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praneeth
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
- Posts: 48
- Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 3:59 pm
- Location: Miami, FL
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- GMAT Score:760
I took the exam today and scored a 760 (Q48, V47) - 99th Percentile.
I am a non-native English speaker, and verbal has always been my weakness.
84% math, 99% verbal
I wanted to share a couple of things with the group since I was able to learn a lot from this group.
However, I will warn you that I am not a model student and my methodology may not be best for you. Hopefully this will at least tell you what not to do.
First, the materials that I used.
I was enrolled in the Manhattan GMAT program in 2005 as part of my job (my employer sponsored it). I was an investment banker and did not have time to attend, only attended two classes, and did not take the exam.
This year when I wanted to take the exam again, I asked Manhattan GMAT to reactivate my online access for free, this gives you access to all of the recorded lectures, exams and other study tools.
I only looked through three of the lectures. I would have gone through the rest if I had the time as there were occasional items not mentioned in the books, but for the most part I would say the strategy guides really give all the info you need (the 3rd editions even more so).
My strategy guides were the first edition (2005) guides, however literally a week before my exam I purchased all of the new 3rd edition guides from Manhattan GMAT and read through all of them except for Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension. The guides are significantly improved. The sentence correction book is almost twice the size with a lot of nuances and other minor rules added to the already great foundation from the first book (I can't comment on the second edition as I never owned it). I can say without any reservations that my verbal score (at least on sentence correction) was completely attributable to the MGMAT guide.
My strategy was relatively similar to the amazing Twinsplitter's in that I focused on each area individually with the help of the MGMAT strategy guides and OG, doing OG problems in the order that MGMAT suggests - obviously my execution was far poorer than his.
First thing NOT to do: Don't buy new versions of books the week before the exam, I felt compelled to read them and this took away valuable practice time.
The only other books I used were the official guide and the verbal and quant supplementary guides. These are really important. As many have stated, OG is absolutely necessary, make sure you time yourself for every single question and you do EVERY question (not just 100+, but eery question, and include all the diagnostic questions, thats where the tougher questions are). On SC read ALL answers even when you are right.
I usually prefer to work with one textbook and I am not a fan of looking through multiple books. I did purchase the Kaplan 800 book (in 2005) but I never even opened it. I might have looked at it if I had more time though.
My timing:
I studied on and off for about two months. The last week I took off from work completely but I feel wasted this time somewhat by reading textbooks.
I took three of the 6 Manhattan GMAT tests and took the three GMAT Prep tests:
First GMAT Prep (4 days before exam): 730 (ran out of time for about 10 questions on Quant): Q47, V44 I think.
GMAT Prep 2: (3 days before the exam: Q49, V46 I think). - managed time better but still not that good.
MGMAT 1: (3 days before exam): 710
MGMAT 2: (2 days before exam): 670
MGMAT 3: (2 days before exam): 680 - yes I took two exams on the same day, and also did a GMAT Focus the same day: never do multiple exams on the same day 2 days before the exam
GMAT Prep Repeat (Day before exam: 760 Q51, V42) - I was really tired at this point and made some stupid mistakes on CR, try not to do multiple exams a day, it really drains you and can make an impact even on the next day.
All through my tests, there was one thing that stood out, my inability to give up on a question and go to the next, made me run out of time significantly before I got to the end of the quant questions: Manage your time well, have a good, PROVEN strategy on how you will handle time.
I thought I had a strategy for my exam, but it went miserably, yeah I know you guys will say but you got a 760, but during quant, I had 6 minutes to do the last 9 questions. I guessed most of them, I thought Quant was my strong point but poor execution really hurt there.
Other Materials: GMAT Focus: I bought a three pack, its not free, its expensive, but it has excellent questions. If you can do it, do practice on these.
Opinion on MGMAT exams: Quant is way too involved, they are difficult more because of additional calculations needed than for any other reason. This is NOT how the real exam makes questions difficult, there's more hidden items that you have to figure out, but once you figure those out the calculations are simple.
The critical reasoning and reading comprehension in the three MGMAT tests I took were terrible. I think the way they decided to make questions difficult is to have multiple possible answers. The real exam has very clear answers to every question, it might take some time to get there but there is no ambiguity. I don't think these questions are great practice. I felt miserable when I got most of my CR questions wrong with MGMAT and I looked at the answers, some of them actually even require Math.
Bottom line: Quant part of MGMAT tests are excellent practice although GMAT questions are not as involved. Sentence correction is great too, however the real exam is easier. There are multiple ways to get to every answer on the real GMAT. But this is a great way to make sure you actually learn every rule.
Other critical components of practice: MGMAT's OG Tracker and OG Stopwatch, these are great, unfortunately not available unless you take the course from them. I believe there are free alternatives that might work as well.
On all my GMAT focus tests I scored either 46-50 or 47-51 (47-51 on day of exam), they are a great indicator of where you will actually score but only if you keep within the given time limits.
AWA - I ran out of time before I could finish checking: again something not to do, start checking you essay with at least five minutes left on the clock.
