Million thanks to GMATCLUB.COM
Briefly, I'm a engineering student from Asia. Firstly starting my preparation in May'09, I got 720 in late Nov'09.
My study materials:
OG 10,11,12,
MGMAT SC, Power Score CR, Kaplan prep course in my country,
MGMAT Question Banks and CATs, LSAT logical reasoning questions (I got from the internet)
CATs Scores
30/6/2009 GMATPrep-1 Q49 V27 640
12/7/2009 Kaplan CAT1 Q50 V29 660
14/7/2009
MGMAT CAT1 Q47 V34 670
15/7/2009
MGMAT CAT2 Q44 V30 600 >>> People kept calling me. I spent 5 hours with this test and was so hungry.
22/7/2009 GMATPrep-2 Q50 V29 660
4/8/2009 GMATPrep-1 (retake) Q50 V34 700 >>> Yeah! first time I was able to achieve the amazing 7 score.
6/8/2009 GMATPrep-2 (retake) Q50 V34 700
Actual GMAT (11/8/2009) Q49 V29 640
Second attempt:
3/11/2009
MGMAT CAT3 Q48 V37 700
16/11/2009
MGMAT CAT4 Q49 V36 700
18/11/2009 GMAT Prep 1 Q50 V40 750
23/11/2009 GMAT Prep 2 Q50 V40 740
Actual GMAT (28/11/2009) Q49 V39 720QuantSince I have a quantitative background, I have no problem with math formulas and ideas. So, I spent most of my time to get familiar with the pattern of the DS questions. All I can say is that you must prepare yourself to face confusing number properties questions.
VerbalRC- Read the passage thoroughly. Never answer without re-reading the passage.
OG 11 or 12 is enough. However, WSJ.com is pretty useful if you need more materials.
CR- Read the stimulus and then find the assumption first. Don’t look down to the answer choices because they’ll incredibly distract you from the correct answer. This is the approach that dramatically changed my verbal score.
SC- Umm… the toughest part.
MGMAT SC is no longer bible to everything. It’s still useful. Still, you have to learn much more. You must create your own SC note from reading every word in the explanation of
OG and search relevant grammar points. The best SC explanations in the world are in the
MGMAT forum, especially those by Ron Purewell. Keep practicing SC—even one question per day—until the day before the real test.
My Strategies- Focus on CR and RC. Use 1-1.5 min per SC question and 2-2.5 mins per CR or RC question
I made a very big mistake in my first attempt by trying so hard to overcome Sc questions. I found myself stuck with some SC questions for more than 3 mins per each. SC is extremely hard these days. Believe me, if you can’t crack one SC problem in 1.5 min, then spending more time is meaningless and wasteful. On the other hand, in RC and CR, the more you read, the more you understand the passages, situations or stimuli.
- Save your energy. In my second attempt, I used only 15 mins per each AWA question and received 4.5 (not bad at all!). If you squeeze your brain until the last minute for writing, you’ll be completely exhausted when confronting the verbal part.
- Never cancel your score. By the time I finished the test I was discouraged by the difficulty of the questions and thought my score would be completely awful. But I, apparently, was wrong.
- Believe in yourself. My English skill is not special. But, with genuine intention to excel in the test, everything is possible.