I just Beat The GMAT!

Hey guys

This is probably the 1st time in my life I am writing about anything closely related to studies, so this is dedicated to all u back-benchers out there! We too can crack the GMAT!

I am Jai Gandhi, from Kolkata, India.I hold an engineering degree in Biotechnology and work in my family-owned Pharmaceutical company.I took the GMAT yesterday i.e. 5th Jan.

I decided to start preparing for the GMAT back in July 2011.I started with with the usual research about what the exam is about, the different sections of the exam and the basic syllabus.In August 2011, I took the GMATprep exam and scored a 620.I immediately knew that verbal was my weakness and I gave myself 6 months to prepare for the my 1st attempt.

I also joined BeattheGMAT and the GMATClub and I cannot even imagine myself doing anything without these forums.Not a day has gone by without me reading articles posted by various people who wrote their GMAT experiences in detail and I think those narratives have taught me more than any other book or testprep software. A HUGE thank you to BeatTheGMAT

I have taken the CAT(entrance exam for the IIMs in India) before so I guess as far as Quant is concerned I was ok.I just had to refresh my concepts.Most of my effort was towards Verbal.

Materials Used:
Quant :
OG, OG supplement each of them twice.

Free tests on BeatTheGMAT

6 Manhattan tests :After finishing the tests I redid the quant sections of all 6, since I found them extremely useful and the explanation to every Question, irrespective of whether I got it right or wrong, always taught me something new.So Hats off to the Manhattan Mocks

Verbal :

SC : Manhattan SC is god.'Nuf said!

OG, OG Supplement each thrice: Although third time around I nearly remembered all the answers, it was important for me to understand why exactly the other answers were wrong and I guessed getting questions right boosted my confidence just before the exam.

CR: CR Bible, Manhattan : I was quite pathetic at CR initially and this book helped me loads.Also, all the CR questions in the Manhattan Mocks were very helpful.Initially I used to solve CR based on intuition, but after going through the bible and the mocks, my approach was more elimination-based.The Manhattan Mocks have great explanations for every option which is incorrect, and knowing which ones are most likely to be incorrect helped me a great deal.

RC : I felt that the problem was reading on screen as opposed to reading on paper, which is easier.So I searched up the resources here at GMATClub and found a word doc with all the passages from OG, OG Supplement and some additional ones too.I solved 4 passages everyday on a timed basis for nearly 30 days before the test.


Few things you may want to know:

I made an error log quite late into my prep but nonetheless it helped me.I think everyone should have an error log and should go through it a couple of days before the test.

To all my fellow engineers : Math on the GMAT is NOT easy.I was under this illusion till I took the Manhattan tests.In fact, DS can be quite tricky so PLEASE do not ignore Quant, even if you are good at it.

You MUST guess on the test.It is practically impossible to solve each and every question within the time frame.Just make sure you dont guess more than 1 question in a row.Leave your ego at home.You may know how to do it, but if u think its gonna take you more than 3 min,MAX 3.5-4 min, then leave it.You HAVE to reach the end of the test.I guessed on 6 questions in quant and I am glad I did.

Breaks are important.Take them.And eat chocolates or something rich in carbs during the two breaks.You'll feel good.

Maintain a consistent schedule.Make sure you select a time slot when you feel you perform best.For me its the morning.But can vary from person to person.And in the days leading up to the test, make sure you are studying in that very time slot.

Dont burn yourself out.Especially 3 days before the test, dont study for more than 2-3 hours.I think the fact that I didnt touch my books in the two days prior to the test allowed me to relax.

Scores :

GMATPrep 1 : 620
KaplanFree test : 660
Manhattan 1 : 690
Manhattan 2 : 700
Manhattan 3 : 680
Manhattan 4 : 730
Manhattan 5 : 760
Manhattan 6 : 760
GMATPrep 2 : 760

GMAT : 760

Please let me know if there's anything more anyone would want to know.These forums have helped me a lot and I really want to repay my debt.

Good Luck

P.S. : You might want to pump yourself up before leaving for the exam.I listened to Lose yourself.And I owe it to Eminem for that late surge of adrenaline in the morning

well done mate! Congrats!

Congrats buddy..thats a great score

excellent score..

Thanks a lot guys!! wudnt hav bn possible without beatthegmat!
0

Great score dude By the way did you concentrate on quant when you prepared for verbal or left it intact and brushed up the concepts few weeks before the test ? I consistently score 48+ in quant and don't want to spend time working on it and concentrating on verbal as of now, but i am afraid if my quant performance will deteriorate with time. Any suggestions for this ?

hi jai i am aninda from kolkata. i am in my second year of my engineering. i am pereparing for gmat . i am going to join george edcare for gmat coaching. what u think about george edcare about their gmat coaching any idea? i am also targeting 750+ in gmat and am working hard to acheieve my goal. also i would like to know that my goa uptil noe in eiestream in 8/10. so waht u think is that ok for getting admission to top schools for master in managemenmt course. or i have to increase more. and last not the least congrts for ur awesome score. u just nailed it.

Hi,
First of all let me congratulate you for making it. I have been preparing for GMAT now for quite some time but I am having issues in SC. I have read Manhattan SC for more than 6 times but whenever I practice OG questions I feel I have not covered this topic. Why is this happening to me. Did you have these issues too? I want to overcome this but don't know how. I have been practicing OG but now I remember answers to those questions. Also OG explanations are not very clear. Is there a book that can be bought probably by Manhattan or some other prep material which explains OG SC questions.

I will always be grateful to you, request you to help me.

