A new journey starts here ! 600 --> ??

Hey all.

Let me introduce myself:
My name is Mishari, originally from Kuwait ( a unique background ha ..!). I have just got my B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the United States. My plans clearly go towards getting an MBA, sooner or later.

First, I'm really shocked guys. This forum is like magic. it's like all my career plans have changed after viewing this forum and reading the inspirational posts. I have no clue how could a forum online cause such an effect to someone's mentality and attitudes.

Anyways .. starting with my experience. I decided last May that I wanna start working on the GMAT. According to the public media for college students, Kaplan is the best test prep. institution for college students. So I went ahead and enrolled in the Kaplan GMAT prep. classroom course. Starting with diagnostic exam, I scored 490. ( I know it's Kaplans tests !)

For some reason, i didn't take the course seriously and barely did one qaurter of the practice problems/assigned homework. I took one Kaplan CAT after finishing the course and got 680 (Q49, V33). Honestly, I was aiming only for 650 ... but hell yeah that 680 pushed my hopes up. Right after that CAT, I registered for the real GMAT on last september and walked in there feeling "over-confident" !! The test day was right after I got back from a trip, a leisure trip to Chicago. So, I was pretty tired. Now, after reading the posts in this forum, I understood that Kaplan CATs are more difficult than the actual GMAT, and yes they are. Usually the real GMAT score is about 30 points or more above the Kaplan CAT score. I totally agree.

I walked into the test center. Everything was perfect. Started with the Quant. section and started having a headache right after the 20th question. Surely i would feel tired, the morning right after getting back from a trip. I don't remember how the math section went. The break comes and back to verbal. I tried my best and somehow felt tired and over-confident at the same time !!!

Here my scores come : 600 (Q48, V 25) !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting a 48 on the quant section is one story, but getting a 25 on the verbal is totally unreasonable. I know i'm not a native English speaker and have not started learning English untill about 5 years ago. But I managed to get A's in all my English classes in college and even took an English literature class and another technical writing class and did very well on them. I have no clue what went on during the GMAT test. But I surely know that I can do alot better than a 25 on the verbal. Let me be honest with you guys, after seeing that score on the screen, I got sooo frustrated that I decided not to take the test again and to apply to some low-ranked MBA programs.

At this moment, after registering in this forum and reading many of the success stories, I can see an amazing journey of mine starting here, with this post, to the 700+ club !!

How did I start ?
I checked most of the books/resources reviews posts in the forum and narrowed down my list and ordered the following books:

- MGMAT SC book
- PR Cracking the GMAT with DVD, 2007 Edition
- GMAT 800
- OG 11th edition
- OG verbal review
- OG quant. review
- Project GMAT ( Comb/Perm/Stats)
- Arco GMAT
- The GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible

Since I have just graduated ( last night !! ), I'm gonna be totally free for at least the next 2 months. I'm talking no job, no school .. nothing
All i'm gonna be doing is working on the GMAT and being an active member at this forum. I want to get the most out of the forum and its members.
I'm pretty sure i'm gonna need alot of help to select my MBA school.

Thanks everyone in this forum, and i'm glad to be part of this online community of future managers

Mishari