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05 Jul 2012, 09:10
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...and love the GMAT (well not quite)
Long time lurker, first time poster.
First of all, I need to express my complete gratitude for the creators and posters of this site. Without this resource, I'm absolutely positive that my score would be sub-500, as it was on my first diagnostic test pre-gmatclub.
At first glance, it seems that the majority of posters here are math rock stars and, therefore, looking primarily to improve their verbal scores. But I don't doubt that there are also plenty of you out there, who like me, suffer from QAD (quant anxiety disorder). Hence, I wanted to write a not so brief debrief in an attempt to give back to this community and, perhaps, help others who are in similar situations.
LONG STORY SHORT:
- Was terribly intimidated by the quant section
- Humanities major eight years removed from last math course
- Went from being unable to finished a properly timed quant section to q48
- Six weeks studying 6-8 hours per day (Manhattan quant books, Gmatclub quant forum, OG 12/13)
- CAT scores: sub-500 (GMATPrep 1)/630 (KAP)/680 (Manhattan)/700 (GMATPrep 1)/770 (GMATPrep 2, with about 80% repetition in verbal)
- Actual GMAT: 48q (80th) 44v (97th) 740(97th)
- Fear of quant: Vanquished!
SHORT STORY LONG:
BACKGROUND
I am a humanities major four years removed from undergrad. I had not done any math-related courses since Calculus 1 in high school and it showed in my first diagnostic exam. In the past I had been relatively good at math but always extremely intimidated by it. I have a strong language background both from college and work experience as an English teacher and professional translator. I took the GRE before my senior year of college (2007) and scored in the 85% (strong verbal, very weak math) and I took the LSAT twice in 2009 with scores in the 86 and 88th percentiles. I think studying for the LSAT, despite not getting an elite score, did help quite a bit with certain aspects of the verbal section.
PREPARATION
Before finding this site, I read GMAT for Dummies which, I suppose, introduced me to the exam and some basic concepts. However, I would not recommend this book based on my personal experience. Soon after, thankfully, I found this site and began taking the advice on suggested studying materials. 8 weeks out from my test date I bought the Manhattan GMAT set from a friend and read the five quant books. I decided not to spend to much time initially on the verbal books because I knew that quant was a priority for me. I read every page of these books, did every problem set, and completed the practice questions from the official guide (all in six weeks). I am a freelancer so I was able to dedicate 6-8 hours per day on average to GMAT preparation.
It was an incredible feeling to see my quant improvement in just a few short weeks. I had been quite intimidated by anything quant since high school, and as I mentioned, this was quite evident from the results of the first paper practice tests that I took. However, after reviewing the fundamentals and learning how to attack the problems found on the GMAT, I gained an incredible amount of confidence in my ability. On my first paper tests I was getting between 5 and 10 RIGHT on the quant sections. After finishing the Manhattan books I was consistently getting between 5 and 10 WRONG.
I then did about half of the free CAT tests that are available (first three scores above). I was feeling fairly good about my scores, but with my new found quant confidence I wanted to go for the best score possible. So, I spent a few days on SC, something I recommend even for those that think they won't do poorly on the verbal section. Despite a humanities degree and work experience as an English teacher and translator, I was only scoring between 43 and 48 on the verbal sections.
Three weeks out from the test I had to complete a huge project and was left with little to no time to study. I took the last CATs during this period. In the final week I reviewed the basics once more, formed an AWA strategy, and worked on trying to control my nerves. In the last 3-4 works I was doing a fair number of problems from this site (from the quant forum). I considered doing the club tests but after doing the diagnostic test and scoring below 50% I decided that I wouldn't be able to devote enough time to them to make good use of them. Although they seem like an amazing resource at a great price, I felt that I needed to concentrate more on my basics to make sure I could get nail 500-600 level questions and have a good hit rate on 600-700 level questions.
