610->660->750- Third time's the charm

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610->660->750- Third time's the charm

by CarlosP » Tue Apr 21, 2015 3:53 am
Got done with the GMAT finally and happy that I won't have to take it again. Mine is a long journey spreading over more than a year.

March 2014: Took the GMAT with only a month of preparation. I thought that I did decent on the exam but was shocked to see only a 610. I think I was not fully prepared for what the GMAT will throw at me.
I was planning to take the GMAT in May then but I had an appraisal due in June and was expecting a hefty raise if I continued my good performance in office so postponed the exam


Feb 2015: I took the exam again but didn't score that well..While I got a good quant score, verbal sank me and I got a 660 only. I realized that doing only the Kaplan book and OG will not be sufficient if I wanted to cross the 40 mark on verbal.

April 2015: Score 750 this time. While taking the test, I could feel that I'm in command of the test and while earlier I would get stuck between the remaining two options in verbal, in this test I could logically eliminate most of the options.
I used aristotle grail series this time alongwith manhattan tests. The grail series was excellent, much easier to understand and better than manhattangmat books. I loved their sc grail the most!
I also got hold of the gmac additional tests and questionbanks. I think these were crucial in helping me get a firm hold of the exam and helped me do well.

I still have a couple of months before I apply. Will be doing a few school visits and will be applying in R1.
My final advice to everyone is that GMAT can't be done with fluke. You really need to prepare well unless you are a genius. Put in the hardwork and you will definitely get results.

Good luck everyone. These forums have been of great help. Let me know if I can be of any help.

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by gsetia001 » Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:24 am
Hi Carlos,

Congratulations on achieving that score.
Can you please share some more details of the grail series that you used. Did you use all the books or only some specific topics.

As of now i am using Manhattan GMAT but not having full conceptual clarity of certain topics. Will you suggest referring to the grail series even for quants.

Wish you luck for further success in the B school .

Thanks,
Guneet

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by gsetia001 » Sat Apr 25, 2015 1:02 am
Hi Carlos,

Congratulations for getting such an amazing score.

Can you please share some more details about the Grail series that you had used.

Is it better than Manhattan for both quant and verbal. I have been using Manhattan but still not able to solve the questions with clarity.

Wish you luck in the B school

Cheers,
Guneet

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by royrijit1 » Wed Apr 29, 2015 3:21 am
Hi Guneet,

I have been using Manhattan books and somehow I find that I am still missing bits and pieces of knowledge required to efficiently solve a SC question. Few examples would be specific differences between: because of vs due to, That vs Which, Instead of vs Rather than and similar topics. I just read in one of the reviews at Amazon that Grail' SC has a specific section explainig these kind of commonly tested concepts. I am therefore willing to try the Grail book and will shortly order online.

Just thought to share this with you because it seems we are having the same kind of queries.

Thanks,
Rijit

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by CarlosP » Thu Apr 30, 2015 10:31 pm
gsetia001 wrote:Hi Carlos,

Congratulations for getting such an amazing score.

Can you please share some more details about the Grail series that you had used.

Is it better than Manhattan for both quant and verbal. I have been using Manhattan but still not able to solve the questions with clarity.

Wish you luck in the B school

Cheers,
Guneet
Manhattan sc is a good book but not very useful for non-natives like me who have to start from scratch. Aristotle grail was quite helpful in that regard. It simplifies things a lot. if you're facing difficulty in sc, you'd not regret getting your hands on sc grail. Good luck

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by kashif raza » Sun May 03, 2015 9:51 pm
I was able to solve 85% of questions correctly in Official Guide & 70% in Manhattan Quant guides. But when i gave first Manhattan CAT i was confident in just 4-5 questions, on the rest of the questions i was struggling. I found quant questions in CAT to be very, very hard. Should i go for Manhattan Advanced guide also? I have studied all 5 Manhattan quant guides - 5th edition & solved every question of official guide - 13th edition. Or is it just that the 1st Manhattan CAT is insanely hard in quant?

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by CarlosP » Sun May 10, 2015 8:56 am
kashif raza wrote:I was able to solve 85% of questions correctly in Official Guide & 70% in Manhattan Quant guides. But when i gave first Manhattan CAT i was confident in just 4-5 questions, on the rest of the questions i was struggling. I found quant questions in CAT to be very, very hard. Should i go for Manhattan Advanced guide also? I have studied all 5 Manhattan quant guides - 5th edition & solved every question of official guide - 13th edition. Or is it just that the 1st Manhattan CAT is insanely hard in quant?
Yeah.MGMAT Quant tests are very hard and not representative of what you will see on the GMAT. Take the GMATPREP tests and you will get a much better idea of what your competency level is on quant

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by ashok27 » Tue May 19, 2015 8:29 pm
Very good post. This is my first attempt in a couple of days and your journey was great.

