I just Beat The GMAT!

Just wanted to throw my 2 cents into the ring.

A little about me:

28 yrs old, graduate of a top 40 University (public) with a sub 3.0 GPA in psychology. I somehow got into a mediocre (Top 60) law school and three years later realized I made a huge mistake. I'm interested in possibly going to B-School but I decided to take the exam b/c I found a 1 yr masters program that I know will leverage into a better career.

I also waffled back and forth between taking the GRE or GMAT... before finally settling on the GMAT--my vocab skills are sub par and I remember struggling mightily with the SATs way back when (1150 total, ~500 verbal), so learning Sentence Correction in exchange for studying vocab flash cards seemed fair. After some more research, I realized that the score I felt would make me a competitive applicant would be anything above a 650 on the GMAT, so I set my goal at that marker.

I took a practice MGMAT on Dec 15 and scored an abysmal 560. I decided the next day that I needed professional study aids and signed up for the 9+ week self-guided study program from Manhattan GMAT. I started out following the syllabus to a T but realized rather quickly that I wasn't going to have enough time to finish the entire program before my scheduled Test Date (1/31/13 - the last possible day to take the exam (according to the ad com) to ensure a completed app by the deadline). So I front-loaded the classes, skipped the online videos, and finished the 9 week program in a months time. I then spent the last three weeks cramming in practice tests and OG problems until I went blind... I saw marked improvement in my practice exams--scored a 680 10 days before the exam but then all hell broke loose; for some reason my next 3 practice scores all fell from there, each worse than the last. Don't really know why it happened but I'll be candid: it scared the $#!t out of me, especially when two days before the exam I took an "official" GMAT PREP practice test and got a 650. I decided to give it another shot the next day, i.e., day before the real exam, and scored even lower, 640. Mind you, I sat for both GMAT PREP practice exams under fully simulated conditions and gave it my all; I had only done verbal and quant sections on all others and thus assumed my 680 was clearly inflated as a result. I was so confused when I got my second practice score; I knew the quant went "well" for my standards but was upset by the really low verbal score; I remember thinking that that particular verbal section was rather easy... Needless to say, I had basically given up hope for a score above 680 and reminded myself of the original goal and made sure I realized that I was still scoring around that number.

Test Day:
My exam was scheduled at 2pm but on test day I started freaking out when I checked the GMAT website at about noon to be sure I had the right directions to the test center when I noticed that my personal "exam history" section read that I had no upcoming GMAT appointments and that I had already taken the exam for that day. I know this seems ridiculous but I had registered my account on the east coast and used that address as my permanent location but signed up to take the exam on the west coast and thought that, perhaps, I misread the time zone on the confirmation email.

My mind was all over the place when I got into the test center and I was elated just to see I hadn't missed my appointment (it also didn't hurt that the girl in the waiting room in front of me was really attractive and in any other circumstance I would have asked her out). Ironically, all of this made me feel much more relaxed heading into the exam.

Quant - I was surprised at how often I saw PS quant answer solutions that I had found on my own. This gave me hope, but I also remembered that math is not my strong suit and if I keep getting 'easy' questions odds are my score will be low. Finally, towards the end, I noticed a significant change in difficulty of the questions and knew this was a good sign.

Verbal - I totally screwed up the timing because I forgot to prepare my scratch pad with my time management table ahead of time and was fortunate to have the proctor tell me before I started writing on my pad during the break that I wasn't allowed to do it then. Thank god. Funny how despite knowing the rules very clearly prior to the exam how easy it is to forget something so pivotal... So nevertheless I just said forget it and took the verbal section without looking at the clock until about 10 minutes left I realized I was right on pace and had only 5 problems to go. This was clearly a testament to having taken so many practice tests that I had grown very good at knowing how long to spend on a question before pulling the trigger. The last 5 questions were so damned tricky--I spent 3+ minutes on a CR question before finally having an 'aha' moment and then the very last question was a dumb SC that I had absolutely no clue how to solve. I just picked a random/educated guess and hit submit.

When the score popped up, I was pretty much in shock. I had never broken 700, let alone scored above a 680 on a practice exam. Couple this with the fact that I had scored 70 POINTS LOWER ONE DAY EARLIER, and you have an elated kid in total disbelief. Nearly gave the proctor a huge hug.

As far as study tips/habits, I really don't have much insight to add to this forum that hasn't already been said/discussed. I suppose the reason for my writing this post is twofold:

First, I read this forum every night before I went to sleep and really wanted to write my own post detailing my progress like many of those who are in the 700+ category have done before me. Use this as motivation, it definitely helped for me.