TEST DAY
My test center was located in downtown Rio de Janeiro, a neighborhood I'm very familiar with, so I was certain it would only be a 30 minute door-to-door trip via metro. However, due to nerves, I left a full hour and a half early. After walking around downtown a bit, I entered the test center about 45 minutes before my appointment. After waiting a short time for the proctor to get back from lunch (test time: 1:30pm) we started with the registration procedure. I was immediately very pleased with the testing room and proctor configuration. The room was very intimate, with only six stations, and the air conditioning was blasting (I'm from the Midwest and love full power air even when it's only in the 70s). There was another person testing with me but I soon found out that he was doing a different exam because he finished after only 40 minutes (what envy!). Throughout the whole test I was alone in the room with the proctor right on the other side of the window that divides the testing room from the office. I think I really lucked out with this testing center. There were absolutely no distractions and everything went extremely smoothly. If anyone is planning to take the test in Brazil I definitely recommend M Cury in Rio.
AWA
Nothing too exciting about this section. It was fairly predictable and exactly what I had expected. One note to anyone testing abroad: Before you start the timed writing section, familiarize yourself with the keyboard. Although almost all of the keyboards I've seen used in Rio are what I think of as the standard international keyboard, I had been studying and practicing on my American laptop and I was a bit thrown off in the first few minutes.
INTEGRATED REASONING
I applaud those of you that have already formulated a strategy to tackle this section. In all of my practice I could never come close to finishing the section accurately and on time. The graph questions, CR questions, and quant questions aren't terribly difficult, but the questions with multiple tabs really set me back. Therefore, I decided going in that I would spend a good deal of time on the first 8 questions, answering them as accurately as possible, and then rush through the last four. As the section is not adaptive, I don't think you are necessarily more penalized for answering a certain number of questions in a row wrong, or answering the last questions wrong. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Like others have said before me, I don't think this section is something anyone should be too stressed about. In fact, it does serve as kind of mental jumping jacks to warm you up for the ensuing quant section.
QUANT
My quant experience was very different from my practice test experiences, not necessarily in the type or difficulty of questions, but rather in my pacing. In the first 10 questions, of which the majority were Number Properties questions, I saw 7-8 DS problems. I think this may have accelerated my pacing because by the time the first third of the test had gone by, I was well ahead of schedule (something that rarely happened in practice). Naturally, this made me worried that I was not working accurately or that I was falling into the typical traps set by the test makers. In the second third of the questions I remember having a similar ration of DS to PS questions. Again, my pace accelerated and I was left with over 45 minutes to solve the remaining 12-13 questions. Although that sounds like a dream come true, it got me very nervous that I had been to hasty in the first 25 questions and that I was still at the 500-600 level. However, as many fellow gmatclubbers have pointed out, it is quite useless to try to evaluate your performance mid-test, and can in fact, be detrimental to your subsequent performance. Therefore, I simply decided to make the most of my remaining time and double or triple check all of my answers. The last three questions were very difficult ones about geometry and coordinate planes. I actually had to use quite a bit of time on them but I was very confident I got them right. The extra time did, in fact, pay off.
VERBAL
As I mentioned above, my verbal scores were never really an area of concern for me. The RC passages did seem quite a bit longer than those I encountered in the CATs. Three were science (biology) related and one was on economics. I didn't feel the questions were very difficult at all in comparison to the CATs I took. On the other hand, I did think that the CR and SC questions were quite a bit trickier than what I had seen in prep. Like others have posted before me, there seemed to be quite a few CR questions with two or three possible answers, and the majority of SC questions did not have 2-3 splits that were easily identifiable to me. A number of SC had two or three choices that "sounded" correct and that didn't have any glaring mistakes. However, as I didn't spend a great deal of prep time on this section, it's quite possible that the issues I was seeing are covered in prep guides. You'll have to take my analysis with a grain of salt. Additionally, I didn't see any boldface questions.
THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
I had mentally prepared myself to react to the results in the following ways: 760+: "WHOOOOOOO!!!!! Better than I could have dreamed!" 740-750: "YEAH! Very happy with this result.", 700-730: "Not bad. I'm happy I did pretty well.", Sub-700: "BOO! Time to start planning a study schedule." After the annoying survey (why can't this be administered before the test?) I saw the results: 48q/44v 740. I was certainly happy and relieved with the result, although I was a bit disappointed with verbal. That disappointment was short lived, however, because I realized that if someone had shown me that 48/44 split after my first practice test, in which I couldn't even finish 70% of the quant section, I would not have believed it to be my score.
IN CONCLUSION
I think my story provides a good example of how cognitive bias could negatively influence your confidence, studying methods, and if left unchecked, your exam performance. My irrational belief that "I will do poorly on the quant section because I don't/can't do math" certainly started me off on the wrong foot as far as my GMAT prep was concerned. I firmly believe that if I had not found this site, I would have continued thinking this way and studying for the quant section in an inefficient and fruitless way, and consequently, I would have performed poorly on the test, thereby confirming my original belief that "I don't/can't do math." By reading posters' stories about how they improved and by taking advantage of strategies that worked for them, I was able to break this pattern of intimidation and lack of self-confidence. I think this story also holds true for those struggling with the verbal section. There are probably some that think, "I never liked reading and I was never good with grammar, therefore, I will do poorly on the verbal section." Again, holding this belief throughout your prep and testing will almost certainly be detrimental to your chances of success.
The GMAT is tricky, and tough, and can seem at times downright enigmatic, however, none of these characteristics will necessarily keep you from getting a high score. Going into a section thinking that you cannot do it and that you are bound to fail because you weren't "made" for the subject matter can absolutely keep you from getting a high score. Be honest about your weak areas and focus on them (you'll never be forced to show anyone your error log). Take things one day at a time and remember to reflect on how much you're improving. If you are taking advantage of this site then you are probably quite intelligent, so don't allow yourself to believe the nonsense that you were never good at this or that. DO NOT let yourself be intimidated by the GMAT. After all, it's just another test, right?
Long time lurker, first time poster.
First of all, I need to express my complete gratitude for the creators and posters of this site. Without this resource, I'm absolutely positive that my score would be sub-500, as it was on my first diagnostic test pre-gmatclub.
At first glance, it seems that the majority of posters here are math rock stars and, therefore, looking primarily to improve their verbal scores. But I don't doubt that there are also plenty of you out there, who like me, suffer from QAD (quant anxiety disorder). Hence, I wanted to write a not so brief debrief in an attempt to give back to this community and, perhaps, help others who are in similar situations.
LONG STORY SHORT:
- Was terribly intimidated by the quant section
- Humanities major eight years removed from last math course
- Went from being unable to finished a properly timed quant section to q48
- Six weeks studying 6-8 hours per day (Manhattan quant books, Gmatclub quant forum, OG 12/13)
- CAT scores: sub-500 (GMATPrep 1)/630 (KAP)/680 (Manhattan)/700 (GMATPrep 1)/770 (GMATPrep 2, with about 80% repetition in verbal)
- Actual GMAT: 48q (80th) 44v (97th) 740(97th)
- Fear of quant: Vanquished!
SHORT STORY LONG:
BACKGROUND
I am a humanities major four years removed from undergrad. I had not done any math-related courses since Calculus 1 in high school and it showed in my first diagnostic exam. In the past I had been relatively good at math but always extremely intimidated by it. I have a strong language background both from college and work experience as an English teacher and professional translator. I took the GRE before my senior year of college (2007) and scored in the 85% (strong verbal, very weak math) and I took the LSAT twice in 2009 with scores in the 86 and 88th percentiles. I think studying for the LSAT, despite not getting an elite score, did help quite a bit with certain aspects of the verbal section.
PREPARATION
Before finding this site, I read GMAT for Dummies which, I suppose, introduced me to the exam and some basic concepts. However, I would not recommend this book based on my personal experience. Soon after, thankfully, I found this site and began taking the advice on suggested studying materials. 8 weeks out from my test date I bought the Manhattan GMAT set from a friend and read the five quant books. I decided not to spend to much time initially on the verbal books because I knew that quant was a priority for me. I read every page of these books, did every problem set, and completed the practice questions from the official guide (all in six weeks). I am a freelancer so I was able to dedicate 6-8 hours per day on average to GMAT preparation.
