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Feb GMAT experience: 730 (Q 50, V 38) AWA 5.5

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trishuls
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Feb GMAT experience: 730 (Q 50, V 38) AWA 5.5 [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 10 Mar 2004, 12:24
Finally got my 'pseudo-second' GMAT exam done. 'pseudo second' part I
will explain later. Here's my experience with the test and my scores

Q scaled - 50 95%
V scaled - 38 86%
Total - 730 97%
AWA - 5.5 90%

Quant was tougher than Powerprep and also PR. Nothing compared to
kaplan / 800 though. Got a probability qs as my 4th question. Got a
couple of permutations/combinations. Geometry was pretty
straightforward. Although my tendency to be very careful initially
cost me some time, and even in Q I was just on the borderline wrt timing.
I had really tough time managing time in Verbal. I got passages on qs
8-10 and 12-14 .. both long ones .. this threw my timing way off ..
and I was always struggling for time afterwards .. I think I had
finished something like 16-17 qs at half time! I had to finish almost
10 qs in the last 12 minutes. The CRs werent as easy as Princeton
review or powerprep again. not as bad as kaplan though. They were not
short logical ones like on 800score. Had to read a lot more words per
CR qs and options. Got a boldface CR as my 40th qs too. Got 4
passages.. 3 long and 1 short ..

The whole test was an exhausting experience. Although I had solved
complete tests a few times before with essays and all, I found myself
losing my concentration a few times towards the end with all the time
pressure, my looking forward to the end, and all! Try to keep yourself
focussed throughout.

After the test ETS asks a bunch of stupid demographic/information qs
before displaying the score .. that created a huge suspense .. and
that added to the pressure when I was deciding to report scores or cancel test (believe it or not .. I did think both ways at this point! )

I had studied for a month and half part time. Had practised from
Princeton Review, Kaplan, Kaplan 800, Kaplan interactive, OG, Arco's
30 days, and a bunch of questions I downloaded thanks to this
wonderful yahoo group! Didnt get to Arco's and Barron's. My practise
test scores were

PR1 online 700
PR2 online 710
PR4 online 730 (PR3 got with a computer crash and all sorts of things
gave up .. retaking doesnt help as lot of qs are repeated)

Kaplan 1 670
Kaplan 2 640
Kaplan 3 610
Kaplan 4 640

Powerprep 1 740
Powerprep 2 760

800score.com
V1 39
V2 36
V3 33
V4 36
V5 35
Q1 51
Q2 51

Arco 1 640


Now to the worse part of my GMAT ordeal .. the 'pseudo-second' test
explanation!
I had also taken the GMAT exam on 17th, however didnt complete it. The
power went out (for about 4000 people in the block where the test was
scheduled !! that too of all the places in the US !! Now figure out
the probability of that happening! (Thats a proprietary/confidential
qs .. and you cannot reveal this qs to any soul in this universe!!:) )
I was done with AWA, Q and 30 mins of V by the time! The test center -
prometric - didnt have backup power! So everybody waited till around 3
hrs till about 5:30. Then the manager said that everyone would have to
reschedule the test! I had, in the meantime, tried calling the test
center and ETS and everybody to try and get these test center guys to
stay longer, although unsuccessfully! So the manager leaves by about 6
(to attend to his pregnant wife apparantly!!!!!) while I was waiting,
and the power comes back at 6:10 ! but as the manager has already
locked and left, the test center supervisors cannot do anything
(bs!!). Well .. I was really upset .. but didnt have any energy to
fight anymore! And surprisingly all other candidates took it without
an ado!

When I thought things couldnt get any worse, I was hammered with more
bad news. Now I had to reschedule the test within the next few days to
get in before my app deadlines! I had thought Prometric was bad .. but
ETS is worse! I called them 4 days in a row at 4 am Pacific time (ETS
is on east coast .. 3 hrs ahead) and a bunch of times during the day,
to get my test rescheduled .. The representatives are really bad ..
they dont have a clue as to what is happening .. and are experts at
pointing fingers without giving any valid/useful information. One
person had the nerve to ask me as to why I took the test so late, on
the 17th, considering my deadlines .. well thats none of her business!
her business is to let me take the test as I paid 225 bucks for it!!
ETS GMAT has a dept called 'candidate relationships' (a complete
misnomer as they are totally isolated in a nuclear shelter and nobody,
not the candidate nor the testing center, can contact them), which has
to verify the claims by calling up the test center .. they take 7-10
days to do this per one of the csr. One csr also told me that a fax I
had sent them will take 7-10 days to reach them! Wow! would I love to
work there!!! Finally somehow on monday I was able to procure the
voucher from ETS and reschedule my test for Tuesday 24th feb.