On books that claim to have great strategy for reading comp, CR: I think with the amount of time you have best strategy is to carefully read the passage. Although I studied MGMAT's strategies I did not follow them here. I knew diagramming always takes more time than I had available in the exam. MGMAT gives you long passages in their test, real test passages are not that long and easier to just read once and understand.
The GMAT Focus tests are not full tests. They just have 25 quant adaptive questions. Each 45 minute test is scored the same way the actual GMAT's subscore is, and the program gives a range of possibilities and a confidence level. For example, 47-51 with an 80% confidence level.
I would like to thank Stacey Koprince and Ron Purewal of Manhattan GMAT whose posts on their forum, although not directly in response to my questions were really helpful. Whenever, an explanation for a tough GMAT Prep, Focus or MGMAT question was needed just typing the first part of the question into google would in most cases bring up excellent explanations from Ron and Stacey.
To clarify on my buying the strategy guides during the last week, I had already read 100% of the old editions by that time, I had also done 100% of all of the OG problems at that time in the order that MGMAT suggests (except for RC, I didn't think doing a lot of RC would help and didn't have enough time to do this). So the reading last week involved just going through the strategy guides and making notes of each of the key principles, for number properties, for word translations and most importantly for sentence correction. My problem was that since I had studied word translations almost two months before, and had been doing a lot of verbal right before, I had forgotten some of the word translation techniques, so doing this was helpful. Taking notes always makes you remember things better as well I think. For SC, almost every single point in the MGMAT guide went into my notebook, and I read the notebook over the day before the exam and made sure I was familiar with every grammer rule. The GMAT puts a LOT of weight on verbal, and it is very easy to improve SC. CR is a little more difficult to improve I think, as it is difficult to pinpoint a specific way to think about a problem (i.e. there are no simple rules to apply).
For verbal, ALWAYS use process of elimination, even if the answer seems obvious. At higher difficulty levels the GMAT will often have obvious looking answer choices right on top, with a less obvious correct choice later down the list.
Test Day Routine: I continued to study in the morning (mostly SC notes from the MGMAT book - again something not to do, grabbed some bagels and bananas from Publix and arrived at the test center).
You are not allowed to use cell phones during break: at least in my test center. My attempt to cry away my quant section was cut short even before it began!
Between sections I had a banana, had lots of water, and sipped a diet Coke. Also splashed cold water on my face, can't say if that worked!
Most important thing after Quant, don't be disheartened, I was miserable after Quant but went into Verbal thinking, I will make up for it somehow, I was determined to get every single question right, obviously I didn't but it helped.
Anyway, I'm not sure what else to write, but I will add some more if I remember anything that I think will be helpful.
EDIT: Just got my AWA Score 5.5, better than expected!
I am a non-native English speaker, and verbal has always been my weakness.
84% math, 99% verbal
I wanted to share a couple of things with the group since I was able to learn a lot from this group.
However, I will warn you that I am not a model student and my methodology may not be best for you. Hopefully this will at least tell you what not to do.
First, the materials that I used.
I was enrolled in the Manhattan GMAT program in 2005 as part of my job (my employer sponsored it). I was an investment banker and did not have time to attend, only attended two classes, and did not take the exam.
This year when I wanted to take the exam again, I asked Manhattan GMAT to reactivate my online access for free, this gives you access to all of the recorded lectures, exams and other study tools.
I only looked through three of the lectures. I would have gone through the rest if I had the time as there were occasional items not mentioned in the books, but for the most part I would say the strategy guides really give all the info you need (the 3rd editions even more so).
My strategy guides were the first edition (2005) guides, however literally a week before my exam I purchased all of the new 3rd edition guides from Manhattan GMAT and read through all of them except for Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension. The guides are significantly improved. The sentence correction book is almost twice the size with a lot of nuances and other minor rules added to the already great foundation from the first book (I can't comment on the second edition as I never owned it). I can say without any reservations that my verbal score (at least on sentence correction) was completely attributable to the MGMAT guide.
My strategy was relatively similar to the amazing Twinsplitter's in that I focused on each area individually with the help of the MGMAT strategy guides and OG, doing OG problems in the order that MGMAT suggests - obviously my execution was far poorer than his.
First thing NOT to do: Don't buy new versions of books the week before the exam, I felt compelled to read them and this took away valuable practice time.
The only other books I used were the official guide and the verbal and quant supplementary guides. These are really important. As many have stated, OG is absolutely necessary, make sure you time yourself for every single question and you do EVERY question (not just 100+, but eery question, and include all the diagnostic questions, thats where the tougher questions are). On SC read ALL answers even when you are right.
I usually prefer to work with one textbook and I am not a fan of looking through multiple books. I did purchase the Kaplan 800 book (in 2005) but I never even opened it. I might have looked at it if I had more time though.
My timing:
I studied on and off for about two months. The last week I took off from work completely but I feel wasted this time somewhat by reading textbooks.
I took three of the 6 Manhattan GMAT tests and took the three GMAT Prep tests:
First GMAT Prep (4 days before exam): 730 (ran out of time for about 10 questions on Quant): Q47, V44 I think.
GMAT Prep 2: (3 days before the exam: Q49, V46 I think). - managed time better but still not that good.
