When nothing else mattered = 720(Q48, V40): AWA 5.0

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Hi pals,

Just back from my GMAT today.

BTG rocks. Thanks Mayonaisse for this wonderful ventrue.
Thanks ngufo and neo2000 for their insighful posts.
Thanks danaj, myohmy, logitech,aj1805 among counteless others for their replies on different topics. Great learning.

Special Thanks Stacy to different queries. Her stress on quality vs quantity is one I followed religiously.

This was my 3rd attempt.

First attempt was a on-the-spot decision rather. Prepared for a week and went. Got 640.

Analysis: Lack of Practice

Second attempt was an intense one. Spent 7 months. Prepared hard. Took classes. Ended up scoring 620(Q48, V28).

Analysis: Was a bundle of nerves. No timing strategy.
Don't do Kaplan tests.

Third attempt was a super-intense one. Spent 2 months.
Did 15 mock tests in all. Scores between 710 - 790.

I was scoring above 40 in verbal consistently. In fact hitting 45 and above in last 3 mock tests. Would have loved a V45 to land a punch on GMAT. But 80-80 split should be good enough.

cheers
Last edited by gmat_dest on Fri Aug 21, 2009 6:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

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by beatthegmat » Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:54 pm
You rock! Congrats on your awesome perfomance. :)
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by Courtney » Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:58 pm
Congratulations gmat_dest! Well done. It's nice to hear that perseverance pays off.

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by DanaJ » Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:47 pm
Great score! Congrats!

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heh

by JeffB » Tue Aug 18, 2009 2:10 pm
Must be a great relief! Congrats.

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by JasonReynolds » Tue Aug 18, 2009 11:13 pm
Congratulations. Glad that you had the motivation to take it a third time.

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by gmat_dest » Wed Aug 19, 2009 12:27 am
Thanks all..

yah Jason,

3rd time was the last time I wanted to do.

One should never give GMAT just for the heck of it as I did the first time around. Unnecessarily one score will get added to the score report.

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by gmat_dest » Wed Aug 19, 2009 12:35 am
Got quite a few questions. I am pasting my progress and plan. If it does not answer your answer please feel free to let me know.

Preparation time after my May 28th attempt:

2 months , 2 weeks.

Actually studied: 2 months(4 hours every weekday, 2 full length tests every weekend, squeezed in a few on weekdays too)

Mock Tests taken : 15 tests

Except 800 score tests, I did all other tests with AWA. I took the same length of breaks, ate the same food as on GMAT day for each of these tests. Because I wanted to simulate a test center experience, I used to goto office on weekends to give these tests.

Breakdown:

MGMAT 6 tests : 710 - 780 (Quant very tough , Verbal very tricky)

There is no better prepration for GMAT than them in my opinion. Learning I got is invaluable.

GMAT Prep - 2 tests : 750 and 780 (retakes with a few repeats) I took these tests just 3 days before GMAt to get used to the font color :)

800score - 5 tests : Not an adaptive test. But questions are tough. Good Practice. Range from 770 - 790.

Princeton Free test : 730

Veritas Free test : 710

Learn from each test. And correct those mistakes by next test.

Preparation Strategy:

My last failure was not because of lack of knowledge but because of a lack of stamina.
So this time focus was on stamina,

Dont sacrifice on the good things of life for GMAT. Life is bigger than it. Enjoy life and also GMAT.

Preparation material:

1. Dont follow Kaplan verbal.
2. OG 10 + 11 + 12, Manhattan SC, Powerscore CR(just 12 pages in total).
3. Beat the GMAT blog.

Make sure you know why something is wrong and why its right in OGs. Thats the most important thing.

You can read as much as you like, but after preparing off and on for 1.2 years, I will say just OGs are enough.

I could tell OG11 SC and CR answers without looking at the answer choice :) So, practice is the key.

Strategies:
---------------

Timing is the most important.

Left-hand is for Question number you should be on and right-hand should be the minute expired.

