GMAT: 690 (Q47, V38.)Ok, folks. As you can see from the title, the score is nothing extra-ordinary. It is, what it is, and I am veering towards accepting it and moving on.
I have learned a lot from this community, and if my experience can help in any way it will be an honor. So without further ado, here's my 2 cents, or as some may say, here's my debrief:
Materials used:OG 10,
Manhattan SC, CR & RC,
Mcgraw Hill Verbal review (initial reading, not used in the last month or two.)
Test Day: I was a little nervous about the test yesterday, but had a good night's sleep, woke up fine, feeling refreshed - ready to take on the GMAT beast. I was early to the Test Center, so started half an hour early.
AWAArgument essay: Nothing out of the left field. Followed this simple template:
Summarize the argument, say it is BS, and I'm going to lay it out, why it is so.
First......1 nail down, 2 to go.
Second.....one more down.
Finally....walla....last nail in the coffin.
Conclusion: Summarize everything I argued against, and say why the given argument still smells like BS.
Issue: Again, nothing out of the left field.
Similar structure as the above, but this time with examples of why my side of the issue holds more weight....
Took my break, lots of caffeine...came back feeling good. Ready to get on with the quant...
Quant:Some geometric series problem came up first up, threw me off a little bit...but got it right...problems started getting tougher, putting a smile on my face.
Then after a nice ride till the 15-16 problems came a barrage of some nasty stuff: inequalities, overlapping sets, probability, probability with combination, permutation, and some more really nasty geometry stuff..
I thought I handled it pretty well, since till the end I was getting these tough cookies. But apparently, not.
Took this break as well, feeling good that I handled Quant pretty well. So went in with a lot of confidence for verbal (Looking back I'm glad I didn't know what my Quant score was, otherwise verbal would have been in the tens.)
Verbal:Four RC passages, all different kinds, business, pol science, history, and one more that I can't remember.
SC was getting relatively easier towards the end, making me nervous that I'm really screwing this up.
CR was pretty decent, nothing too exciting, I had two or three bold-faces though, since it's considered tough, felt good about it.
Half way through the section, my brain was cooked...wasn't sure if I can see it through all the way.
Here's a breakdown of my practice scores:
08/22/9 -- GMATPrep 1 : 650 (Q47, V33)
09/05/9 -- Kaplan CAT 1: 600 (Q48, V29)
10/12/9 -- GMATPrep 1 (retake): 700 (Q50, V34)
10/17/9 --
MGMAT 1: 630 (Q43, V33)
10/20/9 --
MGMAT 2: 680 (Q51, V33)
10/24/9 --
MGMAT 3: 690 (Q48, V36)
10/27/9 --
MGMAT 4: 710 (Q48, V38)
10/29/9 -- GMATPrep 2 : 700 (Q47, V39)
10/31/9 -- GMATPrep 2 (retake): 740 (Q50, V39)
My comments / suggestions:- For folks who can take away a solid month or so from their commintments, you are lucky to get that opportunity, please use it very very wisely. Go after GMAT with a vengeance, as if there's no tomorrow.
- For those who's workload takes away a lot of their personal time, plan to see ups and downs in your GMAT preparation. Do not let this bother you, but be mentally prepare for that. You should be able to switch on and off, on the go. It's tough, and sometimes can be borderline unacceptable, but it is what it is....accept it and use your time wisely.
Strategy for the test:- First, do not get into strategy business untill who have mastered or at least reached a comfortable level with the basics. Trying to figure out tips and tricks, while you are trying to get your base strong is a death trap. Avoid it.
- When you start out, if you are in the 400-600 range and shooting for 700+, get your base solid first. Try to get as many right as you can by solving each and every problem, do not get into process of elimination just yet. Again, once you master the basics, then get into startegy and stuff.
- Towards the end of your preparation, stay as close to OGs and GMATPrep CATs. I think, IMVVHO, that none of the test prep companies can appropriately emulate the actual GMAT material, hence their CAT material is bound to be skewed. However, a lot of the material in Kaplan & MGMAT Is great for learning, but not appropriate for judging where your 'score' is.
What else?
Yes, please feel free to ask any questions you have. And, good luck with your preps!
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The GMAT journey - From 600+ to ??? -- Initial post -- Mon Aug 17, 2009I wonder what those 3 question marks will be? I guess that's something only I can find out. As they say, we will see!
I will be using this thread to keep track of my progress. Just to put things in the right context, I took the GMAT in '05 and scored a 600+, a 610 or 620, can't remember the specifics of either the Quant section or the verbal, and neither for the AWA.
So far I have been working on the old ETS paper tests, just finished all of them today, and here's the score lists:
TC 14 : 610 (Q46, V34)
TC 25 : 700 (Q??, V??) {Do not remember the specifics, but should be very close to TC 28 & 37.}
TC 28 : 700 (Q50, V40)
TC 31 : 660 (Q48, V36)
TC 37 : 700 (Q49, V39)
TC 42 : 670 (Q49, V34)
TC 48 : 630 (Q50, V27)
TC 52 : 720 (Q49, V43)
TC 55 : 740 (Q49, V45)
Based on this scores I have realized the following points:
- Verbal: Scope of improvement is much higher in the verbal section, specifically in SC, CR (in that order.) RC needs continuous practice, but not much room there. In the last test (55,) IIRC didn't miss a single item in RC, missed 2 in CR, and 5 in SC.
- Quant: Still a little rusty when it comes to the Prob / Comb / Perm problems. So need more practice with this.
Plan for the next couple of weeks: Read the CR bible, Manhattan's SC guide.
Please feel free to share any comments or advice you might have for me. Thanks!
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Updated on: 02 Nov 2009, 20:54
