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rkanthilal
- Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
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- Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2010 9:32 am
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- GMAT Score:760
I have been studying for the GMAT for the past few months and I took the test today. This forum has been an invaluable source for me as I have studied and in the spirit of reciprocity I wanted to post some of the lessons that I've learned while going through the process. I'll try to keep this post short and just include the "useful" stuff. If anyone has any questions feel free to respond.
Quantitative Section
I felt like the quant section on the actual test was a little harder than GMATPrep. The first half went pretty smoothly. I was about 7 minutes ahead of pace at the midway point. I noticed this and took it a little easy on the second half. This was a mistake as the questions got harder and more time consuming. I ended up guessing on a couple of questions near the end. At the end of the day my quant scaled score was the same on both the actual test and the GMATPrep exams. Maybe the questions that I found unusually difficult were "test" questions and thus were not counted towards my score.
The MGMAT practice exams were very helpful and I would recommend that everyone take as many of these exams as possible. The MGMAT questions are more wordy and generally more difficult than actual GMAT questions. This makes them great for practice.
I can't say enough about the DS and PS forums on Beat the GMAT. I learned so much from reading the discussions and explanations by forum members and experts. I would say that most of my knowledge on combinatrics, triple overlapping sets, and double ratios came from this forum.
Quant Study Resources
MGMAT Geometry
MGMAT Word Translations
MGMAT Number Properties
MGMAT Equations, Inequalities, and VIC's
OG Quantitative Supplement
OG 12
Beat the GMAT PS and DS Forums
Verbal Section
Similar to the quant section, I felt like the verbal section was a little harder than GMATPrep. On my GMATPrep exams I usually finished the verbal section with 15-20 min to spare. On the actual exam I needed every last minute. That said, my verbal scaled score was right in line with my GMATPrep scores.
Sentence Correction
When I first started studying for the GMAT it quickly became apparent that I would need to focus on Sentence Correction. I'm a native English speaker but I was having trouble with very simple grammar questions. My main problem was identifying the different parts of a sentence. To address this problem I started studying from a grammar textbook. I would recommend this for anyone struggling with sentence correction. Pick up a comprehensive grammar textbook. I choose Grammar by Diagram but any good grammar textbook will do. This particular book focuses on sentence diagramming. This is an effective approach to learning sentence components.
In addition to a good grammar textbook I would suggest the MGMAT Sentence Correction book. This MGMAT book focuses on content that is most likely to be tested on the GMAT. It is a good resource to use after you have a solid grammar foundation.
Critical Reasoning
Critical reasoning is by far my favorite GMAT section. Developing your CR skills will benefit you in multiple ways. CR trains you to read very carefully. This is great for reading comprehension. Many RC questions are phrased as CR questions (weaken/strengthen, main point, inferences, etc.). Also, the AWA sections are basically deconstructing and constructing arguments. Aside from the GMAT, logic and reasoning skills are just great to have in your day-to-day life.
I haven't reviewed many CR books but I have looked through the Powerscore Bible. I think this is an amazing book. It outlines a framework for attacking each type of CR question. I would recommend reading this book before trying CR practice questions. Additionally, LSAT questions are a great source for challenging questions.
When you start doing CR practice problems I would strongly recommend that you create explanations for each answer choice. For each answer choice make sure you understand exactly what makes that answer correct or incorrect. Be as specific as possible and do not rely on phrases such as "irrelevant" or "out of scope" without understanding what exactly makes that answer irrelevant or out of scope. There will be a specific reason for why an answer is correct or incorrect and learning to identify this reason will increase your performance on this section.
Reading Comprehension
As I mentioned above, most of my prep for RC came from working on CR. I didn't feel like the RC passages on the actual test were that difficult. The last few OG passages are representative of the actual test. For extra practice you can use LSAT RC passages and the Aristotle RC99. If you can do these you should be fine with RC.
Verbal Study Resources
OG Verbal Supplement
OG 12
MGMAT Sentence Correction
Grammar by Diagram
Powerscore CR Bible
LSAT RC and CR
Aristotle RC99
Practice Exams
GMATPrep 1: 750
MGMAT 1: 690
MGMAT 2: 720
MGMAT 3: 740
MGMAT 4: 500 (computer issues, did not do verbal section)
MGMAT 5: 750
MGMAT 6: 740
GMATPrep 2: 770
The GMATPrep exams were very representative of my performance on the actual exam. My actual score was right in between my two GMATPrep scores. As mentioned above, the quant sections on the MGMAT exams were more difficult than the actual exam. I think these exams are great for practice and I even reset my exams and did a couple of extra quant sections before taking the actual exam.
