I was a little surprised when I saw the score pop up on the screen. The Pearson guy handed me my score and said that it was the highest score he'd seen. Needless to say, I was pretty pumped:!: I didn't have a lot of time to study. I took 10 days off from work during the holidays and just did practice questions relentlessly every day. I bought the OG and did the diagnostic first. The diagnostic told me that I was weak in Data Suffciency. This was true - DS definitely gave me the hardest time out of all the problem types. A week before the real test, I took GMATPrep Practice Test #1 and got a 720. Missed too many of the data sufficiency questions, and also nearly an entire RC passage (ouch!). At this point, I decided to do every single DS problem I could find, and after doing ~50 of them, I started to get a "feel" for the problems, i.e., I felt that I didn't need to do out all the steps to figure out what the correct answer was. Took another practice three days before the test - got a 770 this time and cut down my DS mistakes from 9 errors to only 2 errors. I was feeling pretty good at this point. Test day came - I just went in to the center, got in early, and the proctor showed me to a small, 1-person private room that was separate from all the other test-takers. This was nice because I could close the door and just focus on nothing else but the screen in front of me. The AWA got me warmed up. I didn't feel like I really nailed either essay but I followed the structure I'd laid out for myself (ended up with a 5.5 AWA). Then came the math section. The first few questions were pretty easy, but I started to struggle by about question 15 of the math section. Then came a rough stretch until about question 25, when the test got easier. I was slightly behind on time at the 20-question mark, but finished the section about 10 mins ahead of time. Verbal was a different story. I have a strong quant background (engineer, tutored calculus in college) but I've been an avid reader my whole life, and I read everything. I am also a quick reader. Reading comprehension was good for me, because I've definitely read some pretty cryptic documents in my lifetime. Sentence correction gave me some trouble, but I think my years of practice with reading all sorts of things helped me a lot here. Critical reasoning was the hardest, but I knew that if I could just curb my natural impatience and force myself to read the questions twice, then I would do OK. I finished the section in about 40 minutes (~1 min per question) - I was just anxious to get my score! I expected something in the 720-770 range - I was definitely surprised to see the 790 come up! I think the single most important piece of advice is: you need to be confident in your own ability to absolutely nail this test. The GMAT is a very tough puzzle that CAN be cracked. When you're studying, you have to be proactive in recognizing your weaknesses and work VERY hard and in a focused manner to eliminate or at least ameliorate those weaknesses. That was me with Data Sufficiency. I worked my butt off and recognized/corrected the flaws in my thinking before I took the test. You have to be willing to do the same. I certainly didn't want to take it twice, and I can't imagine anyone else wanting to either. A quick thank-you to all the regular posters on this board. While it was intimidating to see all the 750+ scores, it gave me some hope that I could do the same as well. If anyone would like to know more, please contact me and I will try to help. I'm certainly no expert like some of the other folks on this board, but I can try.

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790 - 51M, 48V - Dec 31

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eschn3am

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03 Jan 2008, 13:34

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(1/5)^37 for quant which is 1.37 E -26
(1/5)^41 for verbal which is 2.19 E -29

For quant that means that on average 1 out of every 72700000000000000000000000 people would ace quant if everyone was guessing blindly and everyone took the test once.

hey, it could happen, right? :lol:

Tarmac

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03 Jan 2008, 13:38

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Haha no but I mean take the subset of people scoring Q51. Let's say there are 20 of them on this forum. They are all getting 0-4 questions wrong. On these toughest 4 questions, if they all guessed blindly (or even better, if they are choosing between 2 or 3 poss answers), one of them is going to get a perfect score. Isn't it pretty likely?

eschn3am

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03 Jan 2008, 13:46

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oohh...then yes, the odds are greatly improved. I'm sure that how most of the 800 scores happen. Brilliant people only having to guess 3 or 4 times per section and happening to guess correctly.

sonibubu

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03 Jan 2008, 14:37

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There has to be some technique. My GMAt instructor got an 800 score twice.

eschn3am

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03 Jan 2008, 14:44

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sonibubu

There has to be some technique. My GMAt instructor got an 800 score twice.

Oh, there's a very simple technique. Just study every single topic covered on the GMAT until you can do it in your sleep, backwards and with your eyes closed. There's no "magic" to getting an 800 on this test. It's like every other test you've taken in your academics career. Just know all the material well enough and it can be aced.

msday

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03 Jan 2008, 16:16

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sonibubu

That is a sick score, congrats!

