-
jaymw
- Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
- Posts: 144
- Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2010 9:17 am
- Thanked: 40 times
- Followed by:4 members
- GMAT Score:760
A couple of days ago, I took the GMAT (again) and scored a very pleasant 760 (99th percentile) with Q50 and V42 scaled scores and an AWA score of 6.
If you have only 2 minutes, then please jump to the major takeaways-section to use your time most efficiently.
If you have nothing better to do for the next half hour or so, then you are of course cordially invited to read the following story in its entirety.
A few things about my background first:
1. I am a 24-year-old German male, so my first language is German.
2. I graduated about a year ago from a good but rather unknown German university with a Bachelor in Business Administration (highest honors).
3. I have used English on a day-to-day basis for about 4 years now.
4. I have 1 year of work experience in finance.
5. In total, I have spent about a year in China to both work and study the language.
6. During the last 2 months of my GMAT studies, I taught business English on a part-time basis and studied Chinese at a language school. That means that I did not exactly have fixed study times, but I'd say on average I would devote about 3 hours a day to the GMAT.
7. The first time I took the GMAT, I got a 730 (Q49/V41/AWA 6).
I can well imagine that many people who come across that last point might think that I am completely nuts to have retaken the test after that score. And maybe those people are right. But here's my 'justification':
The Msc Finance programs (yes I don't want to do an MBA, at least not now) I am looking to get into have VERY explicit policies of handling GMAT scores, i.e. more 'admission points' go hand in hand with higher GMAT scores. It is therefore definitely NOT true that you just need a 700, given that the rest of your profile is fine, to get into a top program in Europe. Furthermore, the weighting of the different admission criteria is extremely GMAT-heavy. In my favorite program, 3 years of studies for the Bachelor's degree count 30% of the mentioned admission points vis-Ã -vis a single GMAT score that counts 50% (the rest is motivational letters and extracurricular activities).
The other reason, why I went to that test center again is that I, unlike most people, actually like the GMAT. And liking the GMAT is definitely helpful when you encounter motivation problems during your studies, so I would like to encourage every future test taker to find a way to at least not hate that test! Because of this GMAT affinity and because I like to teach or work with people in general, I can also imagine to work in the teaching industry for some years. Needless to say, a very high GMAT is the single most important factor in an application for a GMAT instructor position. By the way, if you happen to be an HR rep of GMAT prep company and if you happen to look for teachers, please let me know in a PM
How I prepared
As mentioned, I studied about 3 hours each day, including Saturdays and Sundays. I did not study more than 6 hours on a weekend in order to prevent getting annoyed by the GMAT. To prepare, I used the following materials:
Knewton
I had a pretty solid basis from which I could start. But knowing my problem areas was definitely the first step to success; in my case those areas were RC and number properties. I was thinking about getting more books about those topics but I figured that further self-studies might become too time-consuming. Fortunately, I saw an offer of a huge discount on a Knewton online course on BTG and decided to look at it a little more closely. I was overwhelmed with what they offered for about 350$ and I was especially attracted by the 50 points score improvement guarantee, which in my case meant that I'd get my money back unless I scored a 780 or higher. With that in mind, it really didn't take long to sign up for their online classes. Sadly, though, I could not participate in any live online class, because of the huge time difference between China and the US, so I watched every class on demand. Knewton's way of a structured review of all GMAT topics gave me an even better idea of the areas that I would need to brush up on. The teaching quality of their classes was great, and sometimes even a little entertaining, which is definitely important because it made it so much easier to sit in front of the laptop and look at numbers and texts for 3 hours straight.
Every topic came with lots of practice questions, most of which were of really high quality and had great explanations. Especially in verbal, Knewton did an awesome job in conveying what every aspiring test taker should know. Due to their courses, my approach to RC and CR questions gained a lot of structure and improve my results drastically. Their email support was also great. I sent them 2 emails about questions that I really couldn't get my head around and they tried their best to make me understand it.
