I just Beat The GMAT!

After joining this site for more than a year, I just beat the GMAT 740(Q-49,V-41) but I think got beaten at AWA not got the score yet.
Quant: 49
Verbal: 41

I am thrilled about my score. My prep was based entirely using the help from these forum and I didn't join any classroom program.I started my preparation in October with a diagnostic test .Scored a 660 on that. Most of the mistakes were in Verbal were on SC and on Quant, I found DS questions a little difficult to manage. I was initially targetting to take the GMAT by Jan end but it got delayed to Mid March because I didn't see any point in taking the exam in haste in January

Here are my thoughts and experiences about my preparation and about the test day experience!

AWA:
I did not practice this at all, literally. During all the practice tests, I simply skipped all the AWAs. This cost me big time on the D-day as I simply became clueless as to what I should write. Just now I searched the topic on the list of issue essays on mba.com website and this exactly was the issue I had got.
"Clearly the government has the responsibility to support the arts. However if that support is to produce anything of value,the government must place no restrictions on the art that is supported"

The prompt seemed quite confusing(maybe because of the initial anxiety). For the first 5 minutes, I simply could not understand the meaning properly but then suddenly I understood it. The problem then was what to write on this issue but somehow I wrote on the topic. The time ended and I was left disappointed that I have written quite a bad essay.
The argument essay went well because it was almost a "Flaw type CR question".
I don't think that I'll get anything above 4.5 on AWA. 4.5 if I get lucky , 4 is my prediction though.

Verbal:
Did not face much difficulty on Verbal because this was my prime focus during preparation.
I only used ManhattanGMAT and AristotlePrep material while preparing. Although one of my friends who had prepared for the GMAT lent me Manhattan SC and CR Guides, but I purchased SC Guide for $18 again to get access to the 6 full length CATs. Purchased the combo of all Aristotle products at just $30 so the total amount I spent on my preparation was a paltry $45.That maybe shocking but yet it is true.
I used the SC Grail and Manhattan SC Guide and I must say that both the books really did wonders for me. SC Grail got me hooked to SC as it is very concise and moves step by step. For example, although I could speak and write good English, I could really not figure out a noun from an adverb and an preposition from a conjunction (Sheepish grin). SC Grail really simplified things for me and the 100 questions at the end(though not very difficulty) helped me cement the concepts. . Moved on to MGMAT SC Guide after that and it really boosted my comptency to the next level. Understanding the concepts inside out and being able to implement them was the key to improving my accuracy in Sentence Correction. I also benefited immensely by the explanations given by the GMAT Experts here especially Ron,Brian and David. All of these people are amazing.

Quantitative:
I have a background in engineering and I always considered math to be one of my strengths. However, I was not used to Data Sufficiency questions so had to learn how to effectively tackle those questions. It was primarily through BTG and gmatclub that I prepared for Maths and honed my ability.


My advice to test takers:
- Don't ignore the AWA section otherwise you may land up in a situation like mine. You don't have to write a lot of essays but writing 2 essays each of Issue and argument before the actual exam will really help

- Identify your weaknesses ASAP. It was not enough for me to realize that I had trouble with SC. I analyzed my mistakes and found the exact format of questions that were confounding me.
- Print out the flash cards available on this site and make sure you know them at the back of your head. I cant tell you how much they helped.
- Don't stretch you preparation too much. As suggested on the forums here, I was very sure that I will wind up with my GMAT preparation in 3 months. Doing it beyond that was anyway not possible for me as I will be going onsite in another month and did not want to lose momentum.

- Maintain your calm during the exam: This is probably the most important thing. As I said, I screwed up my AWA section but I gained composure during the break and came back as if nothing had happened. That was the key I think.
- Figure out what works for you and dont change a thing during the test. In the practice tests, I always finished the math section with 5+ minutes to spare. During the test, I had to fight the urge to change my ways and utilize the full 75 minutes.


My Scores during Prep:
Gmatprep 1: 720
Gmatprep 2: 750
Kaplan Free test- 760
MGMAT Test 1- 690 (Quant was unrealistically tough on this test)
MGMAT Test 2- 710
MGMAT Test 3- 770
MGMAT Test 4- 740
MGMAT Test 5-730
MGMAT Test 6-760

All in all I am quite happy. I am just a little concerned that what if I end up getting a 3/3.5 on AWA ? Should I consider re-taking the exam in that scenario . Any thoughts ?
Also, I have not done much school search. My profile is 4+ years of work experience in Manufacturing.Am not sure if I want to return to this field as it is quite tiring a field to be in . I'm really not sure what do I want to do post MBA and which schools should I be targetting.

