing difficult questions (even if your hit rate is depressing) will eventually make the actual test questions look like child's play. This is why Kaplan is important.
5. Test yourself in extreme conditions. I did no powerprep, or GMAT prep tests. The only CAT tests i did were 3 of the 4 tests on the Kaplan companion CD. My scores on Kaplan were 600, 550 and 590.
My main problem was timing. I end up guessing one too many on the quant section, and it hurts.
Overall, i'm pleased with my score. If only i had time for more quant practice, i know i could have done better.
ps. A great gmat score doen't guarantee admission. The other parts of your application are just as important!
pss. I love this forum!
