I just Beat The GMAT!

So I just got done with the GMAT today and I was pretty happy with my score. I wasn't "surprised" by the 770, but certainly relieved. I was also slightly surprised with the score breakdown. I would have thought Q50 and V47 would get me a 780, but I doubt those 10 points matter.

Before I go through my experiences, I should probably state that I'm pretty unconventional when it comes to studying habits and test taking skills. Therefore, take what I say with a grain of salt, and hopefully something useful will come from this. Also, most of this kind of goes through my test psychology. If you have more specific questions about how I studied, let me know.

For starters, I've probably been "studying" for the GMAT for 4 or 5 months. However, I use the term "studying" lightly. I could have walked into the GMAT in March without ever having looked at any study material and probably walked out with a 750. The problem is, I could have also had a bad test run and walked out with a 720 (certainly still a good score, but we always want to put our best foot forward). Over the few months I was able to become more consistent and I knew what to expect from the GMAT. When I walked into the test center, I felt I had less than a 5% chance of scoring under 750, and that really helped my confidence on the test (more on that later).

In terms of studying, I was kind of all over the place. I had a lot of job applications, interviews, volunteer work, travel, etc. that came up and it was very hard to get consistent studying done. That being said, before I started studying I took several of the paper tests and I felt that the only section I needed any improvement on was the Sentence Correction.

Paper Test Results:
GMAT ETS Test 14: RC (22/23), SC (17/22), CR (15/16), M(50/52); V44, Q50 - 740.
GMAT ETS Test 28: RC (20/23), SC (18/21), CR (16/16), M(49/52); V44, V50 - 750
GMAT ETS Test 25: RC (19/23), SC (16/21), CR(15/16), M(51/52); V42, Q50 - 730
GMAT ETS Test 31: RC(15/18), SC (16/22), CR(16/16), M(51/52); V40, Q50 - 730

As you can tell, SC was really what seemed to be hurting me. Reading Comprehension wasn't always great, but I wasn't worried. I just figured that I wasn't completely focusing (reading comprehension is usually one of my strengths). For the next few months, all I really studied was Sentence Correction. I would work a little bit out of the Manhattan GMAT SC book, and basically work as many of the OG questions as possible.

I ended up with pretty solid strike rates on my OG/Supplementary questions:
SC (91%), CR (96%), RC (94%), Problem Solving (99%), Data Sufficiency (98%). I kept track of timing as well and the results were fairly solid, but I usually did questions in sets of 14 so my stamina was never tested. I also did 14 SC questions at once or 14 RC questions at once. I think one thing you have to get used to on the real test is that you keep getting different types of questions. This kept me from getting into a rhythm.

So after having gone through a lot of OG, I wanted to see how I would fare on a CAT. My first CAT was Princeton review's free test (V41, Q47 710). I was a little discouraged, but I didn't think much of it. I followed this up with two Manhattan GMATs and the results hit me pretty hard (V38, Q46 - 690) and (V39, Q51 (untimed math section) - 730). To understand why this hit me so hard, you have to realize that I pretty much felt that I could have walked in a couple of months before this and scored a 750. My goal was a 770, and here I was taking CATs and scoring between 690 and 710. I had previously thought all I needed to learn was Sentence Correction, and now it felt like I wasn't good at anything.

Suffice to say, this was a pretty terrible experience. I basically stopped studying for over a month. It didn't seem like I was getting anywhere, and finding a job was really my priority. Randomly, a month later, I decided I should take a GMAT Prep. At the end of the day, I felt like I did very well with OG questions and I didn't think Manhattan GMAT or Princeton Review CAT questions were representative of what I would see on the real test. The only way to test this theory was to take a GMATPrep.

The results made me fairly happy.

GMATPrep1 (RC 14/14, SC 10/14, CR 13/14, M29/37; V44, Q49 - 750)

I had finally gained some of that swagger back. I knew I was close to my goal and that I could accomplish it. That being said, I really couldn't get back into studying. Other obligations got in the way, but I knew I wanted to take the GMAT soon. In Mid July I decided I was going to take the test August 8th. Having a concrete goal really helped me get down to business. I had a schedule of things I wanted to get done before the test, and while I didn't really accomplish everything on my ambitious schedule, I was able to go through enough material to put myself in a place I could succeed.

GmatPrep 2 (RC 13/14, SC 9/15, CR 14/14, M29/37; V44, Q49 - 750).