Quant prep was also solid, but not outstanding. Knewton would go through the basics of every tested concept and then let you do lots of practice questions, which, again, were of good quality. However, some of them were REALLY close to OG 12 and GMATPrep questions and because I reviewed the OG at the same time I took the course, this sometimes might have inflated CAT results. Also, the Knewton course did not include many 700+ level quant questions with the exception of the 'Final Quant Challenge' which did not fall short of its name. I just would have wished for a LOT more of those questions because they were great practice.
One last thing I would like to address is their CATs. Those were double-edged. Verbal was absolutely excellent, it seemed adaptive and very very close to what an actual GMAT verbal section could have looked like. Kudos! Quant on the other hand was far too easy and did not seem anything close to adaptive. For instance, I got the first 30 or so questions right in quant and they would give me a 'simplify a fraction' question which any sane person could have solved in about 30 seconds. There was no trap in that question, I checked that in the review. But maybe it was just their attempt to symbolize an experimental question. Apart from that, I was told that one of the Knewton founders had worked for the GMAC and had helped develop the original algorithm. Knowing that, I was definitely disappointed by what they made of it. Knewton's CAT algorithm is simply...weird. Of course I don't know the algorithm and I have no idea how it was set up, but to give me a 50 and not a 51 in quant after answering the first 35 questions right, then make a mistake and get the last one right, seems a little odd. I once made 3 mistakes in a quant section, which would bring my score down to 47. For the verbal section, the scaled scores just seemed to be random rather than to correlate with your answers. I got a 34 in V in my last CAT 2 days prior to the test. That freaked me out a little bit but I had read about their algorithm so I tried not to worry too much.
Here are my CAT results:
1. Knewton Diagnostic - 690 Q47 V37
2. Knewton CAT 2 - 760 Q51 V42
3. Knewton CAT 3 - 750 Q51 V40 (took that one in the morning after a party, so I was pleasantly surprised)
4. Knewton CAT 4 - 710 Q47 V40 (I made only 8 mistakes throughout the whole thing)
5. Knewton CAT 5 - 730 Q47 V43
6. Knewton CAT 6 - 700 Q50 V34
In sum, signing up for a Knewton course was the best thing I could have possibly done. I attribute much of my 760 to their excellent lessons and practice questions! I almost feel sorry to ask for my money back now:D But I asked a Knewton rep prior to the course and he said that even if I'd score a 770 they wouldn't hesitate to refund me the course fee. So all in all, despite the few drawbacks (algorithm, quant too easy), I highly recommend their courses. Thanks, Knewton ! (I might actually copy this part into the course review section on BTG, but I felt that it would make sense here, too)
BTG Practice Questions
Another resource I used were the BTG practice questions (which I won on BTG:)). I loved the math questions, especially the high level ones because they proved to be the ideal supplement to the ones from Knewton. Those 700+-termed questions were of high quality and their explanations were great.
I did not use BTG practice questions much for verbal, because I found Knewton's material to be sufficient. The ones I used though, well, let's say I wasn't impressed. Some CR questions seemed to have debatable answers and the RC passages, too, seemed not too close to actual GMAT stuff.
All in all, BTG questions are a great resource, especially for quant. They are definitely worth the 99$ which I think they cost now.
OG 12
I had used the OG 12 prior to my first attempt as well, but this time I promised myself that I would keep error logs and review my mistakes THOROUGHLY even though that was sometimes a painful process. I can only recommend using error logs because that is the best way to find your weaknesses and to establish a basis for what you need to brush up on. I did OG questions under timed conditions this time and would write down on which questions I felt I needed to long, took a sub-optimal approach or made a mistake. Then I would read the official explanations and see if I understood where I went wrong (or what I could have done better). When I didn't get the explanation of a question, I would search BTG for discussions about that particular question. Mostly, this helped me understand my mistakes or improve my approaches. It almost goes without saying that the OG is a must-read for every future test-taker. No one can expect to score high on the GMAT without working through this book!
Zuleron's 198 GMAT PREP Quant Problems
Those are mostly difficult quant questions taken from GMAT Prep. So stay away from it, if you want to unbiasedly gauge your performance with GMAT Prep afterwards. I had retaken GMAT Prep many times prior to my first attempt and thus I knew that if I were to take it again, scores would be far from representative. I found Zuleron's collection of those quant questions great, however, the document contains some mistakes (wrong answers or questions changed in a way that does not make sense). If you feel that a question seems odd, just type it into the BTG search and chances are that someone will have posted that problem and initiated a discussion about it already.
