Pummeled the GMAT!!! 770 (Q50, V47, AWA 5.5)
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GMATcoming
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Mustang
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
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- Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2008 9:20 pm
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- GMAT Score:770
I received a pm and thought I would share it with everyone:
1. Is GMAT prep software the same available from mba.com
yes it is the one available at MBA.com
2. You said you took each of test 7 times. I was wondering if the questions in each test were different or same
there were hardly any repeats in the first 3 attempts. After that the % of repeats kept increasing. Particularly for quant section, you would see a lot of new questions every time
why i am getting confused is because GMAt prep is a stand alone application and so how come each test has different questions and also you did not mention the scores you got each of the seven time
GMAT prep is a stand alone app but it has a pretty huge database of both quant and verbal questions. Since the CAT adapts itself to the way we answer questions, you would see new questions almost every time you take the test.
I would like to stress that I was pretty well prepared for the test 1 week before and so in the last week, I just spent almost all my time taking the test. In the last few days, I had trivialized the test to such an extent that I became confident whenever I saw a white screen with blue borders
. I did not mention my scores because they did not actually make sense. They were all 750+.
Let me know if you have any more questions
All the best!!
1. Is GMAT prep software the same available from mba.com
yes it is the one available at MBA.com
2. You said you took each of test 7 times. I was wondering if the questions in each test were different or same
there were hardly any repeats in the first 3 attempts. After that the % of repeats kept increasing. Particularly for quant section, you would see a lot of new questions every time
why i am getting confused is because GMAt prep is a stand alone application and so how come each test has different questions and also you did not mention the scores you got each of the seven time
GMAT prep is a stand alone app but it has a pretty huge database of both quant and verbal questions. Since the CAT adapts itself to the way we answer questions, you would see new questions almost every time you take the test.
I would like to stress that I was pretty well prepared for the test 1 week before and so in the last week, I just spent almost all my time taking the test. In the last few days, I had trivialized the test to such an extent that I became confident whenever I saw a white screen with blue borders
. I did not mention my scores because they did not actually make sense. They were all 750+. Let me know if you have any more questions
All the best!!
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bullshark
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
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- Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:03 am
- Thanked: 1 times
Congrats on that score!Mustang wrote:I received a pm and thought I would share it with everyone:
1. Is GMAT prep software the same available from mba.com
yes it is the one available at MBA.com
2. You said you took each of test 7 times. I was wondering if the questions in each test were different or same
there were hardly any repeats in the first 3 attempts. After that the % of repeats kept increasing. Particularly for quant section, you would see a lot of new questions every time
why i am getting confused is because GMAt prep is a stand alone application and so how come each test has different questions and also you did not mention the scores you got each of the seven time
GMAT prep is a stand alone app but it has a pretty huge database of both quant and verbal questions. Since the CAT adapts itself to the way we answer questions, you would see new questions almost every time you take the test.
I would like to stress that I was pretty well prepared for the test 1 week before and so in the last week, I just spent almost all my time taking the test. In the last few days, I had trivialized the test to such an extent that I became confident whenever I saw a white screen with blue borders
Let me know if you have any more questions
All the best!!
since you took the GMATprep exams 7 times, by the fifth time you must have seen all the questions at least once before. Would this not skew the scores you got in your favor? As you said you were getting 750+ on most of them..
I am just worried if I take the GMATprep 5+ times, I will also get a high score due to having seen the questions (or a variation of it) before. This may throw me off during the real test as all of the questions will be ones I have not seen before.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
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Mustang
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
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- Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2008 9:20 pm
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- GMAT Score:770
Good point!
One of the things that a lot of people have stressed here on this forum is to determine what works well you.
I would like to clarify that when I was getting those 750+ scores, I knew they weren't true reflection of my abilities. You are right that most of the questions were repeats after the 5th time particularly in verbal
Now here's what worked for me when i took the exams multiple times
1. I can say I almost did every question in GMAT prep software which is a great thing to do
2. I did not blindly select the answers even though I knew the answers. I tried working through most repeat questions that I saw (at least the tough ones). This was a really nice revision
3. I was pretty confident of my prep (although never thought of 770 even in my dreams ) and had done all my revision 3-4 days before the exam. I knew the exam content would never be an issue (believe me, the level of the actual test is not tough at all, it is just GMAT prep level). I knew that if I stayed calm I would be able to hit the 700 mark.
