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30 Sep 2005, 23:51
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I want to start off by saying thanks to all those who work so hard keeping this forum going. I owe much of my improvement to everyone who share their thoughts etc. on this website. I have to admit that when I first found this web site I was a little apprehensive to use it as a preparation tool. But as I searched the forums and read numerous posts, I began to see the value of interacting with other people as I prepared for my test. I can't tell you how many times members of this forum helped me with problems I was having difficulty understanding. Time after time I would be struggling with a solution to a problem so I would get on this web site, search for a similar problem or even the exact same problem, and find that a discussion had already taken place on that problem and that an in-depth solution was already explained. Also, I can't tell you how much it helped me to participate in the forums by posting my solutions to problems. Posting my solutions really helped drive home concepts that I would have normally forgotten 30 seconds after reading the post. Those are just a few of the benefits you will discover by using this web site. I could keep going on about the advantages but I don’t want this post to turn into a novel.
Now to the test. I was scheduled to take the test at 1:00pm in the afternoon (In retrospect I should have scheduled the test for around 11:00-as my metal focus began to wane towards the end of the test). The AWA went fine. The topics were very typical to what you would find in the OG. After a 5 min break I sat for the Quant section. This was the moment of truth for me because in the first exam, Quant beat me up pretty badly. I think I scored just above the 50% on the first exam. This time was a completely different experience however. I only remember getting a couple of questions that I had no idea how to solve. The rest were fairly typical, difficult OG questions, which aren't that difficult once you learn how to solve them. Although my Quant score still isn’t the greatest, it is a significant improvement and I will take it. GMAT math problems just take a lot of practice, and you MUST...MUST learn the concepts rather than trying to solve through back solving etc. I believe that back solving has its place in the GMAT, but I personally don't believe that it should be the first course of action; rather it should be a last resort. In my opinion, back solving takes up way to much time and there are too many pitfalls. This is contrary to what Princeton Review claims. Nevertheless, it is just my opinion.
The Verbal section was a bit of a surprise to me. In all my practice test, verbal seemed to be my strength, but on the real test I got very far behind on time and for a moment I even thought about abandoning the test. I thought I was going to have to guess on the last 5 or so questions because I was so far behind on time. In retrospect I don't believe the verbal section was that much harder than what I saw on any of my practice tests, but for some reason I got behind at the beginning and really had to push it during the last 30 min of the section to make it on time. I think I just got a little over confident and ETS sucker punched me. Don't let that happen to you. Also, you are going to be mentally weary by the time you get to the verbal section, so really work on your stamina. I think the best practice for the Verbal section is the LSAT books for CR and RC and doing as many SC as possible. Important, don’t kid yourself by thinking that you can get by just practicing one section at a time. The stamina you’ll need for the test can only be gained by sitting for full length practice tests. Again, it’s my opinion. I’m sure there are many gifted test takers out there that will disagree.
This post is getting way too long so I'll wrap it up for now. If any of you have questions please feel free to contact me. The following are my practice scores.
Power Prep #1 - 720
Power Prep #2 - 690
GMAT Prep #1 -650
GMAT Prep #2 - 650
Arco#1 - 680
Arco#2 - 790
Kaplan #1 - 610
Kaplan #3 -570
Kaplan #4 - 550
Real Test - 710 (45Q 41V)
(please note these test are not arranged in chronological order - I started with Kaplan and I don't remember the order after that)
Good luck to all of you in your future endeavors. If there was one final piece of advice that I could give you it would be, there is no one right way to study for the GMAT. Everyone is different and needs to approach the test slightly different then the next person. Just be consistent with your study, determined to reach your goal, search this web site for advice, and I have no doubt that you will be successful. I hope something I said in this post will be beneficial to you in some way.
Now to the test. I was scheduled to take the test at 1:00pm in the afternoon (In retrospect I should have scheduled the test for around 11:00-as my metal focus began to wane towards the end of the test). The AWA went fine. The topics were very typical to what you would find in the OG. After a 5 min break I sat for the Quant section. This was the moment of truth for me because in the first exam, Quant beat me up pretty badly. I think I scored just above the 50% on the first exam. This time was a completely different experience however. I only remember getting a couple of questions that I had no idea how to solve. The rest were fairly typical, difficult OG questions, which aren't that difficult once you learn how to solve them. Although my Quant score still isn’t the greatest, it is a significant improvement and I will take it. GMAT math problems just take a lot of practice, and you MUST...MUST learn the concepts rather than trying to solve through back solving etc. I believe that back solving has its place in the GMAT, but I personally don't believe that it should be the first course of action; rather it should be a last resort. In my opinion, back solving takes up way to much time and there are too many pitfalls. This is contrary to what Princeton Review claims. Nevertheless, it is just my opinion.
The Verbal section was a bit of a surprise to me. In all my practice test, verbal seemed to be my strength, but on the real test I got very far behind on time and for a moment I even thought about abandoning the test. I thought I was going to have to guess on the last 5 or so questions because I was so far behind on time. In retrospect I don't believe the verbal section was that much harder than what I saw on any of my practice tests, but for some reason I got behind at the beginning and really had to push it during the last 30 min of the section to make it on time. I think I just got a little over confident and ETS sucker punched me. Don't let that happen to you. Also, you are going to be mentally weary by the time you get to the verbal section, so really work on your stamina. I think the best practice for the Verbal section is the LSAT books for CR and RC and doing as many SC as possible. Important, don’t kid yourself by thinking that you can get by just practicing one section at a time. The stamina you’ll need for the test can only be gained by sitting for full length practice tests. Again, it’s my opinion. I’m sure there are many gifted test takers out there that will disagree.
This post is getting way too long so I'll wrap it up for now. If any of you have questions please feel free to contact me. The following are my practice scores.
Power Prep #1 - 720
Power Prep #2 - 690
GMAT Prep #1 -650
GMAT Prep #2 - 650
Arco#1 - 680
Arco#2 - 790
Kaplan #1 - 610
Kaplan #3 -570
Kaplan #4 - 550
Real Test - 710 (45Q 41V)
(please note these test are not arranged in chronological order - I started with Kaplan and I don't remember the order after that)
Good luck to all of you in your future endeavors. If there was one final piece of advice that I could give you it would be, there is no one right way to study for the GMAT. Everyone is different and needs to approach the test slightly different then the next person. Just be consistent with your study, determined to reach your goal, search this web site for advice, and I have no doubt that you will be successful. I hope something I said in this post will be beneficial to you in some way.
