I just Beat The GMAT!

Hi all,

I've just beaten the GMAT. Completed my test a couple of hours back. I started preparation, well, a year and half back. Given my diagonstic Mock GMAT in Jan 2011 the score was 730 ..Ever since, I thought GMAT is definitely my cup of tea. Quant I believe is my strength. I lacked concept clarity in sentence correction. RC and CR I did not know the question patterns.

Due to change in job I was not able to do much except casually going through OG till Mar 2012. Started preparing seriously only after Mar 21, 2012, when I booked my GMAT date for today.

Background:

U.G: Chemical Engg
Nationality: Indian
Gender: Male.

Material Used:

Practice content :

OG: 10 and 13.
Manhattan Strategy guide for : SC

Manhattan 6 CATs.

I found OG 10 quite useful. But I would suggest any one to refer both 10 and 13.

Scheduling:

Long before seriously starting my prep, in Dec 2011 I gave one GMAT Prep test and got 640 !! That was when I realized the importance of pacing.

When I restarted my prep in Mar 2012, I spent almost 2 months on OG 10 and 13. I made sure I know reason why each choice is right or wrong. By end of that practice period I was able to apply concepts fairly easily.

MOCK GMAT :

Manhattan GMAT 1: May 17, 2012: 710 (Q47,V:40). Quant was a surprise. Did not expect such difficult question. I made it a point to roll up my sleeves to do quant in next exams.

MGAMT 2: 20 May 2012: 730 (Q50,V:39) :Improved math. SC seemed to be the biggest problem. I was wasting time reading each choice randomly multiple times.

MGMAT 3:25 May 2012: 760 (Q:51,V:42): The perfect exam for me. set every thing right.

MGMAT 4: 2 June 2012: 740 (Q50,V:41): Again quant slipped. Pacing continues to be a problem in quant and Verbal.

MGMAT 5: 5June 2012: 730 (Q:51,V:39): Set SC right, RC persists to be a problem)

GMAT Prep 1: 8June2012: New Version: 740 (Q50,V39): fine with this performance.

GMAT prep 2:9June 2012: 730 (Q50, V:38): This irritated me because I made fewer mistakes than on the previous day test but still got lower score.

MGMAT 6: 10June2012: 750 (Q51,V:41): Felt good going into the actual test.

Actual Experience:

Reached test center 1 hour earlier than my appointment. They asked me to complete the procedures and my test started 30 mins before my actual schedule. I was not prepared for this. However one thing that helped me was the video GMAC sent me yesterday. It made me familiar with all the procedures. Believe me otherwise you will be slightly fumble with all those procedures. So I would recommend any one to go through the video they send you the day before the test.

My Test started and I did fairly well on the essay. However I fell short of time in IR section and had to guess last two. Hope that wont effect my selection chances.

Quant section: first three questions were slightly tough and I was fumbling. From 4th question I was very confident and had no problem till 35th problem. I had 7 mins for last 2 questions and then I had cold feet. 36th problem was a long descriptive problem on ages. Quite simple one however I too 5 mins and still had to guess. I was not able to read the last question (i took me 1 min to solve outside the test) hence ended up guessing the last one too. This is not what I anticipated. But I thought I will not let this affect my verbal section.

Verbal section: wrote down my time vs questions chart before the test started. I was always on time. I got 2 RCS that are 50 lines plus. I believe I cracked all RCS.

End of exam I was feeling quite good about my Verbal section. I was just praying God not to make me see a 720 (I was always aiming for 740+ score). Got 740 and was happy with it.

Dos and Don'ts

1. Use ursula's excel sheet while practising. You will practise quite a lot in limited time and you wont go off time in exam. I don't remember the link to the sheet. Please ping me if you need it.

2. Practise OG thoroughly for Sentence Correction. You should know why each choice is right or wrong.

3. Give 6-8 practice exams and don't give any exam until you know what you are trying to improve over previous exam.

4. Make a time chart (Q Vs time left) before beginning of each section. And if you are short of time please guess and move on.

5.Don't neglect any section thinking it is your strength. I realized that GMAT has the capacity to make it tough for me even in Math.

6. Don't panic in the last 5 mins.

Wish you all the best.

Congratulations!!!

2 queries:--
Did you give the new GMAT Prep or the older version?
Any thoughts on IR

Regards,
Rahul

I gave GMAT prep new version...

I found IR to be slightly tougher in actual gmat than in GMAT prep .. I wasted quite a lot of time on the multiple source questions.. actually I ended up guessing last two questions, which were quite easy.

So trick for IR is to choose which ones to guess..

chaitu_suvanam wrote:I gave GMAT prep new version...

I found IR to be slightly tougher in actual gmat than in GMAT prep .. I wasted quite a lot of time on the multiple source questions.. actually I ended up guessing last two questions, which were quite easy.

So trick for IR is to choose which ones to guess..

Hi,I gave the GMAT on 11 June and found the IR to be on the easier side as compared to what we had in the GMAT Prep Software.Time can be a concern.So,if you are unable to get around a tough question,just guess and move on.Your probability of getting right a question which requires answering three subquestions is anyway low.So,don't waste your time on such questions if you find them to be tough.They are most likely the experimental questions.

For the record,got a 750 q50,v41

Hi Manish/Chaitu

How may questions did u get approx in of multi-source reasoning in IR section? Or preferable what was the question type breakup in IR section.

Congrats ,
I want to ask that when you see a new problem do you relate it,most of the times, to some problem you did in past or you take EACH problem as a new one. I am asking this because many experts have iterated that one thing that differentiate 760+ scorers from other test takers is that almost all of 760+ test takers are able to relate problem faced on test to some problem that they did in the past. So, Does that mean they remember/learn structure of the problems they do and if that is the case i would like to know how to achieve that. At present i can only deduce what type of ques (say assumption on CR) but i am not able to relate to some previous ques.

Hi Manish/Chaitu

congrats first of all, i just want to know whether u took any classes for the preparation or did self study. i am in Mumbai and need some help with the verbal section can u suggest some one.

vikram4689 wrote:Congrats ,
I want to ask that when you see a new problem do you relate it,most of the times, to some problem you did in past or you take EACH problem as a new one. I am asking this because many experts have iterated that one thing that differentiate 760+ scorers from other test takers is that almost all of 760+ test takers are able to relate problem faced on test to some problem that they did in the past. So, Does that mean they remember/learn structure of the problems they do and if that is the case i would like to know how to achieve that. At present i can only deduce what type of ques (say assumption on CR) but i am not able to relate to some previous ques.

By the time I took the test I was familiar with the kinds of points at which GMAT tests. But i was not particularly able to map the question one-on-one .. That said, I'm not a 760+ so may be some one who qualifies will able to reply better.

[email protected] wrote:Hi Manish/Chaitu

congrats first of all, i just want to know whether u took any classes for the preparation or did self study. i am in Mumbai and need some help with the verbal section can u suggest some one.

it was self-prep for me. Have you started giving Mock GMAT tests?

I would suggest you divide your analysis into broadly the following areas.. 1) time mgmt 2) S.C content practice 3) R.C and C.R pattern identification ...

In case you have any specific query, I would be happy to ans.