Before I get into my story, I want to say thank you to all of the active GMAT club posters that have guided me through this process. Here's the story of a long-time lurker and new poster... Practice Tests: MGMAT #1 - 690 (Q37, V46) - August 2010 - baseline test before studying GMATPrep #1 - 770 (Q48, V48) - October 2010 GMATPrep #2 - 780 (Q50, V47) - Mid November 2010 Actual Tests: GMAT #1: 710 (Q39, V48) AWA 5.5 - Mid/Late November 2010 GMAT #2: 770 (Q49, V47) AWA 6.0 - Late December 2010 When I began studying in August, it was clear from my baseline test that my quant skills needed some work. I had been out of school for about seven years at the time, so it had been a long time since I used math to any significant extent. Even in school, I never considered myself quantitatively gifted. I also made the decision at that time to focus purely on the quant section of the exam, as my verbal score was already in the 99th percentile. My study materials in order of importance: - Manhattan GMAT Number Properties, Word Translations, Equations, and Fractions/Decimals/Percents - Manhattan GMAT quant flash cards and questions banks - Official Guide - Kaplan Advanced - the Chineseburned guide to the AWA ( how-to-get-6-0-awa-my-guide-64327.html ) Of those study materials, the MGMAT Word Translations and Number Properties were far and away the most valuable. I can honestly say that those books (especially Word Translations) changed the way I approach many quant questions. The Official Guide was helpful for getting a feel for actual GMAT questions, especially data sufficiency. The Kaplan Advanced book was ok, as it provided a good set of relatively difficult questions (for a non-quant like myself), but it was probably the least valuable study material I used. Test Day Experience #1: I was scheduled to take the exam Thursday at 4:00 in mid/late November. On the Monday before the exam, one of my clients had a bit of a crisis, and I was forced to fly from my home on the east coast to southern California. I initially assumed I would have to cancel my exam, but I was ultimately able to take the red-eye back to the east coast on Wednesday night. I was happy at the time, but I realize now that I was being overly aggressive in attempting the test on very little sleep. I slept for maybe 2 hours on the plane, got back to the east coast, and spent my morning/early afternoon on conference calls with my California client. I arrived at the testing center about 20 minutes before my exam time. Check in was smooth, and the testing facility was nearly empty. I felt tired, yet fairly relaxed, as I sat down to begin the AWA. Things began to unravel almost immediately. My timing was way off on the argument essay, and I had to rush to finish my proofreading. The same was true on the issue essay. I had experienced no AWA timing challenges on the practice exams. From AWA, I rolled right into quant, and my timing challenges continued. By the time I got to question #28, I had only 10 minutes remaining. I went into panic mode and did all I could to rip through the last 10 questions. I took advantage of the break before the verbal section, walked around the hall a bit to calm myself, and used the restroom. Then I sat down and performed more confidently on the verbal section than I had on any practice test. When I finished the exam, I briefly contemplated canceling my score, but decided to proceed.... 710 (Q39, V48). I was immediately upset with my score. I became more frustrated when others tried to console me by pointing out that 710 is a good score. While 710 can be a good score with the right balance, my 52nd percentile quant score looked bad any way you looked at it. Preparing to retake: I went home that night and enrolled to retake 33 days after my first attempt. I wanted to hit R2 deadlines, so I didn't have time to waste. I felt that my quant score was an anomaly, and I figured that I couldn't do any worse. In the month leading up to my second exam, I didn't study much new material, but I reviewed MGMAT flash cards and used the MGMAT question banks to keep things fresh in my mind. I took off the day before my second exam, and slept for almost 10 hours the night before the test. Test Day Experience #2: Arrived at the testing center early again, and was surprised by the number of people there. There were roughly 8 other people checking in to take the GMAT at the same time. Needless to say, there as a lot of typing noise during the AWA section, but I was one of the last to check in, so it was mostly quiet by the time I started quant. No timing issues on AWA this time. I started the quant section, and after a few questions, hit a block of what felt like around 8-12 consecutive data sufficiency problems. That stretch was brutal, but the questions seemed difficult, and I felt ok overall. I finished the quant section with about 2 minutes left, but didn't have to rush or guess. I took no break, and jumped right into verbal. I felt that it was more difficult than the verbal section on my first exam, but not bad overall. With some apprehension, I waived my opportunity to cancel my scores and waited for my score to be calculated... 770 (Q49, V47). Even though the score was consistent with my practice exams, I left the testing center in a blissful daze. I had walked halfway home before it really sunk in for me. Now that I'm wrapping up my R2 apps, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of the regular posters here. The "Should I Retake GMAT Thread - Retaking GMAT Strategies" thread was very useful, as was the Chineseburned AWA thread. This forum has been a significant source of support. One last word of advice... please do not attempt to take the exam after taking a red-eye flight the night before (or under any similar circumstances). Trust me.

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770 (Q49, V47) 6.0 AWA on my second attempt

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dcduke

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GMAT 1: 770 Q49 V47 Verified score

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GMAT 1: 770 Q49 V47 Verified score

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09 Jan 2011, 23:37

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hirendhanak

can you share your strategy on verbal ?

Congrats and all the best
thanks in advance

Like I mentioned before, I really didn't have much of a strategy for verbal. My advice for those who are struggling with verbal is to read as much as possible. The GMAT fiction thread is probably a good place to start, especially for non-native speakers. I would also recommend reading the New York Times and Wall Street Journal regularly.

With sentence correction, I just had a good feel for what sounded right. Heavy reading will help you get a feel for what sounds right, especially when it comes to things like idioms. Reading dense material will obviously help with RC as well. I'm sorry that I don't have any GMAT-specific tips, but I really didn't study for the verbal section. I believe that I built my verbal skills over the years.

For those of you who are frustrated with the verbal section, I can sympathize, as someone who struggled with quant. I can't tell you how frustrating it was to read these countless accounts of engineers who waltzed into the testing center and walked away with a Q50. Getting to my quant score took a lot of hard work.

mission2009

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Schools: Stanford '16 Kenan-Flagler '16 ISB '15 UVA Darden Duke '16

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10 Jan 2011, 03:21

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Congrats and all the best for your applications...

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770 (Q49, V47) 6.0 AWA on my second attempt

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