My Story - 740 (47Q, 44V) - Hopefully it Helps!

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Hi everyone -

I took the GMAT today for the 2nd time and got a 740 (47Q, 44V), a 30 point improvement from my 710 (48Q, 39V, AWA 5.0). I hope the below helps others with their studying!

Background
- Applying for the 2nd round at a few (2-3) US business schools
- I signed up for both tests at the same time - I wanted to make sure that I had a spot booked in case I did't do well the first time. Where I live, the centers get booked quite quickly
- After my first score, I did not plan on taking the test again. Overall, I believe that as long as you're above the 700 threshold, you're fine
- I decided I would take the exam again if I was in good shape with my essays by New Years
- My undergraduate GPA was 3.1 in engineering (with a 3.8 in my major) - but I went to a painful school (which I hope will work in my favor...). The one aspect of my application I feel that I'm weak in is my GPA. The way I approach the admissions process is that their are 4 parts - GMAT / GPA, Work, Essays and References. What I wanted to do is minimise the reasons for a school to not accept me. So, my aim was to get a 730+ to show counteract my GPA and get above the reported medians of the schools I was applying to

Tests
- My first exam felt like it went worse than it did:
* I did not pace well during the quantitative section. At around question 22, I realized that I had about 15-20 minutes left. I rushed through the test and unfortunately, did not answer the last question. I am generally stronger in math and was obviously disappointed.
* I paced myself well during in the verbal section and though it went well. While it went solid, I thought I did better than my 39V.
* Overall, I was very happy that I got a 710
- My second exam felt like it went well and it did
* I paced myself well during both sections
* I was an "active" participant in the verbal section - more on that later

Study Materials and Experience
- I studied for approximately 1 month before the 1st test and for 4 days before the 2nd test
- Based on my experience, this is the approach I recommend

1. Online Kaplan Course: Sign up for the Online Kaplan GMAT course. The course is solid - it has online videos that cover all aspects of the tests. These online videos are equivalent to what goes on in the course except that it's at your own pace. In addition, there are 9 CATs that, based on my experience, are reflective of performance

2. MGMAT - Quantitative: Buy the 5 Quantitative books - very helpful and actually teach you things that will help you solve problems quickly and effectively. They explain probability, combinations and number theory exceptionally.

3. MGMAT - Verbal: Overall, I didn't find the 3 Verbal books that helpful except for the sentence correction book as a reference. The Critical Reasoning book was somewhat helpful and the Reading Comprehension book was not very helpful

4. Official Guide 12th Edition and Official Guide Verbal and Quantitative : Best resources - I did nearly every question by the time I took the 2nd test and found it very helpful

Practice Test Scores
CAT1: 590
CAT2: 750
CAT3: 700
CAT4: 700
CAT5: 670
CAT6: 610
CAT7: 710
CAT8: 730
CAT9: 690

Advice

1. While the Kaplan Online videos and the MGMAT books were good guides, the most helpful thing was doing questions from the official guide and READING AND REVIEWING the explanations. Reviewing the wrong ones is obviously helpful; however, it is key to review the explanations for the ones you got correct as you can find quick shortcuts.

2. I recommend that you divide up the questions in to blocks of 40 and calculate the number of days you need to do these questions. Do not mix verbal and quant. Do not do more than 80 in one day - you will not retain anything.

3. If I can stress anything, it is more important to do questions and review them than it is spent time learning theory. I learn by doing and by doing, I found patterns that I could apply to other questions.

4. For both, MAKE FLASHCARDS. For math, put the key things that will be helpful to you such as combination formulas, equally spaced set rules, etc.). For sentence corrections, I put down idioms I missed and sentences that I got wrong

5. For reading comprehension and critical reasoning, the key is ACTIVE participation. If you act excited about the stuff you're reading, you'll pay attention more. If you take key, short notes, you'll retain things more

6. Do not stress if you do poorly on a couple practice tests - it is a combination of learning new methods to answer the questions and stamina. Plus, it will motivate you.

7. STAMINA: I know you won't do this but I wish I had done this more - take all your practice tests including the 2 essays. It's not that you need the essay practice - 2-3 times is enough to help you get the hang of the essay section. What it does is build your stamina. For example, two days before I got my actual 740 score, I got a 690 on a practice test. I did well on my essays and missed only the last 2 questions in the Quant section. However, when I took the verbal section, I came across a boring RC passage and felt burned out.

8. The morning of the exam, do 5 verbal and 5 quant questions. This will help warm up your mind

9. Practice reading boring passages. i bought copies of scientific american and downloaded academic literature about history, literature and social science. You can find them easily online. Look for the most boring ones. I would save a few on my iPhone and try and read them on the way to work. Over time, you get used to reading boring things and you've "trained" yourself to read boring things.

10. Sleep well 2 days before the exam. It's a Kaplan tip. You're likely to think too much and be nervous the night before the exam. If you sleep well 2 days before the exam, you'll have at least one good, solid night of sleep before the exam.

Good luck!!!

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by Bryant@VeritasPrep » Wed Jan 05, 2011 7:13 pm
Great post--thanks for sharing. As for your GPA concerns, in general adcoms understand that engineering schools post lower grades on average, and other applicants with similar backgrounds will likely be in the same boat. Your big fat GMAT score will override any concerns they have with your GPA anyway, so not to worry.
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MBA Admissions Consultant


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by papgust » Wed Jan 05, 2011 9:28 pm
Moving the post to 'I just beat the GMAT' forum
Download GMAT Math and CR questions with Solutions from Instructors and High-scorers:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/download-gma ... 59366.html

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