It was an incredible feeling to see my quant improvement in just a few short weeks. I had been quite intimidated by anything quant since high school, and as I mentioned, this was quite evident from the results of the first paper practice tests that I took. However, after reviewing the fundamentals and learning how to attack the problems found on the GMAT, I gained an incredible amount of confidence in my ability. On my first paper tests I was getting between 5 and 10 RIGHT on the quant sections. After finishing the Manhattan books I was consistently getting between 5 and 10 WRONG.
I then did about half of the free CAT tests that are available (first three scores above). I was feeling fairly good about my scores, but with my new found quant confidence I wanted to go for the best score possible. So, I spent a few days on SC, something I recommend even for those that think they won't do poorly on the verbal section. Despite a humanities degree and work experience as an English teacher and translator, I was only scoring between 43 and 48 on the verbal sections.
Three weeks out from the test I had to complete a huge project and was left with little to no time to study. I took the last CATs during this period. In the final week I reviewed the basics once more, formed an AWA strategy, and worked on trying to control my nerves. In the last 3-4 works I was doing a fair number of problems from this site (from the quant forum). I considered doing the club tests but after doing the diagnostic test and scoring below 50% I decided that I wouldn't be able to devote enough time to them to make good use of them. Although they seem like an amazing resource at a great price, I felt that I needed to concentrate more on my basics to make sure I could get nail 500-600 level questions and have a good hit rate on 600-700 level questions.
TEST DAY
My test center was located in downtown Rio de Janeiro, a neighborhood I'm very familiar with, so I was certain it would only be a 30 minute door-to-door trip via metro. However, due to nerves, I left a full hour and a half early. After walking around downtown a bit, I entered the test center about 45 minutes before my appointment. After waiting a short time for the proctor to get back from lunch (test time: 1:30pm) we started with the registration procedure. I was immediately very pleased with the testing room and proctor configuration. The room was very intimate, with only six stations, and the air conditioning was blasting (I'm from the Midwest and love full power air even when it's only in the 70s). There was another person testing with me but I soon found out that he was doing a different exam because he finished after only 40 minutes (what envy!). Throughout the whole test I was alone in the room with the proctor right on the other side of the window that divides the testing room from the office. I think I really lucked out with this testing center. There were absolutely no distractions and everything went extremely smoothly. If anyone is planning to take the test in Brazil I definitely recommend M Cury in Rio.
AWA
Nothing too exciting about this section. It was fairly predictable and exactly what I had expected. One note to anyone testing abroad: Before you start the timed writing section, familiarize yourself with the keyboard. Although almost all of the keyboards I've seen used in Rio are what I think of as the standard international keyboard, I had been studying and practicing on my American laptop and I was a bit thrown off in the first few minutes.
INTEGRATED REASONING
I applaud those of you that have already formulated a strategy to tackle this section. In all of my practice I could never come close to finishing the section accurately and on time. The graph questions, CR questions, and quant questions aren't terribly difficult, but the questions with multiple tabs really set me back. Therefore, I decided going in that I would spend a good deal of time on the first 8 questions, answering them as accurately as possible, and then rush through the last four. As the section is not adaptive, I don't think you are necessarily more penalized for answering a certain number of questions in a row wrong, or answering the last questions wrong. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Like others have said before me, I don't think this section is something anyone should be too stressed about. In fact, it does serve as kind of mental jumping jacks to warm you up for the ensuing quant section.
