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advocate
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2012 9:04 am
- Thanked: 1 times
- GMAT Score:750
First, I signed up for a course. I had taken a Princeton Review class in preparation for law school back in 1999. I had a good experience with it, and, although my LSAT score only increased by one point from my initial cold diagnostic score, my accuracy had increased although I did not practice enough of what I had learned to have gained the speed necessary to increase my score by much.
I viewed my Princeton Review experience as positive however, and I saw how a prep course could benefit me if I applied myself. I also liked the individual classes, and back then they had more than Kaplan, which was the only other option and was considered to be more of a study on your own program. Instead of test exams with your teacher, with Kaplan you went into the office on your own and took your test on your own time, with no opportunity for instant feedback on the one or two questions that had really vexed you or your classmates.
I signed up for Manhattan GMAT as they not only seemed to have enough classes to fit the personal interaction I had enjoyed before but also and as they have an online reputation as being designed for those who want high scores more than for one for learning the basics.
I learned quickly to focus on my weakness, which was the length of time since I had seen the math on the quant section. I would not start my verbal homework until I had finished my math homework each week, and I reached my verbal homework only twice.
I asked my Manhattan GMAT teacher if taking it 2-3 weeks after the class was over was realistic. That was the Manhattan GMAT minimum recommendations. She said that it was if I was scoring within 50 points of my target score. I took my first practice test two weeks before I took the test, I thought that I needed a minimum of 650 to get into my target school, which has an average 640 score, and I scored a 650 (Q38, V41). I ran out of time completely on the math section, I had not realized how quickly the time goes at 2 minutes per question. On question 23, I had five minutes left, and it counted me as having not completed the final question. Stunned from having to race through and guess at about the last 12 or so questions (getting only one of them correct), I relatively raced through the verbal section. I completed it with over 25 minutes to spare but was still relatively comfortable with my answers. After review I realized that almost all of my verbal misses could have been avoided by closer reading of the reading comp passages.
I had not finished the homework for the last week nor part of the week's before. Coupling a weekend with two days from work, I was able to take four days off to study. I finished the final week's math homework, Geometry, and rest of that of the prior week's, Overlapping Sets. I never did have time to take another practice test, but I resolved basically to slow down on the quant and speed up on the verbal.
On the quant, I was humble enough to substitute numbers rather than plow through the algebra when I could not see how to solve quickly in the first minute. Also, I also eliminated and guessed when I ran out of time. I had learned that it is better to miss a hard one and get an easy one right than it was to get stuck and not finish because of being stuck on harder questions. I remember the quant backing off at one point and I felt that I nailed a bunch in a row, and then on a few, I realized that I could solve it but within 3-4 minutes and I went ahead and plowed thought them to get correct answers. It seemed to level off then. The only other technique I used was that on some Data Sufficiency questions that I was not going to be able to answer quickly, I thought them through almost without writing anything and guessed quickly. Data Sufficiency can bog one down.
On the verbal section, I deliberated much longer after making my selection and seriously considered all options, yet I still ran ahead. I especially slowed on the reading comprehension, and as before, I caught myself trying to force an answer because of the correct answer being worded in an unexpected fashion. I avoided a couple of pitfalls that I had fell for before by reading more than once and slowly. When I had six questions remaining, I still had over 24 minutes left. I sensed that I was getting some of their trickiest questions, so I took as much time as possible on each. I spent over 7 minutes on the last question. I sensed I had done really well on that section.
When the 750 popped, up I was elated. I had put 700 as the point at which I would be absolutely thrilled, but a 750 was truly unexpected. I emailed my Manhattan GMAT teacher to thank her for her help. She, of course, was also thrilled.
I viewed my Princeton Review experience as positive however, and I saw how a prep course could benefit me if I applied myself. I also liked the individual classes, and back then they had more than Kaplan, which was the only other option and was considered to be more of a study on your own program. Instead of test exams with your teacher, with Kaplan you went into the office on your own and took your test on your own time, with no opportunity for instant feedback on the one or two questions that had really vexed you or your classmates.
I signed up for Manhattan GMAT as they not only seemed to have enough classes to fit the personal interaction I had enjoyed before but also and as they have an online reputation as being designed for those who want high scores more than for one for learning the basics.
I learned quickly to focus on my weakness, which was the length of time since I had seen the math on the quant section. I would not start my verbal homework until I had finished my math homework each week, and I reached my verbal homework only twice.
I asked my Manhattan GMAT teacher if taking it 2-3 weeks after the class was over was realistic. That was the Manhattan GMAT minimum recommendations. She said that it was if I was scoring within 50 points of my target score. I took my first practice test two weeks before I took the test, I thought that I needed a minimum of 650 to get into my target school, which has an average 640 score, and I scored a 650 (Q38, V41). I ran out of time completely on the math section, I had not realized how quickly the time goes at 2 minutes per question. On question 23, I had five minutes left, and it counted me as having not completed the final question. Stunned from having to race through and guess at about the last 12 or so questions (getting only one of them correct), I relatively raced through the verbal section. I completed it with over 25 minutes to spare but was still relatively comfortable with my answers. After review I realized that almost all of my verbal misses could have been avoided by closer reading of the reading comp passages.
I had not finished the homework for the last week nor part of the week's before. Coupling a weekend with two days from work, I was able to take four days off to study. I finished the final week's math homework, Geometry, and rest of that of the prior week's, Overlapping Sets. I never did have time to take another practice test, but I resolved basically to slow down on the quant and speed up on the verbal.
On the quant, I was humble enough to substitute numbers rather than plow through the algebra when I could not see how to solve quickly in the first minute. Also, I also eliminated and guessed when I ran out of time. I had learned that it is better to miss a hard one and get an easy one right than it was to get stuck and not finish because of being stuck on harder questions. I remember the quant backing off at one point and I felt that I nailed a bunch in a row, and then on a few, I realized that I could solve it but within 3-4 minutes and I went ahead and plowed thought them to get correct answers. It seemed to level off then. The only other technique I used was that on some Data Sufficiency questions that I was not going to be able to answer quickly, I thought them through almost without writing anything and guessed quickly. Data Sufficiency can bog one down.
On the verbal section, I deliberated much longer after making my selection and seriously considered all options, yet I still ran ahead. I especially slowed on the reading comprehension, and as before, I caught myself trying to force an answer because of the correct answer being worded in an unexpected fashion. I avoided a couple of pitfalls that I had fell for before by reading more than once and slowly. When I had six questions remaining, I still had over 24 minutes left. I sensed that I was getting some of their trickiest questions, so I took as much time as possible on each. I spent over 7 minutes on the last question. I sensed I had done really well on that section.
When the 750 popped, up I was elated. I had put 700 as the point at which I would be absolutely thrilled, but a 750 was truly unexpected. I emailed my Manhattan GMAT teacher to thank her for her help. She, of course, was also thrilled.
Very inspiring. All the best with your apps, I hope you'll be aiming for an even better school now that you have this score. 
