-
mba_from_iim
- Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2010 12:28 am
- Thanked: 8 times
- Followed by:4 members
- GMAT Score:760
Never in my wildest dreams did i ever see myself writing this post. Having scored a meager 610 in my first GMAT attempt, all i wanted was a score of 700+ given my age of 34 years.
But i guess it was the hard work i had put in and definitely luck in terms of the experimental questions made me reach the score of 760.
Material used:
OG-12
Knewton course
Mastergmat tests and quant section
Grockit
Manhattan tests and forums
Advanced quant book from Manhattan.
BTG was very much instrumental in giving details of the various courses taken above and discounts so my second gmat attemp started off with BTG.
I learnt from my first attempt that i needed a timing template and assiduously stuck to it during my practice CATs. I also realized that doing only OG-12 and Manhattan tests will not suffice so i bought some more courses and tests. During my first attempt I had taken the GMAT date and then postponed it twice because i did not know that gmat dates were also available within 2 weeks range. FOr the second attempt i took the date only 2 weeks before. The only challenge in taking a very close date is getting the time at which we practiced the CATs. Being a morning person I had a fair idea about taking the exam time in the morning so I had practiced all my CATs around that time.
The knewton course was good but the only issue i faced was internet speed. They had streaming video which was hard to see at times. The faculty is very good but I am not a big fan of their CATs. It ranged from 640 to 740 and there were instances when i got only 7-8 question wrong in verbal and still scored miserably.
Mastergmat had given 3 months free access of their quant course and it was so good that i decided to buy their tests. The tests were equally good. Also since the course does not have any live classes it can be taken anywhere with a decent internet connection including a mobile.
I started off with Grockit CATs which can be used only for building stamina and avoiding silly mistakes. Some of the CAT questions are not gmat-like and the interface is not user friendly. But they have lot of OG like questions in their exercises and since these are timed they can complement the OG.
The manhattan tests were equally good for the variety of questions. I also frequently visited the manhattan forums, especially the verbal gmatprep forum. It gave me a good idea about the type of SC and CR questions seen in gmatprep. The only flip side is that the gmatprep test score can be a little skewed.
The gmatprep test scores were skewed for me although i gave each test twice because lot of questions were already seen by me at the manhattan forum. But it gave a fair idea about my quant score.
One strategy that helped was to make a xerox copy of OG-12 and divide it into small parts which can be read while traveling, this works good for SC and CR.
Mock CATs scores:
Manhattan(6 tests): 740,720,710,680,710,700
Mastegmat(6 tests): 680 to 730
gmatprep: 740,730,770,760
veritas prep: 690
Gday - 1:
I was not very relaxed but not very tensed either. I practised the manhattan gmat prep forum and attended a knewton class. As a result i could not sleep properly in the night and I woke up with a headache. I had doubts if i could perform well but then I thought i will give my best.
Gday:
Although lot of people debate using energy drinks i had a good experience with them. I used it only during my practice tests (there are better drinks for getting energy when not practicing!). When the AWA started i first wrote my timing template and then wrote my AWA template. For AWA i gave some current business examples like HP changing 3 CEOs in a span of 5 years which might have given the 5.5
In quant i got 2 questions on probability, the first one a combination of probability and function. I read the question, did not understand one line of it, used a guessing strategy and moved on. I also got a super easy question around the end but i did not think much about whether i screwed up in the previous questions.
In verbal the questions were very dense and i couldn't recollect even one of it at the end of test. SC was not very tough though.
My advice:
Don't be too fixated on mock test scores, lot of it depends on the day.
Relax on the day before the exam.
Don't be afraid to guess.
Have a timing template.
If asked for one strategy of my score I would say I was eating gmat, drinking gmat, sleeping gmat!
Feel free to ask any questions you have.
cheers!
But i guess it was the hard work i had put in and definitely luck in terms of the experimental questions made me reach the score of 760.
Material used:
OG-12
Knewton course
Mastergmat tests and quant section
Grockit
Manhattan tests and forums
Advanced quant book from Manhattan.
BTG was very much instrumental in giving details of the various courses taken above and discounts so my second gmat attemp started off with BTG.
I learnt from my first attempt that i needed a timing template and assiduously stuck to it during my practice CATs. I also realized that doing only OG-12 and Manhattan tests will not suffice so i bought some more courses and tests. During my first attempt I had taken the GMAT date and then postponed it twice because i did not know that gmat dates were also available within 2 weeks range. FOr the second attempt i took the date only 2 weeks before. The only challenge in taking a very close date is getting the time at which we practiced the CATs. Being a morning person I had a fair idea about taking the exam time in the morning so I had practiced all my CATs around that time.
The knewton course was good but the only issue i faced was internet speed. They had streaming video which was hard to see at times. The faculty is very good but I am not a big fan of their CATs. It ranged from 640 to 740 and there were instances when i got only 7-8 question wrong in verbal and still scored miserably.
Mastergmat had given 3 months free access of their quant course and it was so good that i decided to buy their tests. The tests were equally good. Also since the course does not have any live classes it can be taken anywhere with a decent internet connection including a mobile.
I started off with Grockit CATs which can be used only for building stamina and avoiding silly mistakes. Some of the CAT questions are not gmat-like and the interface is not user friendly. But they have lot of OG like questions in their exercises and since these are timed they can complement the OG.
The manhattan tests were equally good for the variety of questions. I also frequently visited the manhattan forums, especially the verbal gmatprep forum. It gave me a good idea about the type of SC and CR questions seen in gmatprep. The only flip side is that the gmatprep test score can be a little skewed.
The gmatprep test scores were skewed for me although i gave each test twice because lot of questions were already seen by me at the manhattan forum. But it gave a fair idea about my quant score.
One strategy that helped was to make a xerox copy of OG-12 and divide it into small parts which can be read while traveling, this works good for SC and CR.
Mock CATs scores:
Manhattan(6 tests): 740,720,710,680,710,700
Mastegmat(6 tests): 680 to 730
gmatprep: 740,730,770,760
veritas prep: 690
Gday - 1:
I was not very relaxed but not very tensed either. I practised the manhattan gmat prep forum and attended a knewton class. As a result i could not sleep properly in the night and I woke up with a headache. I had doubts if i could perform well but then I thought i will give my best.
Gday:
Although lot of people debate using energy drinks i had a good experience with them. I used it only during my practice tests (there are better drinks for getting energy when not practicing!). When the AWA started i first wrote my timing template and then wrote my AWA template. For AWA i gave some current business examples like HP changing 3 CEOs in a span of 5 years which might have given the 5.5
In quant i got 2 questions on probability, the first one a combination of probability and function. I read the question, did not understand one line of it, used a guessing strategy and moved on. I also got a super easy question around the end but i did not think much about whether i screwed up in the previous questions.
In verbal the questions were very dense and i couldn't recollect even one of it at the end of test. SC was not very tough though.
My advice:
Don't be too fixated on mock test scores, lot of it depends on the day.
Relax on the day before the exam.
Don't be afraid to guess.
Have a timing template.
If asked for one strategy of my score I would say I was eating gmat, drinking gmat, sleeping gmat!
Feel free to ask any questions you have.
cheers!
Last edited by mba_from_iim on Thu Oct 20, 2011 1:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
