-
dalecooper09
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2009 7:01 am
- GMAT Score:740
First of all, Yes!!!
I was hoping to score this high but was afraid nerves would get the best of me.
Studying strategy and experience:
I bought the Manhattan GMAT Complete Prep Set (4th edition), OG12 and both the verbal and quant official guides. I went through each of the MGMAT books and worked on the basics starting with sentence correction (I viewed this as my weakness). I progressed through the other two verbal guides and then took the verbal portion of MGMAT Cat 1 and got a 37.
I then worked my way through the Quant books which took about 2 and a half weeks. Midway though the quant books I took the verbal portion of MGMAT 2 and scored a 38. I finished up the last of the books and took the quant portion of MGMAT 3, scoring a 40. I was shocked and really disappointed. Math has always been my strength so I assumed I would score higher (percentile wise) in the Quant than in the verbal.
I spent the next few days reviewing the questions I missed (on cat 3) and the concepts I was deficient in. I took the complete MGMAT cat 4 and scored 660 (Q42,V38). I was still disappointed by my quant score, but read on this forum that they may be slightly lower than actual GMAT scores.
I spent the next week going through all the quant books again, doing only the end of chapter problems I couldn't solve right away. I also reviewed all the OG 12 questions I had missed throughout my quant studying. I took MGMAT cat 5 and scored a 710 (Q47,V40).
The next few days I reviewed all the quant questions I missed on all the prior Cat exams. I then took MGMAT 6 and scored 700 (Q46,V39). I ran the diagnostic feature from the MGMAT cats and realized geometry was absolutely killing me. I then purchased the challenge set from GMAT hacks.com and worked exclusively on these for a few days. This was extremely helpful. The geometry book from Manhattan is good for basics, but the challenge set offered 100 difficult question and very helpful explanations. I highly recommend these sets if you have a particular weakness in quant.
After working though the challenge set I took the MGMAT cat 1 quant portion and scored a 50 (I did see some repeat questions though). The next day I took the GMAT prep test one and scored a 720 (Q47,V43?...don't remember exact breakdown). I studied for another week and took GMAT prep cat 2 and scored 750 (Q50, V42).
I took the second prep test last saturday afternoon. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday I went through all OG 12 data sufficiency, problem solving, and sentence correction questions. I spent a significant time studying what problems I got wrong and why. I also continued to work on my timing for quant by retaking the official GMAT cats (total of 4 times). I disregarded my scores on these because there were repeat questions.
Wednesday (yesterday) I just relaxed, went over a few formulas (mostly geometry) and tried not to think too much or do anything to make my eyes sore (like staring at a computer screen or tv).
This morning I woke up, ate a light breakfast and got to the test site a few minutes early. The center had noise canceling ear muffs and earplugs which I found helpful. The AWA was ok, though I couldn't think of any good examples for my analysis of an issue essay. I took the 8 minutes break before quant. Q section was pretty much exactly like the official GMAT cats. The data sufficiency questions were very tricky. I had a few geometry questions but very few permutation/combinatorics stuff. I finished the quant with about 30 seconds to spare
Verbal section was also comparable to the official prep. I could tell I was doing well because the RC questions started getting really hard. After finishing the verbal section I clicked on report scores and held my breath. I actually covered the screen with my hand and then slowly uncovered my quant score. I saw it was a 48 and let out a deep breath.
Suggestions/Lessons learned
-As previously emphasized by other posters, quality not quantity! Review all the questions you answer out of the guides and on the cats. On the ones you missed, find out why you missed them and review those concepts. On the questions you got right, review the explanation to see if there was a faster way to solve it.
-Half the battle in quant is identifying what type of question it is and how you should set it up. The faster you can accomplish this for each question the better off you are. Practice looking at questions and quickly making this identification.
