710 (51Q, 34V)

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Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
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GMAT Score:710

710 (51Q, 34V)

by palvarez » Tue Nov 17, 2009 5:21 pm
Just done with my GMAT. I ran into time mgmt issues wrt verbal: one RC killed my time, so I had to pace.

4 weeks preparation: a couple of weeks on quants; other weeks for verbal

Material: just OG12 n verbal n quant supplements
GMATprep1: 730(Q50, V3?)
GMATPrep2: 680 (Q50, V3?)
GMAT: 710(Q51, V34)

I brushed up my number theory skills from my school days: I took a number theory course, which stayed on my mind. Just read first two chapters of any number theory book, to get the grips on the area, if you are strong in math but appear to be weak in number theory: for instance, Niven and Zuckerman's number theory book.

I didn't touch MGMAT CATs or any other CAT tests. I didn't even bother doing MGMAT quants: since their problems dont rely much on the tricks that GMAC deploy.

3 Geometry questions: not difficult, but a couple of them are tricky.
3 mixture/weighted avg problems.
1 VIC
3 or 4 number theory.

Good luck

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by rohan_vus » Wed Nov 18, 2009 7:01 am
palvarez wrote:Just done with my GMAT. I ran into time mgmt issues wrt verbal: one RC killed my time, so I had to pace.

4 weeks preparation: a couple of weeks on quants; other weeks for verbal

Material: just OG12 n verbal n quant supplements
GMATprep1: 730(Q50, V3?)
GMATPrep2: 680 (Q50, V3?)
GMAT: 710(Q51, V34)

I brushed up my number theory skills from my school days: I took a number theory course, which stayed on my mind. Just read first two chapters of any number theory book, to get the grips on the area, if you are strong in math but appear to be weak in number theory: for instance, Niven and Zuckerman's number theory book.

I didn't touch MGMAT CATs or any other CAT tests. I didn't even bother doing MGMAT quants: since their problems dont rely much on the tricks that GMAC deploy.

3 Geometry questions: not difficult, but a couple of them are tricky.
3 mixture/weighted avg problems.
1 VIC
3 or 4 number theory.

Good luck
Congrats dude ! ...Can you share how Verbal turned out for you ? ..Was RC the only hurdle you faced or in general was Verbal difficult overall ( w.r.t to GMATPrep )

Thanks for sharing your info

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 199
Joined: Sat Oct 24, 2009 4:43 pm
Thanked: 22 times
GMAT Score:710

by palvarez » Wed Nov 18, 2009 10:57 am
There are two issues you should focus upon.

(1) You can beat any odds, if you dont invest your emotions in the result: this is impossible when you are trying to apply for Bschools. So, take your gmat at least a year in advance; that way, your mind wont get messed up during the exam.

(2) preparation with (1) is the key to success.

Verbal was not difficult, but i was 10 mins behind the clock; so, I had to rush. Just do OG RC's and focus upon how GMAT borifies the passages it extracts from various books. In other words, focus on what GMAT does to RC passages: it has a structure. Once ya get a hang of it, then focus on timing. Same with CR: focus on how GMAT writes wrong choices; how it writes trap choices.

There are zillions of material on quant, since everyone can be a quant jackie by copying some problems here n there from books; but most of these practice quant problems are useless in my view, since they dont focus upon the traps that GMAT deploys.

People have analyzed SC patterns: not that difficult to ace that area. CR and RC need more research in terms of the structure: find someone who dissected the minds of test writers. Maybe, it is worth pursuing some psychometric research papers on reading comprehension.

Doing CR and RC under timed conditions is the key to success. The only way you can go about is: you need to have some powerful heuristics, which I didn't have, on your hand. Powerscore CR in this regard is not that great. It is one thing to solve a problem; it is yet another thing to solve almost like mechanically.