Well .. all's well that ends well .. but am trying to explore what I
can do to get my complaints about ETS/prometric
ineffeciency/bureaucracy/monopoly heard.

Originally posted by trishuls on 10 Mar 2004, 11:12.
Last edited by trishuls on 10 Mar 2004, 12:24, edited 1 time in total.
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[#permalink] New post   10 Mar 2004, 12:22
Nice score !! congrats and great work inspite going through the ordeal of the power-out.
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trishuls
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some more info [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 10 Mar 2004, 13:22
I work full time .. have 6 years of F/T experience .. engineer .. working in hitech. So my preparation was limited to around 3-4 hrs daily ..

I had started with light preparation with the Princeton Review beginning of late December. Initially I had thought I would be ready to take GMAT by mid Jan. Princeton Review gave me confidence .. but it also led me to believe that GMAT was easy! That is when I looked at the Arco 30 days and Kaplan books.. and realized that mid Feb would be a more realistic target. I also found a bunch of online preparation material from gmatutor and a host of other yahoo groups .. and a great community of people posting questions/tips/solutions. Unfortunately I didnt about find this site until after I gave my GMAT. Looking at the content, I would definitely recommend this site to my friends though.

From these forums I found out about OG and Kaplan 800 .. which I ordered promptly .. I prepared from the OG and Kaplan 800 starting beginning of Feb. Solved all the question from OG for verbal .. on average I used to get around 3 of 15 wrong in SC, 3/15 wrong in RC, and 3/15 wrong in CR. I solved around 100 PS qs from OG with a average result of 1/50 wrong. I didnt solve any DS questions from OG.
Kaplan 800 was very tough.

Another thing I want to mention about the PR tests on CD is that the software is buggy! In a couple of tests I took initially in PR CD, I overflowed on the essays section and clicked on 'suspend test' button. The test proceeded fine after this, but my scores were messed up .. I got 530 and 590 where I should have got around 700 and 730. Also I saw a whole bunch of repeated questions in the PR tests 3 and 4.

On the final test, I want to reiterate this .. in the verbal section I gave too much time on the initial questions .. and lost a lot of time .. At one point I was so lagging in time that I was really depressed .. but I chugged along .. finished all the questions .. even guessed on 1-2 questions .. In the end, though, looking at the score, I was pleasantly surprised to get a decent verbal score. So concentrate on the initial questions .. they are really important!


Good luck to all you folks ..

-Mihir

Originally posted by trishuls on 10 Mar 2004, 12:44.
Last edited by trishuls on 10 Mar 2004, 13:22, edited 2 times in total.
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[#permalink] New post   10 Mar 2004, 13:07
Congrats...Mihir..that was a job well done.

Good Luck with your apps.

Vivek.
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[#permalink] New post   10 Mar 2004, 13:10
Congrats Mihir! Thats a wonderful score. Are you applying for PT or FT programs?
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[#permalink] New post   10 Mar 2004, 13:24
Part time .. as I work full time. how bout you vastav? I see you are in bay area too. Have you already applied/ft/pt?
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[#permalink] New post   10 Mar 2004, 13:40
I am also targeting part time programs. I have already applied to Berkeley, which seems to be the only well-known option for Bay Area residents. I have heard good things about U of Santa Clara but its reputation is not very portable outside of this emplyment zone.

There are several good Executive MBA programs on offer but I do not qualify for their experience requirements (10-12 years). Besides, they are way expensive and very difficult to get into without 100% employer sponsorship.
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[#permalink] New post   10 Mar 2004, 19:24
We are in the same boat vastav .. I have applied to EWMBA program at Haas myself. I dont qualify for the EMBA program either (6 yrs exp) .. Options here for Part time programs are very limited! :-( Its either top 10 school like Berkeley .. or the program at SCU which as you said is not well recognised outside bay area, although it is highly ranked in part time programs .

