I gave the GMAT the second time today.
Got 720 (Q47, V41). !!
The only issue is that on the first attempt I got
690 (Q47, V38)
Can anyone let me know if the rather low Q score (79 percentile both times) in 2 attempts will work against me. Specially since I have an engineering background? If someone could give their opinion on this, it'll be great. Thanks a lot.
My prep strategy:
The first time:
OG 11
Kaplan 2008
Arco
Manhatten SC
Princeton CATs
My view: All useless except OG and Manhatten SC. The Kaplan tests are way too difficult, the Princeton tests are way too easy. Arco is totally irrelevant.
Also, the Kaplan material is definitely not as exhaustive as the Manhatten books. But its good for CR strategy.
The second attempt:
1. Bought Manhatten Inequalities and Nos Properties guides to tackle DS.
2. Practiced word problems on rate, ratios and work from online resources.
3. Revised previously marked PS and DS questions from OG11.
4. Re-read Manhatten SC, this time one chapter at a time. Practiced from OG.
5. Used online resources to study probability and Permutations and combinations.
6. Have always been comfortable with CR, so didnt do much this time.
7. Didnt bother about RC and decided to concentrate on getting SC and CR right.
My view: The Manhatten material is really very good. I should have used this material the first time. Each topic in Quant is explained in great detail (at least in the 2 quant guides I have). The good thing about Manhatten is that they focus on the GMAT throughout, so while they explain the concept, they also give sample questions to show how the topic might be tested on the GMAT. It helped me approach the DS questions in a structured manner.
In the 1st four Manhatten practice tests, my strike rate v/s random guesses in quant improved drastically. But my verbal scores remained stubornly in the 36-38 range, thereby pulling my overall score to the 680-690 range.
In utter frustration, I logged on to this forum last week and read a post that mentioned that the key to raise verbal scores is to get most RC questions correct. I also read the 'General Strategies for Reading Comprehension' downloaded from this site and realised that I had never concentrated on the passages. So, I took out my OG and practiced 9-10 RC passages. Got most questions correct (strike rate of almost 96%) and for sure, my confidence went up.
The one thing I learnt is that it doesnt pay to ignore an important section like RC. And success depends on reading the passage with care. While earlier, in order to save time for SC and CR, I used to simply pick an answer randomly after skimming through the passage, this time I spent time to read the passages carefully and worked my way to the answer using elimination techniques for each question. It worked.
I attacked the remaining 2 MGMATs and the GPREPs and got the foll scores:
MGMAT 5: 710
MGMAT 6: 720
GPREP 1: 740 (Q49, V40)
GPREP 2: 750 (Q50, V41)
Eventually, however I did screw up the Maths section in the actual exam,
but the verbal strategy paid off handsomely. I never thought I could get better in verbal, I had thought 38 was the max I could get. So once again, thank you beatthegmat.com, I really owe you guys!!
