Hope my story helps somebody. I was putting in 80+ hour weeks at work and finally, two weeks before the exam, I realized I hadn't studied AT ALL. So, I bought Official Guide 11 and read the first two sections: 1) what is the GMAT and 2) how to prepare. Section 2 recommends that you first take a timed GMATPrep computerized test, and soon after that take an un-timed diagnostic test. The GMATPrep test got me 690 (weekness was verbal, in particular sentence correction). Then, I got 650 on the diagnostic test , again the weekness was verbal - sentence correction. By this point, I had only 1 week left to study.
So, I took the weekend off work and did all the sentence correction questions, split them into groups of 30 at a time. At the end of each 30, I would review the anwers that I got wrong and analyze the pattern. Along the way I picked up a trick or two. With every group of 30 my perframnce improved until I got 2 wrong out of the last 30 (good enough I figured). Then I followed a similar approach with critical reasoning (roughly 120 questions as well), finished this section two nights before the exam.
So, now it's 24 hours before the exam and I still have quantitative and AWA. Being an engineer, I wasn't worried about quantitative, it's my bread and butter. But writing scared the hell out of me. Anyway, I took the last day before the exam off work and went through both the math/awa reviews in OG. Then I took GMATPrep test#2, and scored 700 on this one (improved sentence correction by now). However, test 2 revealed that I didn't finish the essays in time (as I feared). So I went through OG score6 essays, and tried to follow the reasoning of why they were scored 6. Here's something I noticed: winning essays basically asked the following questions: (who/what/where/when/why/how) (i.e. the 6 w's) Answer those questions relative to an argument or an issue, and you've got a good arsenal. Link it all in cohesive english and you've got a winner.
So, that was my last bit of strategy, the 6 w's for essays. Went for Korean dinner, and exam was 8am next morning. Got 710, very pleased with it given 1) studied 1 week, and 2) english is not my native language.
The shocker was when I got my AWA score, a perfect 6. I still cannot believe it. All I did was follow the 6 w's:(who/what/where/when/why/how)...
I really hope this helps someone.... Good luck!
Oh and exam day:
1) sleep well
2) bring bottled water
3) *very important* bring high sugar snacks, your brain needs those
4) take your breaks, go to the bathroom, eat your snacks.
5) someone else also mentioned this, and I got bit by it, I was sitting under the air conditioner and it was EXTREMELY uncoformtable, so try to avoid that...
So, I took the weekend off work and did all the sentence correction questions, split them into groups of 30 at a time. At the end of each 30, I would review the anwers that I got wrong and analyze the pattern. Along the way I picked up a trick or two. With every group of 30 my perframnce improved until I got 2 wrong out of the last 30 (good enough I figured). Then I followed a similar approach with critical reasoning (roughly 120 questions as well), finished this section two nights before the exam.
So, now it's 24 hours before the exam and I still have quantitative and AWA. Being an engineer, I wasn't worried about quantitative, it's my bread and butter. But writing scared the hell out of me. Anyway, I took the last day before the exam off work and went through both the math/awa reviews in OG. Then I took GMATPrep test#2, and scored 700 on this one (improved sentence correction by now). However, test 2 revealed that I didn't finish the essays in time (as I feared). So I went through OG score6 essays, and tried to follow the reasoning of why they were scored 6. Here's something I noticed: winning essays basically asked the following questions: (who/what/where/when/why/how) (i.e. the 6 w's) Answer those questions relative to an argument or an issue, and you've got a good arsenal. Link it all in cohesive english and you've got a winner.
So, that was my last bit of strategy, the 6 w's for essays. Went for Korean dinner, and exam was 8am next morning. Got 710, very pleased with it given 1) studied 1 week, and 2) english is not my native language.
The shocker was when I got my AWA score, a perfect 6. I still cannot believe it. All I did was follow the 6 w's:(who/what/where/when/why/how)...
I really hope this helps someone.... Good luck!
Oh and exam day:
1) sleep well
2) bring bottled water
3) *very important* bring high sugar snacks, your brain needs those
4) take your breaks, go to the bathroom, eat your snacks.
5) someone else also mentioned this, and I got bit by it, I was sitting under the air conditioner and it was EXTREMELY uncoformtable, so try to avoid that...