MGMAT 1: (3 days before exam): 710
MGMAT 2: (2 days before exam): 670
MGMAT 3: (2 days before exam): 680 - yes I took two exams on the same day, and also did a GMAT Focus the same day: never do multiple exams on the same day 2 days before the exam
GMAT Prep Repeat (Day before exam: 760 Q51, V42) - I was really tired at this point and made some stupid mistakes on CR, try not to do multiple exams a day, it really drains you and can make an impact even on the next day.
All through my tests, there was one thing that stood out, my inability to give up on a question and go to the next, made me run out of time significantly before I got to the end of the quant questions: Manage your time well, have a good, PROVEN strategy on how you will handle time.
I thought I had a strategy for my exam, but it went miserably, yeah I know you guys will say but you got a 760, but during quant, I had 6 minutes to do the last 9 questions. I guessed most of them, I thought Quant was my strong point but poor execution really hurt there.
Other Materials: GMAT Focus: I bought a three pack, its not free, its expensive, but it has excellent questions. If you can do it, do practice on these.
Opinion on MGMAT exams: Quant is way too involved, they are difficult more because of additional calculations needed than for any other reason. This is NOT how the real exam makes questions difficult, there's more hidden items that you have to figure out, but once you figure those out the calculations are simple.
The critical reasoning and reading comprehension in the three MGMAT tests I took were terrible. I think the way they decided to make questions difficult is to have multiple possible answers. The real exam has very clear answers to every question, it might take some time to get there but there is no ambiguity. I don't think these questions are great practice. I felt miserable when I got most of my CR questions wrong with MGMAT and I looked at the answers, some of them actually even require Math.
Bottom line: Quant part of MGMAT tests are excellent practice although GMAT questions are not as involved. Sentence correction is great too, however the real exam is easier. There are multiple ways to get to every answer on the real GMAT. But this is a great way to make sure you actually learn every rule.
Other critical components of practice: MGMAT's OG Tracker and OG Stopwatch, these are great, unfortunately not available unless you take the course from them. I believe there are free alternatives that might work as well.
On all my GMAT focus tests I scored either 46-50 or 47-51 (47-51 on day of exam), they are a great indicator of where you will actually score but only if you keep within the given time limits.
AWA - I ran out of time before I could finish checking: again something not to do, start checking you essay with at least five minutes left on the clock.
On books that claim to have great strategy for reading comp, CR: I think with the amount of time you have best strategy is to carefully read the passage. Although I studied MGMAT's strategies I did not follow them here. I knew diagramming always takes more time than I had available in the exam. MGMAT gives you long passages in their test, real test passages are not that long and easier to just read once and understand.
The GMAT Focus tests are not full tests. They just have 25 quant adaptive questions. Each 45 minute test is scored the same way the actual GMAT's subscore is, and the program gives a range of possibilities and a confidence level. For example, 47-51 with an 80% confidence level.
I would like to thank Stacey Koprince and Ron Purewal of Manhattan GMAT whose posts on their forum, although not directly in response to my questions were really helpful. Whenever, an explanation for a tough GMAT Prep, Focus or MGMAT question was needed just typing the first part of the question into google would in most cases bring up excellent explanations from Ron and Stacey.
To clarify on my buying the strategy guides during the last week, I had already read 100% of the old editions by that time, I had also done 100% of all of the OG problems at that time in the order that MGMAT suggests (except for RC, I didn't think doing a lot of RC would help and didn't have enough time to do this). So the reading last week involved just going through the strategy guides and making notes of each of the key principles, for number properties, for word translations and most importantly for sentence correction. My problem was that since I had studied word translations almost two months before, and had been doing a lot of verbal right before, I had forgotten some of the word translation techniques, so doing this was helpful. Taking notes always makes you remember things better as well I think. For SC, almost every single point in the MGMAT guide went into my notebook, and I read the notebook over the day before the exam and made sure I was familiar with every grammer rule. The GMAT puts a LOT of weight on verbal, and it is very easy to improve SC. CR is a little more difficult to improve I think, as it is difficult to pinpoint a specific way to think about a problem (i.e. there are no simple rules to apply).
For verbal, ALWAYS use process of elimination, even if the answer seems obvious. At higher difficulty levels the GMAT will often have obvious looking answer choices right on top, with a less obvious correct choice later down the list.
Test Day Routine: I continued to study in the morning (mostly SC notes from the MGMAT book - again something not to do, grabbed some bagels and bananas from Publix and arrived at the test center).
You are not allowed to use cell phones during break: at least in my test center. My attempt to cry away my quant section was cut short even before it began!
Between sections I had a banana, had lots of water, and sipped a diet Coke. Also splashed cold water on my face, can't say if that worked!
Most important thing after Quant, don't be disheartened, I was miserable after Quant but went into Verbal thinking, I will make up for it somehow, I was determined to get every single question right, obviously I didn't but it helped.
Anyway, I'm not sure what else to write, but I will add some more if I remember anything that I think will be helpful.
EDIT: Just got my AWA Score 5.5, better than expected!
Last edited by praneeth on Sat Nov 22, 2008 12:10 pm, edited 10 times in total.