MGMAT CATs
Before my first shot at the GMAT I had already taken all of the six MGMAT CATs so I knew that my scores would be a little inflated. That's why I decided not use the CATs as an accurate representation of where I stand, but rather as a resource for difficult questions and as a means to establish stamina. This worked out great for me, because I could literally feel how I got better at number property questions after thoroughly reviewing some of them. MGMATs explanations are mostly great and don't require any further information.
Here are my MGMAT CAT scores, although probably meaningless:
1. CAT 1 - 760 Q49 V45
2. CAT 2 - 740 Q49 V42
3. CAT 3 - 750 Q48 V45
4. CAT 4 - 780 Q51 V45
You get 1 year access to those six CATs if you buy only one of their books (does not matter which one). Do it! It definitely pays off.
Mental Preparation
The GMAT is undoubtedly stressful. To not let it get the best of me, I tried not to take it too seriously, although I was dead-serious about getting a great score. I went to the gym every second day throughout my GMAT studies and I tried to eat healthily which sometimes can be hard when you live in a country that has a 24/7 McDonald's delivery service. Also, I met my friends regularly and went out regularly. In the time that I didn't devote to studying, I did my best to forget about the GMAT and treat it as non-existent. In addition, I stayed away from ANY hard-core study session period because I believe that this cannot be anything but counterproductive. The GMAT is not like peeling potatoes. No matter how shitty your potato peeling technique is, in, say, 8 hours you will be able to peel more potatoes than in 3 hours. It's, however, just not true that after an 8-hour non-stop GMAT study session you will be smarter than after a well-planned and structured 3-hour session.
Day Before the Exam
I tried to stay calm and do things that didn't involve my brain much. I played playstation a lot, watched a movie, and went to the gym. I went to bed at around 1 am and set the alarm to 9am. This definitely helped to get more relaxed prior to D-day.
Day of the Exam
When I arrived at the Pearson Center in Beijing, some 20 Chinese students were awaiting their exams as well. ALL of them had GMAT books and notes in their hands and were seemingly eager to suck up that last piece of information from those resources before the exam began. While for Chinese people this might be normal, I just thought that if I had done it that way, I would have probably gone crazy before the exam even started. So I listened to some music and tried to stay calm. However, when I sat down in the waiting room next to the exam room, some construction workers outside seemed to fight over who had the louder and more annoying pneumatic drill. I got a little scared. From my experience, I know that Chinese people couldn't care less about noise in general, it just doesn't bother them. So I was not at all surprised that no one made any efforts to complain. All I was thinking at that point was that I hoped for the exam room to be so well-isolated that I wouldn't be disturbed. Luckily, it was and the ear plugs also helped reduce the noise!
The essays went great. I don't have the scores yet but I got a 6 on my first attempt and I believe that I did significantly better this time. So I would be surprised by anything lower than a 5.5. Quant also went great up until about question 25 or so when I got 3 tricky ones n a row. However, because I had been able to 'bank time' on rather easy questions early on, I was able to think about these hard problems a little more seriously. I had to let go off about 2-3 problems, but that didn't bother me much because I had done some significantly harder MGMAT CATs before.
After the 8-minute break which I used to drink a little water and eat a banana, the verbal section started. And it started awfully. The first questions all seemed to be pretty tough and especially the first RC passage threw me off. It was really short but I ended up guessing on just about every of the 3 questions about it. I got scared and thought for a little moment that if the test was going to continue like that I would probably not even be able to reach my previous 730. But then I reminded myself that such thoughts are extremely stupid and forced myself to just focus on the questions and stop to mentally whine about why the unfair GMAT would do such horrible things to me. The middle part of the verbal section went pretty smoothly, but by the end I got another really hard RC passage. However, this time, I wouldn't bother that I didn't understand the passage, but rather check question by question to find out what exactly it was that I was supposed to understand about this passage. That approach worked way better, so that I could even finish the verbal section a couple of minutes early, a thing that I had never been able to do in practice CATs.