More top/middle tier schools should start part time programs here .. This is such a great business opportunity for the middle tier mba schools .. will be too late for us anyway even if such a thing happens ..

did you apply in the first round or the second round (Mar 1st) .. I obviously applied for the second given my test date. Do you know what are the next dates to look forward to at Haas? If they find us worthy .. when will they send out the interview dates?

btw I am planning to apply to SCU too .. how bout you?
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Re: Feb GMAT experience: 730 (Q 50, V 38) AWA 5.5 [#permalink] New post   10 Mar 2004, 21:42
Expert Reply
trishuls wrote:
Finally got my 'pseudo-second' GMAT exam done. 'pseudo second' part I
will explain later. Here's my experience with the test and my scores

Q scaled - 50 95%
V scaled - 38 86%
Total - 730 97%
AWA - 5.5 90%

Quant was tougher than Powerprep and also PR. Nothing compared to
kaplan / 800 though. Got a probability qs as my 4th question. Got a
couple of permutations/combinations. Geometry was pretty
straightforward. Although my tendency to be very careful initially
cost me some time, and even in Q I was just on the borderline wrt timing.
I had really tough time managing time in Verbal. I got passages on qs
8-10 and 12-14 .. both long ones .. this threw my timing way off ..
and I was always struggling for time afterwards .. I think I had
finished something like 16-17 qs at half time! I had to finish almost
10 qs in the last 12 minutes. The CRs werent as easy as Princeton
review or powerprep again. not as bad as kaplan though. They were not
short logical ones like on 800score. Had to read a lot more words per
CR qs and options. Got a boldface CR as my 40th qs too. Got 4
passages.. 3 long and 1 short ..

The whole test was an exhausting experience. Although I had solved
complete tests a few times before with essays and all, I found myself
losing my concentration a few times towards the end with all the time
pressure, my looking forward to the end, and all! Try to keep yourself
focussed throughout.

After the test ETS asks a bunch of stupid demographic/information qs
before displaying the score .. that created a huge suspense .. and
that added to the pressure when I was deciding to report scores or cancel test (believe it or not .. I did think both ways at this point! )

I had studied for a month and half part time. Had practised from
Princeton Review, Kaplan, Kaplan 800, Kaplan interactive, OG, Arco's
30 days, and a bunch of questions I downloaded thanks to this
wonderful yahoo group! Didnt get to Arco's and Barron's. My practise
test scores were

PR1 online 700
PR2 online 710
PR4 online 730 (PR3 got with a computer crash and all sorts of things
gave up .. retaking doesnt help as lot of qs are repeated)

Kaplan 1 670
Kaplan 2 640
Kaplan 3 610
Kaplan 4 640

Powerprep 1 740
Powerprep 2 760

800score.com
V1 39
V2 36
V3 33
V4 36
V5 35
Q1 51
Q2 51

Arco 1 640


Now to the worse part of my GMAT ordeal .. the 'pseudo-second' test
explanation!
I had also taken the GMAT exam on 17th, however didnt complete it. The
power went out (for about 4000 people in the block where the test was
scheduled !! that too of all the places in the US !! Now figure out
the probability of that happening! (Thats a proprietary/confidential
qs .. and you cannot reveal this qs to any soul in this universe!!:) )
I was done with AWA, Q and 30 mins of V by the time! The test center -
prometric - didnt have backup power! So everybody waited till around 3
hrs till about 5:30. Then the manager said that everyone would have to
reschedule the test! I had, in the meantime, tried calling the test
center and ETS and everybody to try and get these test center guys to
stay longer, although unsuccessfully! So the manager leaves by about 6
(to attend to his pregnant wife apparantly!!!!!) while I was waiting,
and the power comes back at 6:10 ! but as the manager has already
locked and left, the test center supervisors cannot do anything
(bs!!). Well .. I was really upset .. but didnt have any energy to
fight anymore! And surprisingly all other candidates took it without
an ado!

