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slamfield
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
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- Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2013 3:12 pm
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what's up everyone. frequent lurker, first time poster.
i started studying for the GMAT roughly 6 weeks ago with the Princeton Review free diagnostic. i graduated undergrad in december of 2007 and have not really worked with numbers in a meaningful way since. i majored in history and didn't take a math course my senior year in HS so i was going in about a decade removed from having done math in any sort of an academic way. i am not applying anywhere outrageous so my target score was about a 660.
i scored a 480 on that diagnositc and almost quit right there, but i decided to keep going. i started spending about 2 hours a night after work doing only quant review. i used GMAThacks "total GMAT math" book and went through chapter by chapter. i also used Kaplan GMAT Premier 2013 and went through every quant chapter. for the last two weeks i split time between going through the challenge problems in "total GMAT math" and Manhattan GMAT word problems.
i was, luckily, in a position where i didn't need to study too much for the verbal section.
i took a practice CAT every weekend along the way with one or two exceptions due to travel.
KAPLAN CAT 1 - 600 (i forget the split but V was 37)
GMAT PREP 1 - 640 (Q42 V37)
Manhattan GMAT Free CAT - 640 (Q42 V37)
Manhattan GMAT CAT 1 - 620 (Q37 V38)
Manhattan GMAT CAT 2 - 640 (Q37 V40)
at this point i was 6 days away from the test and pretty well convinced that Q42 was about the best of my abilities. i was able to zero on in rate / work / distance problems to be an issue, as well as combs and perms. i did a lot of work in the Manhattan GMAT word problems book focusing on rates / works, combinations and sets. i also did the Manhattan GMAT flashcards on number properties until i basically had them all memorized. the two days before the test i did very little studying, mostly just going over problems that i had gotten wrong in the Manhattan quant sections.
(i also think that i should add that i purchased the manhattan GMAT pad and pen set about two weeks before the exam. it was good because it set my mind at ease about not using paper and a pen during the exam, but it is something that i would have done in retrospect because the marker and pens are totally manageable and there is plenty of room in one book for the scratchwork that you will do during the quant section).
i took the test today and it felt about normal going through each section. i had a feeling i was doing pretty well during quant because the data-sufficiency questions were getting pretty abstract and difficult. the verbal section felt pretty normal, i was assuming i was going to get about at V40 based on the CATS's i had taken in preparation.
when i hit the submit scores button it popped up with a 730, Q47-V44. i am still kind of in shock because i was really not expecting that score.
the best advice i can give to anyone studying is that you should definitely focus on the fundamentals. number properties, properties of roots and radicals and angular geometry were the most useful for me during the actual exam. i think i also had the perfect alignment of experimental questions in that i am almost positive that a lot of questions that i got wrong in the quant section were experimental, but that is just a hunch.
other than that, just keep at it. despite what you will read on the forums, you can do significantly better on the actual test that you do on your practice CATs so don't give up!
i started studying for the GMAT roughly 6 weeks ago with the Princeton Review free diagnostic. i graduated undergrad in december of 2007 and have not really worked with numbers in a meaningful way since. i majored in history and didn't take a math course my senior year in HS so i was going in about a decade removed from having done math in any sort of an academic way. i am not applying anywhere outrageous so my target score was about a 660.
i scored a 480 on that diagnositc and almost quit right there, but i decided to keep going. i started spending about 2 hours a night after work doing only quant review. i used GMAThacks "total GMAT math" book and went through chapter by chapter. i also used Kaplan GMAT Premier 2013 and went through every quant chapter. for the last two weeks i split time between going through the challenge problems in "total GMAT math" and Manhattan GMAT word problems.
i was, luckily, in a position where i didn't need to study too much for the verbal section.
i took a practice CAT every weekend along the way with one or two exceptions due to travel.
KAPLAN CAT 1 - 600 (i forget the split but V was 37)
GMAT PREP 1 - 640 (Q42 V37)
Manhattan GMAT Free CAT - 640 (Q42 V37)
Manhattan GMAT CAT 1 - 620 (Q37 V38)
Manhattan GMAT CAT 2 - 640 (Q37 V40)
at this point i was 6 days away from the test and pretty well convinced that Q42 was about the best of my abilities. i was able to zero on in rate / work / distance problems to be an issue, as well as combs and perms. i did a lot of work in the Manhattan GMAT word problems book focusing on rates / works, combinations and sets. i also did the Manhattan GMAT flashcards on number properties until i basically had them all memorized. the two days before the test i did very little studying, mostly just going over problems that i had gotten wrong in the Manhattan quant sections.
(i also think that i should add that i purchased the manhattan GMAT pad and pen set about two weeks before the exam. it was good because it set my mind at ease about not using paper and a pen during the exam, but it is something that i would have done in retrospect because the marker and pens are totally manageable and there is plenty of room in one book for the scratchwork that you will do during the quant section).
i took the test today and it felt about normal going through each section. i had a feeling i was doing pretty well during quant because the data-sufficiency questions were getting pretty abstract and difficult. the verbal section felt pretty normal, i was assuming i was going to get about at V40 based on the CATS's i had taken in preparation.
when i hit the submit scores button it popped up with a 730, Q47-V44. i am still kind of in shock because i was really not expecting that score.
the best advice i can give to anyone studying is that you should definitely focus on the fundamentals. number properties, properties of roots and radicals and angular geometry were the most useful for me during the actual exam. i think i also had the perfect alignment of experimental questions in that i am almost positive that a lot of questions that i got wrong in the quant section were experimental, but that is just a hunch.
other than that, just keep at it. despite what you will read on the forums, you can do significantly better on the actual test that you do on your practice CATs so don't give up!