And second, I wanted it to be known that I'm not the smartest dude out there, never have been, and probably never will be. While I know most who read this immediately assume that these "I'm not that smart" posts should be taken with a grain of salt, I can assure you that the above story is no BS. You can do this crap if you really put in the time. Don't give up, hammer through the OG and prepare until you puke. If you really want something, get after it and its yours. I am proof.


And as an FYI, here are my practice scores:

MGMAT1 560 (Q-36,V-31) 12/15/12
MGMAT2 580 (Q-37,V-33) 12/24/12
MGMAT3 640 (Q-42,V-36) 1/03/13
MGMAT4 640 (Q-39,V-38) 1/14/13
MGMAT5 680 (Q-42,V-40) 1/22/13
MGMAT6 650 (Q-44,V-35) 1/25/13
GPREP1 650 (Q-42,V-39) 1/29/13
GPREP2 640 (Q-44,V-34) 1/30/13

ACTUAL GMAT 710 (Q-47, V-40) 1/31/2013

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"And as long as I've got my suit and tie
I'mma leave it all on the floor tonight
And you got fixed up to the nines
Let me show you a few things"

congrats..

I have a very similar scenario. I took the exam twice. Nerves killed me the first time. I noticed that with practice, I gained consistency!

ROUND #1 (1.5 Weeks of Prep):
-Kaplan CAT: 630
-Kaplan CAT: 620
-GMATPrep: 660
-Kaplan CAT: 600
-GMATPrep: 680
-GMAT: 520


ROUND #2 (4 Weeks of Prep):
-MGMAT #1: 640
-MGMAT #2: 640
-MGMAT #3: 640
-MGMAT #4: 660
-GMATPrep: #1: 680
-MGMAT #5: 680
-GMAT: 700

CaliPSU, that is an awesome story! Let us know how the process with Cornell goes. Are you applying anywhere else? I'm hoping to tell a similar story, I take my exam this Saturday (2/9/13) and my nerves are already shot. My highest MGMAT CAT has been a 640 - I am targeting 650, as I feel that score will make me competitive in all the programs I am applying to (Duke Cross Continent, MBA@UNC, Florida I1MBA, and ASU's Online MBA). Anyway, congrats on that great score & good luck!

For both Cali and GTG,

Why do you all think contributed to the score significantly higher than your practice scores? It will be very interesting to know, because in general the difference between prctice scores and real score is 30 points negative (according to some forums). Any insights will be very helpful to everybody.

Well, done! Good luck with applications.

Bellcurve -


I too have read all the other forums describing the accuracy in predicting your GMAT score based on your practice tests. I assumed I was in for a 650 type score; of which I would have been happy with. To be honest, I don't really know why my score was that much higher on the actual exam; hence my genuine surprise when I received my results. Part of me believes that I was a bit lucky--my particular weaknesses on quant - combinatorics, probability, and algebraic theory (i.e., solving problems without numerical variables) - didn't show up as much as I had been tested on the practice exams. I also ran out of time before solving the last problem and was forced to guess but later realized my answer selection turned out to be correct. Other than that, there really isn't a better way of describing it other than saying that I felt like I just hit my stride late into the quant section. I do remember seeing several questions that tested some of the more useful MGMAT techniques that I was accustomed to applying i.e. powers of ten, perfect squares, least common factors, dividing roots, etc.

I also feel as though the test prep study aids and programs are designed to provide you with a strong conceptual base behind understanding how to set up the equation correctly as opposed to wasting time trying to plug and chug, estimate, backsolve or use other techniques. I believe they do this in a very deliberate albeit subtle way by over-testing number properties and multivariate type questions. Just my opinion.

As for my verbal, I don't think I missed more than 1 or 2 of each RC and CR questions. I am certain I made several careless errors on SC. In my practice exams I nearly always averaged a 750+ difficulty level in SC but didn't feel like the actual questions were as 'difficult'. I say this because I remember getting 3 SC's in a row and remember thinking that the last one was much easier than the first, meaning I probably missed one or two. (Note - while every instructor/proctor will tell you that you should never try to gauge how your exam is going by comparing the difficulty level of the preceding questions, it's innate in us all and you will have a moment or two during your exam when you do this). I also watched the video from veritas prep called the "most common SC error" and sure enough, I picked the wrong answer in the tutorial and very clearly remember having the same type of question on the exam. Drat.

you have great job. However, I got in quant section 44 (63 percentil)in real exam. Is it a good sign?

Razul- Not sure how to answer your question. What had you been scoring on your practice? Are you planning on retaking the exam?