I just Beat The GMAT!

Hi people

I am just overcome from the 'GMAT fever'. took the test on saturday 21st November. scored a 710 ( V-40 Q-48) .I don't think I am taking the test again, instead will try build up my profile.

Slightly disappointed with the quant score as I am, however, I consider it utmost necessary to inform you of the errors I made during the exam .

I lost time during the quant portion . My biggest mistake was my fear_of_quant, which became a leading factor in the disaster. I was also killed by the GMAC's obsession with averages and statistics. I was almost bombarded with questions relating to statistics ( including a question in which calculation of SD became necessary, and time did not allow that. I felt uneasy to guess because of the close data values). I had practiced everything else well , other than statistics.
SO , PLAY SAFE- BE PERFECT ON ALL TOPICS.

I had tried the toughest problems for the gmat, ( including many problems from the IIM-CAT) but still think I am weak at the gmat 'style' of testing quant. Trying complex problems may not help as much as understanding basics does.

I would advise you to be prepared for the 'operational factors' during the exam. For me it was some grinding machine running near the test center, which consistently distracted me during the course of exam. I plugged in the ear buds with all my force, but still my mind was somehow 'tuned in' to that machine's frequency. I WOULD REQUEST THAT ALL GMAT TAKERS PRACTICE CONCENTRATING IN PRESENCE OF SUCH FACTORS.

What I felt was good of me was to realize in the midst of the test that I am loosing time and then I started pacing up using 'plugging in' and 'elimination' techniques. THESE TECHNIQUES WORK!!!! I helped me lessen the quant disaster.

I would advice you to get synchronized with the GMAT CLOCK (using 2 min per question rule) . I do it the following way:

55:00 --- 10 questions completed
35:00 --- 20 questions completed.

Note: there is no harm in running ahead of the clock.

For Critical reasoning I would highly recommend you Powerscore's Critical Reasoning Bible.
Manhattan's Sentence Correction is a must for learning basics of sentence correction. ( I however feel that it is the 'intuition' that actually helps in sentence correction.) Being a hindi speaker , I had to develop this intuition by reading good English text or watching movies. ( Even bad text or movies help, if you are able to catch mistakes, and correct the speakers. I used this technique when became confident with sentence correction. Used to watch some movies , read text or newspapers, while pointing out the sentence errors. It is also useful to practice critical reasoning while reading magazines or newspapers.)

NOTE: GMAT will always test modifier usage and parallelism . So, practice more on these two categories.

Finally, I would recommend the old good 'hard work' . ( The more you train during peace, the less you bleed during war)
Also, try to kill fear. After the quant section, I was shattered; I knew what was going to happen. But I used the break practicing some breathing techniques , when I regained my confidence and decided that I am not going to give way, COME WHAT MAY!!. This confidence helped me to score reasonable in verbal to boost the overall score.

My sincere thanks to the users and moderators of this site. The website was really helpful . If you have any questions, please feel free. Thanks and All the Best !!!

Gaurav

Congrats! good download

How many Prep Tests gave? What were ur GMAT prep scores?

Any strategy for Quant?

Congrats for the score dude!!

Thank you.

Well, I think practicing non-conventional methods of solving quantitative questions is really a must for gmat. The more you practice, the more you 'trust' these techniques . What happens during GMAT is that you tend to follow traditional methods during the test, just because you have been taught to do so from childhood. I do vedic multiplication quite well , but during the exam I always used traditional methods. I could have used elimination and substitution in many questions, but I did that only at the last, after loosing heck of a time. The fear factor led me to loose a lot of time.

YOU GOT TO CHANGE YOUR TRADITIONAL MINDSET. Do anything that can save you the smallest fractions of time.

I took the following tests ( stated chronologically)

GMAT Prep 1: 700 (Q 45; V 40)
Kaplan -1 : 560 ( I lost the battle in quant)
Kaplan-2 : 610
GMAT Prep 2: 760 ( Q 50 ; V 42) ( I practice a lot of quant before this, and worked on critical reasoning)
Kaplan -3 : 600 (Q 50 ; V 35)
Kaplan -4 : 630 (Q 50 ; V 35)
GMAT Prep 1 (repeat): 770 ( Q 50 , V 47) ( A lot of questions appeared again)

At this point , I had finished all my test material , so went for free online tests.

