I just Beat The GMAT!

What not to do in the gmat. - Learn from my story - I got 620.

Hi folks,

This is my story, how the gmat beat me. Dont make the mistakes I made..

1) I did every question in Kaplan 800, Kaplan Math workbook, Kaplan Verbal, Princeton Review Verbal, Princeton Review Math,
Official Guide ( orange ), Official guide supplements ( purple & green ), All seven of Manhattan series subject guides.

- over a period of 4 months. I pretty much got burn out. I had an obsession of doing every question available so that I was mentally prepared to face any question the gmat
threw at me.

* Wrong Plan. Dont do that. Focus on your weaknesses. After a certain point, if you know a particular question pat down, move on and work on areas your scared of.

2) I only did 3 or 4 practice tests. Spread out sporadically and between paper and computer format.I should have done alot more.

* Do alot of tests on the computer. It is way different than the paper format. When you have to analyze sentence correction grammer on a screen, compared
to looking at it on paper. I think even the math questions, the computer format, you have to be alert, pro-active and quick. You kinda get lazy when its paper/pencil practice.

3) When you take the test, do not rush yourself, just for the sake of finishing the test on time. Take your time and answer questions properly. Give each question a legitimate shot. I rushed into the quant section and really i guessed on a few questions.. and answered for the sake of finishing on time. Towards the end. I had like 10 minutes left.. with nothing to do.

4) Verbal - Be prepared to get some verbois reading comprehension. Be fierce and dont get bogged down in some arcane science passage. Where you just want to kill yourself and reading through that BS is so painful. Tough it up. Focus like a laser. answer the question and move on. I did not. I was'nt strong like that.

5) Take all your ten minute breaks. And also you get like small 30 second and 1 minute breaks between sections. Just relax and breath during those too.

6) Truly focus on your timing in math and shortcuts.. you should know 3 different ways to solve any quant problem. You cannot be unprepared for quant on test day, trying to find new ways to solve problems during the test. It takes too much time. Because i did not have stronger fundamental math skills. I was perplexd on some math questions, in retrospect, I realised i could have solved some of them with more time.

8) Hire a math tutor or join some sort of class which offers tutoring, if you have specific problems you cant deal with. If you have a weakness- WORK ON IT. dont ignore it.
cuz it will come back to haunt you.

9) Watch out for absolute inequality questions, co-ordinate geometry questions, word problems that have algebraic expressions all over them, exponent questions.

All these required subtle math skills with precision and timing. The ability to translate complex tricky questions into a simple solution.
You must be able to manipulate numbers for this test like no other. I could not.

10) Be calm during the test. Dont worry about finishing it. If you look at the big picure. if you put in 3 months on the test. what is 4 hours. nothing. be strong. do not think of anything else besides the next question. I did not. I was dreaming of stupid stuff, i was distracted.

11) I recommend taking a practice test like twice a week. To buld your stamina and your confidence. Just doing alot of questions wont help.

12) OG is probably the best guide. But certain sections of certain books are also good. I should have focused on some of them too.
Like SC manhattan guide is good for the grammer rules.
Word Problem guide by Manhattan guide is good if your weak on translating word problems.
Some Science passages from GMAT 800 for Cr are decent.

Basically work on different books whichever suits your weakness. OG is obviously the best, but these additional guides are useful in specific ways. dont go overboard and do everything available on the market.

13) My score was 620 ( M 38 V 34 )

I wish all of you the best of luck, i will figure out what to do from here.

Great post! Wishing you so much luck next month....
I know you feel dejected but I have every confidence you will do better. Know why? Because it seems like you know what went wrong and it is exam practice rather than fundamental knowledge.
Go beat the gmat next time!!!!! All the luck in the world, V

I agree with V - you sound like you can and will nail it. Knowing your mistakes are the first step to fixing them......

Now its not about the fact that you will ace the gmat - (that is a given), its about when we will hear the good news from you

Take care,
-ngufo

Very valuable post for me...I am weak in Probability, Perumutations and combinations.....I should not overlook my weakness especially for GMAT...As you have said rightly, i should work hard to over come the weakness...

Thanks for the great post. . .Good pointers that I'll keep in mind during this weeks studying.

I wish you the best on your next attempt. I'm scheduled/confirmed for August 18th.

Best of luck to you! I'm in a similar spot as I scored a 620 as well (Q34, V41) and will focus on my weak area (Quant) and have scheduled to retake the test again on August 18th... (3rd time is a charmer)

I've signed up for the two day Quant Intensive course taught by VERITAS to focus on my area of weakness and hopefully improve this time around.

Again best of luck to you!

D Terman

https://www.beatthegmat.com/bombed-the-g ... t8577.html

microke wrote:Very valuable post for me...I am weak in Probability, Perumutations and combinations.....I should not overlook my weakness especially for GMAT...As you have said rightly, i should work hard to over come the weakness...

While you can do what you like, I would still suggest paying more attention to number properties, inequalities and word problems. You will see a total of 1 MAYBE 2 combinatorics problems on the test, as well as 1 or 2 probability problems. However, you will definitely see about 10 number properties questions and about 5 inequality questions. This is in addition to A LOT of word problems in PS and DS formats. Therefore, translating words into equations, manipulating numbers and variables, and spotting tricks in the properties of numbers is much more valuable than spending time on comb and perm and prob questions.

Good luck to all.

Thanks AleksandrM! I am comfortable with word problems, number properties etc., Anyway I will definitely sharpen these skills also.....

Thanks for the post. It is awesome and I agree with almost all of them. It helped me look more organized at the GMAT experience.
I hope you can overcome all the errors on your next attack

Thanks for the solid advice. Are you going to re-test or are you going to take a chance applying with a 620?

Thank you very much for this post and the invaluable advice. Im sure u will rock the next time. Wish you all the best!!

Hi! Thank you very much for that post! It is very helpful to me! - Lili

Absolutely fantastic debrief. The brutal honesty is a breath of fresh air, and I'm thrilled that this made it into the weekly BTG email--it's good for all of us to read about things that went wrong, not just the things that went right for the people who just clobbered the GMAT.

I was just about to write something like "stock2007, I love the introspection... your attitude is absolutely awesome, and I'd be willing to bet anything that you'll kick some serious butt next time." And then I realized that the original post is from 2008!

And guess what? Stock2007 did kick some serious butt on the GMAT: https://www.beatthegmat.com/if-i-dont-do ... html#41410

770! Introspection is good, apparently!

Solid information. Thanks for contributing.

Great post . . Thus i have postponed to take date in February to brush up my RC, Prob, combinations and Time rate problems . . . Its better to take GMAT later than to go for low score . . Taking your story , i will cover my weakness . .