-
JasonReynolds
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
- Posts: 38
- Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:21 pm
- Thanked: 5 times
- GMAT Score:770
So I just got done with the GMAT today and I was pretty happy with my score. I wasn't "surprised" by the 770, but certainly relieved. I was also slightly surprised with the score breakdown. I would have thought Q50 and V47 would get me a 780, but I doubt those 10 points matter.
Before I go through my experiences, I should probably state that I'm pretty unconventional when it comes to studying habits and test taking skills. Therefore, take what I say with a grain of salt, and hopefully something useful will come from this. Also, most of this kind of goes through my test psychology. If you have more specific questions about how I studied, let me know.
For starters, I've probably been "studying" for the GMAT for 4 or 5 months. However, I use the term "studying" lightly. I could have walked into the GMAT in March without ever having looked at any study material and probably walked out with a 750. The problem is, I could have also had a bad test run and walked out with a 720 (certainly still a good score, but we always want to put our best foot forward). Over the few months I was able to become more consistent and I knew what to expect from the GMAT. When I walked into the test center, I felt I had less than a 5% chance of scoring under 750, and that really helped my confidence on the test (more on that later).
In terms of studying, I was kind of all over the place. I had a lot of job applications, interviews, volunteer work, travel, etc. that came up and it was very hard to get consistent studying done. That being said, before I started studying I took several of the paper tests and I felt that the only section I needed any improvement on was the Sentence Correction.
Paper Test Results:
GMAT ETS Test 14: RC (22/23), SC (17/22), CR (15/16), M(50/52); V44, Q50 - 740.
GMAT ETS Test 28: RC (20/23), SC (18/21), CR (16/16), M(49/52); V44, V50 - 750
GMAT ETS Test 25: RC (19/23), SC (16/21), CR(15/16), M(51/52); V42, Q50 - 730
GMAT ETS Test 31: RC(15/18), SC (16/22), CR(16/16), M(51/52); V40, Q50 - 730
As you can tell, SC was really what seemed to be hurting me. Reading Comprehension wasn't always great, but I wasn't worried. I just figured that I wasn't completely focusing (reading comprehension is usually one of my strengths). For the next few months, all I really studied was Sentence Correction. I would work a little bit out of the Manhattan GMAT SC book, and basically work as many of the OG questions as possible.
I ended up with pretty solid strike rates on my OG/Supplementary questions:
SC (91%), CR (96%), RC (94%), Problem Solving (99%), Data Sufficiency (98%). I kept track of timing as well and the results were fairly solid, but I usually did questions in sets of 14 so my stamina was never tested. I also did 14 SC questions at once or 14 RC questions at once. I think one thing you have to get used to on the real test is that you keep getting different types of questions. This kept me from getting into a rhythm.
So after having gone through a lot of OG, I wanted to see how I would fare on a CAT. My first CAT was Princeton review's free test (V41, Q47 710). I was a little discouraged, but I didn't think much of it. I followed this up with two Manhattan GMATs and the results hit me pretty hard (V38, Q46 - 690) and (V39, Q51 (untimed math section) - 730). To understand why this hit me so hard, you have to realize that I pretty much felt that I could have walked in a couple of months before this and scored a 750. My goal was a 770, and here I was taking CATs and scoring between 690 and 710. I had previously thought all I needed to learn was Sentence Correction, and now it felt like I wasn't good at anything.
Suffice to say, this was a pretty terrible experience. I basically stopped studying for over a month. It didn't seem like I was getting anywhere, and finding a job was really my priority. Randomly, a month later, I decided I should take a GMAT Prep. At the end of the day, I felt like I did very well with OG questions and I didn't think Manhattan GMAT or Princeton Review CAT questions were representative of what I would see on the real test. The only way to test this theory was to take a GMATPrep.
The results made me fairly happy.
GMATPrep1 (RC 14/14, SC 10/14, CR 13/14, M29/37; V44, Q49 - 750)
I had finally gained some of that swagger back. I knew I was close to my goal and that I could accomplish it. That being said, I really couldn't get back into studying. Other obligations got in the way, but I knew I wanted to take the GMAT soon. In Mid July I decided I was going to take the test August 8th. Having a concrete goal really helped me get down to business. I had a schedule of things I wanted to get done before the test, and while I didn't really accomplish everything on my ambitious schedule, I was able to go through enough material to put myself in a place I could succeed.
