Ladies and Gents, There is a short story how I scored miserable 690 yesterday rather than decent 730+ because of my greediness for knowledge. I'm Russian, 28 years old, managerial. The story of my studying is not unlike to those of most of you and yet it is. Hopefully, a short debrief will be helpful to some of you. First of all, doing CATs and paper tests, I focused on understanding the concepts and not on the speed. And I bet that the approach is good because the quality begets quality and not vise versa. I stopped stop-watches every time I encountered a difficult question and resumed the test after digesting the challenge. This approach helped me to improve my speed very much and will help you. Materials I used: MGMAT SC CR Bible OG10 OG12 Kaplan_800 LSAT1000RC - I strongly suggest that you do ALL 1000 questions and do them with a timer. LSAT1000CR - I found the questions too difficult and do not think that GMAT’s answers are dug so deeply. CATs I used and what I think about them: PowerPrep - Pretty representative Math and very easy Verbal compared to the actual test. MGMAT 1-6 – good but convoluted math, decent verbal. Knewton - Very easy verbal compared to the actual test. Moreover, the scoring algoritm is weird. Princeton - Oversimplified questions in both sections. Do not be complacent if you score well in Princeton, try representative tests. Mc Graw - The same story as with Princeton. GMAT Club Tests - yet to try. Kaplan - yet to try. One day to my Test Day. Three days beforу the exam I felt that I could solve almost every Math question except for some ultra-difficult ones and made my first mistake: I did not decrease the amount of time I had been spending in front of the computer because I wanted to go through all interesting questions I had solved before - I just wanted to refresh the approaches. After refreshing the Math I could not stop and went on with OG_12's SCs, then I practised with AWA. Just one day before the Test I sat at 2 p.m. and did one real CAT - just to accustom myself to the conditions and to the time-slot. After the CAT I came back to SCs. As you can see, I foolishly overloaded my eyes. Test Day. I felt so-so after the night, took breakfast, went for a walk, did some stuff and headed to the test-center. In front of the test-center I noticed that my energy was below the normal level, but I believed that my strong determination for success and my favorite energetic that I drink would boost my energy. Quite the opposite was going to happen. AWA. After registration I received very convenient writing pads and markers and, noticing that my eyes felt uncomfortable, I started the deal. There came the first trouble - I felt such a discomfort in my eyes that I had to reread the statements a couple of times - I simply did not feel comfortable with the screen. Considering both essays my failure because I did not show the best game I could, I calmed myself with the thoughts that adcoms would not bother themselves to look at my bad AWA result after seeing my soaring Math and Verbal scores; than I took a break. After washing the face and drinking a small amount of sugar water (we remember that the bladder is a vulnerability on our Test Day), I pressed the button. Math. The first 8 or ten questions were solved in seconds with minimum writing and then the eye fatigue came with mental block. The questions were of a moderate difficulty, but I could not concentrate on them, especially, on translating word problems into human language. Every question was very easy but I had to spend up to 3 minutes on each due to eye fatigue and mental block. In the middle of the Math my mental abilities evaporated, I understood that I had failed the test and, having been extremely angry, I steered all my emotions at one word question of a type I had not seen before and decided to crack it at any cost – I eagered revenge. I cracked it and enormous excitement revived me! I forgot about 250 dollars a had paid for the Test, I forgot about my admission being at stake (what admission are we talking about with such a mediocre performance?), I just wanted to annihilate, completely destroy those questions. There were only me and them. Yes, time was pressuring me and I, wanting to sell my life as expensive as possible, skipping long and convoluted questions, was carefully selecting my next victims. To my regret, in 10 seconds toward the end of the test, I saw a convoluted question, which simply asked to find a distance between a line and and a point (one of my favorite operations). After a quick glance on the timer and noticing only a a handful of seconds left, I ruled out two options and made a guess. Verbal. I washed the face, drunk my sugar water and dived into verbal, which welcomed me with ultra-difficult SCs. After wasting about 6 minutes on 3 SCs I mentioned growing eye and mental fatigue. Looking back, I must say that all SCs were brutal, CRs were very straightforward and RC were pretty enjoyable, but I had to reread the questions multiple times because I was completely exhausted. Needless to say that I run out of time and had to guess the last 9 questions. When it came to choose whether to cancel the test or to look at the results, I thought that I was strong enough to learn that I had scored below 550 and pressed “Yes” button. But 690 appeared on the screen. Definitely, I did not perfomed on such a score. I think the only explanation of such an overrated result is that, due to a crazy coincidence, all the questions I skipped or did wrongly were among experimental questions. Because I’m not among those who think that GMAT can grant you 690 for almost 50% wrong questions. And definitely, my mediocre result is attributable to my low energy level on the Test Day. What are the main takeaways from my experience? 1). Math is compared to that presented in OG. Yes, if you score well, you will face some more tough questions, but all of them will have straightforward shortcuts. I’ve spend much time preparing for math and must admit that Bunuel offers very good explanations and I advise you to look at what he says – he is Guru and his explanations are always fit the bills and are much better that those in MGMAT’s CATS. 2). Do not even hope to save some time on SC questions in favor of RC passages because SCs are made to prevent such attempts. 3). Do not be greedy for knowledge and make sure your eyes are ready to stare at a low quality monitor for four hours – this is a challenge. The quality of monitor matters. 4). Writing pads and markers and great and convenient. 5). The test is commanding, but easy if you are ready. 6). Wash you face every break. 7). And the thing of the utmost importance: Do nothing except for one CAT a day prior to the Test Day. Only relax and visualize your 750+ results. Epilogue. I took hard the result of the Test into which I’ve invested a substantial amount of time, energy, and money and will come back in a month. Freshed, relaxed and concentrated at the same time. By the way, I need several kudos to gain access to GMATClub Tests and would greatly appreciate if you, friends, could help me to acquire them. Thank you.