When the test was over, I knew that the GMAT could have gone a lot better, but I also knew that I had done my best, so now I was dying to know my score. I didn't waste one second on thinking about not reporting my scores, even though I deemed it possible to have scored 710 or 720 in the worst case. When I then saw the 760 appear on the screen I was absolutely psyched! I had finally achieved the score that I wanted and that felt amazing! Actually, it still does
Major Takeaways
1. Knewton classes, MGMAT CATs, the OG12, and BTG quant questions are all excellent resources. Use them!
2. Reviewing one's mistakes with the help of error logs is PRICELESS. I believe that nearly all of the people who scored in the mid to high 700s of the GMAT have used error logs in one or the other way.
3. Don't ONLY review questions you got wrong! Also, definitely review those that you got right but that took you too long and find out why it happened and what can be done about it.
4. Don't double check every answer 20 times before hitting submit. By doing this, you will lose valuable time. When you are about 90% sure of your answer, hit submit IMMEDIATELY.
5. Don't study too much. Rather, try to study smart, i.e. with a clear strategy that targets your weak areas while not forgetting about your strong ones.
6. Try to relax as much as possible before the exam. Don't let the GMAT get in the way of your overall well-being.
7. Don't have false pride when not being able to solve a question. You're human, chances are that some questions will involve concepts you haven't fully mastered. After 2 minutes, you should take 5 seconds to evaluate whether you will be able to solve the problem within the next minute. If not, move on and FORGET that question.
8. Don't EVER think about past questions.
9. Don't EVER think about how well you are doing.
10. Only think about the question you are on right now, nothing else matters!
11. Try to LIKE the GMAT. Try not to view it is something that is meant to destroy your happiness! Try to look at it as an opportunity to showcase what you are able to do!
12. BTG is great. Almost every conceivable GMAT question is discussed here and the community is great. Lots of members and experts are willing to help you. And, best of all, it's absolutely free!
That was about it. If you have any questions, please let me know!
PS: I really have no idea why the smiley faces show up in the middle of the sentences. They are obviously supposed to be at the end of ther respective sentences!
If you have only 2 minutes, then please jump to the major takeaways-section to use your time most efficiently.
If you have nothing better to do for the next half hour or so, then you are of course cordially invited to read the following story in its entirety.
A few things about my background first:
1. I am a 24-year-old German male, so my first language is German.
2. I graduated about a year ago from a good but rather unknown German university with a Bachelor in Business Administration (highest honors).
3. I have used English on a day-to-day basis for about 4 years now.
4. I have 1 year of work experience in finance.
5. In total, I have spent about a year in China to both work and study the language.
6. During the last 2 months of my GMAT studies, I taught business English on a part-time basis and studied Chinese at a language school. That means that I did not exactly have fixed study times, but I'd say on average I would devote about 3 hours a day to the GMAT.
7. The first time I took the GMAT, I got a 730 (Q49/V41/AWA 6).
I can well imagine that many people who come across that last point might think that I am completely nuts to have retaken the test after that score. And maybe those people are right. But here's my 'justification':
The Msc Finance programs (yes I don't want to do an MBA, at least not now) I am looking to get into have VERY explicit policies of handling GMAT scores, i.e. more 'admission points' go hand in hand with higher GMAT scores. It is therefore definitely NOT true that you just need a 700, given that the rest of your profile is fine, to get into a top program in Europe. Furthermore, the weighting of the different admission criteria is extremely GMAT-heavy. In my favorite program, 3 years of studies for the Bachelor's degree count 30% of the mentioned admission points vis-Ã -vis a single GMAT score that counts 50% (the rest is motivational letters and extracurricular activities).