GmatPrep 2 (RC 13/14, SC 9/15, CR 14/14, M29/37; V44, Q49 - 750).
One of the critical things I learned at this juncture was that I really needed to shave a bit of time off of my math questions. I was really putting myself at a disadvantage near the end of the test and I could really have improved by saving about 15 minutes for the last 5 questions or so. Instead, I had 7 or 8 minutes for the last 5 questions and I would sometimes panic. The other thing that was bothering me was that the SC score wasn't improving even though I did great in the OG. What I learned later was that I really just wasn't focusing.
When I would do 14 consecutive SC it was much easier to get in the Grammar mode. When you do a few SC, then a few CR, and then a passage, each SC seems very difficult. You forget what you are looking for. As a native speaker, your job is sometimes easier (idioms), but it can be significantly harder in the sense that you fall for traps that they put because you let your ear do the thinking for you. I really had to figure out a way around that.
The week of the test was extremely busy. I had to fly to two interviews on the West Coast that week and I retook both Gmat Preps.
I retook GMAT Prep 1 on Monday and scored a 770. There were a few repeats, but I felt pretty happy with my performance. I then retook my GMATPrep 2 on Friday and scored a 780. Once again a few repeats which really made the math easier, but score helped my confidence nonetheless.
A few important things I did. One, the second time I went through the GMAT Prep I wrote the AWA essays. This was my first time attempting the essays, but I felt it would be important to practice the full length 4 hour test. Second, I took both GMAT Preps at 4 pm since my real test was going to be at 4 pm on Saturday. Also, most people would warn against taking Full length CATs before the exam. For me, I just wanted to get my body used to it and I felt the experience was useful. When I took the real test, it wasn't really a struggle.
____________________________________________________________
The following are probably the two most important takeaways from my entire experience.
The first has to do with the quant section. I'm almost worried to mention this because some of us have a fairly strong quant intuition that helps us make decisions. If you do not, then you might want to avoid this strategy. What I learned from taking my last GMAT Prep is, as you are doing well on the Quant section, you start getting harder DS questions (okay, so we all knew that). Now, although I have a limited sample size, I realized that difficult DS questions tend to skew to certain answer choices. For example, if you are near the end of a DS and the question is supossed to be difficult, you will often get a D or an E. The reason being, these answers may take the longest to arrive at. Similarly, the easier questions near the end of the test skew towards C. Clearly a DS question that requires both pieces of information is the easiest to solve. Like I said, be very careful with how you use that, but if nothing else, it reinforced my intuition as I took the test.
The second very important takeaway was to really utilize the breaks. I took advantage of every break to clear my mind. During my practice tests, I would often be thinking about the previous section even once it was done. The breaks gave me a chance to take a deep breath, come to peace with what I had just done, and refocus on the next section. A lot of people in the testing facility didn't use the breaks, but I found them extremely useful.
A couple of other things. Because my test was at 4 pm, I tried to wake up around noon. I felt that if I woke up very early I might get tired by the end of the test. I also drank a "5 hour energy shot" just minutes before my test, with hopes it would let me focus. I didn't eat a heavy meal or anything just to avoid any possible complications.
The last thing I want to mention is that while taking the test, it was very hard to gauge how I was doing. I actually finished the math section with time to spare, but I didn't know if I was doing well or poorly. I felt like I was flying through it, but in the back of my mind I was wondering if I was getting easy questions because I had missed a few earlier.
In Verbal i finished with a good 15 minutes to spare. I never got one of the "bolded" critical reasoning questions and this really worried me. I felt like I was getting almost everything right, but I have a tendency to miss SC questions even when i think I'm doing well. So i had a bit of fear and hope mixed together when I finally saw my score. I think the conclusion is try to avoid playing mind games with yourself. Don't try to determine how you are doing from the difficulty level of questions. Sometimes "difficult" questions seem very easy because they are testing you on a rule that you just studied.
