740 - My Strategy

[hoboglove]

One of the things I found most difficult was determining when I was fully prepared to write the exam. The information on this forum was invaluable in that respect, so I thought I would post my experience for others.

I started studying four months ago. The first thing I did was write a Kaplan CAT to determine where I stood. The result was less than encouraging: 540. I was told that kaplan significantly deflated scores, so I was not totally discouraged, but realized that I really needed to step it up, so I purchased all of the MGMAT materials, and all of the OG guides. I only opened the kaplan book once more, and that was all it took for me to realize that it was useless. The questions seemed to focus too much on tricking you. The GMAT is more about conceptual knowledge and problem solving, things that the MGMAT books adequately addressed.

Over the following four months I didn't hit the books hard because I was working full time, but chipped away at it every day. Here is my practice test progression:

8/5/2008 MGMAT CAT 1: 580 (31Q 31% 38V 85%)

I wrote this with virtually no preparation, so I realized that the quant was my weak area. I then focused on the MGMAT quant books, and started doing the OG quant problems (about 20 per day). I timed myself for every set of 10 questions, and noted any question that took more than two minutes.

9/20/2008 MGMAT CAT 2: No Score... Didnt do Verbal (43Q 70%)

Finished the MGMAT quant books. Reread at least one of the quant books every two weeks. kept doing OG Quant. Started doing OG Verbal questions (about 20 per day).

10/26/2008 MGMAT CAT 3: 700 (43Q 70% 42V 92%)

Continued with the OG quant and verbal questions. I did each quant problem twice, and kept records of the ones I had gotten wrong. I repeated the ones I had gotten wrong a third time, and focused on those concepts for study.

11/2/2008 MGMAT CAT 4: 680 (47Q 81% 36V 81%)

Figured my quant was progressing, so along with the OG quant questions, I focused on the verbal portion that I was having the most difficulty with (Sentence correction). The MGMAT SC guide was invaluable. I reread it at least once a week until I wrote the exam. It really helped me with the more concrete grammatical aspects of SC, but for the more difficult SC questions I would usually just go with what "sounded" correct. I know that this is of little help to non native english speakers, so I would recommend to them to read, read, read, listen, listen, listen. Just familiarize yourself with proper sounding english. I found myself critically analyzing any sentence I heard or read in day to day life. This helped to solidify my skills.

I figured this was a good time to take a GMATPrep test to determine where my actual score may sit. I also read through the MGMAT RC and CR guides. They weren't too helpful, but the one thing that I did get out of them was to TAKE NOTES on the RC and CR. I can honestly say that I never once used the notes I took as a reference to answer questions, but the act of writing really focused my attention on the important information in the passages.

GMATPrep 1: 710

At this point I realized that the MGMAT Quant questions were far more time consuming than the actual GMAT questions, but they were still a great learning tool, so on the next MGMAT test I did the quant section untimed (I found that I learned more from taking the time to "figure out the answer on my own" rather than reading an explanation after I had gotten it wrong) This is not to say that timing isnt important... It is vital, but I felt that without the concepts necessary to solve a question that the timing was irrelevant. This also exposed me to the harder questions that I would not have seen had I taken the exam timed.

11/9/2008 MGMAT CAT 5 Quant untimed, Verbal timed: 750 (51Q 99% 41V 93%)

With unlimited time I got most of the quant questions right, and learned a ton because I had to think through all of the 700 level questions. I believe that given enough time I could solve any quant question posed to me, so I focused on the harder questions, and how to solve them faster. I also continued with my OG questions

11/13/2008 MGMAT CAT 6 Quant untimed, Verbal timed: 730 (49Q 90% 41V 93%)

Two weeks till the exam... Reread the MGMAT guides as per the past few weeks and went over OG questions I had gotten wrong.

11/25/2008 GMATPrep 2: 760

This gave me a ton of confidence going into the exam. Confidence is Key. It is unfortunate that there are only two GMATPrep tests because they seem to be great indicators of where you are at, so I would suggest saving them until you think that you might be ready. If you score poorly, then you probably aren't ready.

11/28/2008 Actual Exam: 740 (46Q 77% 45V 98%)

As you can see, this is almost exactly the mean of my two GMATPrep tests, so they really are a great indicator of where you sit, and they mimic the actual test quite well.

I Hope you find this as helpful as I found all of your posts. Good Luck!!!!!

[iamcste]

Congrats and well done

[iamcste]

Looking at your progress on a monthly basis, I am sure if you would have given yourself 2 more months, you would have reached 780.

Mostly scores saturate, you have a nice growing curve

[cheeseburst]

Congrats hoboglove...
Good SHow!!good luck for applications

One of the things I found most difficult was determining when I was fully prepared to write the exam. The information on this forum was invaluable in that respect, so I thought I would post my experience for others.

