I just Beat The GMAT!

Hey guys, thank you so much for all your tips!

I found out about your website last week...and took the GMAT friday 09/Oct !!

I got 700 (90%) - Q49 / V35
Verbal was pretty bad, and I didn't finish the exam (finished until the 40 - I lost control and runned through the last 15 questions)


I was wondering whether to take the GMAT again.

A bit of my background as to see whether you can help me out:

- Female, 25 (tuned 10/10), Brazilian, GPA: 3,5 in a Great Business Administration University in Brazil.

- I have only one year of Pro XP as VP in an NGO nationally in Mexico (as well as a couple of internship XPs in Brazil), and a lenthy extra-curricular/volunteering/leadership experience.
But, I am about to go to another country in a work exchange + probably starting a business with a couple of partners.

...and I would like to apply to Harvard, Chicago, Stanford, Wharton, etc. in one, max 2 years (probably an Entrepreneurship related program)

-----------------------------------------------

Furthermore, I would like to share some of the crazy things I put together in this preparation

Strategies I used to beat some issues I had:

- For concentration and strengh: Kickboxing
(after Yoga classes last year, I actually believe in this body-mind connection heheheh)

- For energy: ate lots of carbs (thanks to this crazy guy that told people in this forum about the fish and carbs role in helping in exams strength)

- For time management: Trainings with the timer + lots of CATs (under intense noise by the way: thanks to my dog and construction people in the building) + chess with limited time (I didn't know how to play this thing well before september hehehe)

- For self-confidence: Read a lot of your sharing + talked to some friends who were also preparing for the test.

- For the knowledge: I took a course in Mexico City from Feb to July (while working there in 2008/09) + prepared with a Kaplan book back in Brazil from August to September (great maths tricks + reading methodology) - hehehehe my diagnostic exam in Feb was 360 (2% in verbal hahahah)

Best regards!!

Ana
PD: It would be very helpful if anyone could also inform me about scholarships for non-american applicants thanks!

Ana,
First, Congrats on hitting the 700mark.

I think, for the schools you mentioned, you gotta up the score as you have limited experience.

Regarding some of the strategies you used, lot of people these days do similar or even crazier things to address their weaknesses

Hi,

Congratulations on your score.

Can you share with us how was your approach to study? How many hours a day and how did you divide the study between sections?

I'm also a non-native speaker and I'm aiming for the same score!

Cheers

Sure

In feb 2009, I took the diagnostic test.
I can't remember much, but it was around:
36% Maths and 02% verbal (I can't remember the exact numbers, but it summed up to 380)

February - started studying...

Hardly had I time for homework (max 2h per week), but I had 5 hours of presential class a week. (2,5 maths | 2,5 verbal)

March - for 3 weeks travelled to another country because of (a lot of) work...no classes and no books.

April - 5h of class a week + 6h of study a week. (mainly focused in Verbal)

May - 5h of class a week + 6h of study a week + Started doing exams. Separate verbal and maths, in the course I had classes. (averaged 50% in verbal + 50% in maths. !! Linear exams, but they were harder than the real GMAT) --- I also started learning about essays and did about 5 of each type.

June - 5h of class a week + 10h of study a week + a couple of exams (mainly in maths - I improved both of my average scores to 60% aprox).

Until here, things were mostly about getting familiar with the bases, getting knowledge, tricks. From July on, I needed speed and experience.

July - FINISHED MY JOB - it was very time consuming, and I had to travel for it at least once a month (and for at least 5 days of duration)!
Full time concentration on GMAT + relaxing vacations. Started studying Kaplan 2010 - exercises only. Did a separate set of over a 1000 SC (July+August). Studied about 10 to 15h a week.

August - took a couple of weeks of vacation + finished the SC set + finished Kaplan exercises & Quizzes.
In the last week, started doing one practice exam per week, sometimes 2 exams.
I reviewed school material/theory + Kaplan (book + quizzes). About 4h per week of theory.

