NEW HERE? LEARN MORE
closeclose
Last visit was: 25 Apr 2024, 19:16 It is currently 25 Apr 2024, 19:16
Decision Tracker
My Rewards
New posts
New comers' posts

Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel

Am I ready to take the GMAT

SORT BY:
Date
Kudos
 1   2   
User avatar
ThomasD
Current Student
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 277
Own Kudos [?]: 55 [0]
Given Kudos: 12
Schools:Duke
GPA: 3.8
Send PM
Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   07 Jan 2010, 15:25
Hi All,

let me know if you think I am ready or not!

Been studying plus/minus 1hour a day for about a month. Been through a several year old Barron's GMAT guide (that referred to the GMAT still being owned by ETS so it was THAT old). Still felt it was useful as the concepts haven't changed much, but probably wouldnt recommend that book to anyone unless they got it for 8 bucks like me. Next went through the Crash Course for the GMAT Princeton Review (also old book referring to ETS). Got that for 5 bucks and thought it'd be pointless, but actually this was phenomenal ROI. Introduced me to a few of the need to know tricks like the 3/2 split. By now I knew my weaknesses: Sentence Correction and Data Sufficiency. Brushing up on Number Properties wouldn't hurt either. Ordered the OG Verbal Book and worked through the first half of each the section, scoring about 80% of the questions right. My understanding is they are in order of difficulty so I still have the most difficult ones for later in my prep. After 3/4 month I decided I needed to know where I truly stand, took a GMATprep test:
* skipped the AWA
* Q49/V40 Total 720 Had about 10mins extra in Quant and no time in Verbal

In the meantime Kaplan Premier 2010 Live arrived and similar to the OG Verbal Book I did the first half of all verbal Questions, scoring about 90% right. Second CAT test after the first month
* Kaplan Practice Test 2
* Again skipped AWA
* Scaled Scores:
Scaled Score
Overall : 660
Overall Percentage Below : 86
Quantitative : 42
Quantitative Percentage Below : 88
Verbal : 42
Verbal Percentage Below : 95

That was earlier today and I am somewhat puzzled as to what to make out of this. I had the first 20 quant questions right and then a total of 7 wrong in the last 18 questions. Many being Data Sufficiency, a known weakness I haven addressed yet. Verbal also 7 wrong, first 12 right and then fairly mixed. 6 out of the 7 wrong questions I narrowed it down to two answers and picked the wrong one, no clear error pattern though. Also, I had 25 (!) mins left in quant and again no time in verbal. Didn't have to guess any verbal though either, was spot on.

As for the Kaplan score, I am a little confused about the low quant though, as I am a scientist with a significant quant background. Concerning the composite score, I have read across the forum that the Kaplan Cats USED to be off by 50 to a 100 points. Does anyone know or have a feel for whether this still holds true?

I want to take the GMAT asap and am thinking about mid February.
Until then I plan to
*finish the Kaplan Live book.
*work through the MGMAT Number Properties
*finish OG Verbal
*take 2 CATs each weekend (Kaplan/MGMAT/GMATprep) all with AWA
*work through the OG

Also, I am shooting for 700+ and am generally a good test taker. I really get a kick out of spotting a trap and avoiding it ;-)

Do you guys think it's a sound plan to take my GMAT in February or am I running into disaster. Anything else I may have missed or should consider?
Thanks so much!
User avatar
ThomasD
Current Student
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 277
Own Kudos [?]: 55 [1]
Given Kudos: 12
Schools:Duke
GPA: 3.8
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   26 Jan 2010, 19:46
1
Kudos
Alright, I didnt take my MGMAT CAT on Sunday, I was not feeling too well, so I postponed it until today. Results including AWA are as following:

Quant: 44
Verbal: 37
Total: 670

Hmm, yeah well I suppose it's ok, but I was hoping for more. Especially in math I stumbled in three traps and one stupid miscalculation. I need to work on that, I hope that will come with more practice.

