I just Beat The GMAT!

Quant 47 - 82%
Verbal 40 - 90%
Overall 700 - 92%

Not jumping out of my chair as Simon from American Idol would day, but its good enough for me. I'm exhausted. More than anything else, I would thank this website.. I only learnt about it 20 days ago and wish I knew about it earlier.. but its been incredibly helpful. My first attempt at GMAT was in December 2006 with a score of 610.

Eric, you're a hero !

I'm ready to drop dead, but will post in much detail about what worked for me and what did not.

Congrats!

ok, here goes -

I did the Manhattan GMAT 3-month course which ended in December 2006 and I gave the exam as soon as the course finished. Even though my practice scores were in the 710-740 range, I got a 610. Time for re-evaluation.

Lessons learnt -

1. Don't put all eggs in one basket. MGMAT has great verbal tips, solid math building skills, but I don't think its sufficient. Their tests may seem harder, but they are harder in different ways. They do a good job, but they don't replicate the kind of questions GMATPrep does.

2. Joining a group like this or just scouting for information and building your own tidbits is ESSENTIAL. Everyone should have flash-cards. And go over them again and again. GMAT is really about extended memorization.

3. For me, more is better. Give at least 10-12 real GMAT tests, before you go for the exam. The range of material GMAT covers is pretty immense. But I know people who have given 5-6 tests and done well.

4. Focus on the question at hand, not on the score.

5. Close the loopholes. You cannot get past 650, if you keep getting 600 level questions wrong. You have to be airtight. If someone throws a 600 level question at you, 30 seconds after you woke up, you should be able to do it in 2 min or at least boil down to 2 answer choices.

6. Kaplan verbal is a waste.

7. Math specifics - know your weak areas.. then work on it. Google resources on algebra, geometry and solve problems. I guarantee you'll get better. Just looking at how folks here have solved a tough problem is not good enough. You need to "build" skills in math areas.

8. Use the GMATPrep CD over and over again. Reset the tests. I think that CD really has material for about 4-5 tests. You'll get lots of repeats, but every question there is more valuable than Princeton, MGMAT, Kaplan or anything else.

9. Don't spend > 20 min on each essay. Any Time gained means you're less drained by the time u reach mid-section of verbal.

10. Hope this helps !