The other reason, why I went to that test center again is that I, unlike most people, actually like the GMAT. And liking the GMAT is definitely helpful when you encounter motivation problems during your studies, so I would like to encourage every future test taker to find a way to at least not hate that test! Because of this GMAT affinity and because I like to teach or work with people in general, I can also imagine to work in the teaching industry for some years. Needless to say, a very high GMAT is the single most important factor in an application for a GMAT instructor position. By the way, if you happen to be an HR rep of GMAT prep company and if you happen to look for teachers, please let me know in a PM
How I prepared
As mentioned, I studied about 3 hours each day, including Saturdays and Sundays. I did not study more than 6 hours on a weekend in order to prevent getting annoyed by the GMAT. To prepare, I used the following materials:
Knewton
I had a pretty solid basis from which I could start. But knowing my problem areas was definitely the first step to success; in my case those areas were RC and number properties. I was thinking about getting more books about those topics but I figured that further self-studies might become too time-consuming. Fortunately, I saw an offer of a huge discount on a Knewton online course on BTG and decided to look at it a little more closely. I was overwhelmed with what they offered for about 350$ and I was especially attracted by the 50 points score improvement guarantee, which in my case meant that I'd get my money back unless I scored a 780 or higher. With that in mind, it really didn't take long to sign up for their online classes. Sadly, though, I could not participate in any live online class, because of the huge time difference between China and the US, so I watched every class on demand. Knewton's way of a structured review of all GMAT topics gave me an even better idea of the areas that I would need to brush up on. The teaching quality of their classes was great, and sometimes even a little entertaining, which is definitely important because it made it so much easier to sit in front of the laptop and look at numbers and texts for 3 hours straight.
Every topic came with lots of practice questions, most of which were of really high quality and had great explanations. Especially in verbal, Knewton did an awesome job in conveying what every aspiring test taker should know. Due to their courses, my approach to RC and CR questions gained a lot of structure and improve my results drastically. Their email support was also great. I sent them 2 emails about questions that I really couldn't get my head around and they tried their best to make me understand it.
Quant prep was also solid, but not outstanding. Knewton would go through the basics of every tested concept and then let you do lots of practice questions, which, again, were of good quality. However, some of them were REALLY close to OG 12 and GMATPrep questions and because I reviewed the OG at the same time I took the course, this sometimes might have inflated CAT results. Also, the Knewton course did not include many 700+ level quant questions with the exception of the 'Final Quant Challenge' which did not fall short of its name. I just would have wished for a LOT more of those questions because they were great practice.
One last thing I would like to address is their CATs. Those were double-edged. Verbal was absolutely excellent, it seemed adaptive and very very close to what an actual GMAT verbal section could have looked like. Kudos! Quant on the other hand was far too easy and did not seem anything close to adaptive. For instance, I got the first 30 or so questions right in quant and they would give me a 'simplify a fraction' question which any sane person could have solved in about 30 seconds. There was no trap in that question, I checked that in the review. But maybe it was just their attempt to symbolize an experimental question. Apart from that, I was told that one of the Knewton founders had worked for the GMAC and had helped develop the original algorithm. Knowing that, I was definitely disappointed by what they made of it. Knewton's CAT algorithm is simply...weird. Of course I don't know the algorithm and I have no idea how it was set up, but to give me a 50 and not a 51 in quant after answering the first 35 questions right, then make a mistake and get the last one right, seems a little odd. I once made 3 mistakes in a quant section, which would bring my score down to 47. For the verbal section, the scaled scores just seemed to be random rather than to correlate with your answers. I got a 34 in V in my last CAT 2 days prior to the test. That freaked me out a little bit but I had read about their algorithm so I tried not to worry too much.
Here are my CAT results:
1. Knewton Diagnostic - 690 Q47 V37
2. Knewton CAT 2 - 760 Q51 V42
3. Knewton CAT 3 - 750 Q51 V40 (took that one in the morning after a party, so I was pleasantly surprised)
4. Knewton CAT 4 - 710 Q47 V40 (I made only 8 mistakes throughout the whole thing)
5. Knewton CAT 5 - 730 Q47 V43
6. Knewton CAT 6 - 700 Q50 V34
In sum, signing up for a Knewton course was the best thing I could have possibly done. I attribute much of my 760 to their excellent lessons and practice questions! I almost feel sorry to ask for my money back now:D But I asked a Knewton rep prior to the course and he said that even if I'd score a 770 they wouldn't hesitate to refund me the course fee. So all in all, despite the few drawbacks (algorithm, quant too easy), I highly recommend their courses. Thanks, Knewton ! (I might actually copy this part into the course review section on BTG, but I felt that it would make sense here, too)
BTG Practice Questions
Another resource I used were the BTG practice questions (which I won on BTG:)). I loved the math questions, especially the high level ones because they proved to be the ideal supplement to the ones from Knewton. Those 700+-termed questions were of high quality and their explanations were great.
