I just Beat The GMAT!

Hi,

Thanks all for all the support ,and help with so many sentence correction questions which used to worry me.

So, my dream of writing in this forum has finally come true.
I would like to add a note for all who are new to gmat prep.Dont get bogged down by your initial test scores.I scored merely 400 on my 1st gmat practice .I could solve only half of questions on both sections that time.

Right material and focus can do wonders.

Beatthegmat rocks!!

Great Job ....!!!!

I'm just getting started with my preparations and got a 550 in my first PR full length. Was feeling depressed that will not be able to catch up until I saw your advice not to get bogged down with initial scores.

Could you please summarize the highlights and lowlights of your approach.

Thanks in advance

Great score Swati....Congratz!

Cud u plz let us know other details like how long u prepared, ur scores in practice exams and the actual d-day experience?

thanks

My debrief..
I am an Indian female with an engineering

background.Although my studies have always been related to

mathematics,I have never considered myself exceptional at

it,not even good but average.Even during my engineering days
trusses and structures were a horror to me but I could glide

through management subjects.
I decided to take GMAT somewhere near 1st June and gave

myself 2 and a half months to prepare.I would have studies

around 4 hours everyday and 6 hours over the weekends .

Reviews on the materials used(In chronological order from first

used):
1.Princeton Review:Cracking the GMAT:Take this book as the
first step to your preparation.
Do the questions but dont believe in Joe Bloggs

method.According to me me this method is stupid.Except that

this method,this book introduces to gmat pretty well.

2Official guides: .As everyone says its is Gita Quaran Bible.Do it and redo it and redo it again.All the other sections werestill fine but
sentence correction gave a lot of trouble.When I did OG
sentence correction for the first time I noted the questions
which I did wrong.When I did it second time some of those
questions were wrong again and some questions which I did
correctly the first time were getting wrong now.So after
relearning from OG I did the whole sentence correction for the
third time after a week.I casually went through all sentence corrections questions a day before test and still got two wrong !!
If you dont have much time just go through Official books.

3.Manhattan :-

These are very good books.I loved the sentence correction
guide.It is a must have .It introduces the concepts and then gives to do
excercises instead of choices.Its great practice.

.Get manhattan books for problem areas.Word problems and Inequalities are good as well.

5.Kaplan Premiere [/i]
Kaplan Premiere is an ok book but I will not say that it is

necessary.Its just for practice and dont add anything

strategy or knowledge on any subject(If OG id done

thourougly).I will not suggest going through Kaplan premiere if

you are using manhattann guide and do not have long

time to prepare.Good for practice though.

6.Kaplan 800:Dont miss math section of this book.Its very

good.If you are planning to get manhattan guides I suggest

you to go through Kaplan 800 math after manhattan guides.
But I didn't like the verbal section of Kaplan800.Its thought

provoking but doesn't represent gmat pattern at all.You can

miss the verbal section ,it doesn't add much in terms of gmat

preparation.


Tests used:
1. GMATPrep:Invaluable for two reasons:
a) Software is exactly the one that you see in the

exam.Familiarity to the screens puts pressure off during real thing.
b)You can take it upto 6 times,though results will be inflated

maybe by around 30 points after it has been taken for first 4

times.
This availablility of taking tests multiple times is an invaluable

information I got from this forum.

For taking test multiple times reinstall the software and also

remove the data from C:/ProgramFiles/GMATPrep

Dont forget to solve questions you get wrong.You can google

and find solutions to most of them and on this forum

2.PR Tests:Good for practice and difficulty level is near to

actual GMAT.Scores are representative

3.Manhattan tests:These are way tougher than actual gmat.
Under timed conditions I didnt score more than 650.
I wont suggest doing all the six tests ,if your prep time is 2 to
2:5 months.Do 2 3 tests for practice,but dont get bogged
down by the results.
I got a 690 on a untimed test
The techniques learned from tests are helpful.

4.I didnt do Kaplan tests.

Suggestions:

1.Learn every concept of princeton,OG ,purple and green

before moving to other materials.

2.Note the questions which you got wrong ,took long time to

solve or were confused about while solving.Solve these again

and again.

3.In last week of test work with Official materials and

GMATprep tests only.

4.Do everything to make yourself comfortable on the test day.I

am not an early riser,but my test was at 8 am(no other time

was available).For 15 days I practiced getting up early and

studing in mornings.

A day before the test dont study anything or only a little.Enjoy

yourself.
Imagine yourself in the test centre and being very comfortable

there.Imagine you are doing very well.Also,remind yourself its

not the end of life and you can always try it again if needed.
Be confident.
Get very good sleep before the test day.

On test day
Take food ,that you enjoy, to the centre.Enjoy it during breaks.

During breaks remind yourself what you need to remember.
Before Quant I reminded myself to
a)Put values(found as solutions) in inqequalities before marking answers.
b)Reread the question to see specific information about the solution...such as x is positive number,or an even number.
I was missing these two things in my practice tests.
c)Let go of questions you cant solve.Guess and move forward.

