Proud GMATClub Allumni - Score 740 (Q49 V42 AWA 5.0) Update

Where do I start..........

Who says hard work doesnot pay.........

Forgive me If i seem incoherent here.......... too excited to think straight right now.

Here goes my story.

Gave my exam yesterday Aug 17th 2006.
Official Score
740 (98 percentile)
Q 49(90 percentile)
V 42(95 percentile)
AWA 5.0( 74 percentile)

Lets first look at my Practice scores, IMO they can inspire other people like I was constantly inspired by the stories on this Forum.

PR Test1 - 660 (May'06)
PR Test2 - 640 (May'06)
Petersons Test1 - 660 (June'06)
Petersons Test2 - 760 (June'06)
Petersons Test3 - 660 (June'06)
MGMAT Test1 - 660(June'06)
MGMAT Test2 - 680(June'06)
MGMAT Test3 - 660(June'06)
Kaplan Test1 - 570 (June'06)
Kaplan Test2 - 610 (July'06)
Kaplan Test3 - 640 (July'06)
GMATPrep Test1 - 730(July'06)
GMATPrep Test2 - 750(July'06)
GMATPrep Test3 - 770(July'06) (Repeats)
GMATPrep Test4 - 760(Aug'06) (Repeats)
GMATPrep Test5 - 760(Aug'06) (Repeats)
GMATPrep Test6 - 770(One day before exam) (Repeats)

Test Experience

AWA
Never prepared for AWA per se. Did buy the ARCO's Real answers for
GMAT essay questions. Went through few arguments and issues just before the test day and to my luck it paid off. The book is good if you can devote some time to it.
AWA was good but the final score will tell how good was it.
The argument was comparing apples with oranges that is one company with another in a totally different field. For these type of questions, its imperative that its a comparison between apples and oranges and that should be highlighted while you pick out flaws in the argument.
Analysis of an issue was related to business hence I was able to put some of my experiences from my professional life.

QUANT

WARNING : DO NOT GET NERVOUS IN QUANT
To put everyone reading this at peace. Quant is very very similar to GMAT Prep software. Infact I am sure one question was straight out of GMATPrep and two or three questions had the same structure with different digits or numbers.
I was always confident in Quant and knew that on my day I can score a 50. But the minute I cam back to my seat after the break my heart started beating faster. Finished up with 7-8 questions in good time and then spend a little more time on further questions. By the time I reached the 20th question I was on time with my schedule( BTW I had my on schedule for example when 65 mins are left I should be doing 5th question, when 55 mins are left I should be doing 10th question,Similarily in decrements of ten minutes). But the twentieth question threw me off schedule and raised my tension levels where at one point I was not sure of anything. I was solving questions and marking answers like a zombie. At one time even I was prepared that I would be sitting in this room again in a months time. I do believe that it must be an expreimental questions because I must have used three different methods and all led to the same amswer which was not possible. Any ways looked at the time guessed it and moved on. I didnot encounter any standard deviation question, did encounter a lot of number theory problems and one probability question.

My advice: Take GMATPrep seriously. Keep an error log from GMATPrep and try to understand each and every question.GMATPrep is the best represntative of the score you will get in the real exam. And the most important thing don't tell Quant dominate you. With a little bit of hard work, you can easily dominate quant. Just keep telling yourself that its possible and practice. Going to little in the past here (for all those who think they are not good at quant). I was never good at quant to start with (talking about school days), I was always good at memorizing and till age 14 just memorized every answer in books and used to do maths. But one thing I remember that my father always told me....... either you can let maths dominate you, scare your brains out ......... or sit down and start dominating maths. Believe me it can be done. Maths is fun and most important its a non living thing and why should any non living thing scare us. Right?

Verbal

Verbal started with SC and as pointed out earlier by several members, SC deals more with understanding the meaning of the question and choosing the right answer on the basis of it.
SC was my weakest point. To be frank I used to be person who thought that as long as one person understands another it doesnot matter whether it is grammatically correct. But now I understand the importance of grammar not only in terms of GMAT but also normal life and the impression you create with good grammar.
When I started my Prep, I was very weak in SC. I bought Princeton Review's Grammar Smart. Its a small book and very basic to understand the basics of grammar you last read in High School.
To crack SC you have to understand what GMAT tests (for example the 8 errors we always talk about) and develop your own style to identify them.
CR was a bit involved but not hard. Though I am sure I messed up with some CR and SCs after question 36. After the 4th RC, I started so worrying about the score that will come after the exam that I could not concentrate on the those last few questions. I must have spend a good 20 mins from question 37-41.

Well that about it for my experience. Will share my Prep if anybody is interested.

I have a small proposal, for every member of GMAT Club. Like every college has its allumni, lets have a GMATClub Allumni Forum. A lot many members contribute to this club even after their GMAT but lot many become busy and can hardly make any time. Lets start a Forum for such members so that new members can can use their experience to do better.

Finally, I want to thank GMATClub and all its members. Without you and your encouragement this would have been difficult.

Special Thanks to..........(though we never interacted on personal basis but it was good to discuss answers with you)
PS_Dahiya....... Always answering questions and always modest.
Professor ......... I am sure you are a very pateint man in real life. Thanks
Buzzgaurav...... Short and crispy answers.
Kevincan ........ Keep posting your questions.... it is fun to solve them.
Praet ....... Thanks for this wonderful club.
and to all GMAT club members ........ you ahve made a difference.