I gave my first GMAT yesterday 26-Jan-2011 and scored 650(Q47, V32). My aim is to achieve 720+ in GMAT.
My background:
1) Indian 32 year old male
2) Married and have 2 kids.
3) IT professional working in HK as Module Leader with 10 years of experience (5 year in HK).
4) Academics:
a) Class 10 with 72%, Class 12 with 65%, Graduation in Commerce with 58% and Masters in Computer Application with 61%
b) MCSD and PMP certified.
Preparation details:
I started to prepare for GMAT from Jan 2011 and tried to study 3 hours on weekdays and 6 hours on weekend. (Took a break in the middle for 1 month)
Preparation material used:
1. 6 Manhattan guides - Read all of them at least twice and made notes.
2. OG 12- Solved all the questions once and missed question thrice. Solved SC part full 2 times.
3. OG 11, and OG 10 - Solved tough questions once and missed question twice.
4. Official Verbal and Quant supplement - Solved all the questions once and missed question thrice.
5. Aristotle SC - Read it twice and made notes.
6. RC 99 - Solved 80% of the questions.
7. Powerscore CR bible - Read it twice and made notes.
8. Gmat prep set (Math, SC and CR set) - Solved all the questions once and missed question thrice.
9. Gmat club test (Math) - Solved 1 to 12 tests.
10. E-Gmat SC course - Completed the course.
11. 1000 SC - Completed first 500 questions.
12. 1000 CR - Completed first 400 questions.
13. Veritas Prep Permutation & Combination book - Read it and solved all the questions once and missed question twice.
14. I have been reading WSJ since last 4 months.
15. I maintain error logs for all my missed questions.
My reflection of the GMAT exam:
I was ahead of the time throughout the quant part. I was not able to concentrate and did several silly mistakes in quant, which I could recall on returning home.
I had timing problems in the verbal part and rushed through the last 10 questions. SCs were OK but CRs and RCs were tough. Truly speaking, I have no clue for the dismal score in verbal. I scored decent in verbal part in CATs I gave just before the GMAT even scoring 36 in Manhattan Cat 6 and 41 on my last Gmat Prep.
Plan of action:
I plan to again give GMAT after 2 months and have the below plan. I will stress more on the verbal part.
Math: Complete GMATClub 13 remaining test and review the missed once, if I get time.
Verbal: I really have no clue of my weak area in Verbal because I did not notice same issues in my practice CATS. It seems to me that my RC is weakest followed by CR and SC. I am sure that I have timing problem in RC because I can hit SCs on average in 1.5 minutes and CR also looks OK to me.
SC - Plan to practice from OG 12, Verbal supplement and Gmat prep set.
CR - Plan to practice from OG 12, Verbal supplement and Gmat prep set.
RC - Plan to practice RC from https://codecoax.com/grerc/ OR LSAT papers.
I seek your advise on below :
1) Any way to pinpoint my weak area in Verbal i.e. is it RC, CR or SC?
2) Should I repeat the GMAT official verbal material (OG, verbal supplement) that I have gone through before or should I use some new material for SC and CR such as 1000 SC?
3) What CAT should I use as I have exhausted my all 6 Manhattan CAT and GMAT Preps? Any feedback on 800 scores CATS?
4) I have noticed in maths that I make the problem wrong that I know very well. It is mostly because of not reading the question correctly or because of calculation mistakes. I really mess up in calculation involving big numbers. I did the same on my last GMAT prep and real GMAT. I could solve the missed problems in less than 2 minutes after the exam. Anyway to avoid it?
Thanks in advance for your advise.
My background:
1) Indian 32 year old male
2) Married and have 2 kids.
3) IT professional working in HK as Module Leader with 10 years of experience (5 year in HK).
4) Academics:
a) Class 10 with 72%, Class 12 with 65%, Graduation in Commerce with 58% and Masters in Computer Application with 61%
b) MCSD and PMP certified.
Preparation details:
I started to prepare for GMAT from Jan 2011 and tried to study 3 hours on weekdays and 6 hours on weekend. (Took a break in the middle for 1 month)
Preparation material used:
1. 6 Manhattan guides - Read all of them at least twice and made notes.
2. OG 12- Solved all the questions once and missed question thrice. Solved SC part full 2 times.
3. OG 11, and OG 10 - Solved tough questions once and missed question twice.
4. Official Verbal and Quant supplement - Solved all the questions once and missed question thrice.
5. Aristotle SC - Read it twice and made notes.
6. RC 99 - Solved 80% of the questions.
7. Powerscore CR bible - Read it twice and made notes.
8. Gmat prep set (Math, SC and CR set) - Solved all the questions once and missed question thrice.
9. Gmat club test (Math) - Solved 1 to 12 tests.
10. E-Gmat SC course - Completed the course.
11. 1000 SC - Completed first 500 questions.
12. 1000 CR - Completed first 400 questions.
13. Veritas Prep Permutation & Combination book - Read it and solved all the questions once and missed question twice.
14. I have been reading WSJ since last 4 months.
15. I maintain error logs for all my missed questions.
My reflection of the GMAT exam:
I was ahead of the time throughout the quant part. I was not able to concentrate and did several silly mistakes in quant, which I could recall on returning home.
I had timing problems in the verbal part and rushed through the last 10 questions. SCs were OK but CRs and RCs were tough. Truly speaking, I have no clue for the dismal score in verbal. I scored decent in verbal part in CATs I gave just before the GMAT even scoring 36 in Manhattan Cat 6 and 41 on my last Gmat Prep.
Plan of action:
I plan to again give GMAT after 2 months and have the below plan. I will stress more on the verbal part.
Math: Complete GMATClub 13 remaining test and review the missed once, if I get time.
Verbal: I really have no clue of my weak area in Verbal because I did not notice same issues in my practice CATS. It seems to me that my RC is weakest followed by CR and SC. I am sure that I have timing problem in RC because I can hit SCs on average in 1.5 minutes and CR also looks OK to me.
SC - Plan to practice from OG 12, Verbal supplement and Gmat prep set.
CR - Plan to practice from OG 12, Verbal supplement and Gmat prep set.
RC - Plan to practice RC from https://codecoax.com/grerc/ OR LSAT papers.
I seek your advise on below :
1) Any way to pinpoint my weak area in Verbal i.e. is it RC, CR or SC?
2) Should I repeat the GMAT official verbal material (OG, verbal supplement) that I have gone through before or should I use some new material for SC and CR such as 1000 SC?
3) What CAT should I use as I have exhausted my all 6 Manhattan CAT and GMAT Preps? Any feedback on 800 scores CATS?
4) I have noticed in maths that I make the problem wrong that I know very well. It is mostly because of not reading the question correctly or because of calculation mistakes. I really mess up in calculation involving big numbers. I did the same on my last GMAT prep and real GMAT. I could solve the missed problems in less than 2 minutes after the exam. Anyway to avoid it?
Thanks in advance for your advise.