Note on AWA:

Argument section:

Prepare a pamplet.As far as matter is concerned,preparing critical reasoning section of GMAT puts your mind in questioning mode.
Read the solutions for CR provided by OG and you can know what is expected in argument section.
Practice 2 3 essays in prep tests.

Issue section
The essays have certain commonly appearing topics.
Best way to prepare this section is discussing some of topics from the official list of topics with friends.In this way you can get other point of view also.This will help you in writing "Some may argure X ,but I think Y" lines in your pamplet.I got ideas from my husband
Practice 2-3 essays.

I hope it helps but we all are different,so,concentate on your weakness and beat the gmat.

Are you still reading ????
Good luck and wish me for awa results.

Congrats Swati for your success!!!
I have just started my GMAT preparation.I gave my first GMAT prep exam and got 560(Q46 V23)..little disappointed.
Now I have started my prep with OG-11th edition...
Is it the right one to start with?

Could you please guide me with the order of preparation?

Dont get disappointed buddy.You can do it!

Yes OG is good for starting and also ending your prep..Know the concepts this book by heart before moving to any other material.Don't forget to chart out your mistakes and problem areas.
Do OG questions under timed conditions.


One thing I would suggest before going through OG Sentence Correction is MGMAT SC Correction OR Sahil's grammar notes on SC.

After OG pick Green and purple.

After doing the official material take another GMAT prep.

From GMAT prep and OG problem sets you would definitely know your weak areas.
SO work on. problem areas now.If that is some specific math area like word problems/Inequalities..Get the Manhattan guides for that.
If CR is a problem you can get powerscore CR Bilble.

Then practice with Kaplan 800.By this e time you are in mode to handle this tough material.

Practice with Kaplan Premiere then if you have time.
Practice CD with Kaplan Premiere is gives small timed tests .That are good for practice.
DOnt forget to keep revising questions u got wrong.
And your notes for formulas and learning from SC's and CR's.

In last week OG and prep tests only.

You mentioned we should re-install the GPREP tests if we want to take them multiple times. Is this done so that we can get more questions from the database? I thought retaking each test w/o re-installation would also do the trick. Please advise...........

Yes you should reinstall to get different set of questions with minimum overlap.I never took the test without reinstalling because I had read to do it at a lot of forums and reinstalling takes just a minute.
So I thought better do it.

Doing it for second time will do it but I suppose that overlap may be more,I never tried that though.

Thank you Swati,for your reply!!
I shall follow that and work hard...

Thank you once again!!

Which B-Schools have you applied?

I havent applied but will apply in the first round.
I am applying to Texas schools because I want to stay in Texas.
McCombs(Dream),Mays,SMU,UTD

Hi Swati , congrats for the score, Please can u tell me what time table did u followed . i have 30 days in my hand if I study for 7-8 hrs every can i get the score of 700+. Also you got 400 in your first prep. Is it true?

Yup that is completely true..But that was something I could work on..i.e time management.As I had't given any cats after my engg entrance exam days,i just ran out of time.
So that score was because I couldn't solve even half the questions in both sections .So practice worked for me.

Yes..I think you can.How much prep have you done till now?

If you are just starting off I would suggest you to go through OG.
You can go through OG pretty fast if you have a full day to study.
SC, CR, DS, RC..these you can cover one section per day.
Also the PS section in a day.Just solve all the last 50 questions fully and skim over rest of the questions,solve only those which you are doubtful about.

So five days gone.On 6th day revise everything that you have learnt.
On 7th day take a gmatprep.See how much u r scoring and then focus on problem areas for another week.

In second week u can work with Green and purple.I would strongly suggest going through the verbal purple book.Will take 2 -2.5 days.Also go through last 50 questions of quant green book.For other three days in this week you can concentrate on problem areas that u would have discovered from 1st test.So work on them ..from mgmat(just a suggestion)
Take another test.

In third week u can work with gmat 800 and kaplan online mini tests.
Mini tests will help with pacing and gmat 800 with tough questions.Also brainstorm on awa.

In last week do 3 4 gmatprep tests and solve questions which u got wrong.
Write awa in gmatpreps u take this week.

This is plan I would have followed if i were in your place.

Good luck

hi swati,

I just read Durgesh's debrief and he siad that Math section is way too difficult than Gmat prep. I'm not from Engrg background , so obviously my math is not great, but so far I'm decent with Gmat prep. But after reading Durgesh's brief I'm shit scared as my exam is this saturday.

Just want to know , what do u think of Gmat's difficulty level compared to Gmat Prep?

thx

As I have already said,I don't think math section was tougher than gmatprep.
Admittingly,first question was quite tougher than those encountered as first question on gmatprep.I had a rate problem as first question.I was moved a bit but quickly regained my composure and i think that helped.

Questions were different,but used the same concepts.
Some were really tough and I guessed and move ahead.
Thats why I got 85 percentile else I would have got hundred right?!!

At this point,your exam is on saturday,last thing you should do is worry.
Worry won't do any good to you.
Solve last questions of og and gmat prep.
Solve gmat 800 if have done that in your earlier prep.
And enter the exam hall with full confidence .......

Also go through nicemathreview document which is available on this forum