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GISMB
- Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2010 5:03 pm
- Thanked: 3 times
- GMAT Score:770
I've been studying off an on for the last year... more off than on. So finally a month ago I decided to just set a date and force myself to get down to it.
Background: I've always been a good standardized test taker, though I only got a 1370 on my SATs way back when. Didn't really study for that though. Had a physics minor in college, and I think that helped a ton on the quantiative problems. I also read a lot, which I think helped on the verbal.
What I used:
Kaplan 2008 - Just picked it randomly at the book store when I first started studying. The practice tests were useful, but I found the verbal strategies actually lowered my score, so I completely ditched them. Maybe I just didn't understand what they were saying...
OG12 - Wow! Way more practice problems than I could keep myself focused on doing. Finally decided to just start with the end, hoping they'd be the hard problems, and work my way back to the front. Even then I only managed to get through a few hundred, but they were definitely helpful. Helped me find some common ways the GMAT tried to trip me up. Especially on data sufficiency - after doing a certain number of problems you start to intuitively know when you have to actually solve for an answer vs when you can just say it's possible. Sometimes you don't think you have enough information, until you work it out and realize something cancels at the end.
MGMAT Geometry - Fantastic reference! I can directly attribute at least 2 or 3 correct quant answers to reading through this book.
MGMAT sentence correction - Honestly didn't get much out of this book. Too much detail for me. I relied more upon my ear than memorizing rules. Probably not a great strategy but it worked.
How I felt about the test
I took it at 8 am after a large cup of coffee. It took them about 30 minutes to check everyone in, so I started getting nervous that I was going to crash halfway through the verbal section. Luckily I moved at a pretty brisque pace - cut 20 minutes off the AWA, finished quant 10 or 15 minutes early, and finished verbal 20 or 25 minutes early. I kind of regret not spending more time checking my work, but I wanted to have a good buffer of extra time so if I hit anything really hard I could afford to spend 10 minutes trying to figure it out. Actually didn't get any problems like that - probably because I moved too fast and didn't check my work.
Overall I thought the test felt almost exactly the same as the GMATPrep tests. I only took GMATPrep 1 in full, but my pace was the same, problems felt just about the same difficulty, and I got the exact same score.
Verbal was a bit odd - perhaps because I didn't spend much time prepping for it or memorizing SC rules. I only felt 100% confident in about 30% of my answers, which was the same as on GMATPrep 1, but I still pulled off a 47. I guess what I'm saying is that it's normal not to feel entirely comfortable with all of your answers in verbal.
Misc Thoughts
On motivation: I only got a 3.2 cumulative in undergrad, and my top choice is Stanford. So that helped keep me motivated on test day. One other technique I've been using for years is just mental repetition. If you tell yourself something enough times, eventually you'll start to believe it. "I love the GMAT, this is a blast!" I think I saw someone else say that in a recent post too.
Verbal strategies: Especially for reading comprehension, I found most of the published verbal strategies to be more distraction than they were worth. More important is just to stay focused, which isn't always easy after blocks and blocks of boring text. Which brings me to my final thought.
Snacks: Can't overstate the importance of bringing a snack! I went with a cliff bar. Keeps your stomach from growling and a load of sugar to keep you going for the last hour.
Beat the GMAT: Even though I didn't post much, the forum was a fantastic research tool. Lots and lots of good info!
Quantitative: Knowing formulas is good. Knowing how to derive the formulas is even better. Every once in a while I'd forget a formula, but I was always able to figure it out again on the test - big help.
Thanks for all the info! Now it's time to start writing essays...
Background: I've always been a good standardized test taker, though I only got a 1370 on my SATs way back when. Didn't really study for that though. Had a physics minor in college, and I think that helped a ton on the quantiative problems. I also read a lot, which I think helped on the verbal.
What I used:
Kaplan 2008 - Just picked it randomly at the book store when I first started studying. The practice tests were useful, but I found the verbal strategies actually lowered my score, so I completely ditched them. Maybe I just didn't understand what they were saying...
OG12 - Wow! Way more practice problems than I could keep myself focused on doing. Finally decided to just start with the end, hoping they'd be the hard problems, and work my way back to the front. Even then I only managed to get through a few hundred, but they were definitely helpful. Helped me find some common ways the GMAT tried to trip me up. Especially on data sufficiency - after doing a certain number of problems you start to intuitively know when you have to actually solve for an answer vs when you can just say it's possible. Sometimes you don't think you have enough information, until you work it out and realize something cancels at the end.
MGMAT Geometry - Fantastic reference! I can directly attribute at least 2 or 3 correct quant answers to reading through this book.
MGMAT sentence correction - Honestly didn't get much out of this book. Too much detail for me. I relied more upon my ear than memorizing rules. Probably not a great strategy but it worked.
How I felt about the test
I took it at 8 am after a large cup of coffee. It took them about 30 minutes to check everyone in, so I started getting nervous that I was going to crash halfway through the verbal section. Luckily I moved at a pretty brisque pace - cut 20 minutes off the AWA, finished quant 10 or 15 minutes early, and finished verbal 20 or 25 minutes early. I kind of regret not spending more time checking my work, but I wanted to have a good buffer of extra time so if I hit anything really hard I could afford to spend 10 minutes trying to figure it out. Actually didn't get any problems like that - probably because I moved too fast and didn't check my work.
Overall I thought the test felt almost exactly the same as the GMATPrep tests. I only took GMATPrep 1 in full, but my pace was the same, problems felt just about the same difficulty, and I got the exact same score.
Verbal was a bit odd - perhaps because I didn't spend much time prepping for it or memorizing SC rules. I only felt 100% confident in about 30% of my answers, which was the same as on GMATPrep 1, but I still pulled off a 47. I guess what I'm saying is that it's normal not to feel entirely comfortable with all of your answers in verbal.
Misc Thoughts
On motivation: I only got a 3.2 cumulative in undergrad, and my top choice is Stanford. So that helped keep me motivated on test day. One other technique I've been using for years is just mental repetition. If you tell yourself something enough times, eventually you'll start to believe it. "I love the GMAT, this is a blast!" I think I saw someone else say that in a recent post too.
Verbal strategies: Especially for reading comprehension, I found most of the published verbal strategies to be more distraction than they were worth. More important is just to stay focused, which isn't always easy after blocks and blocks of boring text. Which brings me to my final thought.
Snacks: Can't overstate the importance of bringing a snack! I went with a cliff bar. Keeps your stomach from growling and a load of sugar to keep you going for the last hour.
Beat the GMAT: Even though I didn't post much, the forum was a fantastic research tool. Lots and lots of good info!
Quantitative: Knowing formulas is good. Knowing how to derive the formulas is even better. Every once in a while I'd forget a formula, but I was always able to figure it out again on the test - big help.
Thanks for all the info! Now it's time to start writing essays...
