I just took the GMAT .
I wanted to share my experience for the benefit of others studying for this test .
I've prepared for about 5 months now . ..very seriously for the last 3 months .
I did not find out about this form till a week before my GMAT - so I've not participated in any challenges or discussions here .
I derived a great deal of inspiration from the posts here and want to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone whose been so helpful with their posts .
My test CAT scores as follows :
(All in a 2 week period before my test )
PR 1 : 700
PR2 : 640
PR3 : 620
PR4 : 610
Kaplan 1 : 600
Prep 1 : 710
Prep 2 : 710
Written Tests
Kaplan : 589
Kaplan : 590
Arcos1 : 700
Arcos2 : 680
Arcos 3 : 710
Arcos 4 : 720
Arcos 5 : 720
Arcos 6 : 700
The road to the Test :
Books I used :
-
Official Guide 11 the ed ( math , verbal and the combined one )
-
Kaplan official Guide
-
Princeton Review
-
Kaplan Verbal Workout
-
Kaplan Math Workout
-Arcos
- Arcos AWA book
I strongly recommend the
Kaplan Verbal Workout and Math workout .
If I had to do it all over again - I would have started with the
Kaplan
This was by far the most difficult test material . I was in tears after taking the first
Kaplan CAT and began to wuestion how I ever became an engineer .
The Math Review in the Princeton book is fabulous as well.
The sumarize each section and its very useful just reading this on the last day .
ARCOS - it has 6 written tests that are pretty representative of the actual test . This really helped me learn to stay focused for 3 hours and not get tired .
My strategy was as follows :
I went through the official guide 2 times .
The first time - I made notes on every wrong answer , and I was consistently getting about 20 % answers wrong .
When you solve problems in the official guide - I suggest mixing it up ,
I would try and do 20 questions of each question type
So id do 20 RCS + 20 CR'S + 20 SC's
This helped me get a fel about how things would be on the test .
The second time - I made a note of answers I got wrong on both tries .
Then the week before the test - I only solved the answers I got wrong in all sections , and this really helped me identify problem areas .
The last 30 questions in each OG section are very representative of the actual test .
Going into quant - I was miserable in two tpes of problems , rate and distance and Mixtures : so I tried to solve more problems around that ,
Kaplan Math workout was a winner all the way !
The week before the test :
I took two CATS GMATPrep .
Just revised concepts and chilled .
Didnt do anything weekend before the test - just reviewed mistakes from previous exams
The Actual Test :
1. It is just like the software that comes when you register for the test , in look and feel and overall difficulty .
2. When you take the practice CAT's - try and take them at the same time of the day as the actual test and take breaks when you take them .
3. The erasable noteboards werent bad at all . It was a booklet of paper like laminated sheets and a thick pen - so it feels like a Pilot pen and not like a ball pen .
Here is what happened to me at the test center today :
1. AWA started without any incident . I had some nice topics and didnt have to spend too much energy on the issue or argument .
2. Took a Break
3. When Quant started - I had the wind knocked out of my senses , I didnt know if it was too easy or too difficult ..there were a lot of grey areas for me in the quant section today .
In all my paper and CAT'S - i've been consistenly scoring above 90 % in QUANT - but jugding by todays test , strength lies in numbers and mine was missing
4. I took the entire 10 minute break between quant and verbal.
It was hilarious - i was drining boost ..and I rememberd this really corny Indian commercial that said " Boost is the secret of my energy " ..and laughed ..I was so upset after the math section ..But I pepped myself up ..and said that I wouldnt quit and I would do everything to stay in the game ..
5. Back in 10 . Verbal section was a test . I actually smiled at every question and said ...u know what i'm going to screw you ..lol! ..I ended up with a 95 % in verbal ..something that has never happened to date .
Bottom Line :
When I srated studying - someone told me that the GMAT is not a test of how good you are ..its a test of how good you are at the GMAT ...and my preparation and performance through the past few months has led me to believe that its more of a mental test - to see how strong you are , than how good you are .
Remember - that at any point in the test , you have a chance of turing the
test around .
Its not over till its over .
If I'd heard about thsi forum before - I think I would have definately signed up for the challenges and I'm sure the benefits would be huge .
For now - I'm pretty happy with the 690
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