The perfectionist in me keeps thinking about that one math question that would have pushed me to a Q51 or the verbal questions I must have missed that kept me from a higher verbal, but in the end, I'm pretty happy with the result. At least now I know that the GMAT wont be what keeps me out of my dream B-school.
If you guys have any questions, let me know.
Before I go through my experiences, I should probably state that I'm pretty unconventional when it comes to studying habits and test taking skills. Therefore, take what I say with a grain of salt, and hopefully something useful will come from this. Also, most of this kind of goes through my test psychology. If you have more specific questions about how I studied, let me know.
For starters, I've probably been "studying" for the GMAT for 4 or 5 months. However, I use the term "studying" lightly. I could have walked into the GMAT in March without ever having looked at any study material and probably walked out with a 750. The problem is, I could have also had a bad test run and walked out with a 720 (certainly still a good score, but we always want to put our best foot forward). Over the few months I was able to become more consistent and I knew what to expect from the GMAT. When I walked into the test center, I felt I had less than a 5% chance of scoring under 750, and that really helped my confidence on the test (more on that later).
In terms of studying, I was kind of all over the place. I had a lot of job applications, interviews, volunteer work, travel, etc. that came up and it was very hard to get consistent studying done. That being said, before I started studying I took several of the paper tests and I felt that the only section I needed any improvement on was the Sentence Correction.
Paper Test Results:
GMAT ETS Test 14: RC (22/23), SC (17/22), CR (15/16), M(50/52); V44, Q50 - 740.
GMAT ETS Test 28: RC (20/23), SC (18/21), CR (16/16), M(49/52); V44, V50 - 750
GMAT ETS Test 25: RC (19/23), SC (16/21), CR(15/16), M(51/52); V42, Q50 - 730
GMAT ETS Test 31: RC(15/18), SC (16/22), CR(16/16), M(51/52); V40, Q50 - 730
As you can tell, SC was really what seemed to be hurting me. Reading Comprehension wasn't always great, but I wasn't worried. I just figured that I wasn't completely focusing (reading comprehension is usually one of my strengths). For the next few months, all I really studied was Sentence Correction. I would work a little bit out of the Manhattan GMAT SC book, and basically work as many of the OG questions as possible.
I ended up with pretty solid strike rates on my OG/Supplementary questions:
SC (91%), CR (96%), RC (94%), Problem Solving (99%), Data Sufficiency (98%). I kept track of timing as well and the results were fairly solid, but I usually did questions in sets of 14 so my stamina was never tested. I also did 14 SC questions at once or 14 RC questions at once. I think one thing you have to get used to on the real test is that you keep getting different types of questions. This kept me from getting into a rhythm.
So after having gone through a lot of OG, I wanted to see how I would fare on a CAT. My first CAT was Princeton review's free test (V41, Q47 710). I was a little discouraged, but I didn't think much of it. I followed this up with two Manhattan GMATs and the results hit me pretty hard (V38, Q46 - 690) and (V39, Q51 (untimed math section) - 730). To understand why this hit me so hard, you have to realize that I pretty much felt that I could have walked in a couple of months before this and scored a 750. My goal was a 770, and here I was taking CATs and scoring between 690 and 710. I had previously thought all I needed to learn was Sentence Correction, and now it felt like I wasn't good at anything.
Suffice to say, this was a pretty terrible experience. I basically stopped studying for over a month. It didn't seem like I was getting anywhere, and finding a job was really my priority. Randomly, a month later, I decided I should take a GMAT Prep. At the end of the day, I felt like I did very well with OG questions and I didn't think Manhattan GMAT or Princeton Review CAT questions were representative of what I would see on the real test. The only way to test this theory was to take a GMATPrep.
The results made me fairly happy.
GMATPrep1 (RC 14/14, SC 10/14, CR 13/14, M29/37; V44, Q49 - 750)
I had finally gained some of that swagger back. I knew I was close to my goal and that I could accomplish it. That being said, I really couldn't get back into studying. Other obligations got in the way, but I knew I wanted to take the GMAT soon. In Mid July I decided I was going to take the test August 8th. Having a concrete goal really helped me get down to business. I had a schedule of things I wanted to get done before the test, and while I didn't really accomplish everything on my ambitious schedule, I was able to go through enough material to put myself in a place I could succeed.
