My study for GMAT involved 2 steps:

1. Review the 8-book Manhattan GMAT series in depth to learn the methods of answering GMAT questions
2. Practice the principles learned in Manhattan GMAT books on GMAT questions to the point where those principles become second nature. Initially my focus was on applying the MGMAT methods. Only later did I begin trying to solve questions in a timely manner.

I scored as follows on my practice tests:
MGMAT # 1: Q36, V42 650 (10 weeks before test, after 1 month of study)
MGMAT # 2: Q48, V41 730 (6 weeks before test)
GMATPrep 1: Q50, V40 740 (4 weeks before test)
MGMAT # 3: Q47, V45 740 (3 weeks before test)
GMATPrep 2: Q50, V44 760 (10 days before test)
MGMAT # 4: Q48, V44 750 (4 days before test)
Actual GMAT: Q50, V40 740

Based on my practice test scores, I thought I would be able to get Q50, V45 for something like a 760 on the actual GMAT. I don't know what happened on the verbal. For some reason, the CR questions seemed harder than usual.

Here is my advice for studying:
OG12 contains questions that you will see in the GMAT prep practice tests. Be careful about this before burning through every question in the OG12 book.

Some MGMAT math questions are computationally intensive to the point where they are nearly impossible to solve within 2 minutes. The real GMAT does not ask such insane questions. My MGMAT math scores were consistently lower than my GMAT prep and actual GMAT math scores for this reason. Other than this, MGMAT is awesome. MGMAT is the best non-official resource out there.

BE CAREFUL about using questionable review materials. There are a lot of bad books out there. In my experience, only official GMAT questions, MGMAT questions, and some Kaplan questions adequately resemble the types of questions you will get on the GMAT. Bad review materials for verbal are especially dangerous because they may teach you methods that violate the strictly established rules for GMAT verbal questions. Such a rule for official GMAT CR and RC would be "do not introduce outside information."

I truly believe that a reasonably intelligent person can attain any score they desire on the GMAT if that person is willing to put in the work. But depending on the score you want, it may be a ton of work (as in hundreds of hours of study). The test taker's supreme advantage over the tricky test writer is that the GMAT is standardized, and thus the questions must remain consistent and predictable in the type of reasoning ability they require. After answering many practice questions, I began to see patterns in the required logic that improved my % of correct answers.

If you are motivated enough to study on your own, you will learn everything you need from the MGMAT books. You don't need to spend thousands of dollars on prep courses unless you are struggling to find ways to unload your cash. They will not teach any secrets that aren't covered in the MGMAT books.


Many thanks to everyone who posts so many great questions on this site. GMATclub is a seemingly limitless source of study material thanks to all of you.

BeavisMan congratz for the great score. Good luck with your apps! Keep all of us update about your progress!
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CR videos cr-through-videos-99033.html
SC videos sc-through-videos-98340.html
Quant videos quant-through-videos-102525.html

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excellento scoro.. had the same Q as you, lacked the V.. you are right though target should be 40+ on V
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Consider kudos, they are good for health

Good score and nice debrief! As always, I come with questions

1). Approximately, how many Math questions did you fail? How many did you guess?
2). How tough was Verval toward the end of the test compared to its difficulty level at the beginning of the section?
3). Were CR compared to those in OG or they were more long and convoluted?

Thanks!

Excellent score. Congrats.
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My gmat story
MGMAT1 - 630 Q44V32
MGMAT2 - 650 Q41V38
MGMAT3 - 680 Q44V37
GMATPrep1 - 660 Q49V31
Knewton1 - 550 Q40V27

Congrats!!! gr8 score..

I would appreciate if you can please let me know if the real Verbal was same as OG standard or more than that ?

thanx...

Here are my answer's to Financier's questions. Good questions!

1). Approximately, how many Math questions did you fail? How many did you guess?
I made a blind guess for 2 questions - one in the middle that I couldn't quite figure out, and the last question, for which I only had 15 seconds left after I figured out how to solve it. That being said, I was uncertain about my answer on most of the DS questions. My strategy was to work on it for a couple minutes, then pick an answer and move on. In general, my challenge with the quant questions was not the hard questions alone. I found in practice tests that my wrong answers were usually evenly distributed among very easy to very hard questions. In my studying, I focused on trying to get the easy questions right, and that improved my score. I didn't worry too much about the harder questions. You can get many of those wrong and still get a great quant score. One other note about quant - the first 10 quant questions in the real GMAT were harder than the first 10 quant questions in GMAT prep. I spent 3 minutes on the first quant question in the real GMAT, which surprised me.

2). How tough was Verbal toward the end of the test compared to its difficulty level at the beginning of the section?
The CR definitely got harder towards the end, but I didn't notice much change in SC and RC. I was nearly 100% certain of my answer on all of the SC, and on most of the RC as well. I can usually get even the hardest SC and RC questions right. In practice tests, I usually missed no more than 3 RC and SC questions combined. On the other hand, I often missed easy CR questions in my practice tests. In the real GMAT, I am guessing that they gave me hard CR questions because I was doing well on SC and RC. Not sure if that's how it works, but it seemed to be so.

3). Were CR compared to those in OG or they were more long and convoluted?
The CR questions I got on the actual GMAT were very similar in nature and in difficulty to the last 20 CR questions in the official guide. In general, I found the real GMAT CR questions to be more difficult than the CR questions I got in the MGMAT tests.

Superb score man!!!!

Nice debrief ....you seem to be very clear with your ideas....

best of luck for your apps
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Whatever you do, Do it SINCERELY!!!

GOD help those who help themselves....

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! amazing debrief, I really liked when you said you don't have to spend a ton of $$$ on prep courses I am trying to resist enrolling my self in Knewton's course (just because of their 50 points guarantee)
I had 1 quest though: How did you prepare for AWA?
All the best for future.

I used only one resource in preparing for AWA, and was able to get a 6.0 on both essays. Here is the resource: http://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-get-6-0-awa-my-guide-64327.html

The above link presents a very brief yet comprehensive guide for the essay structure and the key transition words that you should use. When you take the GMAT, use a prescribed structure that you have practiced for your AWA essays. Don't try to get creative in your AWA essays because that's not helpful for getting a good score.

I wrote 6 practice essays during 3 of my practice gmat exams, which was enough to make me comfortable writing the essays.

For example, I knew that my "Analyze an Argument" essay would look like this regardless of the topic:
Paragraph 1 - The argument states that ---. I find that the argument is unconvincing,based on assumptions that are not necessarily true, and illogical because the argument ---.
Paragraph 2 - problem # 1 with the argument
Paragraph 3 - problem # 2 with the argument
Paragraph 4 - problem # 3 with the argument
Paragraph 5 - The argument is unconvincing for the reasons stated above. Had the argument considered --- or clarified its assumptions, it would have been a more logical and convincing argument.

This may look like a very simple approach, but that's all the GMAT is asking for. The key is to present a well-reasoned assessment of the argument in the body of your essay. Focus your time on that, and not on the intro and conclusion.