Hello guys, I cannot say that i am new to this forum but i am new to the idea of sharing my experience with you all. Last night whilst in flight to London, i decided that i will put my thoughts and experience out here on this forum. And the reason behind this is i want to put my plans, target and strategy for GMAT, which can help others, out here for others to scrutinise and to seek advice. Here's my story so far. I'm not a native-English speaker. I have been working in finance sector for past 7 years. Last year, i decided to pursue for MBA , and luckily i found this website, which helped me to put together my thoughts & plans into action. I bought most of the GMAT study material by May2010, but opened it only after November2010. There were many reason why i delayed but that's something to discuss some other day. 20th December 2010 I Organised all the books and E-books i had bought over the period of 6 months. I logged back to GMATclub and start looking for THE BEST STUDY PLAN. I found many moving experiences, of GMATclub members, shared on this website. Those experiences opened my eyes that that this journey for 700+ will not be the easy one. I like the study plan mentioned by BB. As per that i decided to devote entire 4 weeks for Quantitative section, and to keep practising quantitative question till i succeed Q44, and keep a error log for all questions i attempt. Once i achieve Q44 i will start with Verbal section for four weeks. Quantitative Section WeekQ1 - 20th Dec 2010 Material used: MGMAT books and GMATclubs Math book. I guess these are more than enough to brush up Math basics. Week1 Breakdown: I felt comfortable with basic maths and along the way i picked up new techniques and strategies. Also started doing 5-10 SC questions on this forum each day. WeekQ2 - 27th Dec 2010 Material used: Diagnostic test and OG12 WeekQ2 Breakdown: My diagnostic test result was Q35 V32. Utterly disappointed i turned towards GMATclub's quantitative forum, as i was looking for any one with similar score or some one with similar agony. Also, i was looking for some advice and motivation from quant gurus out there. Few helped me and few didn't even bothered to answer. To my surprise, i was doing really good at OG questions. My accuracy was almost 85% for PS and 80% for DS. WeekQ3 - 3rd Jan 2011 Material used: GMAT hack's (Jeff Sackmann) 1000 questions. Bit pricey but worth it. WeekQ3 Breakdown: After very disappointing week2, i decided to buy 1000 questions from GMAThack. as an Engineer i believe that one needs to know basics before locking horns with tough quant questions. I started with GMAT hack's questions sets, which are in total 10, with 100 questions in each set. Details of these can be found on https://gmathacks.com/ I completed almost 6 sets. Four more to go WeekQ4 - 10th Jan 2011 Material used: GMAT hack's (Jeff Sackmann) 1000 questions and GMATprep 1. WeekQ4 Breakdown: By the end of this week, i have completed all the sets of GMAThack. And i was ready to put my knowledge to acid test, by taking GMATprep1's quantitative section. I was very nervous, as i really don't need any more setbacks. I started good but soon i fell into the trap set up by GMAT. I spent too much time at few questions and that cost me dearly. My advice - Choose your battles. One cannot solve all the problems with getting into time problem. Jokes apart, please do not waste time on questions which are difficult to crack in 2 mins. MOVE ON. I did verbal section half heartedly because i missed out on many quant questions and because i was bit too anxious to know my quant result. At the end of the exam, with utter disgust, i clicked next. To my surprise i scored Q44 and V26. In quant i attempted in total 23 questions within time and out of which i scored 21 correct. In remaining 16 question i simply clicked my way to the finish line, as i don't want to get penalised. I scored only 2 correct out of last 16Q. I was/am SUPER confused about my score. how one can get 44 after making so many mistakes. I checked my mistakes and did the remaining 16 questions. I found the test was not that difficult. Mistakes i made: Poor time management, Half-hearted attempt in verbal, and Failed to review verbal section. Lesson learnt - Practise practise practise till i get timing issue erased. Well i congratulated myself to achieve my quant target, and decided to move on to Verbal section. Verbal section - THE BEAST Target: 40 WeekV1 - 17th Jan 2011 Material used: MGMAT books, Powerscore Sc & CR and GMATclubs Grammar book . I guess these are more than enough to beat the BEAST. Week1 Breakdown: I started off with GMAT clubs grammar book and finished it by the end of the week. WeekV2 - 24th Jan 2011 Material used: MGMAT books, Powerscore Sc & CR and GMATclubs Grammar book . I guess these are more than enough to beat the BEAST. Week2 Breakdown: I have almost completed MGMAT SC & Powerscore SC book. Accuracy for SC till date: 65% - questions from various source such as gmatclub forum, OG11/12, 1000s and mgmat online forum. Accuracy for CR till date: 85% - questions from OG12 - did first 60 questions. Accuracy for RC till date: 80% - questions from OG11. did first 4 RCs. i did GMATclubs M01; i scored 29/37. I guess i am on right track. Aim for this week: To complete MGMAT SC & Powersocre - including all the OG12 questions mentioned in MGMAT. To do GMATclubs test M02 & if possible redo all the error log questions for quant. Sunday - do MGMAT 01. GOD help me. Scared - Yes i am as i don't know my real level in CR & RC, as i was doing only OG questions in these two sections. OG questions are normally not that difficult, especially those in the beginning. I will post my progress report almost daily on this thread. Also i will share any issue which i am sure i will face in this difficult and exciting journey. I will appreciate it if you guys can provide some feedback or if you guys can share your experience and strategy so far. Lets motivate each other and help each other to BEAT THE BEAST. PS: I'm looking for a study group based in London. If someone interested then PM me.