I did not use BTG practice questions much for verbal, because I found Knewton's material to be sufficient. The ones I used though, well, let's say I wasn't impressed. Some CR questions seemed to have debatable answers and the RC passages, too, seemed not too close to actual GMAT stuff.
All in all, BTG questions are a great resource, especially for quant. They are definitely worth the 99$ which I think they cost now.
OG 12
I had used the OG 12 prior to my first attempt as well, but this time I promised myself that I would keep error logs and review my mistakes THOROUGHLY even though that was sometimes a painful process. I can only recommend using error logs because that is the best way to find your weaknesses and to establish a basis for what you need to brush up on. I did OG questions under timed conditions this time and would write down on which questions I felt I needed to long, took a sub-optimal approach or made a mistake. Then I would read the official explanations and see if I understood where I went wrong (or what I could have done better). When I didn't get the explanation of a question, I would search BTG for discussions about that particular question. Mostly, this helped me understand my mistakes or improve my approaches. It almost goes without saying that the OG is a must-read for every future test-taker. No one can expect to score high on the GMAT without working through this book!
Zuleron's 198 GMAT PREP Quant Problems
Those are mostly difficult quant questions taken from GMAT Prep. So stay away from it, if you want to unbiasedly gauge your performance with GMAT Prep afterwards. I had retaken GMAT Prep many times prior to my first attempt and thus I knew that if I were to take it again, scores would be far from representative. I found Zuleron's collection of those quant questions great, however, the document contains some mistakes (wrong answers or questions changed in a way that does not make sense). If you feel that a question seems odd, just type it into the BTG search and chances are that someone will have posted that problem and initiated a discussion about it already.
MGMAT CATs
Before my first shot at the GMAT I had already taken all of the six MGMAT CATs so I knew that my scores would be a little inflated. That's why I decided not use the CATs as an accurate representation of where I stand, but rather as a resource for difficult questions and as a means to establish stamina. This worked out great for me, because I could literally feel how I got better at number property questions after thoroughly reviewing some of them. MGMATs explanations are mostly great and don't require any further information.
Here are my MGMAT CAT scores, although probably meaningless:
1. CAT 1 - 760 Q49 V45
2. CAT 2 - 740 Q49 V42
3. CAT 3 - 750 Q48 V45
4. CAT 4 - 780 Q51 V45
You get 1 year access to those six CATs if you buy only one of their books (does not matter which one). Do it! It definitely pays off.
Mental Preparation
The GMAT is undoubtedly stressful. To not let it get the best of me, I tried not to take it too seriously, although I was dead-serious about getting a great score. I went to the gym every second day throughout my GMAT studies and I tried to eat healthily which sometimes can be hard when you live in a country that has a 24/7 McDonald's delivery service. Also, I met my friends regularly and went out regularly. In the time that I didn't devote to studying, I did my best to forget about the GMAT and treat it as non-existent. In addition, I stayed away from ANY hard-core study session period because I believe that this cannot be anything but counterproductive. The GMAT is not like peeling potatoes. No matter how shitty your potato peeling technique is, in, say, 8 hours you will be able to peel more potatoes than in 3 hours. It's, however, just not true that after an 8-hour non-stop GMAT study session you will be smarter than after a well-planned and structured 3-hour session.
Day Before the Exam
I tried to stay calm and do things that didn't involve my brain much. I played playstation a lot, watched a movie, and went to the gym. I went to bed at around 1 am and set the alarm to 9am. This definitely helped to get more relaxed prior to D-day.