Important info:
1) During all practice tests at home, my dog was barking hard + people were reforming the building with a LOT of noise + my dad wanted to talk to me despite the fact that I closed the door and told him not to bother. Imagine how silent was the real GMAT for me hehehe good challenges!
2) At first, while doing the CATs, I only reached about the number 30 in Verbal (very slow...) and number 32 in Maths - I couldn't finish any of those exams during the required time. So, I focused a LOT on time management in September.

Practice tests:

Kaplan Diagnosis (linear) - 02/09 - 76%
Kaplan Test (linear) - 04/09 - 630
Kaplan CAT 2 - 09/09 - 540 (external interference)
Kaplan CAT 1 - 22/09 - 610
GMAC's 1 - 26/09 - Didn't write down, but it was about 610
GMAC's 2 - 29/09 - 640
Kaplan CAT 3 - 02/10 - 670

Everyone considers me a distracted person (they are right), and this characteristic affected me a lot during the exams. I made silly mistakes, and learned with them in EVERY exam (damn, a lot of frustration - studying for gmat can affect one's ego , but get yourself together).

This was the most important part of my preparation - really learning with the mistakes I made.

You can notice that my score grew at a pace of 30 or more points a week, as I was getting used to the pressure, time and attention needed. I had chances of getting a better grade if I had waited 2 more weeks I believe, hehehe. But I had the flight booked (I had cancelled it once in September), and I thought I could always take it again if I needed because I will only apply for the MBA in 2010 or 2011.

The funny things is that I suspected that this was the week of the 700....and it was! (it freaked me out when I saw the score hehe)

Maths was definitely easier to learn since we don't use calculators in the elementar or high school education in my country. That was the strength I used to pull my score up. (+ I used to like this subject 5 years ago)

Verbal was a bit of a struggle because I read very slowly and I don't have a very deep vocabulary (no native speaker). So the techniques in Kaplan were useful, as well as the SC rules in the course I took.

I took the week after the GMAT of holidays where I took the exam, and now I am going after more professional XP.

Sorry for the big post, tell me if there are any gaps between it and your question; I will be happy to help you if you need more info or advice.

Happy GMAT ,

Ana

rajivn wrote:Ana,
First, Congrats on hitting the 700mark.

I think, for the schools you mentioned, you gotta up the score as you have limited experience.

Regarding some of the strategies you used, lot of people these days do similar or even crazier things to address their weaknesses

Thanks a lot for your input, Raji! I think I will go for more working XP instead of a new GMAT score. Another option...

Do you know for how long my score is valid to use it for the Top schools applications?

Cheers!!

Ana

Great debrief! Thanks!

Hi Ana,

Many Thanks for your score & I heartly wish you good luck in all your future endeavours and I really appreciate the carefully elaborated post by you.
Could you please shed some light on the course you attended, I am in great dilemma about selecting the prep institute.
I am also non native speaker, so I want to know did your worked on your vocabulary separately or you just practised the GMAT sections.

Thanks in anticipation of your response.

Very Best Regards,
Yogi

Congratulations and a great dedication as well as writeup!

I believe the GMAT scores are valid for 5 years so the fruits of your hard work are definitely long-lasting

I don't think you need to take the GMAT as you have a great quant score, which MBA schools want. Verbal is good too given that you're a non-native English user. Moreover, some MBA admissions officers mark applicants with a negative stigma if they retake GMAT after achieved 700+ scores.

I am also curious on how you boosted your verbal score from 30s to 40s. I am in a similar predicament. I am also trying to boost my timing strategies as well. Did you follow any particular strategies for those two areas?

Also, did you ever hit 700 in your practice exams before taking the real GMAT?

Thanks and looking forward to your reply!

haha congratulations you seem like a very cool person.

good luck with whatever you decide to do.

next_dimension: thanks!