QUANT
My quant experience was very different from my practice test experiences, not necessarily in the type or difficulty of questions, but rather in my pacing. In the first 10 questions, of which the majority were Number Properties questions, I saw 7-8 DS problems. I think this may have accelerated my pacing because by the time the first third of the test had gone by, I was well ahead of schedule (something that rarely happened in practice). Naturally, this made me worried that I was not working accurately or that I was falling into the typical traps set by the test makers. In the second third of the questions I remember having a similar ration of DS to PS questions. Again, my pace accelerated and I was left with over 45 minutes to solve the remaining 12-13 questions. Although that sounds like a dream come true, it got me very nervous that I had been to hasty in the first 25 questions and that I was still at the 500-600 level. However, as many fellow gmatclubbers have pointed out, it is quite useless to try to evaluate your performance mid-test, and can in fact, be detrimental to your subsequent performance. Therefore, I simply decided to make the most of my remaining time and double or triple check all of my answers. The last three questions were very difficult ones about geometry and coordinate planes. I actually had to use quite a bit of time on them but I was very confident I got them right. The extra time did, in fact, pay off.
VERBAL
As I mentioned above, my verbal scores were never really an area of concern for me. The RC passages did seem quite a bit longer than those I encountered in the CATs. Three were science (biology) related and one was on economics. I didn't feel the questions were very difficult at all in comparison to the CATs I took. On the other hand, I did think that the CR and SC questions were quite a bit trickier than what I had seen in prep. Like others have posted before me, there seemed to be quite a few CR questions with two or three possible answers, and the majority of SC questions did not have 2-3 splits that were easily identifiable to me. A number of SC had two or three choices that "sounded" correct and that didn't have any glaring mistakes. However, as I didn't spend a great deal of prep time on this section, it's quite possible that the issues I was seeing are covered in prep guides. You'll have to take my analysis with a grain of salt. Additionally, I didn't see any boldface questions.
THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
I had mentally prepared myself to react to the results in the following ways: 760+: "WHOOOOOOO!!!!! Better than I could have dreamed!" 740-750: "YEAH! Very happy with this result.", 700-730: "Not bad. I'm happy I did pretty well.", Sub-700: "BOO! Time to start planning a study schedule." After the annoying survey (why can't this be administered before the test?) I saw the results: 48q/44v 740. I was certainly happy and relieved with the result, although I was a bit disappointed with verbal. That disappointment was short lived, however, because I realized that if someone had shown me that 48/44 split after my first practice test, in which I couldn't even finish 70% of the quant section, I would not have believed it to be my score.
IN CONCLUSION
I think my story provides a good example of how cognitive bias could negatively influence your confidence, studying methods, and if left unchecked, your exam performance. My irrational belief that "I will do poorly on the quant section because I don't/can't do math" certainly started me off on the wrong foot as far as my GMAT prep was concerned. I firmly believe that if I had not found this site, I would have continued thinking this way and studying for the quant section in an inefficient and fruitless way, and consequently, I would have performed poorly on the test, thereby confirming my original belief that "I don't/can't do math." By reading posters' stories about how they improved and by taking advantage of strategies that worked for them, I was able to break this pattern of intimidation and lack of self-confidence. I think this story also holds true for those struggling with the verbal section. There are probably some that think, "I never liked reading and I was never good with grammar, therefore, I will do poorly on the verbal section." Again, holding this belief throughout your prep and testing will almost certainly be detrimental to your chances of success.
The GMAT is tricky, and tough, and can seem at times downright enigmatic, however, none of these characteristics will necessarily keep you from getting a high score. Going into a section thinking that you cannot do it and that you are bound to fail because you weren't "made" for the subject matter can absolutely keep you from getting a high score. Be honest about your weak areas and focus on them (you'll never be forced to show anyone your error log). Take things one day at a time and remember to reflect on how much you're improving. If you are taking advantage of this site then you are probably quite intelligent, so don't allow yourself to believe the nonsense that you were never good at this or that. DO NOT let yourself be intimidated by the GMAT. After all, it's just another test, right?
05 Jul 2012, 19:01
Kudos
Bookmarks
Jabuticaba, this is a really inspiring debrief!!!
How did you manage to keep focus and stay motivated through 6 - 8 hours of study daily... especially at the begining when it must be so disheartening to have to start learning the quant from scratch?
How did you manage to keep focus and stay motivated through 6 - 8 hours of study daily... especially at the begining when it must be so disheartening to have to start learning the quant from scratch?
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