Hi all,
First of all let me say this site is great, because of all the kind
and supportive people with positive attitudes that helped me prepare
myself psychologically and go for the big figures.
I passed the GMAT on monday and got a 750 Q50(96)/V41(93).
Here are some of the observations (If they are this long, how many KB
would ALL the observations take
)
:
Used material: Kaplan, PR Verbal
I prepared for about 15 days. First I downloaded the PP and took the tests
on two consecutive days (660/730).
My quant was perfect, verbal lagging (12/8 errors respectively,
non-native speaker you see).
Then I took the CrackGMAT test and got a 660 (this test is completely
unrepresentative, and this is even stated in the actual program).
Then my Kaplan book came. I didn't pay any attention to the lessons
or anything - I just needed practice - and lots of it! My Kaplan results
were in the low to mid 700s, much owing to the fact that I almost never
erred on quant.
BTW I managed to squeeze some 6-7 full
length tests out of Kaplan - all you need to do is cancel the first 4
tests and take them again. Chances are you will see very few (or none
at all) familiar questions. One more thing - Kaplan scoring is
ridiculous, as most of you already know, so pay no attention to it. Pay
attention to the number of questions answered wrong, and learn from
errors.
The PR Verbal book was only useful for the questions contained - I
made 4 errors on the book's final exam. I allow for the possibility
that the actual information (tips etc) may be useful to someone, but I
can safely say that I learned nothing new from PR/Kaplan books. If you're seriously weak in some of the
areas you might benefit from those tips, but take care: The ingenious
tips such as 'guess when unsure', or the super-advanced 'eliminate+guess' can
lead you astray - If you're comfortable with time management I advise
against guessing - there is enough time, if you've brought your speed
up with practice.
I must say, as immodest as it may seem, that I expected a slightly
higher score. But I am satisfied altogether because of all the side
issues involved (I had to travel to another country, from Belgrade to
Budapest, to take the exam, I spent the night prior to the exam in a
youth hostel and got as few as 2-3 hours of sleep, I hardly managed to
find the address of the test center in time, and to top it all I got a
RC passage 80 lines long on question 3.
)
I found the CAT to be only C and T. The A part is maybe a nice
dicussion theme, and a basis for taking $225, but in my humble opinion
neither are the questions tougher towards the end harder (it is quite
the opposite), nor are they of higher value when it comes to scoring.
As a final point, I would like to say what I find the most important
thing about GMAT: (this is the reason why I'm posting this in the first
place) The most important issue is that of
CONCENTRATION and mental
preparation. Don't make the
mistake of going too deeply into issues such as
probability/statistics/tough-CR-questions-that-even-their-authors-can't-solve
and forsaking your mental preparation. When you feel you're ready,
just go there, do your best and move on. Good concentration and
successful alleviation of nervousness can make more difference than months of
preparation, especially if you are aiming high (or is it aiming AT
height
)
MBA application is so painstaking that GMAT, as tough as it may be,
is just one piece of the puzzle.
I hope this helps someone as much as your posts have helped me
motivate myself,
Milos
btw: I forgot my Princeton online test results, but you already
guessed them: 710, 710, 710, 710, 710.....