Quant:

5 = 66
10 = 56
15 = 46
20 = 36
25 = 26
30 = 16
35 = 06

Verbal:

5 = 67
10 = 58
15 = 49
20 = 40
25 = 31
30 = 22
35 = 13
40 = 4


PS:

I am an egoistic Indian engineer who has always been qood on quant and swat problem solving Qs with ease. So, no strategies followed. I used MGMAT to harden my quant stuff.

But for people who keep on studying so much quant stuff, I would say just do the OGs.
Keep an error log. Check how many you got wrong. If you are doing great, go onto MGMAT test and face the heat:)

DS:

I hate this. But thats what management is all about :) . I began to like it later on. Same strategy as above.

SC:

I know about more than a 100-odd rules and there are a few more hundreds that I dont know. Follow beatthegmat.com and Manhattan GMAt forums. Great replies from people. I learnt more from socializing on forums than books here. Of course all this after I did all Scs from OGs and MGMAT SC.

CR:

The most difficult part for me till I read powerscore CR for two days. After that my hit rate was 90% on average. That book is bulky. I just took notes of each question type and how to solve them. Gem of a book. Some say read the Q then the passage. Some say the reverse. Do what you are comfortable with.

But must do is check premises and conclusion. Once you know them, CR is a breeze.

RC:

The most time consuming one when I used to take notes, mark keywords and all that shit.
I started doing mental maps in tests and yeah I never wrote any notes for RC after that.
There is a way how Americans write essays and articles. Introduction-Points-Conclusion.
Every body paragraph has a topic sentence and then some details follow. From the first para, I got an idea oh purpose. Next paras I got the main gist and purpose of each para. Last para, I got about what he is concluding or saying or inferring.

I did this on my first practice test. I screwed up MGMAt RCs badly in their tests. Because one word completely invalidates a choice. ABsolutely Fantastic. If GMAT is a game, then this is how it tries to trick you. So, master RC.

I never practiced RC apart from tests. And I used to take max 10 minutes for a long RC passage from this trategy. Short RCs with 3 Qs, less than 6 minutes.

Guess I covered all. The key is practice. In the last stages of my preparation, I did not even bother to check other answer choices when I got my paraphrase. I was so sure about it.

As Lance put it "One can't fake confidence".

Last week before test:

Just went over my error logs for each test. What mistakes I made etc. stuff. Not more than 3 hours of preps. Didn't overburn.

Last day before test:

Just the idioms and going over a few AWAs.

Morning before test:

6 AM. Woke up and Listened to Aerosmith, Metalica, GnR.

8 AM. Reach test centre.

9 AM Started as 3 person on the test. I finished the AWAs each 10 minutes before. took the 8 minute break.

Quant:

I did not spend more than 2 mins per Q. I followed the timing strategy above. Skipping is never possible for me.

Got Probablity and Combinations questions. Thats when I knew I was doing well.

Took 8 minute break. I knew verbal was going to be the make or break. I just utilised 3 minutes of the break. I was on a high.

Tricky SCs. Could eliminate a few choices with knowdledge of my so-called 100-odd rules.

CR was cakewalk. Got Boldface around 38 or 39th. BF questions are some of the easiest. And this one was no exception.

RC , carried on my confidence from practice tests. But I knew in between that I chose the wrong one of the 50-50 splits on 2 occasions.

Finished 2 minutes before time. Filled up the details.
Stared at the screen for checking/cancelling scores for a minute. Prayed to GOD and thanked GMAC for their wonderful mind-fucking test that had screwed up my life .Then clicked .

720. 80 percentile+ in both sections. The coveted 80-80 split. Felt a tinge of sadness at not scoring 45 or more in V. But life goes on.

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by rookiez » Wed Aug 19, 2009 1:52 am
Congratulations Dear.

So where are you headed now?

Also, can you share your material? MGMAT one?

I am based in Del.