My Situation

[Abel Torres]

Hi everyone,

Boy am I glad I found this forum.

Let me briefly explain my situation.

Last week I finished my GMAT Kaplan course. I finished the majority of the required assignments, did most of the quant in Kaplan 800 (spread out throughout the prep) and the corresponding quant and verbal that Kaplan assigns from the OG (11th Ed). I took roughly 1 Kaplan CAT /week. Below is a breakdown of my scores:

Diagnostic - 3/17 630
Kaplan CAT 1 - 3/29 610
Kaplan CAT 2 - 4/4 610
Kalan CAT 3 - 4/12 600
Kaplan CAT 4 - 4/18 640
Kaplan CAT 5 - 4/25 590
Kaplan CAT 6 - 5/8 610

You should have seen the look on my face when the last CAT was a 610 (last week). I couldnt believe it. I've been working hard for weeks and felt completely DEVASTATED. For some reason, I felt as if the Kaplan CAT scores were not really indicative of my abilities. I was doing relatively well on the Kaplan 800 and OG questions (timing was a bit off on the Kaplan 800, but this was in the begining of my prep). I remember my Kaplan instructor telling me, "as long as you get a 650 on this last CAT, you'll be fine and then also showing me the GMAT test from the mba.com website (I assume this is the GMAT prep exam)". He also recommended that I try that on.

Soooo....out of curiosity I googled Kaplan GMAT score and found tons of testimonials from people who had gone through my experience? People who had scored in high 500's and/or low/mid 600s were scoring in the high 600s to mid/high 700s!! The first feeling was relief...wow, I am doing better than I thought I told myself! Then I just felt a bit pissed...because for all of these weeks I have been thinking that I was 70 - 90 pts off my mark (my initial goal was to get a 700).

Anyway, after reading many people's stories I felt some inspiration and told myself that I was going to go all out and CRUSH the exam. I reviewed a several strategies and kind of formulated my own based on what I thought would be best.

My test date originally was scheduled for this Saturday (May 16th)...however, after I saw the 610 I rescheduled it and move it to June 20th. So now, I'm at a fork in the road. I have read that Kaplan CAT scores are anywhere from 70 to 120 pts lower than the actual GMAT scores. At the same time, I have heard that the Power Prep (don't know if they are still available or have been discontinued) and the GMAT Prep Exams (this one in particular) are the representative of the actual GMAT exam. So I was thinking to myself, maybe I should take one this weekend to see where I am at and then go from there.

Originally I told myself I would be happy with a 700, but hearing everyone's success stories motivated me, and I am now shooting for something higher, 720 - 750.

I would love to hear any feedback regarding this.

I am considering getting the following (based on what I read in this forum):

- Bob Miller's Math (might be too basic though)
- GMAT (the hacks) Math Bible
- Manhattan GMAT (heard specially good things about the RC & CR)
- OG (10th Ed) - this is supposed to be best of the 3 with the most Q's
and also the most difficult Q's (i believe it tells you the difficulty level
of the Q's as well)
- OG 12th - maybe this is overkill (I already have the 10th as well -
dont know if there is any overlap between the 11th and 12th)
- Flashcards (this website has some and also GMATfix.com)

I would like to get a strategy and stick to it for the next 34 days or so (before my exam). That would make it exactly 3 months since I began prepping (anymore would lead to burnout I think..

Any advice/thoughts/feedback are welcome....

Thanks
Abel