-The other half of the quant battle is taking what you figured out and knowing how it will help you answer the question. Make sure all your calculations give you the number the question is actually asking for-or that you modify it accordingly. The GMAT tricksters will purposely put a little twist in the question so after all your hard work, you look up and see that number (the wrong answer) in the answer choices. Often though, the question requires you to slightly modify the calculation-for example, a question might require you to calculate the cost of a meal based on the price of the tip. You do all the work, get the price of the meal and see the answer in the choice. If you re-read the details, it might be asking what the total cost is, so you would have to add the tip cost to the meal cost for the total. Be careful!!! It's worth taking the extra 5 seconds to re-read part of the question to see exactly what answer entails.
-MGMAT cats are excellent but don't get discouraged by the quant scores. The quant is much harder than the actual GMAT (granted I only scored a 48 so never saw the hardest GMAT questions), and the questions take much longer to work through (I had to pause the test during every cat I took). The explanations for the MGMAT quant questions, and the diagnostic features are outstanding though. Use them as an assessment tool to expose your weaknesses, and then focus on them.
-Use as much official material as possible leading up to the test day. The official guides are the closest thing to the actual exam. I did all the DS, PS, and SC questions out of OG 12 in the days leading up to the exam and I think it really helped. Also, save the GMAT prep cats (the official ones) for the very end of your prep. I saved mine for the last two weeks, and then took them multiple times (especially the quant). This will give you a good indication of what you should expect, and what you need to focus on, and will keep questions types you may actually see fresh in your mind. Work on your timing and test simulations with other material (MGMAT cats or some of the others)
-Data sufficiency can make or break you. Know the tricks the GMAT uses to fool test takers. Often the harder questions will be answer D. Also double check before you put down E, especially on hard DS questions. I found that the answer to difficult DS questions is almost never E and (in my experience) tend to be either D,B, or A.
- stay calm during the test!! This is easier said than done obviously. The good thing is that you get alot of your nerves out during the AWA. I took the breaks, drank some water, paced a little bit, and then went into each section like I couldn't wait to start answering questions.
Thanks to all who contribute to this forum and especially the Tutors and Mods! Good luck to everyone who still needs to take the GMAT!! Sorry for the rambling post, I left the better part of my brain at the testing facility
I was hoping to score this high but was afraid nerves would get the best of me.
Studying strategy and experience:
I bought the Manhattan GMAT Complete Prep Set (4th edition), OG12 and both the verbal and quant official guides. I went through each of the MGMAT books and worked on the basics starting with sentence correction (I viewed this as my weakness). I progressed through the other two verbal guides and then took the verbal portion of MGMAT Cat 1 and got a 37.
I then worked my way through the Quant books which took about 2 and a half weeks. Midway though the quant books I took the verbal portion of MGMAT 2 and scored a 38. I finished up the last of the books and took the quant portion of MGMAT 3, scoring a 40. I was shocked and really disappointed. Math has always been my strength so I assumed I would score higher (percentile wise) in the Quant than in the verbal.
I spent the next few days reviewing the questions I missed (on cat 3) and the concepts I was deficient in. I took the complete MGMAT cat 4 and scored 660 (Q42,V38). I was still disappointed by my quant score, but read on this forum that they may be slightly lower than actual GMAT scores.
I spent the next week going through all the quant books again, doing only the end of chapter problems I couldn't solve right away. I also reviewed all the OG 12 questions I had missed throughout my quant studying. I took MGMAT cat 5 and scored a 710 (Q47,V40).
The next few days I reviewed all the quant questions I missed on all the prior Cat exams. I then took MGMAT 6 and scored 700 (Q46,V39). I ran the diagnostic feature from the MGMAT cats and realized geometry was absolutely killing me. I then purchased the challenge set from GMAT hacks.com and worked exclusively on these for a few days. This was extremely helpful. The geometry book from Manhattan is good for basics, but the challenge set offered 100 difficult question and very helpful explanations. I highly recommend these sets if you have a particular weakness in quant.
After working though the challenge set I took the MGMAT cat 1 quant portion and scored a 50 (I did see some repeat questions though). The next day I took the GMAT prep test one and scored a 720 (Q47,V43?...don't remember exact breakdown). I studied for another week and took GMAT prep cat 2 and scored 750 (Q50, V42).