I took a course in Mexico City with a lady that teaches for over 20 years. I can give you her contact if you get interested.
My boyfriend's boss took this course years ago, and went to Chicago. Many others in Mexico did the same. It is very TOUGH (the teacher goes beyond discipline, but it is worth it.)

Maths was divided by topics, and Verbal by difficulty levels. Sometimes classes were about CR, sometimes about issues. Always about SC rules and half of them had a reading correction (homework stuff and a little bit of theory).
All classes lasted 2,5h. I took around 17 or 18 of maths and around 20 of verbal.

Note: I saw people recommending that students take Manhattan virtual course, and I once participated of a study experiment of 2h with an instructor to see how it was. I learned 3 difficult rules during this time. If I were beginning to prepare now, and had a good basis, I would possibly go with those guys.

Likewise, I liked Kaplan's book, and it is good for someone who is preparing without tutors.

Vocabulary: I wrote down the words I didn't understand (in the exercises), and found them here: https://www.thefreedictionary.com/ They had 99% of the words I needed
I made a list with those words and read them once in a while.
(always adding new ones)

gkumar: cheers great news

I boosted the verbal score from nothing to 35 with the following:

- SC: A lot of grammar (I learned over 180 new rules until I understood and memorized 99% of them) with theory (from the course - they are the normal English rules) and Kaplan. I didn't know dangling modifiers, nor parallel structure in English So any info was helpful to boost the result. I did over 1000 SC (and re-took those same 1000 in july/august trying to see where the mistakes persisted) + Kaplan SC + Practice tests of Kaplan with answers explanation.

- RC: Kaplan rules are very simple and direct. + I read about 100 passages I guess...I wasn't bad, but I couldn't finish on time. My study of RC was very connected to time management.

- CR: I learned some techniques at the course, and the tricks are similar to Kaplan's. I lose many CR questions because of the vocab., though. You can do better if you manage the vocabulary well. + I did around 200 exercises.

And the answer is "no," I did not hit a 700 before the official exam. All my scores are posted here...
I had a good surprise in reaching the 700 in the first GMAT attempt. I thought I would have to take it twice since all my colleagues were hitting ~650 and the teacher tells us it is normal to take the GMAT more than once.
If I knew that I were that close, I would have studied more to hit beyond the 700 hehehe!
I really didn't want to re-schedule the GMAT again. I just wanted to face it with all I had on the 09/Oct and learn from it.

Material used:
- Kaplan 2010 with 4 CATS and 2 linear exams
- School paper material
- Barons (I didn't use it for more than 3h of studying, but it is a good book for beginners)
- On-line translation website

Time Management:
- Maths: no longer than 2 min per question while doing the exercises. Try tighter: 1 min. or 1,5 min. per question. Learn about back-solving and other educated guessing techniques. (they are all in Kaplan). If needed: strengthen your conceptual basis before the work with time management.
- Verbal: Around 1,15 per SC question (try doing sets of 20 in a roll); 2 min per RC question and no longer than 3,5 min per passage (I like Kaplan here); not more than 2 min per CR question.

Practice, practice, practice. Use a chronometer.

Iastah: thank you for your good vibes

Have a nice weekend!

Ana

ana.avelar wrote:next_dimension: thanks!

I took a course in Mexico City with a lady that teaches for over 20 years. I can give you her contact if you get interested.
My boyfriend's boss took this course years ago, and went to Chicago. Many others in Mexico did the same. It is very TOUGH (the teacher goes beyond discipline, but it is worth it.)

Maths was divided by topics, and Verbal by difficulty levels. Sometimes classes were about CR, sometimes about issues. Always about SC rules and half of them had a reading correction (homework stuff and a little bit of theory).
All classes lasted 2,5h. I took around 17 or 18 of maths and around 20 of verbal.

Note: I saw people recommending that students take Manhattan virtual course, and I once participated of a study experiment of 2h with an instructor to see how it was. I learned 3 difficult rules during this time. If I were beginning to prepare now, and had a good basis, I would possibly go with those guys.

