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rajarshir
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I have never posted here before but this website has been of immense help to me. Therefore I felt that I should contribute my GMAT experience here.
I spent about 10 weeks spanning over 3 months of time preparing for my GMAT. I was quite regular with my studies except for about the time when I was shifting residence. I never spent more than 3 hours a day and almost never studied over the weekend. I used the following resources in this specific order: The OG Edition 11, Princeton Review Guide with the 4 online trial exams and 4 Kaplan CATs. Of course I made good use of Eric's GMAT flashcards and also took the 2 GMATPrep exams. I felt that the OG was indispensible towards preparing for the GMAT and at least a couple of questions that I had encountered in the GMAT were also present in the OG. The GMATPrep exams were also the closest to the actual GMAT itself and I took both the GMATPrep exams twice. When I had begun my GMAT prepartion, the score on the first exam was 630. When I had retaken this exam towards the end of my preparation, I had managed a 700. The highest I got on any of the mock exams was a 710.
The Princeton Review Guide only helped me with the essays. Their essay writing techniques were superb, however I felt that most of their material, especially their Math preparatory was very basic. The Kaplan GMATs weren't of much use, in fact I managed to get a 650 + score in only one of them and got less than a 600 in the others. I wouldn't recommend taking the Kaplan CATs; not only are the questions badly drafted but also are they not of the type that you would face at the GMAT. The only good thing that I saw was the Math practice it gave me.
Most of the mock exams I took were under similiar testing conditions of the GMAT. I never felt that the questions in the GMAT were really difficult. What I felt difficult was the duration of the exam. Getting a high score (a 700+) meant that you would have to really keep your concentration levels at the same peak for almost throughout 3 hours. This was what I really had to practice and therefore almost always wrote the 2 essays at the start of the mock exams and never exceeded my break times.
A couple of things: taking something to eat with you to the exam center is a real help. The added energy is a big boost and taking the GMAT on a hungry stomach really doesn't help one at all. Also I booked the GMAT appointment only when I felt that I was well prepared. Where I took the exam at, appointment dates were available as early as 2-3 days away and therefore I booked an appointment only when I began scoring consistently on the mock exams. A lot of it depends on how you are feeling on the day on the exam. Make sure you don't take any mock exams on the day before. However revising a little on the day and the day before was very useful.
P.S: I am attaching an Idioms list here for your reference.
I spent about 10 weeks spanning over 3 months of time preparing for my GMAT. I was quite regular with my studies except for about the time when I was shifting residence. I never spent more than 3 hours a day and almost never studied over the weekend. I used the following resources in this specific order: The OG Edition 11, Princeton Review Guide with the 4 online trial exams and 4 Kaplan CATs. Of course I made good use of Eric's GMAT flashcards and also took the 2 GMATPrep exams. I felt that the OG was indispensible towards preparing for the GMAT and at least a couple of questions that I had encountered in the GMAT were also present in the OG. The GMATPrep exams were also the closest to the actual GMAT itself and I took both the GMATPrep exams twice. When I had begun my GMAT prepartion, the score on the first exam was 630. When I had retaken this exam towards the end of my preparation, I had managed a 700. The highest I got on any of the mock exams was a 710.
The Princeton Review Guide only helped me with the essays. Their essay writing techniques were superb, however I felt that most of their material, especially their Math preparatory was very basic. The Kaplan GMATs weren't of much use, in fact I managed to get a 650 + score in only one of them and got less than a 600 in the others. I wouldn't recommend taking the Kaplan CATs; not only are the questions badly drafted but also are they not of the type that you would face at the GMAT. The only good thing that I saw was the Math practice it gave me.
Most of the mock exams I took were under similiar testing conditions of the GMAT. I never felt that the questions in the GMAT were really difficult. What I felt difficult was the duration of the exam. Getting a high score (a 700+) meant that you would have to really keep your concentration levels at the same peak for almost throughout 3 hours. This was what I really had to practice and therefore almost always wrote the 2 essays at the start of the mock exams and never exceeded my break times.
A couple of things: taking something to eat with you to the exam center is a real help. The added energy is a big boost and taking the GMAT on a hungry stomach really doesn't help one at all. Also I booked the GMAT appointment only when I felt that I was well prepared. Where I took the exam at, appointment dates were available as early as 2-3 days away and therefore I booked an appointment only when I began scoring consistently on the mock exams. A lot of it depends on how you are feeling on the day on the exam. Make sure you don't take any mock exams on the day before. However revising a little on the day and the day before was very useful.
P.S: I am attaching an Idioms list here for your reference.
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