One of the critical things I learned at this juncture was that I really needed to shave a bit of time off of my math questions. I was really putting myself at a disadvantage near the end of the test and I could really have improved by saving about 15 minutes for the last 5 questions or so. Instead, I had 7 or 8 minutes for the last 5 questions and I would sometimes panic. The other thing that was bothering me was that the SC score wasn't improving even though I did great in the OG. What I learned later was that I really just wasn't focusing.

When I would do 14 consecutive SC it was much easier to get in the Grammar mode. When you do a few SC, then a few CR, and then a passage, each SC seems very difficult. You forget what you are looking for. As a native speaker, your job is sometimes easier (idioms), but it can be significantly harder in the sense that you fall for traps that they put because you let your ear do the thinking for you. I really had to figure out a way around that.

The week of the test was extremely busy. I had to fly to two interviews on the West Coast that week and I retook both Gmat Preps.

I retook GMAT Prep 1 on Monday and scored a 770. There were a few repeats, but I felt pretty happy with my performance. I then retook my GMATPrep 2 on Friday and scored a 780. Once again a few repeats which really made the math easier, but score helped my confidence nonetheless.

A few important things I did. One, the second time I went through the GMAT Prep I wrote the AWA essays. This was my first time attempting the essays, but I felt it would be important to practice the full length 4 hour test. Second, I took both GMAT Preps at 4 pm since my real test was going to be at 4 pm on Saturday. Also, most people would warn against taking Full length CATs before the exam. For me, I just wanted to get my body used to it and I felt the experience was useful. When I took the real test, it wasn't really a struggle.

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The following are probably the two most important takeaways from my entire experience.

The first has to do with the quant section. I'm almost worried to mention this because some of us have a fairly strong quant intuition that helps us make decisions. If you do not, then you might want to avoid this strategy. What I learned from taking my last GMAT Prep is, as you are doing well on the Quant section, you start getting harder DS questions (okay, so we all knew that). Now, although I have a limited sample size, I realized that difficult DS questions tend to skew to certain answer choices. For example, if you are near the end of a DS and the question is supossed to be difficult, you will often get a D or an E. The reason being, these answers may take the longest to arrive at. Similarly, the easier questions near the end of the test skew towards C. Clearly a DS question that requires both pieces of information is the easiest to solve. Like I said, be very careful with how you use that, but if nothing else, it reinforced my intuition as I took the test.

The second very important takeaway was to really utilize the breaks. I took advantage of every break to clear my mind. During my practice tests, I would often be thinking about the previous section even once it was done. The breaks gave me a chance to take a deep breath, come to peace with what I had just done, and refocus on the next section. A lot of people in the testing facility didn't use the breaks, but I found them extremely useful.

A couple of other things. Because my test was at 4 pm, I tried to wake up around noon. I felt that if I woke up very early I might get tired by the end of the test. I also drank a "5 hour energy shot" just minutes before my test, with hopes it would let me focus. I didn't eat a heavy meal or anything just to avoid any possible complications.

The last thing I want to mention is that while taking the test, it was very hard to gauge how I was doing. I actually finished the math section with time to spare, but I didn't know if I was doing well or poorly. I felt like I was flying through it, but in the back of my mind I was wondering if I was getting easy questions because I had missed a few earlier.

In Verbal i finished with a good 15 minutes to spare. I never got one of the "bolded" critical reasoning questions and this really worried me. I felt like I was getting almost everything right, but I have a tendency to miss SC questions even when i think I'm doing well. So i had a bit of fear and hope mixed together when I finally saw my score. I think the conclusion is try to avoid playing mind games with yourself. Don't try to determine how you are doing from the difficulty level of questions. Sometimes "difficult" questions seem very easy because they are testing you on a rule that you just studied.

The perfectionist in me keeps thinking about that one math question that would have pushed me to a Q51 or the verbal questions I must have missed that kept me from a higher verbal, but in the end, I'm pretty happy with the result. At least now I know that the GMAT wont be what keeps me out of my dream B-school.

If you guys have any questions, let me know.

wow jason. you're score is really impressive!

I wanted to ask you if had taken any practice tests from MGMAT?

I took the gmat prep test 2 weeks ago and scored 640. and mgmat today and scored 640 again!

I've been studying pretty hard but I'm not sure if I'm making any progress...some ppl say mgmat is tougher than the actual gmat..

