700 BABY!!!

I just got done taking the test and nailed a 700. 42 Q 42 V. That was the best I have done since starting studying at the end of Feb.

Here is how I was able to do it.

1. Signed up for the PR classroom course. 2 reasons I did this. My company footed the bill and I knew that having to go an be prepared to go to class would give me a lot more discipline while preparing.

Here is in a nutshell how my preperation went.

Mid Feb- went on a 9 day cruise with my wife, family, friends. I figured I might have some down time while relaxing and I could study. Day 1 I took my stuff up on deck. Pulled it out of my backpack, looked at it said yeah right and ordered a beer. The next day the same thing happened except that I went snorkling. You get the picture.

So end of Feb the first day of class starts. It was an intro class we got our books, they said they can garuntee results without really doing it etc. . . We got our assingments and were gone in an hour. That was pretty easy. We also had to take a test.

First test 500. Not bad I thought at least I was at the mean. I had provent to myself that I was no dummy. My friend Drew (who took the class with me) and without his knowing it competed with me tooth and nail. Come to think of it I seemed to be in competition with the entire class.

Class 1 was basic stuff. We got a large assingment for the next class consisting of PR material, OG problems as well as online drills, some timed some not. The online stuff for PR is really good. The drills did what they were suppossed to do. Drilled the lesson into you head so there was no way of forgetting. I would estimate that if you did all the work it took a good 8-10 hours a week. I did all the work.

All the classes after that were pretty much the same after that. There was a heavy load of problems and homework every week. I did every stinkin problem. I then did them again if I got them wrong. By the fourth or fifth week of class I knew that i had to beat Mr. Math no matter what the cost. He was the guy in class who would brag about not using pluggin' in (as us no so smart guys call it) instead he would only use algebra. Hey, whatever motivates you. If it works do it. I have no shame about it. I actually think I will send Mr. Math an email to thank him:)

In addition to the PR stuff. I bought the Kaplan 2005 w/CD book. I only used this for the problems. Ignored the lessons. And took the CAT1 and the diagnostic. I got a 550 on the CAT 1 and vowed to not take any more Kaplan tests since they destroyed my moral. The added problesm were good.

Here we how my test scores progressed

PR CAT 1 500 Mentioned above
PR CAT 2 590
PR CAT 3 550
Kaplan Diagnostic 620
PR CAT 4 640
PP CAT 1 650
Kaplan CAT 1 550
PR CAT 5 650
PP2 660

As you can see I was feeling pretty good about myself. I was think I could do a 650 on a average day, 630 on a bad day and 670 on a good day. When I saw a 700 I was a happy camper. I had a good day. I slept 8 solid hours last night. Only studied a tiny bit on Sat, and Sun prior to the test this morning (Monday.) As soon as I sat at the desk I was dialed in totally. I wrote my first two essays of my GMAT preperation. I think I did pretty well. I just followed what the Powerprep CD told me to do. To be honest I can't really remember much of the math. I got a pretty hard combo/perm question farily early on. Test had a lot of averages, means, and Geometry. Not a lot with integers, multiples kind of questions. Also I think 3 I II II type questions.

The verbal started out with 3 SC, then I had a bold faced CR, pretty easy. The first RC didn't come until around question 8 or 9. I got two right in a row. then in was just a normal combo.

I really wished I remember more but I think I self hypnotized or something. The time also seemed to go fast but I did a really good job of pacing myself. That I owe to taking a bunch of tests as well as the PR online Drills.

All in all I am glad that it is done and I did better than I thought. I went ito my first day of class thinking 600. As for the PR. IF you can I think taking the class is a good investment. I was luck to have two really good instructors Puneet and Chuck, thanks guys.

If you would like to know anything more specific let me know.

Also this i not a joke. When I was driving home from my test I was looking at my test scores singing Christina Aguelara (or however it is spellled) you are beautiful to my test scores.