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12 Jul 2016, 06:54
Kudos
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Just thought I'd share my experience with y'all. I sat for the GMAT for the first time on July 9, and got a 780 composite (51Q/47V/8IR). I haven't really contributed much to this forum, but I was pretty active answering questions and discussing different strategies and techniques.
All in all, I was pretty satisfied with my score. I really would've liked to get that perfect 800, but it's exceedingly tough to get a 51V. My final performance was in line with all of the official GMAT prep exams - I took four of the official prep exams (the two free ones you receive for registering, plus Exam Prep Pack #2 (exams 4 & 5)). Scores ranged between 770 and 790 on all four, and I managed an 800 on a second attempt of Exam #1.
Started my preparation in early April. Having not really done anything math related in several years, I was definitely a little bit concerned about quant - especially seeing that you almost have to get a 51 in order to standout in any way (and even that's accomplished by 3% of all test takers). With that said, I registered here for access to the question bank and CAT exams. I also took advantage of the discounted deal with Magoosh and subscribed to their service. Must say, I owe a lot of my success to Mike McGarry. He really brought home the idea that it's not a good idea just to memorize formulas, but rather to more deeply understand the conceptual idea behind a given rule.
Anyways, things started clicking pretty early on. By late May and early June, I was hitting mid and high 700s on practice CATs. So I figured I was ready to go and scheduled the exam for early July. While I'm satisfied with the 780, I do wish I could have scored an 800. However, I highly doubt I will be retaking the exam. Just too much time and money for such a small incremental change, i.e. going from ~99.5% to 99.97%. Still haven't received my official score report, but I'd be shocked if the essay were anything lower than a 6.0. I thought I nailed it.
All in all, I was pretty satisfied with my score. I really would've liked to get that perfect 800, but it's exceedingly tough to get a 51V. My final performance was in line with all of the official GMAT prep exams - I took four of the official prep exams (the two free ones you receive for registering, plus Exam Prep Pack #2 (exams 4 & 5)). Scores ranged between 770 and 790 on all four, and I managed an 800 on a second attempt of Exam #1.
Started my preparation in early April. Having not really done anything math related in several years, I was definitely a little bit concerned about quant - especially seeing that you almost have to get a 51 in order to standout in any way (and even that's accomplished by 3% of all test takers). With that said, I registered here for access to the question bank and CAT exams. I also took advantage of the discounted deal with Magoosh and subscribed to their service. Must say, I owe a lot of my success to Mike McGarry. He really brought home the idea that it's not a good idea just to memorize formulas, but rather to more deeply understand the conceptual idea behind a given rule.
Anyways, things started clicking pretty early on. By late May and early June, I was hitting mid and high 700s on practice CATs. So I figured I was ready to go and scheduled the exam for early July. While I'm satisfied with the 780, I do wish I could have scored an 800. However, I highly doubt I will be retaking the exam. Just too much time and money for such a small incremental change, i.e. going from ~99.5% to 99.97%. Still haven't received my official score report, but I'd be shocked if the essay were anything lower than a 6.0. I thought I nailed it.
12 Jul 2016, 12:49
Kudos
Bookmarks
Wow - that's a pretty insane score. Congratulations! That's a very rare score and a very rare debrief as well. Not often people can score high on the diagnostic/first CAT.... do you remember which score you started with?
Congrats!
-BB
Congrats!
-BB
12 Jul 2016, 20:42
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bb
Wow - that's a pretty insane score. Congratulations! That's a very rare score and a very rare debrief as well. Not often people can score high on the diagnostic/first CAT.... do you remember which score you started with?
Congrats!
-BB
Congrats!
-BB
Thanks bb! I did take the Veritas prep exams in April & early May prior to taking any official GMAT Prep exams. I took two Veritas Prep exams in early April prior to starting any sort of preparation and they were both 650 (41Q/38V and 39Q/40V). Mind you these were both taken ice cold, and I had not done any math in many years. Heck, I hadn't even taken any exam of any sort in over two years! Plus, the Veritas Prep exams were definitely more difficult than the official practice exams.
The first official GMAT Prep exam I took was on May 29. I scored a 780 (51Q/46V/8IR). Second was on June 4. I scored a 770 (50Q/47V/8IR). Third was on June 17, and I scored a 780 (50Q/49V/8IR). Fourth was on June 19, and I scored a 780 (51Q/47V/8IR). And then finally, I retook Exam 1 on June 25 and scored an 800 (51Q/51V/8IR). So my performance on the official exam was right in line with my performance on the official prep exams.
One thing I will say is this... The official exam is a lot more grueling than any practice exam. Although I tried to remain as true as possible to the testing protocol, I did allow myself longer breaks. And I never bothered with the essay question until the official exam. Needless to say, I was starting to feel a little fatigued by around the mid point of the verbal section. Found myself repeatedly needing to re-read stuff, which definitely cost me some time. And there were a few questions, I really just couldn't quite distinguish between one of two answers. So I'm not surprised that I must've missed at least a couple verbal questions. I'm glad the performance was still in line with my earlier tests though. I know Mike McGarry, of Magoosh, mentioned the fatigue factor in his debriefing of his second attempt at the GMAT back in 2012. It is definitely real. And no matter how much you prepare it's just something you need to be ready for and fight through.
One last comment... I definitely found it interesting that, at the beginning of this journey, quant was definitely my weakest link. However, after a couple of months of really focusing on learning (mostly re-learning) the concepts, it became like second nature. There were a couple of quant questions that gave me some issues during the official exam, but I still managed to finish that section with more than 10 minutes to spare. It was the verbal section I never did master.