Any thoughts??

Thanks a bunch.

Congrats! As for the score, you had the same breakdown as I did, with the same end result (770), so it doesn't surprise me. All the best with the applications!

I don't think MGMAT is necessarily tougher, its just different. Some people might do MUCH better on MGMAT than the real thing. I think there are a few reasons for this which I'll address in a second. To answer the question you posed, I took two MGMAT's, and the results were pretty discouraging.

690 and a 730. The 730 wasn't really legitimate because I didnt time the math section and I got a Q51. I just wanted to make sure that I "could" do all the math questions, but I took far longer than I should have.

I think the MGMAT and many of the other company's test materials try to give you a high quantity of "hard/difficult" questions and they assume that this will make the real test easier for you. They tend to adjust the curve to compensate for the difficulty. Its an interesting strategy and I think it works for some, but one of the major flaws is it throws off your timing. MGMAT basically gave me no indication of how to pace myself for the Quant Section. "True" gmat Quant questions are tricky, but not hard. For example, you will never see a difficult probability or combinatorics question. However, you might see one that has a subtle trick to it. MGMAT questions can tend to be fairly difficult computationally.

The issues with verbal were more glaring in my opinion. There were far too many "bolded" critical reasoning questions. I don't think you even see one of these questions unless you are scoring in the V45+ range. I would routinely get 3 or 4 of them on my MGMAT practice tests. The reading comprehension questions weren't always as clear as they could be.

One of the things you should remember when you are studying (particularly if you are using MGMAT prep material) is that you arent studying to ace the MGMAT CAT, but rather, you are studying to ace the REAL GMAT. The distinction is subtle but important. Don't worry too much about MGMAT scores until you've taken a GMAT Prep. To be honest, I quit taking MGMAT CATs. All you need is OG questions, OG supplementary material and GMAT Prep. GMAT Prep can provide you with 4 legitimate CATs and you really dont need more than that.

Thanks Jason. That's really very helpful.

I was beginning to feel a little dissappointed with my MGMAT score. But i'm feeling more optimistic now. You are right about the bolded Q's in verbal and the combanitorics Q's in quant. There seemed to be way too many of these questions on the test.

Need a bit of advice-
My exam is scheduled for 30 sept. So i have less than 2 months to go. I 'm aiming at ~750.

I'm not sure if it's possible to increase scores so much considering that my current performance is not very good.

On practising questions from OG, I'm getting ~75% correct (in verbal). But my test results just don't seem to be going anywhere. Any suggestions on how to prep? Verbal is my main area of focus...quant is relatively decent..


thanks so much!

Can you give me a score break down? Whats your Quant Score, and then give me a detailed break down of SC vs RC vs CR. The best way to do this is to take a GMAT Prep so you know where you stand on real questions.

If you don't want to take the GMAT Prep yet, get your hands on some of the paper tests. Even though they aren't CATs, they should give you a good breakdown of your strengths and weaknesses. Worst case, do the diagnostic in the OG.

I could probably give you better advice with that info.

How have you been managing time while working? This is the hardest job for me. I take sometime to be on the track but whole day keeps me exhausted and couldn't put more than one hour.

How was your study strategy from guides and then timing. I see you were left with spare time whereas people struggle to finish on time.

Congrats.

What is interesting is that I had the same score 770 though I had 49 in Q and 47 in V

Jason - here's my breakup:
Quant-47; verbal - 31

SC - 10 correct out of 15
RC - 5 correct out of 12
CR - 6 correct out of 14

I've both the GMAT prep tests too. scored 620 in one and 640 in the other. my verbal scores are varying in all the tests (it seems like I'm lacking in all the sections).

Honestly I dont know if i'm not scoring well bcoz of not studying enough or not having a proper strategy. I've always been a good student (I graduated in maths ...so I really don't know what going wrong...

thanks!!

Thanks Dana and Aditya! Glad to join such esteemed company

indir0ver -- With regards to studying while working. I actually took a little bit of time off before the test date. I'm not sure it made much of a difference, but it kept me from going crazy. Thats not an option for everyone though. If not, try to give yourself a long period to study for this test. I think one hour a day on weekdays is fine, and then 4 hours a day on weekends.

