I just Beat The GMAT!

Got a 710 (50Q 94%, 36V 78%)

Im upset that I got below 80% in verbal, but I hit my target score so whatever

First of all, thanks to everybody on this site, especially Eric and all the Experts.

My opinion on Prep Material (keep in mind that these are all in MY OPINION):

OG 11 and 12 (obviously necessary)
Manhattan SC (necessary)
Manhattan SC and RC (pretty good)
Kaplan Premier Book (waste of my bloody time)
Kaplan 800 (makes me want to puke that I wasted any time with this)

Did not use any other materials so I can not comment on them

Brief Overview of How I studied:

For Math:
OG, GMAT Prep, and Manhattan Tests: all pretty good, but keep in mind that Manhattan Math Tests are WAY harder than actual test.

I learned the most from the experts on this site:

List of Freakin Geniuses (off the top of my head so sorry if I forget you):
Ian, Stuart, DanaJ, BlueMentor, ScoobyDoob, Cramya, Jose (Forget His Last name), Logitech and there are a few more I can not think of.

LISTEN TO THESE PEOPLE. Understand how they do the problems, and, more importantly, how they think. This is critical to doing well on the Math. Ian's explanations on absolute value are especially good.

For Verbal (although you may not want to pay attention because I obviously suck at this):
OG, Manhattan Tests, GMAT Prep, and this website

List of Freakin Geniuses (once again sorry if I forget you):
Stacy Kopaline (not sure about the last name), ScoobyDoob (a SC Beast), Jose, and many more.


Practice Test Results:
Manhattan Tests (Dont Remember Breakdowns and Dont feel like checking):
Manhattan 1: 690
Manhattan 2: 640
Manhattan 3: 650
Manhattan 4: 670
Manhattan 5: 680
Manhattan 6: 710

As I said earlier, MATH SECTION IS WAY MORE DIFFICULT, but it seems that they are still pretty accurate. I think that Manhattan Tests are very useful for their explanations and for practicing timing.



GMAT Prep 1: 670
GMAT Prep 2: 680

Then, I continued to take 2 GMAT Prep every weekend for a month and eventually got up to 740 (this is obviously skewed due to repeats)

Regarding Timing: Search for Logitech's "I just beat the GMAT" post.
DONT FORGET TIMING IS CRITICAL (as my Verbal score shows)


Test Experience:
Tip: I read that many people had trouble sleeping the night before so I found the best way to avoid this problem. The day before the test I woke up at 4am to make sure that I was very tired by about 7pm. It worked and I was sleeping like a baby at 730pm.

Essays: I think I did pretty well on these, hoping for at least a 5.5. Essay questions are pretty much exactly what you expect.

Just follow a test prep company outline and you should do fine.

Math: Oh my god did I think this crap was easy. Not to sound like a punk, but I thought I was going to get a freakin 19 on Math, the questions were so easy. I mean really, the questions were so easy that it affected me during verbal. I kept thinking about how crapy I must have done on Math and I think it affected my Verbal score. In conclusion, the Math is way EASIER than the Manhattan GMAT and easier than even the GMAT Prep.

Although I can not go into any particulars regarding Math Questions I will tell you this, they were mostly the stupid little trick questions. Just make sure that you read the question fully and you should do fine.

Verbal: Pretty much the complete opposite. I felt like it was all a blur. To be honest, I think that I was doing well up to about question 9, but looked at the clock and saw that I had already used 27 minutes! So panic hit me. I was basically trying to catch up the entire time and felt like I rushed literally every single question. In hindsight, I probably would have been better off going at my speed and guessing at the end.

In conclusion, do a bunch of problems, do a bunch of GMAT Prep Tests, and listen to the people on my list of "Freakin Geniuses" and you will do well.

REMEMBER, WORK HARD AND YOU WILL GET YOUR SCORE!

Im planning on applying to Cornell, UNC, and NYU (this is probably a stretch)

Any think that I should retake?

710 is a very good score so if it were me I woudnt spend another 250 bucks and retake the exam.

It's a competitve score and with good apps u definitely should have a shot at the top schools.

Good luck and all the very best! CONGRATS on a great score!!!

Regards,
CR

Congrats! Great score. can you please tell me did u find it worth buying OG 12 when you had OG 11, specially for verbal section?

Congrats mike! 710 is a great score.

mike22629 wrote:Tip: I read that many people had trouble sleeping the night before so I found the best way to avoid this problem. The day before the test I woke up at 4am to make sure that I was very tired by about 7pm. It worked and I was sleeping like a baby at 730pm.

Nice write-up and "Congrats" on the score! All the best to the rest of your app. I definitely liked the above tip... sweet!

Hey Mike,

Thank you for your kind words. I understand how it may be frustrating to not get the score you wanted (I was also pretty annoyed by my score), but in the end you're done with it all and ready to move on to the other steps in your application! 710 is a really good score, since most top schools' averages are around there (except for Stanford, I believe). So if it's b-school you're after, your GMAT score isn't a concern any more. Focus on the other aspects of your application and the best of luck!

Congrats and best of luck with the b-school apps.

-BM-

its a gr8 score and with a good application can take you anywhere you want.

Congrats on the score and good luck with the rest of the process

Thanks a lot everyone! Appreciate your encouragement.

Further Opinion on the Verbal for People who are better at Math:

If I had to do it over again I would have spent way more time with verbal. Even though I did about a 30/70 split, I should have done a 20/80 split. Like I said earlier, the math was a lot easier than expected. I might have gotten 51, but there were a few I skipped because I thought they would take too long. But I finished with 9 MINUTES!

As far as study material for verbal:

OGs are definitely best. Even if you already have OG11, OG12 is a good idea. I also liked the Math Material in OG12.



BIG MISTAKE I MADE: I did not practice timed verbal questions until about 3 weeks before GMAT. This is a big reason I had timing issues with it.

ANOTHER MISTAKE: I got too obsessed with SC and kind of overlooked CR and RC. Im pretty sure RC is what killed me for the test. Definitely focus on OGs for RC and CR, they are pretty accurate.


As far as Math goes:
If you are pretty good at Math (scoring in the high 40s), I think that doing the GMAT Prep test until you understand pretty much every question will get you into the 50s.

Like I said: WATCH OUT FOR TRICK QUESTIONS IN MATH
about 3 or 4 times I came about 2 seconds from choosing the trap answer, but looked over the question again and said "Aha you almost got me there"

Congrats on a great score and a great write-up. Good luck and Godspeed on the rest of the journey.
Thanks for the tips.

mike22629,
thanks for replying. I was confused whether I should buy the OG 12 or not as I heard good reviews for quant section but not much for verbal. I am quite comfortable in quant, always scored around 48 in GMATPREP without much prepration but struggling in verbal always getting 23-29 range. But as you said that OG-12 is good for verbal too I ordered it today but I have only one month left for my GMAT exam. Would you like to suggest something how can I use the book over a month to get my verbal score up like if I can go for some specific sections or questions?

Yea I was where you are at one point. I wish there was some special remedy, but the true is you have to pound it into your head through practice. Ask questions on this site when you are confused and keep working hard. But trust me, IT IS COMPLETELY DOABLE to raise your verbal to at least 35 in one month.

REMEMBER: People always say to go over all answer choices for every question you answer, INCLUDING THE ONES YOU GET RIGHT. This is absolutely necessary if you want to improve your score.