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BostonGMAT
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:03 am
I'm thrilled to have scored over 700, but was disappointed with my math score (69 percent) after months of studying. I'm a native English speaker and majored in journalism, so I wasn't worried about the verbal section. (I hit 99 percent on the verbal section.) But I haven't taken a math course in 15 years. Still, I figured I could do better after hitting the books.
Here's what I learned:
* GMAT Prep is a very good indicator of where you will score.
3/14/2009 Princeton Review......... 37V,31Q,570
4/5/2009 Manhattan GMAT..........39V,43Q 680
10/30/2009 gmat prep I ............48V,46Q 760
12/6/2009 gmat prep II............48V,44Q 740
12/12/2009 GMAT actual............48V,44Q 740 (97th percentile overall)
* Your first practice test may not be a very good indicator of how you score on the final test. After all, it takes a bit of studying to understand the GMAT format and what the questions are asking. As you can see, my score jumped 170 points from the first practice test.
I initially read the Princeton Review Cracking the GMAT guide to get an overview of the GMAT and subject matter of the test. I also went through the math section of a Barron's book I got from the library to brush up on algebra and other basic math concepts I hadn't seen in years. Then I used the MGMAT books and online materials to learn more advanced materials. I also bought the Kaplan 800 book, but barely touched it.
I knew I'd be fine with verbal. I'm a writer. But the MGMAT books helped me understand the question formats, so I could understand what the GMAT was asking. By the time I finished studying, I was nailing virtually every CR and RC question and most of the SC questions. I could have done better with sentence correction with more study. But I figured it wasn't worth my time to try to get a perfect verbal score. I was really more worried about the math section, so I spent most of my study time there. I found that I did fine on my of the easy and mid-level quant questions in the Official Guides, but I got killed on a number of the harder questions. And I never quite got the timing down on the full GMAT tests. I probably should have taken more CATs just to get the timing down and learn to solve hard math questions quickly and accurately. I now appreciate why so many people online are looking for hard questions. When I took my second GMAT prep score, I totally screwed up the timing and had to guess on several questions at the end. I figured I could remedy that on the actual test by paying closer attention to the clock, but I didn't want to pay the fee to reschedule the test. So I just did the best I could.
Actual test day: I slept in, reviewed a few key concepts and solved a few PS and DS questions that I'd done before just to get into test mode.
I arrived at the test center 30 minutes early, but had to wait to be checked in and use the bathroom. They scanned both my palms, studied my ID, asked my date of birth, took my picture, signed me in and gave me a locker. It wound up taking 45 minutes. They let me bring in a couple cough drops -- but only after I unwrapped them into tissues that they provided. Couldn't bring water in or wear my watch.
The essays were a breeze. I actually finished in less time than given. (I haven't received my scores yet, but am not worried. I write every day for work.)
But then things took a turn for the worse. I raised my hand to take a break, waiting to be called, scanned my palm print, got a snack out of the locker, waited to use the bathroom and then had have my palm scanned again when I returned. apparently, I took 8.5 minutes -- 30 seconds longer than allowed -- for my break, so they docked me the time on my test. (This is the last thing I needed, when I was already concerned about the timing on the math portion of my test.) Then the screen just sat there, blank. The proctor wound up having to call IT support to get the test restarted. None of this is a good way to start the test. But, oh, well. Some of the questions were a breeze. But there were a ton of really tough or confusing ones. Lots of exponents. A formula question that included a complicated algebraic expression. Even after solving some questions, you need great algebra skills to put the answers into a form that matches the answers. One question really tripped me up: It required you to know the formula for calculating standard deviation, even though the MGMAT guide says you don't need to know the formula. My advice: Learn it just in case. I did OK on the timing, but not as well as I likely could have with more practice. I had to guess more than I should have and in some cases couldn't narrow down the answers. And I had just 30 seconds left for a tricky final question -- not enough to solve it.
The verbal, by comparison, was a piece of cake. I actually enjoyed the RC passages, which focused on business topics like ROI and banking trends. I only encountered one RC or CR question that I was unsure of -- and even then I was able to narrow down the choices to two possibilities. I thought the MGMAT advice on diagramming RC and CR questions was helpful to understand how to break down the passages and understand what the GMAT is asking. But once you have the hang of it, it's not necessary. I just read the passages slowly and then answered the questions. I barely needed to even refer back to the passage. The only thing that tripped me up were some difficult 800-level SC questions. In some cases, the entire sentence was underlined. I hadn't learned every GMAT grammar rule -- and, yes, GMAT does have its own version of English grammar. (I knew this was an issue going into the exam; I barely studied verbal for months before the test, because I wanted to focus mainly on improving my quant score. And I still did well enough on verbal to hit 99 percent.)
Then I braced myself for the score. The verbal was just what I expected. But the math was disappointing. I was hoping to get lucky and hit the 80th percentile in math. Despite spending months studying for the GMAT, I evidently wasn't quite prepared enough. (And to be fair, the GMAT Prep scores told me as much before I took the actual exam.)