Day of the Exam
When I arrived at the Pearson Center in Beijing, some 20 Chinese students were awaiting their exams as well. ALL of them had GMAT books and notes in their hands and were seemingly eager to suck up that last piece of information from those resources before the exam began. While for Chinese people this might be normal, I just thought that if I had done it that way, I would have probably gone crazy before the exam even started. So I listened to some music and tried to stay calm. However, when I sat down in the waiting room next to the exam room, some construction workers outside seemed to fight over who had the louder and more annoying pneumatic drill. I got a little scared. From my experience, I know that Chinese people couldn't care less about noise in general, it just doesn't bother them. So I was not at all surprised that no one made any efforts to complain. All I was thinking at that point was that I hoped for the exam room to be so well-isolated that I wouldn't be disturbed. Luckily, it was and the ear plugs also helped reduce the noise!
The essays went great. I don't have the scores yet but I got a 6 on my first attempt and I believe that I did significantly better this time. So I would be surprised by anything lower than a 5.5. Quant also went great up until about question 25 or so when I got 3 tricky ones n a row. However, because I had been able to 'bank time' on rather easy questions early on, I was able to think about these hard problems a little more seriously. I had to let go off about 2-3 problems, but that didn't bother me much because I had done some significantly harder MGMAT CATs before.
After the 8-minute break which I used to drink a little water and eat a banana, the verbal section started. And it started awfully. The first questions all seemed to be pretty tough and especially the first RC passage threw me off. It was really short but I ended up guessing on just about every of the 3 questions about it. I got scared and thought for a little moment that if the test was going to continue like that I would probably not even be able to reach my previous 730. But then I reminded myself that such thoughts are extremely stupid and forced myself to just focus on the questions and stop to mentally whine about why the unfair GMAT would do such horrible things to me. The middle part of the verbal section went pretty smoothly, but by the end I got another really hard RC passage. However, this time, I wouldn't bother that I didn't understand the passage, but rather check question by question to find out what exactly it was that I was supposed to understand about this passage. That approach worked way better, so that I could even finish the verbal section a couple of minutes early, a thing that I had never been able to do in practice CATs.
When the test was over, I knew that the GMAT could have gone a lot better, but I also knew that I had done my best, so now I was dying to know my score. I didn't waste one second on thinking about not reporting my scores, even though I deemed it possible to have scored 710 or 720 in the worst case. When I then saw the 760 appear on the screen I was absolutely psyched! I had finally achieved the score that I wanted and that felt amazing! Actually, it still does
Major Takeaways
1. Knewton classes, MGMAT CATs, the OG12, and BTG quant questions are all excellent resources. Use them!
2. Reviewing one's mistakes with the help of error logs is PRICELESS. I believe that nearly all of the people who scored in the mid to high 700s of the GMAT have used error logs in one or the other way.
3. Don't ONLY review questions you got wrong! Also, definitely review those that you got right but that took you too long and find out why it happened and what can be done about it.
4. Don't double check every answer 20 times before hitting submit. By doing this, you will lose valuable time. When you are about 90% sure of your answer, hit submit IMMEDIATELY.
5. Don't study too much. Rather, try to study smart, i.e. with a clear strategy that targets your weak areas while not forgetting about your strong ones.
6. Try to relax as much as possible before the exam. Don't let the GMAT get in the way of your overall well-being.
7. Don't have false pride when not being able to solve a question. You're human, chances are that some questions will involve concepts you haven't fully mastered. After 2 minutes, you should take 5 seconds to evaluate whether you will be able to solve the problem within the next minute. If not, move on and FORGET that question.
8. Don't EVER think about past questions.
9. Don't EVER think about how well you are doing.
10. Only think about the question you are on right now, nothing else matters!
11. Try to LIKE the GMAT. Try not to view it is something that is meant to destroy your happiness! Try to look at it as an opportunity to showcase what you are able to do!
12. BTG is great. Almost every conceivable GMAT question is discussed here and the community is great. Lots of members and experts are willing to help you. And, best of all, it's absolutely free!
That was about it. If you have any questions, please let me know!
PS: I really have no idea why the smiley faces show up in the middle of the sentences. They are obviously supposed to be at the end of ther respective sentences!
Last edited by jaymw on Wed Apr 20, 2011 6:29 am, edited 2 times in total.