Regards,
Frank

Congrats mate. Way to go

Hey Frank, Do you feel anxious while you work on SC questions? If yes, you are bound to feel helpless when ever an SC questions appears on screen. So, the root cause is the anxiety and not necessarily your lack of SC skills. You can try this technique - Take just one question from OG. You will start to feel anxious but keep applying rules you have learnt from the SC guide. Apply Subject-Verb agreement first, then apply rules of parallelism, and so on till you have applied almost everything. This will take you 4-5 min but thats ok for now. Take another question now and do the same. Soon, you'll realize that you not only remember the rules but also apply them automatically when you see an SC question. All the best.


[quote="davidfrank"]Hi,
First of all let me congratulate you for making it. I have been preparing for GMAT now for quite some time but I am having issues in SC. I have read Manhattan SC for more than 6 times but whenever I practice OG questions I feel I have not covered this topic. Why is this happening to me. Did you have these issues too? I want to overcome this but don't know how. I have been practicing OG but now I remember answers to those questions. Also OG explanations are not very clear. Is there a book that can be bought probably by Manhattan or some other prep material which explains OG SC questions.

I will always be grateful to you, request you to help me.

Regards,
Frank[/quote]

sam2304 wrote:Great score dude By the way did you concentrate on quant when you prepared for verbal or left it intact and brushed up the concepts few weeks before the test ? I consistently score 48+ in quant and don't want to spend time working on it and concentrating on verbal as of now, but i am afraid if my quant performance will deteriorate with time. Any suggestions for this ?

Hi Sam2304
Thank u fr ur wishes

Yes dude,initially I used to score a 46 or 48 in the manhattan mocks..but then i didnt expect the GMAT math to be as tough as it was..mostly i had focused on the verbal during my prep...but then i m thankful that i studied quant seriously the last month or so...especially because the exam is adaptive...u will definitly face tough questions as u do well...DS can be tricky coz u gotta plug in a lot...and time management too is imp...but i dnt think u need to get all the tough questions correct....just dnt get too many wrong or gues too many in a row!
i hope that helped...good luck with the test...do let me know if theres any way i can help!

chumma wrote:hi jai i am aninda from kolkata. i am in my second year of my engineering. i am pereparing for gmat . i am going to join george edcare for gmat coaching. what u think about george edcare about their gmat coaching any idea? i am also targeting 750+ in gmat and am working hard to acheieve my goal. also i would like to know that my goa uptil noe in eiestream in 8/10. so waht u think is that ok for getting admission to top schools for master in managemenmt course. or i have to increase more. and last not the least congrts for ur awesome score. u just nailed it.

hi aninda
its great to meet some1 from my city here on beatthegmat!! i'd like to know the college from wer ur pursuing ur degree...i m from heritage..

firstly, i'd like to congratulate u on ur early decision regarding the gmat...trust me early prep will help u in the long run..
secondly,i rily dnt think george educare is that good...i dnt mean to discourage u...if they have convinced u then its fine...personally i'd recommend princeton review in Kolkata..its at minto park.i know their verbal training is very good...u cud also check veritas prep with career launcher

Lastly u hav a gud GPA...i myself hav 8.33 cGPA....so dnt worry abt it..focus on the GMAT and let me know if theres ne help u need! good luck!

davidfrank wrote:Hi,
First of all let me congratulate you for making it. I have been preparing for GMAT now for quite some time but I am having issues in SC. I have read Manhattan SC for more than 6 times but whenever I practice OG questions I feel I have not covered this topic. Why is this happening to me. Did you have these issues too? I want to overcome this but don't know how. I have been practicing OG but now I remember answers to those questions. Also OG explanations are not very clear. Is there a book that can be bought probably by Manhattan or some other prep material which explains OG SC questions.
I will always be grateful to you, request you to help me.

Regards,
Frank

Hi davidfrank. Thanks a lot for ur wishes

I feel that u already know too mch..as in most of them can be solved with the help of idioms/SV agreement/parallelism/pronouns...i think maybe u shud fine-tune ur strategy..for example as u read the sentence identify just one error...and look fr the options which have repeated the error and eliminate them...i'd say u cud narrow it down to 2/3 options without evn reading the entire sentence or all the options and will save u time..after that look fr for more error to eliminate the remaining options and get to the correct one...dnt hav to know the correct answer...just the best answer wich preserves the meaning of the original in the best possible manner...i think identifying any two errors will help u eliminate all 4 incorrect options...and i agree OG explanations arent the best..but in general they prefer concise options if they preserve the meaning and are grammatically correct

chumma wrote:hi jai i am aninda from kolkata. i am in my second year of my engineering. i am pereparing for gmat . i am going to join george edcare for gmat coaching. what u think about george edcare about their gmat coaching any idea? i am also targeting 750+ in gmat and am working hard to acheieve my goal. also i would like to know that my goa uptil noe in eiestream in 8/10. so waht u think is that ok for getting admission to top schools for master in managemenmt course. or i have to increase more. and last not the least congrts for ur awesome score. u just nailed it.

Hi Aninda,
If you have not enrolled yet, I would suggest you reconsider your decision. While I must admit I am not a sucker for coaching based preparations, George Edcare would be the last place I would suggest even if I were to recommend an institute. I suggest you do more research. If you believe you must join a test prep center, do check out other institutes such as Kaplan (Chopras),and Roads.

However, the internet, with its bulk of free resources, has rendered classroom coaching redundant. Further, there are a host of web based prep services that can give you much better quality of coaching at a fraction of the cost.
Do consider all options before taking a call

All the best