Reading the posts in this section helped me formulate my study plan and inspire me, so here is my debrief. I hope it helps someone.
This will probably be most helpful to people already really good at verbal and who have not used math in years.
I started studying about 8 months ago, although quite lightly until the last 6-7 weeks before the test. I never took a math course in college, so I knew I would have a lot of ground to make up for quant. I went through a book by Kaplan called GMAT Math Foundations. There are similar books by other companies and it was just a review of math basics (fractions, long division, algebraic basics, etc.).
I then signed up for Knewton. On the Knewton diagnostic I scored 610 (34Q 42V). And that was after I had brushed up on math basics. So I knew I would have to do a lot of quant work.
Attended the Knewton live sessions, but it was a ton of work and I didn't put in the time necessary. Made it about 1/3 of the way through the classes, but didn't keep up with the homework. Took a long break... probably about 2-3 months where I was too busy with other things to study.
Decided to motivate myself by setting the test date 6 weeks out. Best decision I made. Started Knewton again, and this time I put in all the work and then some. Discovered that the taped sessions were better than the live sessions because you can pause and take good notes and the teacher doesn't get distracted by other students' questions. The team teaching of Dave & Jen on verbal and Rich & Jess on Quant was phenomenal. Even though I have a full time job, I put in 4-6 hours of gmat studying every day with only a single day off over 6 weeks. With Knewton, I never lost my motivation and I was never bored. It never felt like a chore. Did every Knewton practice set, all the extra sets, kept an error log, did their practice tests, and when I was finished with it all I did some of the practice sets that I hadn't done well in again.. Maxed out at 41 on Quant and even received a 38 quant on my final Knewton practice test a week before my gmat date.
Additional resources I used over these last 6 weeks: Grockit (thought it was excellent for many reasons... you can target question type and difficulty level, and you can study in a relaxed social environment. And I only paid $59 for a 1 year membership). Also used mgmat Equations, Number Properties, and flashcards. Also used mgmat sentence correction, but ran out of time and didn't make it far. Never did the OG problems nor the official gmatprep tests.
During the last few weeks I started exercising regularly, eating more healthily and taking mental supplements like ginko.
I read something funny on here about eating mac and cheese and tuna fish the day before the test for energy and mental clarity. I didn't do that, but I ate sushi and some great pasta. You can also take fish oil supplements.
Day before the test I just did a few problems of each type, then reviewed my quant notes. Stayed positive and did things that I enjoy to help me relax. Visualized doing great and fell asleep watching a soccer game.
On to the test: used the hour of essays to get in the zone and just relax. Quant started and the first few problems were tough. I felt like I was close to an answer, but couldn't come up with answers that were answer choices. Didn't panic, just made intelligent guesses and moved on. Then I started receiving some problems I could handle. Looked up at the clock and I was gaining time. And gaining time and gaining time. By about midway through the test I had banked about 15-20 extra minutes. I kept my pace up, but during the second half of the test, this enabled me to put in 4-5 minutes to solve some very tricky problems. I don't recall encountering a problem I couldn't solve. More than a few times, I had put in 2 minutes to solve a problem, then looked back at the question and found one of their tricks. I had the luxury of time to put in another 90 seconds to do the problem right. Finished the quant section with about 30 seconds left. Verbal went fairly smoothly.
I was really hoping I was going to hit my practice quant high of 41 because the question difficulty had felt the same as my Knewton tests. Saw the score flash up on the screen: 47Q 44V 730. Couldn't believe my quant score. All of the gmat questions seemed so similar to Knewton's & Grockit's questions. I've read a lot about how important it is to do the OG problems, but I don't think it is necessary with the number of great prep companies out there. I just think Knewton purposely scores you low on quant and that makes for a pleasant surpise on test day. I've looked at their reviews on this site and noticed that most Knewton users scored better on their actual test than on the Knewton practice tests. Nonetheless, 47 in quant was a nice surpise. Thanks, Knewton. If this post feels like a big ad for Knewton, it is because I paid them $400, followed their lead, and in return I received this amazing score that exceeded my best expectations. I feel like I owe them.
Good luck everyone. Just know that you can do it if you put in the work and stay focused.
There are many paths to a good score, but, unless you are a natural, all involve putting in the effort.