What were your study materials (classes, just OG11, etc)? -- especially for verbal WOW.
On the RC and CR, did you take notes or just read and then answer?

How did you approach LONG and SHORT RC passages? Did you read the whole thing before answering, or did you skim, or used another strategy?

Just OG 11...verbal was surprising to me too, but I think I notice patterns like crazy when I read, so I sort of know what looks right and what doesn't, especially in SC. For RC, I tried the "skim, then go back" method at first, but it wasn't that great. So what I did was I read the whole passage quickly the first time, and then more carefully the second time, and tried to identify key points. Then, I answered the questions, and usually I was able to get the answer by remembering what I just read. In short, I always read the whole thing before answering.

msday

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03 Jan 2008, 16:20

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Tarmac

I think I "guessed" twice on the math section. Each time I was able to narrow down to three choices...to be fair though, that doesn't mean I narrowed down to the CORRECT three choices

nervousgmat

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03 Jan 2008, 16:24

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To get 48V he must have missed no more than 2-3 questions. How do I know? Because in my practice tests, every time I missed more than 3 questions, I got less than 45V. My real score on GMAT was 47V.
Also, keep in mind that there are experimental questions in the actual exam, so one might miss 5 questions but those will not be included in the calculation of the actual raw score.

Ravshonbek

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03 Jan 2008, 16:57

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big boooom in the club now. since you are 51 quant, you are able to contribute more to this forum.
good luck with your apps

kbulse

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04 Jan 2008, 01:22

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yeah guys, verbal part is really tough part and missing only 2 -3 questions is great achievment imo

parsifal

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04 Jan 2008, 08:46

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Congrats msday86!!!

I now feel as if I was speeding in a mustang (770) that has been passed by a far superior lamborghini (790) . lolz

Where do you plan to apply? I ll make sure I steer clear of your way!

Ferihere

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04 Jan 2008, 11:55

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OMG that is awesome... I changed my target score to 790(+) 8-)

, i see that it is really possible :-D

Good luck in apps.... have a good journey to Harvard!!!

msday

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thanks to everyone for the congratulations...i will be applying this fall for admission in fall 2009. I'm looking at some of the top schools, but I'm definitely not taking anything for granted! I know how competitive it is at some of the elite schools, and so I hope to put together some good essays and nail my interviews. good luck to everyone who's applying this year, hopefully I'll get to meet some of you in b-school!

just got my AWA - 5.5

GTammai

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08 Jan 2008, 20:41

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Congrats msday86

bsd_lover

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16 Jan 2008, 18:26

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Is this the gmatclub record ? Has anyone actually scored 800 from gmat club ? I think 790 is the highest I have ever seen during my time here.

eschn3am

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16 Jan 2008, 19:51

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bsd_lover

Is this the gmatclub record ? Has anyone actually scored 800 from gmat club ? I think 790 is the highest I have ever seen during my time here.

I believe 790 has been done a couple times before on here, but the magic 800 is still up for grabs!

until I take my test at the end of next month anyway :twisted:

sonibubu

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16 Jan 2008, 20:51

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msday86

As excited as I am, this just adds to my nerves. I have a full seven months to prepare an app, and anything less than an M7 school is now a disappointment...hehe, thank God i'm moderately good under pressure!! I'll need everyone's support here to achieve my goal

Just remember, the GMAT usually isn't as important as your essays. Stanford and Chicago GSB for a fact reject more than one 800 GMAT score every year.

khanhquy

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Hi 790 guy,

Congratulation!

I have been working for 9 years without touching schooling. This is the 1st time i decided something for my future, for myself. but after quitting the job, took 3 month practicing full time in library, i got under 500. it is really frustrated and depressing. :cry:

I decided to take GMAT again by the end of Feb, so I still have 5-6weeks more, after that i have to come back to my country. I think this is my last chance to accomplish my goal, my dream. i can take my dream or I have to find a new job and work unexcitingly as I have done for 9 years already.

Your words encourages me a lot, thank you so much. I believe that you can reach 790 in 2 weeks, why I can not get 700 in 6 weeks with your precious advises?

Kindly advise your studying method, it is my bible now.

Thank you,
KQ

Tarmac

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17 Jan 2008, 15:35

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do you think too high of a score makes the adcom think "make sure s/he is not a weirdo geek"?

msday

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17 Jan 2008, 16:01

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Tarmac

do you think too high of a score makes the adcom think "make sure s/he is not a weirdo geek"?

I do think so Tarmac! I think I can show that I'm not a weirdo geek, but it's up there on my list of things to address directly in my application.

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