When I thought things couldnt get any worse, I was hammered with more
bad news. Now I had to reschedule the test within the next few days to
get in before my app deadlines! I had thought Prometric was bad .. but
ETS is worse! I called them 4 days in a row at 4 am Pacific time (ETS
is on east coast .. 3 hrs ahead) and a bunch of times during the day,
to get my test rescheduled .. The representatives are really bad ..
they dont have a clue as to what is happening .. and are experts at
pointing fingers without giving any valid/useful information. One
person had the nerve to ask me as to why I took the test so late, on
the 17th, considering my deadlines .. well thats none of her business!
her business is to let me take the test as I paid 225 bucks for it!!
ETS GMAT has a dept called 'candidate relationships' (a complete
misnomer as they are totally isolated in a nuclear shelter and nobody,
not the candidate nor the testing center, can contact them), which has
to verify the claims by calling up the test center .. they take 7-10
days to do this per one of the csr. One csr also told me that a fax I
had sent them will take 7-10 days to reach them! Wow! would I love to
work there!!! Finally somehow on monday I was able to procure the
voucher from ETS and reschedule my test for Tuesday 24th feb.

Well .. all's well that ends well .. but am trying to explore what I
can do to get my complaints about ETS/prometric
ineffeciency/bureaucracy/monopoly heard.



Sweeet; nice details :) thank you very much for the post.

-=
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[#permalink] New post   11 Mar 2004, 17:03
Thanks Vivek, vastav, new1975 bb.
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vastav
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[#permalink] New post   12 Mar 2004, 00:26
trishuls wrote:
We are in the same boat vastav .. I have applied to EWMBA program at Haas myself.

did you apply in the first round or the second round (Mar 1st) .. I obviously applied for the second given my test date. Do you know what are the next dates to look forward to at Haas? If they find us worthy .. when will they send out the interview dates?

btw I am planning to apply to SCU too .. how bout you?


I took my GMAT a day before you (Feb 23rd) and ended up applying six minutes before you (11:49pm) ... so indeed we are in the same boat :-D . I hear that the interview invitations start trickling in from the last week of March. I think they interview a fairly large pool of applicants. Haas is a stickler of its own deadlines. First round applicants are still waiting to hear their fate (15th is the notification date). Same holds true for second round notifications. btw, I am not applying to SCU.

What are you planning for Statistics pre-req? I believe Hass has a challenge exam in March and May. Any more info you have?

Besides your overall score, your AWA score is very impressive. Can you share some tips about your prep strategy?
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trishuls
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[#permalink] New post   12 Mar 2004, 01:53
vastav wrote:
I took my GMAT a day before you (Feb 23rd) and ended up applying six minutes before you (11:49pm) ... so indeed we are in the same boat :-D . I hear that the interview invitations start trickling in from the last week of March. I think they interview a fairly large pool of applicants. Haas is a stickler of its own deadlines. First round applicants are still waiting to hear their fate (15th is the notification date). Same holds true for second round notifications. btw, I am not applying to SCU.

What are you planning for Statistics pre-req? I believe Hass has a challenge exam in March and May. Any more info you have?

Besides your overall score, your AWA score is very impressive. Can you share some tips about your prep strategy?


Thats interesting indeed! I am glad indeed that I am not the only one!! :wink: Both of us thrive with deadlines and high pressure work! :D

My conspiracy theory thinking is that Haas doesnt want to give up on app fees of 2nd round applicants, which is why it has kept the notification date of 1st round 15 days beyond the 2nd round app date! :? The first round applicants would already have gone thru the interview process though, right?

For the stats pre req, I am planning to register for one of the extension courses, or community college course like at De Anza. Might give the May qual exam as well if I am able to prepare by that time. Most of my knowledge about Haas is from the info session I attended and Haas website. I dont know anybody personally at Haas currently. So dont have anything to add.

As far as the test prep goes, for Q I just practised. Went to grammar basics for V .. read the Elements of Style and College handbook etc. , princeton review verbal workout, cliff's verbal as well .. even with that my V wasnt really great .. didnt manage my time well in the final exam! :oops:
For AWA, I was in fact ill prepared .. I had written only maybe 3 essays each for issue and argument before the test. Although I had read some docs on essays framework, keywords, etc. Also for Arg analysis I found a very good resource in 800score which had a list of possible logical flaws in an argument. That helped me in the final arg analysis to get to the imp flaws.

Lets keep in touch.
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