Just got my official score report. I've learned a ton of GMAT strat from this board so I thought that I should say a few things about my preparation.
Resources used:
Princeton's Cracking the GMAT
Kaplan's GMAT premier
OG11
Manhattan Gmat (arithmetic, SC, and CR)
GMATPrep
I am not taking classes this last quarter of senior year so I thought that I would prepare for my GMAT during the downtime. I studied an average of 20-30 hours a week I gave myself the full 10 weeks (which SHOULD be around June) to prepare. However, my practice tests scores were:
1. GMAT Prep CAT 1 - 760 (This was taken AFTER I completely read through both Princetons and Kaplan
2. Princeton Review CAT I - 690 (took this one hungover and unfocused, lol)
3. Princeton Review CAT II - 730
4. GMAT Prep CAT II - 760
I took a practice test every week so by the 4th week, I told myself to screw it and just take it that Friday (May 5th or something). Was pretty happy that I scored the 760 but my only regret was not studying harder and getting a 800
Unfortunately, I don't really have anything new to say about preparation that might help you guys achieve this score in such a short amount of time. However, I think that I might add some value to this forum by talking about what I believe is the attitude you should have in order to score in the high 700s.
I am short on time so I will have to be brief. But heres a few points I hope will help you guys out:
1. I would have been completely satisfied with 700+, but I still aimed for the 800. Not only did I WANT to get the 800, but I KNEW I could get the 800 (there is a very important difference between the two). This thinking led me to work harder and much more efficiently during my prep than if I only aimed for a 700+. I believe that my original goal of 800 was what really pushed me to break the 750+ barrier.
2. College students, prep for the GMAT ASAP. All of the GMAT concepts are things that you should have been using in school if you have any sort of a quant major. Because I started my prep so soon after class ended, I did not have to re-learn anything. It made my prep process feel like reviewing for a tough final exam. I knew all the information, I just needed to review it a bit and practice the question formats. I felt that this was especially true for the AWA. I was so used to writing papers in college that all I needed to review was the ideal structure that the GMAT graders wanted. I think I spent a total of an hour prepping for the AWA, excluding the essays I wrote in the CAT practice tests.
3. Learn to LOVE the GMAT. Trust me on this one, if you learn to enjoy studying for the GMAT as if it were your favorite hobby, you will breeze through even the toughest prep regime. For those 5 weeks, the GMAT was on my mind around 75% of my waking hours. Prepping felt exactly like any other hobby and studying for 8 hours straight at 80-95% focus was almost fun. Basically what I did was program my mind so that I learned to associate studying the GMAT with pleasure (I also do this for a lot of other unpleasant, but necessary actions). I don't have much time to explain, but if you want to learn more about this stuff, I would really recommend you reading some of Anthony Robbin's writings.
4. Be 100% confident by test day or do not take it. It seems like a good number of forum members who scored lower than expected lacked confidence during test day. I also think that the only true way to be completely confident is to know the material so well and study the test itself so deeply that there is no chance in hell it will beat you. I walked into the test room literally with bright images of "800" flashing in the back of my mind and having no doubt that I would get 750+. I forced myself to be even more confident than during practice tests and that made the test a TON easier to get through. Only problem with this method was that I was actually a bit upset that I did not actually get an 800 haha.
5. Quick note a pacing. If you want a 750, you probably want to ignore the common advice to spend more time on earlier questions. Sure you can get most early questions right, guess on the last 5 problems, and still have an chance to get 750+. However, You will be a lot more likely to get a 750+ if you learn to consistently answer all medium to hard questions fast enough so that you have just as much time to finish the later questions. By practicing answering tough questions as fast as possible, I was able to finish the quant section 5 minutes early and the verbal section 15 minutes early while still being 100% confident on all but two of my answers (obviously i did not get all of the questions right, but there really isnt anything more you can do with a question if you are 100% sure the answer is correct).
Thats it for now. Maybe I will add more later and I'll be around to answer any questions or requests for additional details.
Point 2 wont be applicable to a lot of you out there but if you really do want a good score, I believe completely following through on points 1, 3, and 4 WILL get you one. They're tough and require a lot of mental control. However, they have made my prep fast, easy, and enjoyable, and I think that YOU can enjoy that too.
Good luck