Likewise, I liked Kaplan's book, and it is good for someone who is preparing without tutors.

Vocabulary: I wrote down the words I didn't understand (in the exercises), and found them here: https://www.thefreedictionary.com/ They had 99% of the words I needed
I made a list with those words and read them once in a while.
(always adding new ones)

gkumar: cheers great news

I boosted the verbal score from nothing to 35 with the following:

- SC: A lot of grammar (I learned over 180 new rules until I understood and memorized 99% of them) with theory (from the course - they are the normal English rules) and Kaplan. I didn't know dangling modifiers, nor parallel structure in English So any info was helpful to boost the result. I did over 1000 SC (and re-took those same 1000 in july/august trying to see where the mistakes persisted) + Kaplan SC + Practice tests of Kaplan with answers explanation.

- RC: Kaplan rules are very simple and direct. + I read about 100 passages I guess...I wasn't bad, but I couldn't finish on time. My study of RC was very connected to time management.

- CR: I learned some techniques at the course, and the tricks are similar to Kaplan's. I lose many CR questions because of the vocab., though. You can do better if you manage the vocabulary well. + I did around 200 exercises.

And the answer is "no," I did not hit a 700 before the official exam. All my scores are posted here...
I had a good surprise in reaching the 700 in the first GMAT attempt. I thought I would have to take it twice since all my colleagues were hitting ~650 and the teacher tells us it is normal to take the GMAT more than once.
If I knew that I were that close, I would have studied more to hit beyond the 700 hehehe!
I really didn't want to re-schedule the GMAT again. I just wanted to face it with all I had on the 09/Oct and learn from it.

Material used:
- Kaplan 2010 with 4 CATS and 2 linear exams
- School paper material
- Barons (I didn't use it for more than 3h of studying, but it is a good book for beginners)
- On-line translation website

Time Management:
- Maths: no longer than 2 min per question while doing the exercises. Try tighter: 1 min. or 1,5 min. per question. Learn about back-solving and other educated guessing techniques. (they are all in Kaplan). If needed: strengthen your conceptual basis before the work with time management.
- Verbal: Around 1,15 per SC question (try doing sets of 20 in a roll); 2 min per RC question and no longer than 3,5 min per passage (I like Kaplan here); not more than 2 min per CR question.

Practice, practice, practice. Use a chronometer.

Iastah: thank you for your good vibes

Have a nice weekend!

Ana

Thank you for such a great follow-up writeup. I have similarly tried to tighten the timings with a timer. Did you use any timing grid when taking practice exams?

I will try Kaplan materials for more practice. Is it safe to use 1000 SC/CR/RC sets because I heard their answers are incorrectly stated?

Your amazing progress has given me much encouragement and hope for my soon, upcoming GMAT test date. Best of luck for your endeavors.

- Did you use any timing grid when taking practice exams?
Ans: No, but this is a good idea.

- Is it safe to use 1000 SC/CR/RC sets because I heard their answers are incorrectly stated?
Ans: I did not use such material. I meant the quantity, not the brand haeheahehae sorry! I didn't know that the 1000 existed.

Cheers

Ana

hey read ur post after posting mine...


gr8 wrk done maam...congrats........

that kickboxing was amazing....don do it to ppl whn u get to the b school choices that u re considering...

somewhere...GMAT is just a mind battle( u VS U) rather than YOU vs VERBAL/QUANT!

gr8 guns


cheers.....

Thanks for your level-headed response.

Cheers....!!!
Yogi

Hello Ana!
Congrats on your score and thanks for sharing that great story!

I think that with your 700 you are in a pretty good position to apply, taking into account your international experience and age.

Furthermore, a 700 score is a very good score for a latin american (it a different applicant pool from the asians). I believe you can come up with a great story and get in to one of those schools!!

Best of luck!