As for verbal, there were two questions on the exam where I think MGMAT needs to do some re-evaluation. For those familiar with the Alligator incident question: In essence it's a CR question asking what would explain more DEADLY alligator attacks and their answer is that a campaign to destroy alligator eggs ended two years ago. So they are trying to tell me that 2 year old alligators cause deadly attacks. A wild 2 year old alligator is 4-5 feet by age 2, if he sees me at 6ft+ he is going to go bye bye see you later alligator :yes

Anyways, I finished the MGMAT Number Properties book and all I have left material wise is the OG12 which I have not yet touched. Thinking about getting the MGMAT SC book, I did really like the Number Properties book. Got like 25 days to go or so, so I think I should have time for another book or maybe two. I wish my Quant was consistently in the 47/48 area.
User avatar
ThomasD
Current Student
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 277
Own Kudos [?]: 55 [1]
Given Kudos: 12
Schools:Duke
GPA: 3.8
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   04 Feb 2010, 15:23
1
Kudos
Update:

I have started working my way through the MGMAT SC guide. Not far into it yet though, I think like chapter 6. Also reviewed math again in OG12 and then decided to do the Diagnostic set to see where I stand without wasting a GMATprep CAT. So the diagnostic test says this:

Problem Solving: 19
Data Sufficiency: 19
Reading Comprehension: 16
Critical Reasoning: 14
Sentence Correction: 13

So in my opinion, spending more time on SC is indeed not a bad idea. Especially long sentences with modifiers and subordinate clauses still manage to confuse me. I think I am good for RC - something I have seen consistently throughout my practice tests. CR is probably ok as well. Now as for quant I think I am improving in DS - I like it. However, I thought they were **** me when I got a string of 5 answers with the same letter in a row. Still further practice seems like a good idea. As for PS, I wish that score was slightly higher, as I deem it absolutely necessary to crack the 80% quant level on the real GMAT. I yet have to review the individual mistakes to see whether I can identify a particular area of weakness. My error log shows no consistent pattern for quant, while it does suggest SC needs to be worked on.

It'd be nice to know what these number would suggest for a real score as GMAC claims they have a pretty correlation to the real deal.....
User avatar
ThomasD
Current Student
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 277
Own Kudos [?]: 55 [1]
Given Kudos: 12
Schools:Duke
GPA: 3.8
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   06 Feb 2010, 22:04
1
Kudos
Thanks username, I kind of came to the same conclusion about the Kaplan Cats. Since I am done with them, I quite frankly think I do not care about what their scores really mean anymore. I will take my second Gmatprep Cat tomorrow, that should help me gauge where I stand. It's a shame I realized I have 3 more MGMAT Cats and all problems in the OG12 left to do in 17 days while working fulltime. I may skip some of the last MGMAT Cats or only do their quant, which I feel might benefit me more than verbal. I deem their math somewhat challenging while I am uncertain about the verbal - I dunno just my opinion. I am finishing up MGMATs SC tonight - I hope. Did not find this quite as useful as the number property book. It certainly contains a lot of valuable information, but somehow I feel it doesnt stick with me as well as some of the number property material.

I also really feel like I am burning out, it is Saturday night and I am sitting at home, reviewing idioms, subject-verb agreement and all that FUN stuff.

A friend of mine just asked me to dogsit for him the weekend right before my test, I was first inclined to say no - I mean come on, I have a truck load full of stuff to study - but I thought about it for a minute and then agreed to do it. Actually, now I am really glad that I did, it will take my mind of things a bit and will help me relax and loose some anxiety. Seriously, I wouldnt really retain any new information learned on those days anyways. I think I will only use the last couple days to rework some of the more challenging official questions and just look for the underlying 'trick' in the questions. You know the stuff people always tell you....that there is a smarter way to solve a problem compared to the brute force way that takes 2 or 3 minutes. After my prep so far, I think those people are right, there really are a lot (!) of smart shortcuts hidden and for quant I believe MGMAT really has it figured out: Rephrase the question / statements for DS etc.

Anyhow, before I get esoterical: For anyone still early on in the game, the take home message is this: Be sure you do stay on top of your schedule. You will feel burned out and you will feel the need to take a break for a day or two and it's imperative to take that brake. Having said that: I am going to finish strong now!
User avatar
ThomasD
Current Student
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 277
Own Kudos [?]: 55 [0]
Given Kudos: 12
Schools:Duke
GPA: 3.8
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 07 Jan 2010, 15:58
Add on:

I did try two GMATchallenges on the free holiday days, with about 50% correct answers. I didnt have much time to review my mistakes but found many of the questions to be centered around "mean" traps that I haven't yet encountered anywhere in my other prep material. I do think tough the provide some good training for the advanced test taker, I am still not convinced I should integrate those in me preparation though