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690 ( 48 / 36 / AWA 5.0 ) -MUST READ STORY-

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mainhoon

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02 Oct 2010, 09:02

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Talking about gambling, yesterday I did a GMAT prep test. I randomly guessed 1/2 the questions in Q and V (on purpose) and finished the whole V and Q withing 45 minutes, I wanted to see what is the worst I can do.. Right? I got a 650. Now of course I could do even worse, sure, but I wanted to test it... how low can I go? So I got 60 more after so much studying.. Well I know it is not fair to compare, but still!!!

nonameee

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04 Oct 2010, 03:38

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Can you say a little more about your friend who scored 770?

Financier

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04 Oct 2010, 05:44

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nonameee

Can you say a little more about your friend who scored 770?

Actually, this is a girl. She made a long way from the initial 640 or so to 770

.
She is very real and her story immencely inspired me.

nonameee

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04 Oct 2010, 05:55

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Do you know how long she studied for the test?

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04 Oct 2010, 08:44

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nonameee

Do you know how long she studied for the test?

She studied hard. Actually, this is all I can tell you about her because she wouldn't like if I disclose any piece of her privacy.
I can only tell you that any time I encounter unsolvable 750+ level question, all I need is to send her a link and an answer with explanations is to come in 40-50 seconds. She is quite a person in both Math and Verbal, like Bunuel in Math

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Updated on: 22 Oct 2010, 02:01

Originally posted by shrouded1 on 04 Oct 2010, 09:15.
Last edited by shrouded1 on 22 Oct 2010, 02:01, edited 1 time in total.

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nonameee

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05 Oct 2010, 01:04

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OK thanks. Maybe you can persuade your friend to write a report as I personally don't see what's wrong with that unless she's a spy or something.

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10 Oct 2010, 22:06

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Hearing how she scored such a high score will definitely inspire a lot of people

nusmavrik

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10 Oct 2010, 22:44

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I think Gmatprep scores are convoluted. I scored 780 yesterday. But does that guarantee 800 on real test. I don't think so. Not does this guarantee 770 on the real test day. I think its about luck too.

770 = when the hard work meets the benign support of the Gracious Gods. Lady luck please smile !

PadawanOfTheGMAT

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11 Oct 2010, 02:32

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To score around 770 you need a bit of luck, such as failing on experimental questions.

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11 Oct 2010, 08:49

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PadawanOfTheGMAT

To score around 770 you need a bit of luck, such as failing on experimental questions.

nusmavrik

770 = when the hard work meets the benign support of the Gracious Gods. Lady luck please smile !

Gambling... Luck... Gracious Gods...

This is true up to a point. And this is more true when our fundamentals are weak and when we are balancing at the border. I've already discussed Gods with her and we concluded that the Gods are more Fair than Gracious. If you are strong enough, there's no way to fail, and if you are ill-prepared, you will for for sure lose the game. When I was writing my debrief, I blamed Luck and Gods for my failure, but ONLY NOW I understand that my fundamentals and time-management were not up to the challenge. And only 30 days later I feel that I CAN (not WILL) score well.

Werewolf

Hearing how she scored such a high score will definitely inspire a lot of people

Absolutely. Give me some time, and if everithing is OK, I'll write you a debrief with waaay better score than 690.

nusmavrik

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11 Oct 2010, 20:53

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I thought i have to do some arcane ritual like walking on the fire. Just kidding :-)

Yes you are right friend. Perseverance is the key. Grits are required. And yes Lady luck to be there when you press the button "release the scores"

Wish you luck and success !

Financier

Absolutely. Give me some time, and if everithing is OK, I'll write you a debrief with waaay better score than 690.

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05 Nov 2010, 23:26

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Wow! A very good debrief! What amazes me is how you were able to recollect what happened there with such detail! 690 under such adversity is fantastic! I am sure you will get a super score the next time you take it, but be sure to choose a good center and if you really want to revise the day before the exam, take print outs of the notes/questions and don't use the computer.

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05 Nov 2010, 23:33

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srjaidev

I remember many things from that day and must admit that the test-center is great and convenient.
The most important dilemma before me is WHEN to retake. I'm confident that I'll hit 700 this time, but always solisit myself for a couple extra days or even weeks

PadawanOfTheGMAT

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14 Dec 2010, 16:36

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How is it going Financier? Did you reschedule or did you accept your score and currently beating the hell out of the apps?

menacel

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08 Nov 2011, 18:23

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great takeaways

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690 ( 48 / 36 / AWA 5.0 ) -MUST READ STORY-

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