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heygirl

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22 Feb 2011, 08:58

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Mackieman

Slightly disappointed, got 650 (Q44 V35)... :-(

Quant - more difficult than GMATprep, like MGMAT
Verbal - much more difficult SC, lots of CR (which I had not practice at all) and RC was pretty okay

mackieman, first of all Congrats!

650 is a good score depending on what schools you are targetting. However, if your target school needs a higher score or you are personally unsatisfied with your score then simply retake the test, after a break of few days.

tirupatibalaji

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22 Feb 2011, 09:04

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Mackieman

Slightly disappointed, got 650 (Q44 V35)... :-(

Quant - more difficult than GMATprep, like MGMAT
Verbal - much more difficult SC, lots of CR (which I had not practice at all) and RC was pretty okay

Hey Hey that's a good score. i agree with Heygirl, if you still want to retake then let you know.

I don't remember if you ever told me about the B-schools you want to apply for, let us know.

And once again a big congratulation to you

Mackieman

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22 Feb 2011, 09:08

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Thanks for the advice and support guys. The school I have applied to has a minimum requirement of 600 to even consider applicants. The average is somewhere between 660-670 so a higher score would make my application more competitive. People has been admitted with as low scores as 600 so 650 might do the trick (with my grades and WE).

The last day for applying with GMAT is 28th of February so there is no point in doing GMAT again this year....

If I don't get applied this year I have to wait one year so that sucks, well, lets hope I don't have to :-)

The schools I am applying to.

Priority
1. MSc Finance Stockholm School of Economics
2. MSc Economics, same
3. MSc Finance & Accounting, same
4. Copenhagen Business School MSc Finance (no GMAT needed here, just good grades)

tirupatibalaji

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22 Feb 2011, 09:29

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Well you have no choice then to apply. Do you have any work experience?

If you have a work experience then i am 100% sure that you will get a place into one of those above mentioned course. Although, it may be bit difficult to get a place in CEMS MIM program.

Mackieman

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22 Feb 2011, 10:04

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Yeah, I have some work experience not from the financial sector though. I worked 3-4 years as marketing/sales manager for a business division with a yearly turnover of ~180-200 million usd. The company is the largest in it's area in Sweden. Although I do not know if they consider a relatively good work experience or not...

I'm not aiming for the CEMS, just the regular MSc :-)

gmatgunner

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24 Feb 2011, 06:41

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I've been following your journey and have tried implementing in my strategy some of the points you have discussed . Keep updating this thread.

Mackieman

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26 Feb 2011, 06:53

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Hi guys, received my AWA score yesterday, got 5.5, which made me a little happier. Although the GMAT score was a disaster I am not a complete failure :-)

Will report back here in early April when I receive reply on my applications.

Good luck to you guys, I have confidence in that you will reach your goals!

heygirl

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26 Feb 2011, 18:01

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Mackieman

Hi guys, received my AWA score yesterday, got 5.5, which made me a little happier. Although the GMAT score was a disaster I am not a complete failure :-)

Will report back here in early April when I receive reply on my applications.

Good luck to you guys, I have confidence in that you will reach your goals!