Originally posted by ThomasD on 07 Jan 2010, 15:29.
Last edited by ThomasD on 07 Jan 2010, 15:58, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
shadow
Director
Director
Joined: 25 Aug 2009
Affiliations: Consortium (CGSM.org), NSHMBA
Posts: 929
Own Kudos [?]: 249 [0]
Given Kudos: 113
Location: New Haven
Schools:Yale SOM Class of 2012
 Q48  V51
WE 1: Investment Banking Summer Associate (Boutique tech M&A)
Send PM
Reviews Badge
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   07 Jan 2010, 15:48
can't really comment on the validity of kaplan tests. the only ones that usually do a decent job of predicting where you stand score-wise are gmat preptests (usually +/- 30 points), and to a lesser extent MGMAT full length tests (+/- 50 points, maybe more).

i dont see any compelling reason why you should delay the test further. a 720 on the gmat preptest is a solid score. obviously it wont guarantee a 700+ on the actual test, but if you continue your study plan (and NOT burn yourself out by trying to ramp it up to 8 hrs a day studying), then i would think you have a great shot at breaking 700.

also one thing to note, you would be surprised at how much difference getting a few more verbal questions right would affect your score, especially if you're at a V40. spend some time with the MGMAT sentence correction book - it's a great tool.
User avatar
ThomasD
Current Student
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 277
Own Kudos [?]: 55 [0]
Given Kudos: 12
Schools:Duke
GPA: 3.8
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   09 Jan 2010, 14:48
Alright shadow I trust you and hopefully myself.... just scheduled for February 23, earliest possible date in my area without a 60 mile commute.

I'll take the first MGMAT CAT later today or may be tomorrow.

I agree with you, if you have a solid quant score the extra point or two in verbal is the kicker you really want!

Currently working through the remainder of the Kaplan Live book.
Nice thing I learned today: /x-3/=3
one should really think of as x-3=3 or x-3=-3 had never really approached the problem like this, but always thought about it in a way more complicated way. Anyhow, how do I make the correct /absolute/ signs?

I'll keep this post up to date with my progress....
User avatar
ThomasD
Current Student
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 277
Own Kudos [?]: 55 [0]
Given Kudos: 12
Schools:Duke
GPA: 3.8
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   10 Jan 2010, 16:07
Didn't take an MGMAT CAT, decided to do another Kaplan 2010 Live Premier First:
Within their program it first refers to this as Practice Test 3, but when the window pops open it says CAT1, little confusing but whatever...

Score Brekadown Score
Overall 740
Over Percent Below 97
Quant 50
Quant Percentile 94
Verbal 48
Verbal Percentil 99

Am quite pleased with that. I again did not do the AWA, had about 8 mins left in quant and 30 secs in the verbal.

Funny thing I noticed, the test window always said GMAT 2007 on top, I thought these test had been redesigned, did someone just forget to edit this or were they not redesigned?

Anyhow, I think I will do an MGMAT on Tuesday w/o AWA and from then on all with AWA.

I am almost finished with the Kaplan book, only have the Data Sufficiency left, which I still think is one of my weaknesses.

To bring another old thread back to live: verbal-rc-help-30247.html I am using rhyme's approach to reading comp and it works great for me. It does require some practice though..
User avatar
ThomasD
Current Student
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 277
Own Kudos [?]: 55 [1]
Given Kudos: 12
Schools:Duke
GPA: 3.8
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   12 Jan 2010, 14:08
1
Bookmarks
Alrighty, first MGMAT CAT done, also the last without AWA.
Little disappointing:
TYPE SCORE ESTIMATED PERCENTILE RANK
Quantitative 44 73 %
Verbal 35 77 %
Total 650 84 %

Not happy with either the quant or verbal. Ran out of time on the last quant question. Discovered that in the quant section there were 2 problems where I had no idea how to even start, that was a new feeling for me. Also, I had three educated guesses who all turned out to be not so educated :(
In the verbal, boy I had a hard time with one of the RC sections where I got every single question wrong whereas all other RC questions were correct. Checking over my RC notes for that section, I wrote down all the wrong stuff. What was I thinking....Missed several of the harder SC questions. CR was fine.
Not quite what I had hoped for overall.
Will finish the OG verbal workbook until the weekend and do some more data sufficiency questions. First full CAT with AWA Saturday....wondering now whether I want to do a Kaplan or MGMAT, MGMAT did seem harder to me...
User avatar
TimeSquareDesi
Senior Manager
Senior Manager
Joined: 25 Jul 2007
Posts: 375
Own Kudos [?]: 39 [0]
Given Kudos: 148
Location: Times Square
Schools:Baruch / Zicklin
 V3
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   13 Jan 2010, 09:31
^ great score! and as you will find out on these forums, the mgmat exams are generally more difficult than other exams. your score indicates that you would do quite well on the real exam, plus or minus 30-50 points.

