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santa_dem
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
- Posts: 48
- Joined: Fri Aug 08, 2008 4:44 am
- Thanked: 4 times
- GMAT Score:750
Hey guys, please let me know what do you think and give me some advice. The actual test day is approaching fast, very fast - 5th of January.
Background: Non-English. Spent two summers in the US (total of six months). Using English at work, written and spoken, in an Economics/Legislation context.Very good math skills.
Well, here goes:
Back in August I decided to take the GMAT. Bought Kaplan Premiere Program 2009, OG 11 (plus Verbal and Quant review). Studied for about two or three weeks back then (not intensively, mostly weekends), OG only, did not even open the Kaplan book. Then I took a long pause, as I had a very busy period at the office.
Last week I realized I was running out of time for my applications deadlines, so I scheduled my GMAT on January 5th, planning to study intensively in my winter break (December 23rd - January 4th).
For my second round of study, I knew I needed a diagnostic test, so without any practice whatsoever since September, I took CAT#1 from the free GMAT Prep on MBA.COM. Surprisingly, I scored 720 on the first attempt. I was familiar with the GMAT questions from my previous study time, but still, I thought it's too much. I repeated the test today, still without any practice (I haven't open the Kaplan book yet), and about 1/4 of the questions repeated, I still managed to answer wrong questions that repeated, too bad for me!. I scored 740 on the second attempt.
Now what I would like to ask is how good is the rating at this free GMAT Prep? And how could I estimate were exactly do I stand now. I don't remember last week results, but I got 7 wrong on quant and 4 wrong on verbal this time, and I still got 740. Is it for real, can this happen on the real GMAT as well? I now I shouldn't get very excited, but it is really a much needed confidence boost, given the short period of study time available until the actual test.
Anyway, I know I can definitely improve the quant score, as I have always been good at Math, all the 7 mistakes were entirely due to lack of concentration (I was after 11 hours of work, and it was 10 PM when I started the test, and I woke up at 5:30 AM).
Other details:
-Just last week I got my TOEFL score (took the exam on November 22nd). Got 110, so RC and AWA shouldn't pose any real problems to me, I guess.
-I skipped the AWA both times, since I believe it only adds up to the tiredness factor, and I was tired enough after work. I will not practice AWA at all, since I'm only interested in the total score. I'm sure I can get 4.0 - 5.0 without any practice.
Please let me know what do you think, and on what strategy should I concentrate in these two weeks before my actual test, in order to maximize my score.
Best regards,
Dima
Background: Non-English. Spent two summers in the US (total of six months). Using English at work, written and spoken, in an Economics/Legislation context.Very good math skills.
Well, here goes:
Back in August I decided to take the GMAT. Bought Kaplan Premiere Program 2009, OG 11 (plus Verbal and Quant review). Studied for about two or three weeks back then (not intensively, mostly weekends), OG only, did not even open the Kaplan book. Then I took a long pause, as I had a very busy period at the office.
Last week I realized I was running out of time for my applications deadlines, so I scheduled my GMAT on January 5th, planning to study intensively in my winter break (December 23rd - January 4th).
For my second round of study, I knew I needed a diagnostic test, so without any practice whatsoever since September, I took CAT#1 from the free GMAT Prep on MBA.COM. Surprisingly, I scored 720 on the first attempt. I was familiar with the GMAT questions from my previous study time, but still, I thought it's too much. I repeated the test today, still without any practice (I haven't open the Kaplan book yet), and about 1/4 of the questions repeated, I still managed to answer wrong questions that repeated, too bad for me!. I scored 740 on the second attempt.
Now what I would like to ask is how good is the rating at this free GMAT Prep? And how could I estimate were exactly do I stand now. I don't remember last week results, but I got 7 wrong on quant and 4 wrong on verbal this time, and I still got 740. Is it for real, can this happen on the real GMAT as well? I now I shouldn't get very excited, but it is really a much needed confidence boost, given the short period of study time available until the actual test.
Anyway, I know I can definitely improve the quant score, as I have always been good at Math, all the 7 mistakes were entirely due to lack of concentration (I was after 11 hours of work, and it was 10 PM when I started the test, and I woke up at 5:30 AM).
Other details:
-Just last week I got my TOEFL score (took the exam on November 22nd). Got 110, so RC and AWA shouldn't pose any real problems to me, I guess.
-I skipped the AWA both times, since I believe it only adds up to the tiredness factor, and I was tired enough after work. I will not practice AWA at all, since I'm only interested in the total score. I'm sure I can get 4.0 - 5.0 without any practice.
Please let me know what do you think, and on what strategy should I concentrate in these two weeks before my actual test, in order to maximize my score.
Best regards,
Dima