4. The last 3 attempts at the exam were on the last day where I just sat on the couch and clicked my way to 750+. Do not look at these repeated test attempts as a way to practice questions in test conditions. Look at it as a way to massage your ego a couple of days before the exam. Obviously, if you feel that you haven’t prepared well then no amount of ego massaging would work eventually
5. Getting 750+ a few times calmed my nerves and kept the negative thoughts away the night before the test
6. Maybe I overdid the GMATprep as I had too much time and did not want to practice any new questions. But I would certainly recommend that everyone do the GMATprep at least 4 times. In hindsight, trivializing GMATPrep really worked and seeing the white and blue screen did not scare me on the test day.
To stress the point again: I had worked very hard over two months which made me confident. I had also performed considerably well in the prep tests. So I had already reached the level I wanted to reach with respect to my prep. The repeated test attempts were for a different purpose entirely.
Hope that helps!
One of the things that a lot of people have stressed here on this forum is to determine what works well you.
I would like to clarify that when I was getting those 750+ scores, I knew they weren't true reflection of my abilities. You are right that most of the questions were repeats after the 5th time particularly in verbal
Now here's what worked for me when i took the exams multiple times
1. I can say I almost did every question in GMAT prep software which is a great thing to do
2. I did not blindly select the answers even though I knew the answers. I tried working through most repeat questions that I saw (at least the tough ones). This was a really nice revision
3. I was pretty confident of my prep (although never thought of 770 even in my dreams
) and had done all my revision 3-4 days before the exam. I knew the exam content would never be an issue (believe me, the level of the actual test is not tough at all, it is just GMAT prep level). I knew that if I stayed calm I would be able to hit the 700 mark. 4. The last 3 attempts at the exam were on the last day where I just sat on the couch and clicked my way to 750+. Do not look at these repeated test attempts as a way to practice questions in test conditions. Look at it as a way to massage your ego a couple of days before the exam. Obviously, if you feel that you haven’t prepared well then no amount of ego massaging would work eventually
5. Getting 750+ a few times calmed my nerves and kept the negative thoughts away the night before the test
6. Maybe I overdid the GMATprep as I had too much time and did not want to practice any new questions. But I would certainly recommend that everyone do the GMATprep at least 4 times. In hindsight, trivializing GMATPrep really worked and seeing the white and blue screen did not scare me on the test day.
To stress the point again: I had worked very hard over two months which made me confident. I had also performed considerably well in the prep tests. So I had already reached the level I wanted to reach with respect to my prep. The repeated test attempts were for a different purpose entirely.
Hope that helps!
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GMATcoming
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
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- Joined: Mon May 25, 2009 8:37 am
Dude!! that's a freaking awesome score!! and you did it without any fuss!! I loved your attitude
Hi Mustang,
this is one of the great debrief's i have ever seen in the BTG. It has a good strategy, candid advice, and more so you have said one has to determine what works well for him/her.
Am curious to know the high school text books you used for maths. I am in India and wondering if i could get them to hone my skills. I currently use a X std Maths prescribed by CBSE board, India.
All the best for your Apps.
cheers,
Ranjith
this is one of the great debrief's i have ever seen in the BTG. It has a good strategy, candid advice, and more so you have said one has to determine what works well for him/her.
Am curious to know the high school text books you used for maths. I am in India and wondering if i could get them to hone my skills. I currently use a X std Maths prescribed by CBSE board, India.
All the best for your Apps.
cheers,
Ranjith
Congrats on your fantastic score - 770!!
Need some advice/recommendations.
1) Maths - COuld you please tell me know which high schook textbook you used for maths?
(If you have done your higher secondary schooling from India) i am using standard 10 maths prescribed by CBSE board for maths and the author is R.D.Sharma. Is this good enough? Do you have any other suggestions?
Your feedback on RC and CR strategy is very encouraging for me, as i have seen many recommending Powerscore CR bible for RC and some of them suggesting practicing from LSAT to tame RCs. Although i would not discount them, you seem to emphasize that OG is good enough for effective preparation. I have been following your style of preparation with some tips and tricks that have been shared in this forum.
I also seem to believe that RC passages from GRE could be useful for preparing GMAT. Do you second that?
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Cheers
Need some advice/recommendations.
1) Maths - COuld you please tell me know which high schook textbook you used for maths?
(If you have done your higher secondary schooling from India) i am using standard 10 maths prescribed by CBSE board for maths and the author is R.D.Sharma. Is this good enough? Do you have any other suggestions?
Your feedback on RC and CR strategy is very encouraging for me, as i have seen many recommending Powerscore CR bible for RC and some of them suggesting practicing from LSAT to tame RCs. Although i would not discount them, you seem to emphasize that OG is good enough for effective preparation. I have been following your style of preparation with some tips and tricks that have been shared in this forum.
I also seem to believe that RC passages from GRE could be useful for preparing GMAT. Do you second that?
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Cheers