I took the second prep test last saturday afternoon. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday I went through all OG 12 data sufficiency, problem solving, and sentence correction questions. I spent a significant time studying what problems I got wrong and why. I also continued to work on my timing for quant by retaking the official GMAT cats (total of 4 times). I disregarded my scores on these because there were repeat questions.
Wednesday (yesterday) I just relaxed, went over a few formulas (mostly geometry) and tried not to think too much or do anything to make my eyes sore (like staring at a computer screen or tv).
This morning I woke up, ate a light breakfast and got to the test site a few minutes early. The center had noise canceling ear muffs and earplugs which I found helpful. The AWA was ok, though I couldn't think of any good examples for my analysis of an issue essay. I took the 8 minutes break before quant. Q section was pretty much exactly like the official GMAT cats. The data sufficiency questions were very tricky. I had a few geometry questions but very few permutation/combinatorics stuff. I finished the quant with about 30 seconds to spare
Verbal section was also comparable to the official prep. I could tell I was doing well because the RC questions started getting really hard. After finishing the verbal section I clicked on report scores and held my breath. I actually covered the screen with my hand and then slowly uncovered my quant score. I saw it was a 48 and let out a deep breath.
Suggestions/Lessons learned
-As previously emphasized by other posters, quality not quantity! Review all the questions you answer out of the guides and on the cats. On the ones you missed, find out why you missed them and review those concepts. On the questions you got right, review the explanation to see if there was a faster way to solve it.
-Half the battle in quant is identifying what type of question it is and how you should set it up. The faster you can accomplish this for each question the better off you are. Practice looking at questions and quickly making this identification.
-The other half of the quant battle is taking what you figured out and knowing how it will help you answer the question. Make sure all your calculations give you the number the question is actually asking for-or that you modify it accordingly. The GMAT tricksters will purposely put a little twist in the question so after all your hard work, you look up and see that number (the wrong answer) in the answer choices. Often though, the question requires you to slightly modify the calculation-for example, a question might require you to calculate the cost of a meal based on the price of the tip. You do all the work, get the price of the meal and see the answer in the choice. If you re-read the details, it might be asking what the total cost is, so you would have to add the tip cost to the meal cost for the total. Be careful!!! It's worth taking the extra 5 seconds to re-read part of the question to see exactly what answer entails.
-MGMAT cats are excellent but don't get discouraged by the quant scores. The quant is much harder than the actual GMAT (granted I only scored a 48 so never saw the hardest GMAT questions), and the questions take much longer to work through (I had to pause the test during every cat I took). The explanations for the MGMAT quant questions, and the diagnostic features are outstanding though. Use them as an assessment tool to expose your weaknesses, and then focus on them.
-Use as much official material as possible leading up to the test day. The official guides are the closest thing to the actual exam. I did all the DS, PS, and SC questions out of OG 12 in the days leading up to the exam and I think it really helped. Also, save the GMAT prep cats (the official ones) for the very end of your prep. I saved mine for the last two weeks, and then took them multiple times (especially the quant). This will give you a good indication of what you should expect, and what you need to focus on, and will keep questions types you may actually see fresh in your mind. Work on your timing and test simulations with other material (MGMAT cats or some of the others)
-Data sufficiency can make or break you. Know the tricks the GMAT uses to fool test takers. Often the harder questions will be answer D. Also double check before you put down E, especially on hard DS questions. I found that the answer to difficult DS questions is almost never E and (in my experience) tend to be either D,B, or A.
- stay calm during the test!! This is easier said than done obviously. The good thing is that you get alot of your nerves out during the AWA. I took the breaks, drank some water, paced a little bit, and then went into each section like I couldn't wait to start answering questions.
Thanks to all who contribute to this forum and especially the Tutors and Mods! Good luck to everyone who still needs to take the GMAT!! Sorry for the rambling post, I left the better part of my brain at the testing facility
