770 - 50Q 44V 6.0AWA

[Hoover]

Hi all,
I've read this board for a few months getting ready for the big test. Needless to say I'm pretty satisfied with the results. I had been studying very minimally for about 18 months, and then kicked it into high gear around Labor Day. I didn't sign up for any of the classes or purchase the expensive software, so there is hope for all of you who don't have $1400 burning a hole in your pocket. I purchased a general study book from McGraw-Hill and then used a lot of free online resources.

Tips that I found helpful:

• Flashcards for anything you miss on a practice test or subject quiz. Carry around the flashcards and use them when you have a few extra minutes. I specifically worked on formulas, question types, terms (all quant stuff).
  
  The AWA guide on here that is pinned to the top of the forum. I spent as much time on the writing as I could, and used that as an outline. I would also recommend memorizing a few good real-life examples that would fit broadly into many arguments. I also went through and came up with a few good transition sentence outlines that I could fit into my conclusion so that I could focus on content.
  
  Finish all the questions! It matters. Don't listen to the myth that you must get the first 5 questions correct.

On test day, make sure you eat something beforehand. Use your restroom breaks. I also spent 30 minutes before I left for the test brushing up on my essay outlines. I got into the testing center, and proceeded to murder both of the essays. I felt super confident from then on. In the quantitative section, I started off really good, and then slowed way down because the questions got hard. I thought the test was just harder than the practice tests, because I didn't fully trust myself. I pushed through and finished with a couple minutes to spare. The verbal section seemed easy compared to the previous work I'd done. Sorry if that sounds conceited, I don't mean it that way.

The best part, after getting my score, was walking out of the testing room and having the lady hand me my unofficial score report. She was shaking, and said it was the highest score she'd seen in almost two years. That was pretty cool.

My practice test results were as follows:
Book test 1: Missed 4 in both Quant and Verbal (my book didn't give a score calculation)
GMAT 1: 740
Book test 2: Missed 7 in Quant, 8 in Verbal
GMAT 2: 730

Good luck everyone, and thanks for the help!

[thunderdan]

Congratulations on a good score. Can you point out what specific online resources you have used for Quantitative section.

Thanks.

[Hoover]

I would just google "free GMAT practice test" and if I had to sign up for something, I used my email account reserved for spam. None of them made a great impression on me, I used them more for variety than anything else. I found that the practice questions from my book got to be a bit stale, and I knew it wasn't the world's best resource.

Sorry I can't be of any more help.

[rijul007]

Congratz man!

[ariz]

I have not used nor planning to purchase any GMAT materials, and I am glad to hear someone who opt to go that route is able to achieve such a good score. Thank you, You are an inspiration to us all!


Congrats and good luck with the rest of your applications!

[kopparapui]

Congrats,

I have a general question. If you couldn't answer all the questions however if you have answered rest of them correctly, would it greatly impact the score?

[Hoover]

Kopparapui - There are a few threads around the interwebs, and I'm sure there is one here that discuss the "get the first X questions right" method versus the "finish all the questions" method. From everything I've read, finishing all the questions is the best way to go. If you're getting to the end of a section and might finish a question or two short, I'd suggest finishing at all costs, but if you're 10 questions short, I think there is a bigger issue, and you'd need to work on budgeting your time.

For me, the budgeting my time with the AWA was a big weakness. My 30 minutes would finish and I wouldn't have a conclusion done. That's why the framework really helped me. I also had a preplanned outline created in my head, so I wouldn't have to waste time writing one down.

Good luck everybody! Hope to see your victorious posts on here soon.

[David@VeritasPrep]

kopparapui -

Getting questions right is the big thing. Most people who score from the low 40s to about 50 miss around 11 - 13 questions on the quant. So that means getting about 25 questions right.

Now if you are able to at least see all 37 questions that can give you a better chance to get questions right, but it is NOT advisable to rush just to get to all of the questions. If you are able to do each question efficiently enough to answer all 37 without rushing then you may be on pace for a 51...but for everyone else in the world you will miss questions.

There are two rules to consider when doing the quant:

1) If you see a question and you feel that you can do it in 3 minutes with good accuracy then simply focusing on getting it right. Do not rush.

2) If you do not have a solid strategy in a minute or so then you should think about moving on since this is the type of question that you are less likely to get correct in three minutes.

Also for the Quant the folks at GMAC have indicated that it is not necessarily better to guess at the last few questions as compared to just leaving them blank. If you have fewer than five questions left and you are running out of time I would focus on getting some of those correct by applying a normal procedure to those and if you do not even get to guess at 2 or 3 questions then so be it. Your score will not be greatly impacted. If you have more than 5 questions you will want to guess at those...failing to answers more than 5 questions could be a problem for your score.


For the Verbal - TRUST YOURSELF!

That is the big message. For verbal you really need to try to get to all 41 questions. This is different than the quantitative section. Verbal does not adapt as precisely and you need to get questions right in order to improve your score. So don't spend time seconding guessing yourself on the verbal. Develop good techniques and trust them!

Happy studying!

[GAMATO]

Congrats..

I might sound little lazy here but can you share the real-life examples and transition sentence outlines that you prepared for AWA. Thanks.

[Hoover]

https://www.beatthegmat.com/argument-ess ... 38032.html

It's the top post in the AWA forum on here. Hope this helps.