to be absolutely certain, take another 1 or 2 mgmat exams after you brush up on the areas you mentioned above.

best of luck!
User avatar
ThomasD
Current Student
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 277
Own Kudos [?]: 55 [0]
Given Kudos: 12
Schools:Duke
GPA: 3.8
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   13 Jan 2010, 19:19
Thanks for the words of encouragement TimesSquareDesi. I am addressing some of my weaknesses from my last MGMAT as we speak. 650 was just a little disappointing at this point after cracking the 700 on Gmatprep and Kaplan tests. It's just that I know I need to crack this score as I need to overcome a significant lack of WE in my applications - can't seem to get that out of the back of my mind.
User avatar
TimeSquareDesi
Senior Manager
Senior Manager
Joined: 25 Jul 2007
Posts: 375
Own Kudos [?]: 39 [0]
Given Kudos: 148
Location: Times Square
Schools:Baruch / Zicklin
 V3
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   13 Jan 2010, 20:04
Depending on your age, a higher gmat score will carry more weight than work experience although both of these areas are certainly considered. I feel that, for example, HBS would take you if you are very young and scored very well on the gmat (and undergrad grades, etc) or if you are slightly older but have significant and stellar work experience.

There are forumla's for finding out the area of a triangle but no real formula that admissions comittees will use when reviewing your app :D
User avatar
ThomasD
Current Student
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 277
Own Kudos [?]: 55 [0]
Given Kudos: 12
Schools:Duke
GPA: 3.8
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   14 Jan 2010, 08:48
Yeah, I kind of think of GPA and GMAT as initial numbers that need to be hit. Since there are so many applications to the top schools if you dont hit certain benchmarks, they will have some else in their application pool that has a very similar profile but did hit those benchmarks. I kind of think those benchmarks are around GPA 3.5 and GMAT 680 (maybe 700); I further believe that if you do exceptionally well on GPA or GMAT it does give your application a boost as it does help the schools with their numbers. So I have a good GPA, but I also want an above benchmark GMAT to compensate for a lack of WE. Again, if it really does compensate I do not know, I agree with what you said about young applicants with stellar benchmarks, problem for me is, by the time I apply I will be 27 and 28 for matriculation, so I will be dead on average age. Problem being, my complete lack of WE outside of my PhD studies. I know I'll be able to work that angle in my essays, but I just want to make sure that my application doesn't get 'weeded out' before anyone ever reads those essays, thus I think a strong GMAT will really help.

On a more joking note, I just thought about a formula to combine gmat and gpa into one measure and hmmm, really not that easy :-D
User avatar
Cclay
Manhattan GMAT Student Services Associate
Joined: 30 Oct 2009
Posts: 126
Own Kudos [?]: 25 [0]
Given Kudos: 0
Location: Manhattan, NY
Concentration: International Relations
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   14 Jan 2010, 08:50
It sounds like you're on top of your game for the GMAT, and doing quite well on the tests to boot. I'm sure you've thought of this, but I would suggest doing the AWAs when you're taking practice exams, because even if they aren't graded, they do add another hour to an exam that's already three hours long. It's good training for your endurance and concentration to do them every practice test!

Also, you might be doing this already, but make sure to use our analysis tool on our tests and go through the questions you got wrong to see why you did them wrong. (We have detailed explanations of each question that you can access when you're done taking the exam.)

In addition, if you want a few more resources, you might want to check out our free tutorials for some good strategies: https://www.manhattangmat.com/tutorials/

Best of luck with the rest of your studying!

Caitlin Clay
Student Services Associate
Manhattan GMAT
User avatar
ThomasD
Current Student
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 277
Own Kudos [?]: 55 [0]
Given Kudos: 12
Schools:Duke
GPA: 3.8
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   14 Jan 2010, 14:18
Thanks for your suggestions CClay. My plan was to start including the AWAs beginning with the next CAT; you are right it does make a difference and will likely negatively impact performance as you need more stamina.
I have used your analysis provided to look into the questions I got wrong and the ones where I knew I was guessing. I havent checked out your tutorials, I'll give em a shot later.
User avatar
ThomasD
Current Student
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 277
Own Kudos [?]: 55 [0]
Given Kudos: 12
Schools:Duke
GPA: 3.8
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   16 Jan 2010, 13:26
Alright, results of MGMAT CAT2 with AWA are in:

TYPE SCORE ESTIMATED PERCENTILE RANK
Quantitative 47 81 %
Verbal 40 91 %
Total 710 94 %

I can do with that. A point more in quant and may be one or two more in verbal would be great.

