Took the exam yesterday morning in snowy New Jersey - and I accomplished my Target Score!
Had a great experience at the test center. With a blizzard approaching, I was for sure the exam center was going to close down for the day. To my surprise, I called up that morning at 6am (they said that if it was closed there would be a recording on the answering machine after 5am) and the exam was still on. I was running behind because of the snowy conditions, so I before I left to give the exam center a heads up. Well, to my disbelief, they told me to take my time! They said even though my exam was at 8:00am, I could come at 9, 10, or whenever it was comfortable for me. What a relief! So I had to drive through unplowed roads, dangerous roads, and blizzard conditions. Well, I made it to the exam center safely and was greeted with enthusiasm. Great staff over at Pearson Vue.
Anyway, exam went well and I achieved my target score. I have to say, this community definitely helped me! All of the advice offered throughout the past month has been EXTREMELY helpful.
So what did I learn: Manhattan GMAT is the way to go for self study! I used Kaplan for 3 weeks (review, strategy, practice) and things just didn't click well. Strategies were helpful, but they don't do as good of a job as MGMAT on the Math/Verbal review. So with a little over 1 week to go, I picked up Word Translations, Number Properties, and Equations Inequalities VICs. WHAT GREAT GUIDES!! Believe me when i tell you this - if you're rusty in Math, turn to MGMAT!!! Each book is a little pricey, but it's WELL worth the investment. They do a great job with review, practice questions, explanations, OG problem guide, AND they provide you with 5 free practice exams! There's no doubt about it - MGMAT is the way to go.
So I crammed those 3 guides with one week to go - reviewing math basics. You must think I'm crazy to wait until the last week - but, the reason for this was the poor job Kaplan did with their review. I used Kaplan Premier, but I feel that the guide book is targeted towards their students. Although Kaplan is a great service, they just don't go through the depth of each topic. They introduce main topics - but fall short of explaining all the specifics that GMAT will test. Again, MGMAT is PERFECT for the self study student.
Verbal was my strong point. I pretty much skimmed through Kaplan strategies and used MGMAT Sentence Correction guide (again, most thorough). With all that said, no practice is complete without the Official Guide. THAT IS A PRACTICE MUST. To compliment OG practice, take a few practice exams. I found MGMAT to provide rather accurate practice exams. In addition, DON'T FORGET MBA.COM's PRACTICE CAT exam. It has the identical layout and question bank the exam will use.
With all the said, one more thing to note is to make a schedule for yourself. Before you start your review, map out your plan of attack! Grab a calendar and start plugging away. If you're interested in the schedule I used, ask me and I'll send you a pdf.
Well, good luck btg community! You've been helpful to me, and if anyone would love some help, pm me! Also, special thanks to money9111 . He was a great help, and if you need some great advice or motivation... send him a pm! Congrats on the 1st place prize. To everyone: Good luck, and remember, if you put the time in with a great plan of attack, you will beat the gmat.
Had a great experience at the test center. With a blizzard approaching, I was for sure the exam center was going to close down for the day. To my surprise, I called up that morning at 6am (they said that if it was closed there would be a recording on the answering machine after 5am) and the exam was still on. I was running behind because of the snowy conditions, so I before I left to give the exam center a heads up. Well, to my disbelief, they told me to take my time! They said even though my exam was at 8:00am, I could come at 9, 10, or whenever it was comfortable for me. What a relief! So I had to drive through unplowed roads, dangerous roads, and blizzard conditions. Well, I made it to the exam center safely and was greeted with enthusiasm. Great staff over at Pearson Vue.
Anyway, exam went well and I achieved my target score. I have to say, this community definitely helped me! All of the advice offered throughout the past month has been EXTREMELY helpful.
So what did I learn: Manhattan GMAT is the way to go for self study! I used Kaplan for 3 weeks (review, strategy, practice) and things just didn't click well. Strategies were helpful, but they don't do as good of a job as MGMAT on the Math/Verbal review. So with a little over 1 week to go, I picked up Word Translations, Number Properties, and Equations Inequalities VICs. WHAT GREAT GUIDES!! Believe me when i tell you this - if you're rusty in Math, turn to MGMAT!!! Each book is a little pricey, but it's WELL worth the investment. They do a great job with review, practice questions, explanations, OG problem guide, AND they provide you with 5 free practice exams! There's no doubt about it - MGMAT is the way to go.
So I crammed those 3 guides with one week to go - reviewing math basics. You must think I'm crazy to wait until the last week - but, the reason for this was the poor job Kaplan did with their review. I used Kaplan Premier, but I feel that the guide book is targeted towards their students. Although Kaplan is a great service, they just don't go through the depth of each topic. They introduce main topics - but fall short of explaining all the specifics that GMAT will test. Again, MGMAT is PERFECT for the self study student.
Verbal was my strong point. I pretty much skimmed through Kaplan strategies and used MGMAT Sentence Correction guide (again, most thorough). With all that said, no practice is complete without the Official Guide. THAT IS A PRACTICE MUST. To compliment OG practice, take a few practice exams. I found MGMAT to provide rather accurate practice exams. In addition, DON'T FORGET MBA.COM's PRACTICE CAT exam. It has the identical layout and question bank the exam will use.
With all the said, one more thing to note is to make a schedule for yourself. Before you start your review, map out your plan of attack! Grab a calendar and start plugging away. If you're interested in the schedule I used, ask me and I'll send you a pdf.
Well, good luck btg community! You've been helpful to me, and if anyone would love some help, pm me! Also, special thanks to money9111 . He was a great help, and if you need some great advice or motivation... send him a pm! Congrats on the 1st place prize. To everyone: Good luck, and remember, if you put the time in with a great plan of attack, you will beat the gmat.
Last edited by and1ms238 on Sun Feb 28, 2010 5:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