Manhattan GMAT test -1: 560 ( this was disappointing, as I had practiced a lot. Quant was tough. this was just 1.5 weeks before exam)
Knewton Test -1: 640 ( I only made two mistakes in quant, and 6 in verbal; they highly downscale your score)
Princeton test-1: 670 ( I was confident at this point that I will do good in GMAT)

I would advice you use dynamic planning approach. Always try to see where you are lagging on , practice that topic till you gain confidence and appear for another test to find more errors. Setting up the test strategy before hand is important. Find out how much time you take for doing questions from various topics. ( This is going to be different for everyone).

Expand your views more and more on topics you feel strong at, by reading good and quality text on those topics, while at the same time developing sufficient skills to at least attempt the topics you are weak at. FINISH ALL TOPICS. Not because all of them would come during the exam, but this will give you confidence to get through one or two minor questions that come in between the questions of your strength.

Plan your time strictly , allotting time to different question types. This will need careful study of the tests you take before actual exam. Spend some time setting strategy for exam and planning your study.


Thanks

Gaurav Yadav wrote:Hi people

I am just overcome from the 'GMAT fever'. took the test on saturday 21st November. scored a 710 ( V-40 Q-48) .I don't think I am taking the test again, instead will try build up my profile.

Slightly disappointed with the quant score as I am, however, I consider it utmost necessary to inform you of the errors I made during the exam .

I lost time during the quant portion . My biggest mistake was my fear_of_quant, which became a leading factor in the disaster. I was also killed by the GMAC's obsession with averages and statistics. I was almost bombarded with questions relating to statistics ( including a question in which calculation of SD became necessary, and time did not allow that. I felt uneasy to guess because of the close data values). I had practiced everything else well , other than statistics.
SO , PLAY SAFE- BE PERFECT ON ALL TOPICS.

I had tried the toughest problems for the gmat, ( including many problems from the IIM-CAT) but still think I am weak at the gmat 'style' of testing quant. Trying complex problems may not help as much as understanding basics does.

I would advise you to be prepared for the 'operational factors' during the exam. For me it was some grinding machine running near the test center, which consistently distracted me during the course of exam. I plugged in the ear buds with all my force, but still my mind was somehow 'tuned in' to that machine's frequency. I WOULD REQUEST THAT ALL GMAT TAKERS PRACTICE CONCENTRATING IN PRESENCE OF SUCH FACTORS.

What I felt was good of me was to realize in the midst of the test that I am loosing time and then I started pacing up using 'plugging in' and 'elimination' techniques. THESE TECHNIQUES WORK!!!! I helped me lessen the quant disaster.

I would advice you to get synchronized with the GMAT CLOCK (using 2 min per question rule) . I do it the following way:

55:00 --- 10 questions completed
35:00 --- 20 questions completed.

Note: there is no harm in running ahead of the clock.

For Critical reasoning I would highly recommend you Powerscore's Critical Reasoning Bible.
Manhattan's Sentence Correction is a must for learning basics of sentence correction. ( I however feel that it is the 'intuition' that actually helps in sentence correction.) Being a hindi speaker , I had to develop this intuition by reading good English text or watching movies. ( Even bad text or movies help, if you are able to catch mistakes, and correct the speakers. I used this technique when became confident with sentence correction. Used to watch some movies , read text or newspapers, while pointing out the sentence errors. It is also useful to practice critical reasoning while reading magazines or newspapers.)

NOTE: GMAT will always test modifier usage and parallelism . So, practice more on these two categories.

Finally, I would recommend the old good 'hard work' . ( The more you train during peace, the less you bleed during war)
Also, try to kill fear. After the quant section, I was shattered; I knew what was going to happen. But I used the break practicing some breathing techniques , when I regained my confidence and decided that I am not going to give way, COME WHAT MAY!!. This confidence helped me to score reasonable in verbal to boost the overall score.

My sincere thanks to the users and moderators of this site. The website was really helpful . If you have any questions, please feel free. Thanks and All the Best !!!

Gaurav

Calling 48 a disaster is seriosuly wrong man! Not only it's 80 percentile, it is also the 4th highest score you can get there!
So, don't get too depressed, please

Thanks mjjking, for the kind words. I am not at all depressed now ( as I was after the test) , but focussing on the B-schools admissions.

Man... I would give up so many things to have that score by now... don't be too hard on you... cheers..
[quote="Gaurav Yadav"]Thanks mjjking, for the kind words. I am not at all depressed now ( as I was after the test) , but focussing on the B-schools admissions.[/quote]

Congratulations Man!

what were the books and material that you followed for the exam buddy?