Just reread the AWAs though and they could certainly need some polishing. I wouldn't give myself higher than a 5 score at best. So I will need to practice that just a little.

I'll give myself an hour idle time before I go and analyze my mistakes and educated guesses.

Still this feels so much better than the initial MGMAT 650 CAT
User avatar
ThomasD
Current Student
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 277
Own Kudos [?]: 55 [0]
Given Kudos: 12
Schools:Duke
GPA: 3.8
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   17 Jan 2010, 14:58
Alright, another Kaplan CAT first with AWA

Overall: 620
Quant: 40
Verbal: 35

Low values....I know, but they are in line, as I experimented with this CAT. I added another variable to the situation to test myself. Namely: STRESS.
After the AWA I started my Tv loud and added the Radio at similar levels. Holy Moly it was annoying and I had the hardest time concentrating. From my preliminary analysis, it seems like I missed a lot of the types of question where the stem gives you somthing in hours, but all the answers are in minutes. So all the stuff where you need focus. Also in the verbal all CR that were lenghty were a lot more difficult to memorize. By the time I got to answer choice C I had forgotten what I was looking for. I'll need to look in greater detail what else is different, but I think I can fairly conclude that stress poses a serious threat to my performance. Certainly the test center wont be that bad, but it;s good to know what possibly could happen.... I may need to develop a mechanims by which i quickly outline the 'real' question on my scratch paper to lose less time going back and forth between screen, scratch paper and my thoughts....
User avatar
ThomasD
Current Student
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 277
Own Kudos [?]: 55 [0]
Given Kudos: 12
Schools:Duke
GPA: 3.8
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   19 Jan 2010, 20:31
I have noticed that some people are wondering how the percentage of correct answers during their GMAT preparation might correlate to the actual score. Well I have no answer to that, but as I plan to keep this post alive until I am done with my GMAT, why not post those scores and may be find some predictive value once I am done?

So finished with Kaplan Live 2010

SC: 84%
CR: 86%
RC: 86%

PS: 82%
DS: 70%

Anyone an idea what my weakness is? Darn DS, I really need to address this....

I do not know if the question in this book were sorted by difficulty or not ( I actually think they are not, only the 'Master' Questions are highlighted and supposedly more difficult), but I did all of these questions in batches of 25, and the batches differed by no more than 2%. So overall I was pretty consistent.

I am using the same approach for the OG verbal and will post those scores once I am done with the second batch of the questions. That might be a while though, I think I should devote a little more time to quant, in particular DS.

Anyone ideas on how to improve there? I am actively reading the DS Forum, thinking about purchasing the MGMAT DS book, other suggestions?
User avatar
ThomasD
Current Student
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 277
Own Kudos [?]: 55 [0]
Given Kudos: 12
Schools:Duke
GPA: 3.8
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   23 Jan 2010, 12:57
Another CAT bites the dust....

Kaplan CAT4:

Total: 690
Quant: 48
Verbal: 41

Yet have to analyze my mistakes. For the first time today I actually liked writing the AWA, while of course adding to the exhaustion, somehow I before I started this prep I was nervous today and it gave me time to calm down. While I am using Rhyme's approach to RC I still need get quicker reading the passages. I also feel I have an advantage in the Kaplan Cats as a lot of the passages are scientifc in nature and that represents my comfort zone. Can't rely on that for the real deal though...
User avatar
TimeSquareDesi
Senior Manager
Senior Manager
Joined: 25 Jul 2007
Posts: 375
Own Kudos [?]: 39 [0]
Given Kudos: 148
Location: Times Square
Schools:Baruch / Zicklin
 V3
Send PM
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink] New post   26 Jan 2010, 21:09
great progress so far and you're using the exact materials that I will be using - my exam is on the 10th of april....

for quant - have you looked at the gmatclub sets yet? from what i've read, they seem to be a great way to reinforce gmat-tested math and are very challenging...

how are you doing with sc? if you feel you're doing well and are consistently getting a good number of them right, i dont think it would be the best use of time getting the mgmat sc book - even though it's the bible here. ;)

otherwise you can try to find the older edition on craigslist. since the new one is out, the prices should be lower.
GMAT Club Bot
gmatclubot
Re: Am I ready to take the GMAT [#permalink]
26 Jan 2010, 21:09
 1   2   

Powered by phpBB © phpBB Group | Emoji artwork provided by EmojiOne
Main navigation
GMAT Resources
Partners
MBA Resources
www.gmac.com|www.mba.com | | GMAT Club Rules | Terms and Conditions