This will probably be most helpful to people already really good at verbal and who have not used math in years.
I started studying about 8 months ago, although quite lightly until the last 6-7 weeks before the test. I never took a math course in college, so I knew I would have a lot of ground to make up for quant. I went through a book by Kaplan called GMAT Math Foundations. There are similar books by other companies and it was just a review of math basics (fractions, long division, algebraic basics, etc.).
I then signed up for Knewton. On the Knewton diagnostic I scored 610 (34Q 42V). And that was after I had brushed up on math basics. So I knew I would have to do a lot of quant work.
Attended the Knewton live sessions, but it was a ton of work and I didn't put in the time necessary. Made it about 1/3 of the way through the classes, but didn't keep up with the homework. Took a long break... probably about 2-3 months where I was too busy with other things to study.
Decided to motivate myself by setting the test date 6 weeks out. Best decision I made. Started Knewton again, and this time I put in all the work and then some. Discovered that the taped sessions were better than the live sessions because you can pause and take good notes and the teacher doesn't get distracted by other students' questions. The team teaching of Dave & Jen on verbal and Rich & Jess on Quant was phenomenal. Even though I have a full time job, I put in 4-6 hours of gmat studying every day with only a single day off over 6 weeks. With Knewton, I never lost my motivation and I was never bored. It never felt like a chore. Did every Knewton practice set, all the extra sets, kept an error log, did their practice tests, and when I was finished with it all I did some of the practice sets that I hadn't done well in again.. Maxed out at 41 on Quant and even received a 38 quant on my final Knewton practice test a week before my gmat date.
Additional resources I used over these last 6 weeks: Grockit (thought it was excellent for many reasons... you can target question type and difficulty level, and you can study in a relaxed social environment. And I only paid $59 for a 1 year membership). Also used mgmat Equations, Number Properties, and flashcards. Also used mgmat sentence correction, but ran out of time and didn't make it far. Never did the OG problems nor the official gmatprep tests.
During the last few weeks I started exercising regularly, eating more healthily and taking mental supplements like ginko.
I read something funny on here about eating mac and cheese and tuna fish the day before the test for energy and mental clarity. I didn't do that, but I ate sushi and some great pasta. You can also take fish oil supplements.
Day before the test I just did a few problems of each type, then reviewed my quant notes. Stayed positive and did things that I enjoy to help me relax. Visualized doing great and fell asleep watching a soccer game.
On to the test: used the hour of essays to get in the zone and just relax. Quant started and the first few problems were tough. I felt like I was close to an answer, but couldn't come up with answers that were answer choices. Didn't panic, just made intelligent guesses and moved on. Then I started receiving some problems I could handle. Looked up at the clock and I was gaining time. And gaining time and gaining time. By about midway through the test I had banked about 15-20 extra minutes. I kept my pace up, but during the second half of the test, this enabled me to put in 4-5 minutes to solve some very tricky problems. I don't recall encountering a problem I couldn't solve. More than a few times, I had put in 2 minutes to solve a problem, then looked back at the question and found one of their tricks. I had the luxury of time to put in another 90 seconds to do the problem right. Finished the quant section with about 30 seconds left. Verbal went fairly smoothly.
I was really hoping I was going to hit my practice quant high of 41 because the question difficulty had felt the same as my Knewton tests. Saw the score flash up on the screen: 47Q 44V 730. Couldn't believe my quant score. All of the gmat questions seemed so similar to Knewton's & Grockit's questions. I've read a lot about how important it is to do the OG problems, but I don't think it is necessary with the number of great prep companies out there. I just think Knewton purposely scores you low on quant and that makes for a pleasant surpise on test day. I've looked at their reviews on this site and noticed that most Knewton users scored better on their actual test than on the Knewton practice tests. Nonetheless, 47 in quant was a nice surpise. Thanks, Knewton. If this post feels like a big ad for Knewton, it is because I paid them $400, followed their lead, and in return I received this amazing score that exceeded my best expectations. I feel like I owe them.
Good luck everyone. Just know that you can do it if you put in the work and stay focused.
There are many paths to a good score, but, unless you are a natural, all involve putting in the effort.
Last edited by gmatfin on Wed Aug 10, 2011 1:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