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by gonegirl76 » Sat May 23, 2015 11:27 pm
CarlosP wrote:Got done with the GMAT finally and happy that I won't have to take it again. Mine is a long journey spreading over more than a year.

March 2014: Took the GMAT with only a month of preparation. I thought that I did decent on the exam but was shocked to see only a 610. I think I was not fully prepared for what the GMAT will throw at me.
I was planning to take the GMAT in May then but I had an appraisal due in June and was expecting a hefty raise if I continued my good performance in office so postponed the exam


Feb 2015: I took the exam again but didn't score that well..While I got a good quant score, verbal sank me and I got a 660 only. I realized that doing only the Kaplan book and OG will not be sufficient if I wanted to cross the 40 mark on verbal.

April 2015: Score 750 this time. While taking the test, I could feel that I'm in command of the test and while earlier I would get stuck between the remaining two options in verbal, in this test I could logically eliminate most of the options.
I used aristotle grail series this time alongwith manhattan tests. The grail series was excellent, much easier to understand and better than manhattangmat books. I loved their sc grail the most!
I also got hold of the gmac additional tests and questionbanks. I think these were crucial in helping me get a firm hold of the exam and helped me do well.

I still have a couple of months before I apply. Will be doing a few school visits and will be applying in R1.
My final advice to everyone is that GMAT can't be done with fluke. You really need to prepare well unless you are a genius. Put in the hardwork and you will definitely get results.

Good luck everyone. These forums have been of great help. Let me know if I can be of any help.
Great score. I was wondering what precisely did you analyze in your practice tests? How much time did you spend in analyzing each question?

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by ashok27 » Mon Jul 06, 2015 11:07 pm
^^ Spend at least double the time you spend in taking a test. It's incredibly important to do that. I saw one of my friends just went crazy taking tests but would spend hardly 10 minutes in analyzing it. You must make sure that you spend enough time

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by CarlosP » Sun Jul 12, 2015 1:04 am
ashok27 wrote:^^ Spend at least double the time you spend in taking a test. It's incredibly important to do that. I saw one of my friends just went crazy taking tests but would spend hardly 10 minutes in analyzing it. You must make sure that you spend enough time
Spot on advice.. Analyzing your mistakes and then not repeating them makes all the difference not only on GMAT but probably in life too

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by gmat barcelona » Wed Jul 15, 2015 5:46 am
Hi Carlos,

That is fantastic news! With a 760/Q50, you're in the perfect position to apply to any Business School that you choose. Good Luck with your applications.

Congratulations and all the best!
Alexander Steward
GMAT & GRE Instructor
GMAT, TOEFL, GRE, IELTS & TOEIC Center Barcelona
**Prepara el Gmat en Barcelona con los expertos**
https://www.gmatbarcelona.com

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by neha.gar » Tue Jul 28, 2015 12:38 am
CarlosP wrote:Got done with the GMAT finally and happy that I won't have to take it again. Mine is a long journey spreading over more than a year.

March 2014: Took the GMAT with only a month of preparation. I thought that I did decent on the exam but was shocked to see only a 610. I think I was not fully prepared for what the GMAT will throw at me.
I was planning to take the GMAT in May then but I had an appraisal due in June and was expecting a hefty raise if I continued my good performance in office so postponed the exam


Feb 2015: I took the exam again but didn't score that well..While I got a good quant score, verbal sank me and I got a 660 only. I realized that doing only the Kaplan book and OG will not be sufficient if I wanted to cross the 40 mark on verbal.

April 2015: Score 750 this time. While taking the test, I could feel that I'm in command of the test and while earlier I would get stuck between the remaining two options in verbal, in this test I could logically eliminate most of the options.
I used aristotle grail series this time alongwith manhattan tests. The grail series was excellent, much easier to understand and better than manhattangmat books. I loved their sc grail the most!
I also got hold of the gmac additional tests and questionbanks. I think these were crucial in helping me get a firm hold of the exam and helped me do well.

I still have a couple of months before I apply. Will be doing a few school visits and will be applying in R1.
My final advice to everyone is that GMAT can't be done with fluke. You really need to prepare well unless you are a genius. Put in the hardwork and you will definitely get results.

Good luck everyone. These forums have been of great help. Let me know if I can be of any help.
Just starting off with my prep and good to see what mistakes people made and how they overcame those. Hopefully i don't make those :)How should i prepare for verbal? I am not very good at it

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by sameer.pinto » Sun Oct 04, 2015 10:38 pm
Hello--i have been struggling with the verbal part for quite sometime..Not sure what should we do..Does reading economist and NYT help?

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by neha.gar » Tue Nov 10, 2015 3:58 am
sameer.pinto wrote:Hello--i have been struggling with the verbal part for quite sometime..Not sure what should we do..Does reading economist and NYT help?
Just like you a newbie- but yes reading economist and it's wonderful for improving rc comprehension