Your best bet on Weekdays is to do about 10-14 questions out of official guide (or any other practice books you have). This should take you about 20-30 minutes. Then spend another 30 minutes really reviewing those questions. What I tend to do is time myself the first time through as I do the 14 questions. Then I actually "rework" each problem right before I check the answer. What I mean by this is, I basically want to simulate test conditions but at the same time I want to keep my reasoning for each question fresh in my head. That way I get more out finding out what the real answer is. This process is a bit drawn out, but it really helps you get more out of each question because it lets you work a question twice -- once with time pressure and once without.

If you feel ambitious during a day you could read one your review books after the hour of studying. I would limit that to 20-30 minutes a day. I think you can spend more time "studying" real information in the weekends. And limit yourself to one CAT every two weeks at most. Even that could be too much if you are working at the same time.

Lastly, I've never really had issues with finishing the verbal section. Part of that is because I don't have to write anything down to answer Reading Comp or Critical Reasoning. That definitely saves time. With math, I almost always had time problems until the real test. I think the adrenaline just helped me focus and finish. The one thing I would say is on the real test, you really have to trust your gut and not spend too much time checking over your early math problems. If you've practice hard, just trust that know how to work the first 10 problems. There are different schools of thought on "making sure you get the first 10 problems right" In my opinion, they are the easiest problems you are going to get, and if you are shooting for a Q49-Q51, you need to finish the first 10 questions in about 15 minutes so you save yourself time to do the harder problems. If you are aiming for a lower quant score, then taking your time to get the first 10 might make more sense because there might be questions later on that you just skip since you don't know how to do them.

mkhanna wrote:Jason - here's my breakup:
Quant-47; verbal - 31

SC - 10 correct out of 15
RC - 5 correct out of 12
CR - 6 correct out of 14

I've both the GMAT prep tests too. scored 620 in one and 640 in the other. my verbal scores are varying in all the tests (it seems like I'm lacking in all the sections).

Honestly I dont know if i'm not scoring well bcoz of not studying enough or not having a proper strategy. I've always been a good student (I graduated in maths ...so I really don't know what going wrong...

thanks!!

Not to be discouraging, but increasing your score from a 640 to a 750 is going to be tough -- especially if you've been studying for a while.

I think an intermediate goal for right now is a Q49, V35 which would put you at a 700. Try to get there in a month. And then we can go from there.

Lets start with the math section. To get to a 49, you are really looking at being able to miss about 8 or 9 questions. I know the "difficulty" of each question matters, but in general, if the questions you are missing are hard, you can miss about 8 of them. The best thing you can do to improve the math score is to really hit the Manhattan GMAT books hard. Most of us are able to do each math question, we just need to cut down on the time. Knowing the rules for everything will let you do that. If you really see a question that you don't know how to do or that will take a long time. Skip it. But skip it RIGHT AWAY. Not only will it save you time, but it should give you a slightly easier question. Because you know you can miss about 8 questions, saving time on questions you might not get should help you on the rest of the test. Focus a lot on number theory and practice data sufficiency a lot. Also, look out for the "C trap" on data sufficiency. The more difficult questions are often E or A/B/D. C is the easiest answer on a DS question, so be wary of that if you are near the end of your test.

Now for the Verbal section. It seems that you are really struggling with the Verbal section. The first thing I do when I read a Reading Comprehension passage is I read the first paragraph twice. Then I read the rest of the passage and start answering the first question. To answer each question, I reread the relevant information. Keep in mind that verbal questions aren't "trick questions." They should be pretty straight forward. Pay attention to the tone (positive/negative/skeptical/supportive). If you can understand the tone, you can answer most of the questions.

When you are working these problems for now, don't worry about how long it takes you. If you have to read a passage 5 times, then do it. Right now, you just need to focus on your reading skills. Same with the critical reasoning. Take your time, right down the assumptions and right down the premise and the conclusion. With enough practice, it will all become second nature.

I think the real take home message is don't just study -- study smart. Half the time you spend on studying should be analyzing why you miss questions, how you can get better, etc. Its not just about "why is this answer right" Its also about "why did I think my answer is right." Once you figure out which traps tempt you, you'll know how to avoid them.

Keep track of difficult questions, and come back to them in a month. See if they make more sense now. I think thats all I got for now....just keep at it. Practice with a purpose!

Congrats! Your achievement gives me strength to continue fighting with this monstrous exam!

nothing to say ... but congrats and happy for you man ... ur my hero

You are awesome dude... Total genius...