I would like to thank you everybody for this beneficial forum.
I had my exam yesterday and got a very awful score in overall. But the quantitative section is 50 (94%), pretty good.
So here is my story and advice, mostly for quantitative section:
I started almost 1 month ago (mainly during holidays) and I did not know anything about the test, like many of you. I almost spent 4 hours everyday for this test, at the same I was writing my SOP and focused on other application stuffs such as TOEFL and recommendations.
The material which I went through:
OG11: best reference and completely enough, even for score above 700. However you must know the basics.
OG Quant (green book): almost the same as above, but useful for further examples.
Manhattan Sentence Correction: many people believe it is the best reference for SC as I do.
My scores in sample test were between 43 (first test, MGMAT free) to 50 (last test, GMAT Prep).
Here are my advices and I believe that if you do it the same, you can get a good score as well:
1) Take the OG serious. Even I who got a good grade on actual test did not see any tough questions as you may see on MGMAT. Although there were many tough questions, there were not as tough as MGMAT and were not time consuming.
2) Learn the basics instead on plugging if you want to get a good grade. Among all questions that I saw on exam, I used plugging only for 1 question. GMAT likes it more, I believe. The questions are in a way that you use the basics, not plugging. They become trickier when you use the plugging. One of teh best samples, beside OG, is Brent Hanneson's questions. He designs the question as GMAT wants. Take them serious, although their are some how harder than actual test.
3) Do not relay on Kaplan test, not at all. Even for free online one that many people believe it has a good scoring. I got 3 questions wrong on free online test, still I got 46!! MGMAT is good for quant, but unlike MGMAT, you wont see a bunch of hard questions on actual test. So do it as sample, not a representative of your score.
4) Make the GMAT Prep more serious. The actual questions are as the same level as this test (even easier).
5) Digest these concepts and pay especial attention to the difference between:
Ratio, percent, numbers, change in sample size, =< and = and <, integer and negative, …
I did this way when I first saw a question:
X is a non-negative integer that …. So I write: X is 0, 1, 2, 3, …
X is a number that … so I write: -2, -1, -0.5, 0, 0.5, 1, …
Try this method and it will pay off.
6) Read the questions from the beatthegmat and try to solve the questions before you see the answer, every day. It rocks.
7) Try to avoid solving the GMAT Prep from beatthegmat if you want to have a reliable score on the sample test. But do not forget to see these questions later on and their solutions. They are the best samples, believe me.
8) “10 first questions” is not true. I compared two of my sample tests. I once solve the 12 first questions right, but had almost the same wrong answer as the other one. Of course it was not intended and I did my best to solve each questions, but ended with the same score. So do not waste your time for getting these questions right.
9) If you want to get a good score, you may see your toughest questions on questions number 3 and 4. Try to solve them correctly. I believe their percentile matter more. Also you will see some tough question around number 20 as well as around 30.
10) Last but not least, I told above but want to emphasis that the GMAT wants to know how much you know about the basics not plugging. So show it how much you know.
Finally, I want to thank everybody here, especially Logitech, Brent Hanneson, Ian, cramya, and the founders of this forum.
I had my exam yesterday and got a very awful score in overall. But the quantitative section is 50 (94%), pretty good.
So here is my story and advice, mostly for quantitative section:
I started almost 1 month ago (mainly during holidays) and I did not know anything about the test, like many of you. I almost spent 4 hours everyday for this test, at the same I was writing my SOP and focused on other application stuffs such as TOEFL and recommendations.
The material which I went through:
OG11: best reference and completely enough, even for score above 700. However you must know the basics.
OG Quant (green book): almost the same as above, but useful for further examples.
Manhattan Sentence Correction: many people believe it is the best reference for SC as I do.
My scores in sample test were between 43 (first test, MGMAT free) to 50 (last test, GMAT Prep).
Here are my advices and I believe that if you do it the same, you can get a good score as well:
1) Take the OG serious. Even I who got a good grade on actual test did not see any tough questions as you may see on MGMAT. Although there were many tough questions, there were not as tough as MGMAT and were not time consuming.
2) Learn the basics instead on plugging if you want to get a good grade. Among all questions that I saw on exam, I used plugging only for 1 question. GMAT likes it more, I believe. The questions are in a way that you use the basics, not plugging. They become trickier when you use the plugging. One of teh best samples, beside OG, is Brent Hanneson's questions. He designs the question as GMAT wants. Take them serious, although their are some how harder than actual test.
3) Do not relay on Kaplan test, not at all. Even for free online one that many people believe it has a good scoring. I got 3 questions wrong on free online test, still I got 46!! MGMAT is good for quant, but unlike MGMAT, you wont see a bunch of hard questions on actual test. So do it as sample, not a representative of your score.
4) Make the GMAT Prep more serious. The actual questions are as the same level as this test (even easier).
5) Digest these concepts and pay especial attention to the difference between:
Ratio, percent, numbers, change in sample size, =< and = and <, integer and negative, …
I did this way when I first saw a question:
X is a non-negative integer that …. So I write: X is 0, 1, 2, 3, …
X is a number that … so I write: -2, -1, -0.5, 0, 0.5, 1, …
Try this method and it will pay off.
6) Read the questions from the beatthegmat and try to solve the questions before you see the answer, every day. It rocks.
7) Try to avoid solving the GMAT Prep from beatthegmat if you want to have a reliable score on the sample test. But do not forget to see these questions later on and their solutions. They are the best samples, believe me.
8) “10 first questions” is not true. I compared two of my sample tests. I once solve the 12 first questions right, but had almost the same wrong answer as the other one. Of course it was not intended and I did my best to solve each questions, but ended with the same score. So do not waste your time for getting these questions right.
9) If you want to get a good score, you may see your toughest questions on questions number 3 and 4. Try to solve them correctly. I believe their percentile matter more. Also you will see some tough question around number 20 as well as around 30.
10) Last but not least, I told above but want to emphasis that the GMAT wants to know how much you know about the basics not plugging. So show it how much you know.
Finally, I want to thank everybody here, especially Logitech, Brent Hanneson, Ian, cramya, and the founders of this forum.