I started studying four months ago. The first thing I did was write a Kaplan CAT to determine where I stood. The result was less than encouraging: 540. I was told that kaplan significantly deflated scores, so I was not totally discouraged, but realized that I really needed to step it up, so I purchased all of the MGMAT materials, and all of the OG guides. I only opened the kaplan book once more, and that was all it took for me to realize that it was useless. The questions seemed to focus too much on tricking you. The GMAT is more about conceptual knowledge and problem solving, things that the MGMAT books adequately addressed.

Over the following four months I didn't hit the books hard because I was working full time, but chipped away at it every day. Here is my practice test progression:

8/5/2008 MGMAT CAT 1: 580 (31Q 31% 38V 85%)

I wrote this with virtually no preparation, so I realized that the quant was my weak area. I then focused on the MGMAT quant books, and started doing the OG quant problems (about 20 per day). I timed myself for every set of 10 questions, and noted any question that took more than two minutes.

9/20/2008 MGMAT CAT 2: No Score... Didnt do Verbal (43Q 70%)

Finished the MGMAT quant books. Reread at least one of the quant books every two weeks. kept doing OG Quant. Started doing OG Verbal questions (about 20 per day).

10/26/2008 MGMAT CAT 3: 700 (43Q 70% 42V 92%)

Continued with the OG quant and verbal questions. I did each quant problem twice, and kept records of the ones I had gotten wrong. I repeated the ones I had gotten wrong a third time, and focused on those concepts for study.

11/2/2008 MGMAT CAT 4: 680 (47Q 81% 36V 81%)

Figured my quant was progressing, so along with the OG quant questions, I focused on the verbal portion that I was having the most difficulty with (Sentence correction). The MGMAT SC guide was invaluable. I reread it at least once a week until I wrote the exam. It really helped me with the more concrete grammatical aspects of SC, but for the more difficult SC questions I would usually just go with what "sounded" correct. I know that this is of little help to non native english speakers, so I would recommend to them to read, read, read, listen, listen, listen. Just familiarize yourself with proper sounding english. I found myself critically analyzing any sentence I heard or read in day to day life. This helped to solidify my skills.

I figured this was a good time to take a GMATPrep test to determine where my actual score may sit. I also read through the MGMAT RC and CR guides. They weren't too helpful, but the one thing that I did get out of them was to TAKE NOTES on the RC and CR. I can honestly say that I never once used the notes I took as a reference to answer questions, but the act of writing really focused my attention on the important information in the passages.

GMATPrep 1: 710

At this point I realized that the MGMAT Quant questions were far more time consuming than the actual GMAT questions, but they were still a great learning tool, so on the next MGMAT test I did the quant section untimed (I found that I learned more from taking the time to "figure out the answer on my own" rather than reading an explanation after I had gotten it wrong) This is not to say that timing isnt important... It is vital, but I felt that without the concepts necessary to solve a question that the timing was irrelevant. This also exposed me to the harder questions that I would not have seen had I taken the exam timed.

11/9/2008 MGMAT CAT 5 Quant untimed, Verbal timed: 750 (51Q 99% 41V 93%)

With unlimited time I got most of the quant questions right, and learned a ton because I had to think through all of the 700 level questions. I believe that given enough time I could solve any quant question posed to me, so I focused on the harder questions, and how to solve them faster. I also continued with my OG questions

11/13/2008 MGMAT CAT 6 Quant untimed, Verbal timed: 730 (49Q 90% 41V 93%)

Two weeks till the exam... Reread the MGMAT guides as per the past few weeks and went over OG questions I had gotten wrong.

11/25/2008 GMATPrep 2: 760

This gave me a ton of confidence going into the exam. Confidence is Key. It is unfortunate that there are only two GMATPrep tests because they seem to be great indicators of where you are at, so I would suggest saving them until you think that you might be ready. If you score poorly, then you probably aren't ready.

11/28/2008 Actual Exam: 740 (46Q 77% 45V 98%)

As you can see, this is almost exactly the mean of my two GMATPrep tests, so they really are a great indicator of where you sit, and they mimic the actual test quite well.

I Hope you find this as helpful as I found all of your posts. Good Luck!!!!!

[smalishah84]

Congratulations on a wonderful score. I plan to write the GMAT in less than 10 days now. Can you please suggest me what I should be doing during these last 10 days. I have so far given only one GMAT Prep and got a 700 on it but that was way back in mid October. I had not started properly studying for the GMAT then. I was only beginning my prep. What do you think is the best way to utilize this last week considering that I don't have access to MGMAT tests?

Thanks

[mjjking]

Hi!! Do you think that the verbal part/questions in Manhattan GMAT are more difficult than the ones in the real test? I scored V41 in my last attempt and I would like to get a 43 in my real one!!