That is pretty much all I have to say about my GMAT experience. If you have any questions feel free to post them.
Ramesh Kanthilal
Quantitative Section
I felt like the quant section on the actual test was a little harder than GMATPrep. The first half went pretty smoothly. I was about 7 minutes ahead of pace at the midway point. I noticed this and took it a little easy on the second half. This was a mistake as the questions got harder and more time consuming. I ended up guessing on a couple of questions near the end. At the end of the day my quant scaled score was the same on both the actual test and the GMATPrep exams. Maybe the questions that I found unusually difficult were "test" questions and thus were not counted towards my score.
The MGMAT practice exams were very helpful and I would recommend that everyone take as many of these exams as possible. The MGMAT questions are more wordy and generally more difficult than actual GMAT questions. This makes them great for practice.
I can't say enough about the DS and PS forums on Beat the GMAT. I learned so much from reading the discussions and explanations by forum members and experts. I would say that most of my knowledge on combinatrics, triple overlapping sets, and double ratios came from this forum.
Quant Study Resources
MGMAT Geometry
MGMAT Word Translations
MGMAT Number Properties
MGMAT Equations, Inequalities, and VIC's
OG Quantitative Supplement
OG 12
Beat the GMAT PS and DS Forums
Verbal Section
Similar to the quant section, I felt like the verbal section was a little harder than GMATPrep. On my GMATPrep exams I usually finished the verbal section with 15-20 min to spare. On the actual exam I needed every last minute. That said, my verbal scaled score was right in line with my GMATPrep scores.
Sentence Correction
When I first started studying for the GMAT it quickly became apparent that I would need to focus on Sentence Correction. I'm a native English speaker but I was having trouble with very simple grammar questions. My main problem was identifying the different parts of a sentence. To address this problem I started studying from a grammar textbook. I would recommend this for anyone struggling with sentence correction. Pick up a comprehensive grammar textbook. I choose Grammar by Diagram but any good grammar textbook will do. This particular book focuses on sentence diagramming. This is an effective approach to learning sentence components.
In addition to a good grammar textbook I would suggest the MGMAT Sentence Correction book. This MGMAT book focuses on content that is most likely to be tested on the GMAT. It is a good resource to use after you have a solid grammar foundation.
Critical Reasoning
Critical reasoning is by far my favorite GMAT section. Developing your CR skills will benefit you in multiple ways. CR trains you to read very carefully. This is great for reading comprehension. Many RC questions are phrased as CR questions (weaken/strengthen, main point, inferences, etc.). Also, the AWA sections are basically deconstructing and constructing arguments. Aside from the GMAT, logic and reasoning skills are just great to have in your day-to-day life.
I haven't reviewed many CR books but I have looked through the Powerscore Bible. I think this is an amazing book. It outlines a framework for attacking each type of CR question. I would recommend reading this book before trying CR practice questions. Additionally, LSAT questions are a great source for challenging questions.
When you start doing CR practice problems I would strongly recommend that you create explanations for each answer choice. For each answer choice make sure you understand exactly what makes that answer correct or incorrect. Be as specific as possible and do not rely on phrases such as "irrelevant" or "out of scope" without understanding what exactly makes that answer irrelevant or out of scope. There will be a specific reason for why an answer is correct or incorrect and learning to identify this reason will increase your performance on this section.
Reading Comprehension
As I mentioned above, most of my prep for RC came from working on CR. I didn't feel like the RC passages on the actual test were that difficult. The last few OG passages are representative of the actual test. For extra practice you can use LSAT RC passages and the Aristotle RC99. If you can do these you should be fine with RC.
Verbal Study Resources
OG Verbal Supplement
OG 12
MGMAT Sentence Correction
Grammar by Diagram
Powerscore CR Bible
LSAT RC and CR
Aristotle RC99
Practice Exams
GMATPrep 1: 750
MGMAT 1: 690
MGMAT 2: 720
MGMAT 3: 740
MGMAT 4: 500 (computer issues, did not do verbal section)
MGMAT 5: 750
MGMAT 6: 740
GMATPrep 2: 770
The GMATPrep exams were very representative of my performance on the actual exam. My actual score was right in between my two GMATPrep scores. As mentioned above, the quant sections on the MGMAT exams were more difficult than the actual exam. I think these exams are great for practice and I even reset my exams and did a couple of extra quant sections before taking the actual exam.
That is pretty much all I have to say about my GMAT experience. If you have any questions feel free to post them.
Ramesh Kanthilal
Last edited by rkanthilal on Tue Jan 04, 2011 3:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.