At the same time, it probably doesn't make any sense to retake the test and study for another couple months just to boost my quant score. I haven't even decided when and where to apply to business school.
Here's what I learned:
* GMAT Prep is a very good indicator of where you will score.
3/14/2009 Princeton Review......... 37V,31Q,570
4/5/2009 Manhattan GMAT..........39V,43Q 680
10/30/2009 gmat prep I ............48V,46Q 760
12/6/2009 gmat prep II............48V,44Q 740
12/12/2009 GMAT actual............48V,44Q 740 (97th percentile overall)
* Your first practice test may not be a very good indicator of how you score on the final test. After all, it takes a bit of studying to understand the GMAT format and what the questions are asking. As you can see, my score jumped 170 points from the first practice test.
I initially read the Princeton Review Cracking the GMAT guide to get an overview of the GMAT and subject matter of the test. I also went through the math section of a Barron's book I got from the library to brush up on algebra and other basic math concepts I hadn't seen in years. Then I used the MGMAT books and online materials to learn more advanced materials. I also bought the Kaplan 800 book, but barely touched it.
I knew I'd be fine with verbal. I'm a writer. But the MGMAT books helped me understand the question formats, so I could understand what the GMAT was asking. By the time I finished studying, I was nailing virtually every CR and RC question and most of the SC questions. I could have done better with sentence correction with more study. But I figured it wasn't worth my time to try to get a perfect verbal score. I was really more worried about the math section, so I spent most of my study time there. I found that I did fine on my of the easy and mid-level quant questions in the Official Guides, but I got killed on a number of the harder questions. And I never quite got the timing down on the full GMAT tests. I probably should have taken more CATs just to get the timing down and learn to solve hard math questions quickly and accurately. I now appreciate why so many people online are looking for hard questions. When I took my second GMAT prep score, I totally screwed up the timing and had to guess on several questions at the end. I figured I could remedy that on the actual test by paying closer attention to the clock, but I didn't want to pay the fee to reschedule the test. So I just did the best I could.
Actual test day: I slept in, reviewed a few key concepts and solved a few PS and DS questions that I'd done before just to get into test mode.
I arrived at the test center 30 minutes early, but had to wait to be checked in and use the bathroom. They scanned both my palms, studied my ID, asked my date of birth, took my picture, signed me in and gave me a locker. It wound up taking 45 minutes. They let me bring in a couple cough drops -- but only after I unwrapped them into tissues that they provided. Couldn't bring water in or wear my watch.
The essays were a breeze. I actually finished in less time than given. (I haven't received my scores yet, but am not worried. I write every day for work.)
But then things took a turn for the worse. I raised my hand to take a break, waiting to be called, scanned my palm print, got a snack out of the locker, waited to use the bathroom and then had have my palm scanned again when I returned. apparently, I took 8.5 minutes -- 30 seconds longer than allowed -- for my break, so they docked me the time on my test. (This is the last thing I needed, when I was already concerned about the timing on the math portion of my test.) Then the screen just sat there, blank. The proctor wound up having to call IT support to get the test restarted. None of this is a good way to start the test. But, oh, well. Some of the questions were a breeze. But there were a ton of really tough or confusing ones. Lots of exponents. A formula question that included a complicated algebraic expression. Even after solving some questions, you need great algebra skills to put the answers into a form that matches the answers. One question really tripped me up: It required you to know the formula for calculating standard deviation, even though the MGMAT guide says you don't need to know the formula. My advice: Learn it just in case. I did OK on the timing, but not as well as I likely could have with more practice. I had to guess more than I should have and in some cases couldn't narrow down the answers. And I had just 30 seconds left for a tricky final question -- not enough to solve it.
The verbal, by comparison, was a piece of cake. I actually enjoyed the RC passages, which focused on business topics like ROI and banking trends. I only encountered one RC or CR question that I was unsure of -- and even then I was able to narrow down the choices to two possibilities. I thought the MGMAT advice on diagramming RC and CR questions was helpful to understand how to break down the passages and understand what the GMAT is asking. But once you have the hang of it, it's not necessary. I just read the passages slowly and then answered the questions. I barely needed to even refer back to the passage. The only thing that tripped me up were some difficult 800-level SC questions. In some cases, the entire sentence was underlined. I hadn't learned every GMAT grammar rule -- and, yes, GMAT does have its own version of English grammar. (I knew this was an issue going into the exam; I barely studied verbal for months before the test, because I wanted to focus mainly on improving my quant score. And I still did well enough on verbal to hit 99 percent.)
Then I braced myself for the score. The verbal was just what I expected. But the math was disappointing. I was hoping to get lucky and hit the 80th percentile in math. Despite spending months studying for the GMAT, I evidently wasn't quite prepared enough. (And to be fair, the GMAT Prep scores told me as much before I took the actual exam.)
At the same time, it probably doesn't make any sense to retake the test and study for another couple months just to boost my quant score. I haven't even decided when and where to apply to business school.
Last edited by BostonGMAT on Sat Dec 19, 2009 2:14 pm, edited 3 times in total.
