I took the GMAT back in April and scored a 700. ( I discovered this site one week before taking the test while trying to find sample questions, and have been browsing but never posted till now ). I'm satisfied, but not ecstatic, partially b/c a couple days earlier I'd notched a 740 on a practice exam (from mba.com) under realistic conditions. However, all things considered, I'd also had practice scores ranging 620-680 prior to my final practice test during my final week of studying.
I'll post more debriefing if you guys want, but I was studying off and on for about three months during winter 2009. I studied more consistently at the beginning of 2010, and during the last month I made a very concerted effort to try to study every day for at least a little bit in an attempt to keep my mind sharp and strengthen my mental stamina.
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700 - (Q 44 / V 41) - 90th Pct ( Ballin' on a Budget )
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congrats on your score!
I'd love to read you full debrief. I Also tend to score higher in verbal than quant, but have no reached the 41 level in verbal, so I'd be interested to learn about your verbal strategy!
I'd love to read you full debrief. I Also tend to score higher in verbal than quant, but have no reached the 41 level in verbal, so I'd be interested to learn about your verbal strategy!
Nifoui
Wanna Get 710 :S
Wanna Get 710 :S
So, after reading some of the other posts in this forum, I noticed that I used a smaller set of study materials. Here's my list of study materials :
GMAT 12th Edition Review
Free Test Prep Software from mba.com
I found the 12th Edition a good source for practice questions, as it gives answers as well as explanations that aid your analysis of what you did wrong.
The practice exams from mba.com are good for gauging where you stand, although the exams don't give answer explanations - just the answers, so you'll have to analyze where you erred on your own. You can retake a practice exam, as the majority of the questions will be different, but I'd still give yourself a significant amount of time in between takes if you choose to go that route.
While I think I managed a solid score, I'd personally recommend at least one additional study material. During my studying, I found myself wanting a resource that actually explained how to improve my score; something that would explain what to focus on (so if someone can recommend a good material for that, let me know).
At the beginning, I focused mainly on taking all the practice questions I could. I started by taking the first 50 questions from each section ( Problem Solving, Data Sufficiency, Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning, and Sentence Correction ). During this stage, I don't think I learned a lot because the first 50 questions of each section are relatively easy. It wasn't until I advanced deeper into each section that I was really forced to look into systemic reasons I missed each question.
Ultimately, here's my takeaways from Studying/Test-Taking :
Quant
1) READ THE QUESTION.
Often times I fell into the trap of instinctively solving for x, when the question may be asking for (x+y), or some other similar dynamic. Be sure to make a mental note of what you need to solve for. Early on, this was my most frequent careless error.
2) What is the question REALLY asking?
Underneath all the variables, in between all the lines, most GMAT questions boil down to some concept such as Factoring, Odd/Even/Prime, Positive/Negative, etc, etc. The ability to determine what a question is really asking, so that you can attack the problem, is the key to "breaking through" and raising your GMAT score to the next level.
Verbal
1) Sentence Correction - Make note of where clauses begin and end. Be sure to find the main clause of a sentence, as GMAT's favorite trick is to place plenty of separate noun and verb clauses in between the main clause and it's subject, which results in the sentence "sounding right", when the sentence is actually grammatically incorrect. If you can analyze the sentence structure properly, you'll have an easier time making sure the subjects and verbs match and that the tense of the sentence is consistent.
2) Sentence Correction - Check to make sure that when items are listed in sequence, their tenses are consistent (parallelism). When sentences don't have good parallelism, you can quickly eliminate them from your choices.
[I'll edit in more analysis, but that's what I have right now]
GMAT 12th Edition Review
Free Test Prep Software from mba.com
I found the 12th Edition a good source for practice questions, as it gives answers as well as explanations that aid your analysis of what you did wrong.
The practice exams from mba.com are good for gauging where you stand, although the exams don't give answer explanations - just the answers, so you'll have to analyze where you erred on your own. You can retake a practice exam, as the majority of the questions will be different, but I'd still give yourself a significant amount of time in between takes if you choose to go that route.
While I think I managed a solid score, I'd personally recommend at least one additional study material. During my studying, I found myself wanting a resource that actually explained how to improve my score; something that would explain what to focus on (so if someone can recommend a good material for that, let me know).
At the beginning, I focused mainly on taking all the practice questions I could. I started by taking the first 50 questions from each section ( Problem Solving, Data Sufficiency, Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning, and Sentence Correction ). During this stage, I don't think I learned a lot because the first 50 questions of each section are relatively easy. It wasn't until I advanced deeper into each section that I was really forced to look into systemic reasons I missed each question.
Ultimately, here's my takeaways from Studying/Test-Taking :
Quant
1) READ THE QUESTION.
Often times I fell into the trap of instinctively solving for x, when the question may be asking for (x+y), or some other similar dynamic. Be sure to make a mental note of what you need to solve for. Early on, this was my most frequent careless error.
2) What is the question REALLY asking?
Underneath all the variables, in between all the lines, most GMAT questions boil down to some concept such as Factoring, Odd/Even/Prime, Positive/Negative, etc, etc. The ability to determine what a question is really asking, so that you can attack the problem, is the key to "breaking through" and raising your GMAT score to the next level.
Verbal
1) Sentence Correction - Make note of where clauses begin and end. Be sure to find the main clause of a sentence, as GMAT's favorite trick is to place plenty of separate noun and verb clauses in between the main clause and it's subject, which results in the sentence "sounding right", when the sentence is actually grammatically incorrect. If you can analyze the sentence structure properly, you'll have an easier time making sure the subjects and verbs match and that the tense of the sentence is consistent.
2) Sentence Correction - Check to make sure that when items are listed in sequence, their tenses are consistent (parallelism). When sentences don't have good parallelism, you can quickly eliminate them from your choices.
[I'll edit in more analysis, but that's what I have right now]
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ashforgmat
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- GMAT Score:750
Congrats on your Wonderful score....please can you tell me precisely how much time is given between the 2 essays and between one essay and Quant and between Quant and Verbal sections...I am writing my GMAT tomorrow and cannot find this info on mba.com...
Thanks a lot,
Ash.
Thanks a lot,
Ash.
