Well, the GMAT was a long road for me. I took my first GMAT test a year ago. I took the test on a Monday and decided to get cram on Sunday. As you can imagine, that didn't work. I scored a very depressing/discouraging 570. I don't know that I was expecting a 700, but I certainly was more than shocked when I saw a 570 pop up on the screen (6.0 AWA).
It took a few months for me to feel motivated enough to start hitting the books, but I finally did it. I took the MGMAT course (but not as seriously as I should have). I decided to get a tutor because I knew that would force me to hit the books once and for all. My tutor came on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings (about 3 hrs each day). He would essentially just help me work through tough problems. The real benefit to the tutor was actually having someone that would keep me accountable to my study schedule.
After about 3 or 4 months I took the test again and despite practice tests in the early 700's I scored a 660. Obviously this was a huge improvement on my first score, but was still short of my end goal. I came home and signed up to take the GMAT a 3rd time. I gave myself 30 days and hit the books again.
When I took the 3rd test I knew I had nailed it. I actually saw a 710 before even getting my score and sure enough, that's what I got. Q46 V41.
I guess I wanted to get on here and share my experience because I know how discouraged I was after my first score. My story shows that with hard work, a steady schedule of studying and a lot of determination, you can improve your score. A 700+ score is not impossible to reach if you initially scored in the 500's.
As for studying, the most essential books are the MGMAT books. I also found the Kaplan 800, Kaplan GMAT Course Book, and of course the OG 11, OG Quant, and OG Verbal. I worked thousands of problems and I know that is what helped me boost my score.
BTW, I'm selling all these books now. If anyone is interested, please let me know. They are all in great condition. I didn't write in the books, so they are in great shape for someone else trying to boost their score from a 500+ to a 700+. I have everything you'll need to nail the test (if you only need a few of the books let me know and we'll see what we can work out). Send me a message at globalup at gmail.com. I'm ready to unload these books!
Best of luck to everyone! Beat that GMAT!!
It took a few months for me to feel motivated enough to start hitting the books, but I finally did it. I took the MGMAT course (but not as seriously as I should have). I decided to get a tutor because I knew that would force me to hit the books once and for all. My tutor came on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings (about 3 hrs each day). He would essentially just help me work through tough problems. The real benefit to the tutor was actually having someone that would keep me accountable to my study schedule.
After about 3 or 4 months I took the test again and despite practice tests in the early 700's I scored a 660. Obviously this was a huge improvement on my first score, but was still short of my end goal. I came home and signed up to take the GMAT a 3rd time. I gave myself 30 days and hit the books again.
When I took the 3rd test I knew I had nailed it. I actually saw a 710 before even getting my score and sure enough, that's what I got. Q46 V41.
I guess I wanted to get on here and share my experience because I know how discouraged I was after my first score. My story shows that with hard work, a steady schedule of studying and a lot of determination, you can improve your score. A 700+ score is not impossible to reach if you initially scored in the 500's.
As for studying, the most essential books are the MGMAT books. I also found the Kaplan 800, Kaplan GMAT Course Book, and of course the OG 11, OG Quant, and OG Verbal. I worked thousands of problems and I know that is what helped me boost my score.
BTW, I'm selling all these books now. If anyone is interested, please let me know. They are all in great condition. I didn't write in the books, so they are in great shape for someone else trying to boost their score from a 500+ to a 700+. I have everything you'll need to nail the test (if you only need a few of the books let me know and we'll see what we can work out). Send me a message at globalup at gmail.com. I'm ready to unload these books!
Best of luck to everyone! Beat that GMAT!!
Last edited by krockman on Fri Dec 05, 2008 5:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