GmatPrep 2 (RC 13/14, SC 9/15, CR 14/14, M29/37; V44, Q49 - 750).
One of the critical things I learned at this juncture was that I really needed to shave a bit of time off of my math questions. I was really putting myself at a disadvantage near the end of the test and I could really have improved by saving about 15 minutes for the last 5 questions or so. Instead, I had 7 or 8 minutes for the last 5 questions and I would sometimes panic. The other thing that was bothering me was that the SC score wasn't improving even though I did great in the OG. What I learned later was that I really just wasn't focusing.
When I would do 14 consecutive SC it was much easier to get in the Grammar mode. When you do a few SC, then a few CR, and then a passage, each SC seems very difficult. You forget what you are looking for. As a native speaker, your job is sometimes easier (idioms), but it can be significantly harder in the sense that you fall for traps that they put because you let your ear do the thinking for you. I really had to figure out a way around that.
The week of the test was extremely busy. I had to fly to two interviews on the West Coast that week and I retook both Gmat Preps.
I retook GMAT Prep 1 on Monday and scored a 770. There were a few repeats, but I felt pretty happy with my performance. I then retook my GMATPrep 2 on Friday and scored a 780. Once again a few repeats which really made the math easier, but score helped my confidence nonetheless.
A few important things I did. One, the second time I went through the GMAT Prep I wrote the AWA essays. This was my first time attempting the essays, but I felt it would be important to practice the full length 4 hour test. Second, I took both GMAT Preps at 4 pm since my real test was going to be at 4 pm on Saturday. Also, most people would warn against taking Full length CATs before the exam. For me, I just wanted to get my body used to it and I felt the experience was useful. When I took the real test, it wasn't really a struggle.
____________________________________________________________
The following are probably the two most important takeaways from my entire experience.
The first has to do with the quant section. I'm almost worried to mention this because some of us have a fairly strong quant intuition that helps us make decisions. If you do not, then you might want to avoid this strategy. What I learned from taking my last GMAT Prep is, as you are doing well on the Quant section, you start getting harder DS questions (okay, so we all knew that). Now, although I have a limited sample size, I realized that difficult DS questions tend to skew to certain answer choices. For example, if you are near the end of a DS and the question is supossed to be difficult, you will often get a D or an E. The reason being, these answers may take the longest to arrive at. Similarly, the easier questions near the end of the test skew towards C. Clearly a DS question that requires both pieces of information is the easiest to solve. Like I said, be very careful with how you use that, but if nothing else, it reinforced my intuition as I took the test.
The second very important takeaway was to really utilize the breaks. I took advantage of every break to clear my mind. During my practice tests, I would often be thinking about the previous section even once it was done. The breaks gave me a chance to take a deep breath, come to peace with what I had just done, and refocus on the next section. A lot of people in the testing facility didn't use the breaks, but I found them extremely useful.
A couple of other things. Because my test was at 4 pm, I tried to wake up around noon. I felt that if I woke up very early I might get tired by the end of the test. I also drank a "5 hour energy shot" just minutes before my test, with hopes it would let me focus. I didn't eat a heavy meal or anything just to avoid any possible complications.
The last thing I want to mention is that while taking the test, it was very hard to gauge how I was doing. I actually finished the math section with time to spare, but I didn't know if I was doing well or poorly. I felt like I was flying through it, but in the back of my mind I was wondering if I was getting easy questions because I had missed a few earlier.
In Verbal i finished with a good 15 minutes to spare. I never got one of the "bolded" critical reasoning questions and this really worried me. I felt like I was getting almost everything right, but I have a tendency to miss SC questions even when i think I'm doing well. So i had a bit of fear and hope mixed together when I finally saw my score. I think the conclusion is try to avoid playing mind games with yourself. Don't try to determine how you are doing from the difficulty level of questions. Sometimes "difficult" questions seem very easy because they are testing you on a rule that you just studied.
The perfectionist in me keeps thinking about that one math question that would have pushed me to a Q51 or the verbal questions I must have missed that kept me from a higher verbal, but in the end, I'm pretty happy with the result. At least now I know that the GMAT wont be what keeps me out of my dream B-school.
If you guys have any questions, let me know.
...so I really don't know what going wrong...
