Hi,
I did the GMAT today and got a 770 (Q:50, V:47). I want to thank everyone on this forum, but particularly Bunuel, whose explanations have been invaluable.
Test day experienceEverything went smoother than expected. The test administrators were not too strict, etc.
The AWA section was good, mostly due to this post:
how-to-get-6-0-awa-my-guide-64327.htmlI had a hard time coming up with very good reasons for the issue section, but I think it was OK.
I felt that the quant and verbal sections were both quite a bit harder than most practice tests I had done.
Material used- Kaplan's GMAT premier
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OG 12
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MGMAT SC
Practice tests(all, except the
MGMAT quant sections, which were harder than the real test, were properly timed)
GMAT prep 1: 680 (before I had done any studying)
GMAT prep 2: 760 (Q:50, V:42) (~1.5 weeks before the exam)
Kaplan 2: 730 (Q:46, V:44) (linear)
MGMAT 1: 710 (Q:47, V:40)
MGMAT 2: 730 (Q:48, V:41)
Kaplan 3: 710 (Q:43, V:51) (CAT 1)
MGMAT 3: 750 (Q:48, V:45)
Kaplan 4: 770 (Q:51, V:52) (CAT 2)
MGMAT 4: 740 (Q:47, V:45)
Kaplan 5: 770 (Q:52, V:51) (CAT 3)
MGMAT 5: 780 (Q:51, V:45)
GMAT prep 1: 780 (Q:50, V:47)
GMAT prep 2: 760 (Q:50, V:42)
Study methodI can't find the particular post now, but bb wrote an excellent novice's 3 month study guide. To be honest I deviated quite a bit from it, but in general I stuck to studying quant the first month (more like 2 months, during the first of which I didn't study much), studying verbal the second month, and doing practice questions the 3rd month.
Other random notes:
- In terms of the strategy itself (for solving the various question types), Kaplan seems to have a lot of seemingly logical ones, but at the end of the day I didn't use any of them (for example, I did not make any notes during RC questions, but this may not be the best idea for all test takers).
- While I can see how the
error log can be useful, I abandoned it shortly after I started studying.
I don't particularly feel like writing too much right now, but if you guys have any questions I'll be happy to answer them.