Nice to see a 5.5!! congrats mackieman :-)

And, do not think that your GMAT score is a predictor of your failure/success! We will wait for your admit update :_)

tirupatibalaji

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07 Mar 2011, 09:36

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After few days of break from work and gmat i am back in the game. I have booked my test date, it is scheduled for 11th April 2011, at 13:00.

before my holidays , i've completed half of RC99, OG11 & 12, Aristotle CR & SC and Jeff Sackmann's 1000 quant questions. So for this week, i will focus on Maths theory and revisit errorlog problems (incorrect problems) - Jeff sackman & OG12.

Daily breakdown -

2RC + 10 CR + 10 SC + 20 quant. And if time permits then revise Maths/sc/CR theory.

heygirl

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07 Mar 2011, 11:37

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Good luck tirupatibalaji !
It is a good idea to do a few question each from RC,CR and SC. Verbal strategies tend to rust if unused for a few days :-D

You have almost a month, so lot of time for improvement. All the best

budha

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18 Mar 2011, 07:41

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My GMAT is scheduled for MAY 3rd, i.e.exactly 7 weeks including today.

I work at Deutsche Bank within Inv Banking (thus very long hours) afterwork study needs a little inspiration.

Am looking for one (or more) study buddy to study 3-4 evening a week with... 1-2 hours and ideally a few hours during the weekend.

Target score is 720 + and diagonistic is at 600 level.
Am good at quant struggling with Verbal esp RC & CR.

Number is 44+ (0) 7787332932. budhahere (at) gmail . com

Many thanks

Budha

tirupatibalaji

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18 Mar 2011, 07:48

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budha

Hey Budha - Surely we can meet during weekdays/weekend.
When did you start your prep?

Mackieman

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01 Apr 2011, 06:57

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Hello guys, I promised that I would report back here as soon as I received information regarding my admission.

Just got the answer, admitted at SSE MSc Finance program :-)

Freaked out when I read the mail, didn't think I would be accepted.

I had already started working on my backup plan on retaking GMAT next year. This means no more GMAT for me, if I do not pursuit a MBA later on (don't think so).

I wish you all the best with your tests and if you work hard I am confident that you will reach your goals! :-)

All the best.

heygirl

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03 Apr 2011, 13:23

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Mackieman

Hello guys, I promised that I would report back here as soon as I received information regarding my admission.

Just got the answer, admitted at SSE MSc Finance program :-)

All the best.

Congrats Mackieman! That sure is good news :-D

After all, most of us need the GMAT score for admission purpose only! So if we can get in with our score, who cares about a retake

?

All the Best.

tirupatibalaji

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03 Apr 2011, 16:24

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Few more days to go. I'm totally exhausted and just can't wait for the G day. I've improved considerably over the past 3 wks.
SC - 70%
CR - 85-90%
RC - 90% - thanks to Aristotle RC99

Last CAT Q46 V35

tirupatibalaji

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11 Apr 2011, 02:08

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G DAY

I'm very nervous and anxious. I even don't know what to write here.

Gosh!!!

Oh well - All i can say is i'm well prepared for GMAT, so bring it on.

Knewton, MGMT SC & Jeff Hackman's questions really helped me to boost my confidence.

I have avg 700s in my recent GMAT prep & MGMT CATs, so hopefully i should get similar score in real CAT.

I wil come back and update you all about my score. Till then good bye.

OMG..... G DAY.

tirupatibalaji

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11 Apr 2011, 11:09

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I got disappointing 660

I've to decide within few days whether to resit or not.

Any advice guys?

Mackieman

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11 Apr 2011, 11:13

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tirupatibalaji

I got disappointing 660

I've to decide within few days whether to resit or not.

Any advice guys?

Sorry to hear that. What is the recommended for the schools you are applying to?

tirupatibalaji

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11 Apr 2011, 11:16

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Mackieman

tirupatibalaji

I got disappointing 660

I've to decide within few days whether to resit or not.

Any advice guys?

Sorry to hear that. What is the recommended for the schools you are applying to?

I want to apply for Vlerick (Avg 640), RSM(Avg 660) and ESSEC (avg 660) MBA. I know my score matches their average score requirement, but i was aiming for 700 to have any chance for scholarship.

I don't know what to do.

I'm in a muddle.

therock

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12 Apr 2011, 21:32

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Quote:

Hi

I have been following your thread since quite sometime. Firstly let me congratulate you, 660 is not a bad score at all. Maybe a little less than what you were expecting and I agree that a higher GMAT score can help get better scholarships. Whether to retake or not is a tough call, why don't you put up a debrief on the 'GMAT Experiences' thread and ask people for their inputs. That section gets much more eyeballs than this one, so you might get to hear more varied points of view.

Good luck anyway!

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