Hi Friends,
Through this post, I would like to allay your fears regarding GMAT. If I can score a 710 then believe me , all of you can do it.
First a little introduction about myself. I am an engineer by profession , a full time working professional who didn't take a break (apart for taking the exam) for GMAT. My preparation duration was 2 months ,daily on an average 1.5 hrs.
The books which I studied are OG11, SC from OG10 and Manhattan's SC. That's it. NO MORE NO LESS
Apart from this, I took the two practice tests three times and one free Manhattan test making it to a total of 7 tests. An investment of 7 weekends. People who wanted my company for the weekends bore the brunt :twisted: . I owe the good part of my result to you too
I got the idea of repeating the practice tests from this forum and I am very thankful for those posts. I would like to repeat that this is the single most useful tip for the prospective GMAT takers. While taking the exam, you won't be caught by surprise and it would like taking another practice test. This helps a lot as it relieves you of mental tension , one of the key stresses that can break you on the D day.
My test center was Bangalore,India and I visited the center one day in advance in order to get a feel of it .
Coming back on the study material, I feel everyone should sincerely do Manhattan's SC especially the classified questions of OG10 mentioned at the end of each chapter. SC is the only part in English where a scientific approach can be applied and hence each question needs to be analyzed carefully to strengthen the concepts of SC.
Apart from this, I practiced only from OG11. My recommendation do read the answer explanations given for RC in OG11 as it will throw lot of insights and help you in a big way in identifying the right answer.
PLACES WHERE I COULD HAVE IMPROVED AND SCORED MORE
It might come as a surprise but MATHS proved to be my achilles' heel. Specifically questions pertaining to number properties in DS was where I bungled up. I think the best place to prepare for these specific topics are discussion forums where in you get quality GMAT questions and different ways of cracking it which goes a long way in improving your lateral thinking. Another mistake which proved costly was not paying enough attention on MATHS questions during the exam. Be very careful while reading the question as GMAT tends to twist the question in the way it is worded. Even for seemingly easy questions , the catch lies in the wording of the question. For some questions, I was able to spot the catch for some I wasn't and I paid the price dearly. :roll:
Most people have concerns about timing. Well from my experience, I can say that the only timing issue will come in Quants section . One will sail through in Verbal section as SC questions tend to take less time and make up for the time taken in RC. CR questions are generally cracked within the stipulated time of approx 2 mins.
In Quants section, timing is of a concern and one need to be pay attention to it lest one ends up with no choice but to take guesses on last questions of Quants section. On a serious note , if you find yourself hard pressed for time then pat on your back because it means that you are getting hard questions which are taking more time.
Do learn the formulaes and properties of Geometric figures as it proves to be very handy in cracking the questions.
ALL THE BEST FOR THE FUTURE EXAM TAKERS.
Through this post, I would like to allay your fears regarding GMAT. If I can score a 710 then believe me , all of you can do it.
First a little introduction about myself. I am an engineer by profession , a full time working professional who didn't take a break (apart for taking the exam) for GMAT. My preparation duration was 2 months ,daily on an average 1.5 hrs.
The books which I studied are OG11, SC from OG10 and Manhattan's SC. That's it. NO MORE NO LESS
Apart from this, I took the two practice tests three times and one free Manhattan test making it to a total of 7 tests. An investment of 7 weekends. People who wanted my company for the weekends bore the brunt :twisted: . I owe the good part of my result to you too
I got the idea of repeating the practice tests from this forum and I am very thankful for those posts. I would like to repeat that this is the single most useful tip for the prospective GMAT takers. While taking the exam, you won't be caught by surprise and it would like taking another practice test. This helps a lot as it relieves you of mental tension , one of the key stresses that can break you on the D day.
My test center was Bangalore,India and I visited the center one day in advance in order to get a feel of it .
Coming back on the study material, I feel everyone should sincerely do Manhattan's SC especially the classified questions of OG10 mentioned at the end of each chapter. SC is the only part in English where a scientific approach can be applied and hence each question needs to be analyzed carefully to strengthen the concepts of SC.
Apart from this, I practiced only from OG11. My recommendation do read the answer explanations given for RC in OG11 as it will throw lot of insights and help you in a big way in identifying the right answer.
PLACES WHERE I COULD HAVE IMPROVED AND SCORED MORE
It might come as a surprise but MATHS proved to be my achilles' heel. Specifically questions pertaining to number properties in DS was where I bungled up. I think the best place to prepare for these specific topics are discussion forums where in you get quality GMAT questions and different ways of cracking it which goes a long way in improving your lateral thinking. Another mistake which proved costly was not paying enough attention on MATHS questions during the exam. Be very careful while reading the question as GMAT tends to twist the question in the way it is worded. Even for seemingly easy questions , the catch lies in the wording of the question. For some questions, I was able to spot the catch for some I wasn't and I paid the price dearly. :roll:
Most people have concerns about timing. Well from my experience, I can say that the only timing issue will come in Quants section . One will sail through in Verbal section as SC questions tend to take less time and make up for the time taken in RC. CR questions are generally cracked within the stipulated time of approx 2 mins.
In Quants section, timing is of a concern and one need to be pay attention to it lest one ends up with no choice but to take guesses on last questions of Quants section. On a serious note , if you find yourself hard pressed for time then pat on your back because it means that you are getting hard questions which are taking more time.
Do learn the formulaes and properties of Geometric figures as it proves to be very handy in cracking the questions.
ALL THE BEST FOR THE FUTURE EXAM TAKERS.
