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exceptionruled
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2012 2:50 am
- Thanked: 4 times
- GMAT Score:770
Hi everyone! This is my first post on BeatTheGMAT, and I want to thank the community for the wonderful insights I've learned just by prowling.
Here are the steps I took to achieve my 770:
1. Assess level with GMATPrep CAT: I started with mid-600 scores in the initial GMATPrep practice test I took. I thought I'd be good at Quant since I'm an engineering major, but it was actually the more difficult section for me since I'd forgotten all the basic rules.
2. Learning material - Manhattan GMAT Strategy Guides Set of 8 (5 weeks): I worked through all of the books, spending no more than an hour a day (busy school/work schedule). I did the example problems in the guides, but skipped all the Official Guide questions they provided, since I felt that focusing only on a particular type of problem wouldn't prepare me very well for the actual test.
It took me about 5 weeks and ~30 hours to go through these books. I think their math guides are the best; however, I found their note-taking strategies for CR and RC fairly stupid and didn't pay much attention to them (I never took any notes for these questions). The Sentence Correction guide is extremely useful and is a must-read to learn about the idioms tested on the GMAT.
3. Practice tests to assess weaknesses (3 days): After re-learning math with the MGMAT books, I took two MGMAT CAT's. I skipped the IR and AWA on all of these to save time and scored 670 and 740. I kept running out of time on Quant and making stupid mistakes on Verbal, so I needed to do more practice questions, but I was running out of time to prepare.
4. Practice on the Go - iPhone apps (1 week): I did practice problems whenever I could for a week: while stopped at a red light, during lunch breaks, or while peeing using the free GMATClub app (127 Hard Quant questions), VeritasPrep app (practice tests), and ManhattanGMAT flashcards app.
5. Full practice test - GMATPrep CAT (1 day): Took a full practice test, with AWA and IR sections exactly one week before the test and scored 770. I was obviously satisfied with this, so didn't really do much to prepare other than review the concepts behind questions I missed.
6. Prepare for AWA (1 day): I memorized and followed the advice/template listed in this forum post for the Analysis of an Argument essay https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/ple ... -t754.html
I did absolutely no GMAT preparation in the days leading up to my exam and did some iPhone problems the night before and day of the exam to brush up.
Here are the steps I took to achieve my 770:
1. Assess level with GMATPrep CAT: I started with mid-600 scores in the initial GMATPrep practice test I took. I thought I'd be good at Quant since I'm an engineering major, but it was actually the more difficult section for me since I'd forgotten all the basic rules.
2. Learning material - Manhattan GMAT Strategy Guides Set of 8 (5 weeks): I worked through all of the books, spending no more than an hour a day (busy school/work schedule). I did the example problems in the guides, but skipped all the Official Guide questions they provided, since I felt that focusing only on a particular type of problem wouldn't prepare me very well for the actual test.
It took me about 5 weeks and ~30 hours to go through these books. I think their math guides are the best; however, I found their note-taking strategies for CR and RC fairly stupid and didn't pay much attention to them (I never took any notes for these questions). The Sentence Correction guide is extremely useful and is a must-read to learn about the idioms tested on the GMAT.
3. Practice tests to assess weaknesses (3 days): After re-learning math with the MGMAT books, I took two MGMAT CAT's. I skipped the IR and AWA on all of these to save time and scored 670 and 740. I kept running out of time on Quant and making stupid mistakes on Verbal, so I needed to do more practice questions, but I was running out of time to prepare.
4. Practice on the Go - iPhone apps (1 week): I did practice problems whenever I could for a week: while stopped at a red light, during lunch breaks, or while peeing using the free GMATClub app (127 Hard Quant questions), VeritasPrep app (practice tests), and ManhattanGMAT flashcards app.
5. Full practice test - GMATPrep CAT (1 day): Took a full practice test, with AWA and IR sections exactly one week before the test and scored 770. I was obviously satisfied with this, so didn't really do much to prepare other than review the concepts behind questions I missed.
6. Prepare for AWA (1 day): I memorized and followed the advice/template listed in this forum post for the Analysis of an Argument essay https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/ple ... -t754.html
I did absolutely no GMAT preparation in the days leading up to my exam and did some iPhone problems the night before and day of the exam to brush up.
Last edited by exceptionruled on Sun Sep 23, 2012 5:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