Congrats, Empirestateofmind! I don't think you should worry about the AWA too much, especially if you're a native speaker. Even if you are a nonnative speaker, then as long as you try to score well on the TOEFL you'll be fine, especially with your good verbal score!

Congrats on your score, it is quite impressive. I think the weight put on the AWA is very much up-in-the-air just because of the fact that most schools don't even include it in their class profiles. Either way, you shouldn't worry too much about it until the score comes back. I was reading about the computer-generated score and it sounds like the computer is concerned primarily with structure. As long as you had structure in your essays, you can expect to get something higher than a 3 or 3.5. I thought I did terribly and ended up with a 6.0.

Yes, even I agree with others. AWA scores don't matter much. It is a good way for the schools though to check whether you have written the application essays yourself or not so a low AWA score might be a dampener for them otherwise it is not going to matter much.

Got the AWA score and as expected it is a pathetic 3.5. Phew! I don't know what to do. Has anyone seen a case like mine where the GMAT score is high and the AWA score is low.

Empirestateofmind wrote:Got the AWA score and as expected it is a pathetic 3.5. Phew! I don't know what to do. Has anyone seen a case like mine where the GMAT score is high and the AWA score is low.

Hello! My congratulations!!! Can you tell me how to purchase MGMAT cat tests? can you give me a link?

Hi

congratulations !!!
I just posted a topic seeking help on verbal score improvement.
May i know what all material/books are must to read to gain confidance in verbal section?
I too attended Kaplan's sessions.
You mentioned you bought Manhaton's prep matrial, could you please list them in detail.

Thank you for your help.

Don't put too much stake in it, it is largely unreported by business schools for a reason...they probably don't care very much. If you have a solid application, the worst that can happen is they may ask about what happened with the AWA during an interview, but that's also quite doubtful.

Empirestateofmind wrote:Got the AWA score and as expected it is a pathetic 3.5. Phew! I don't know what to do. Has anyone seen a case like mine where the GMAT score is high and the AWA score is low.

do you think AdCom will care about your AWA score when you hit 41 in verbal? This is just ridiculous and you did right think by focusing on quant and verbal stuff of exam. If some one will have to speak out your AWA score vs. Verbal score - usually these two are not matched, but here it's relevant for the discrepancy between high verbal and low AWA exists - this will be GMAC :twisted: Perhaps they have to find good motivation for us be obliged to score high in AWA, like requirement by schools. In the long run it all depends on your schools' preference and their AWA score expectations. I would also not speak about AWA in essays but focus primarily on the subject matters interesting for the AdCom.

pemdas wrote:do you think AdCom will care about your AWA score when you hit 41 in verbal? This is just ridiculous and you did right think by focusing on quant and verbal stuff of exam. If some one will have to speak out your AWA score vs. Verbal score - usually these two are not matched, but here it's relevant for the discrepancy between high verbal and low AWA exists - this will be GMAC :twisted: Perhaps they have to find good motivation for us be obliged to score high in AWA, like requirement by schools. In the long run it all depends on your schools' preference and their AWA score expectations. I would also not speak about AWA in essays but focus primarily on the subject matters interesting for the AdCom.

Yes, your advice seems logical. I'll talk to a few more people in the coming few days and will decide though I am mostly inclined not to take the exam again. Will update you guys here about my decision. In the meantime, if anyone has any question or needs any help, you are welcome to post and I'll try my best to help you out.

Just completed Manhattan GMAT Test 1. Also received 690... Killing Quant

I have 2 days left for the GMAT and I thank God that I read your post. I too had almost ignored AWA till now. But seeing your story I think I'll work on it for the next 2 days.

Don't worry about the AWA. Great Work!

Thank you all for your wishes. I consulted quite a few people and have decided that I won't be retaking the GMAT now. The feedback I got was that though 3.5 doesn't inspire a lot of confidence, but my good GMAT score will more than dispel the fears of the schools.

Congratulation on the great score. AWA score is anyway not given much importance by schools so you can be happy