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lucifer87
Joined: 12 Jun 2014
Last visit: 19 Jun 2016
Posts: 14
Given Kudos: 2
Location: India
Concentration: Finance
Schools: Wharton '17 (D) LBS MIF '16 (A)
02 Oct 2014, 12:58
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hey Folks,
I guess its time I share my GMAT experience.
It was December 2013 that I first thought of doing an international MBA and hence made up my mind to write the GMAT. I was quite confident that I will end up with high score, basically it was a do or die situation for me, I am targeting only the top schools and don't have that spectacular profile relatively so I had to compensate with GMAT. Moreover my GPA is relatively low. Anyways, I have started applying though I really doubt if I would end up in a bschool next year.
My background, Indian, graduation from IIT, working in IB. CFA charterholder.
I gave 3 months to preparation and gave the exam in March 2014. Studied mostly on weekends and gave a hell lot of mocks.
As I said, my quant is strong, I literally didn't study quant at all, just did mocks. My target was 750+ and verbal was the main battle.
In verbal, SC was the most difficult and required most practice. I probably had spent around 80% of my time studying and preparing SC yet I feel it was my weakest and there was still room for improvement. For this I mainly referred Manhattan SC guide and it was really really helpful. Manhattan guides are a must.
Books referred:
I knew that if I do not get a good score, I would have to give the exam again and that means 250$ and more importantly more time. I did not want to waste my time and hence purchased almost all books that I could think of irrespective of whether I even opened them once or not. I even bought Manhattan practice marker.
Here is the review:
OG- + Verbal Guide + Quant Guide : This is the holy bible of gmat. I don't think anyone can be stupid enough to not buy them. One advised I read somewhere on gmatclub helped me that OG questions you can repeat also, provided you don't memorize them and if you do repeat questions after 15 days you most probably won't remember them so that would be as good as new.
Manhattan 10 startegy guides- I purchased entire 10 book set but focused all my energy on verbal guides. SC and CR guide are really really helpful. If you want a good score, you have to read them, atleast for your weaker sections. I didn't touch the quant guides as my quant is strong. SC guide and CR guide helped a lot in improving my score
Kaplan Primer and Princeton primer: Though I purchased them, mainly to get the online tests which come alongwith these so didnt touch these guides hence can't comment.
Kaplan 800- This is a good book for a self check in your last days as it contains all the tough problems, especially in verbal.
Online Tests:
Give as many mocks as you can. I gave 19 full time mocks in total. In competitive exams the most important factor is confidence and that will come only from giving several mocks and that will also build the exam temperament. Here is the review of them
Official mocks ( 2 Free + 2 purchased)- Well, they will give you the most accurate results and I would advise everyone to purchase the additional 2 mocks also alongwith free ones. The official mocks are gold and you have to strategically use them. One after initial days of preparation, one in the middle and two during last days.
Veritas Mocks (purchased for 40$ I think). These are next to official mocks in accuracy. I got very consistent and accurate scores in these as well.
Kaplan Mocks( 5 online comes with primer)- These are similar to Veritas. Consistent and accurate.
Manhattan (6 , comes with any guide)- Manhattan mocks give the most conservative scores though they are good to get a dose of some really tough questions, that will prepare you for a 750+ score.
Princetop (4 comes with book)- I gave only 1 princeton mock in which I got 710 with a 51-38 breakup and was surprised to see such a low total score with this breakup. Also the questions were quite easy hence decided to not try them more.
Below is summary of all mocks I gave alongwith dates. I used Manhattan,Kaplan and Veritas mocks in rotation so that I can gauge my performance easily.
03-01-2014 Manhattan 1 670 50 34
02-02-2014 Manhattan 2 690 51 34
17-02-2014 Manhattan 3 720 51 37
12-03-2014 Manhattan 4 710 49 38
20-03-2014 Manhattan 5 720 48 40
20-03-2014 Manhattan 6 760 50 43
09-02-2014 Kaplan 1 760 51 42
01-03-2014 Kaplan 2 760 51 41
13-03-2014 Kaplan 3 760 51 41
21-03-2014 Kaplan 4 750 51 42
01-02-2014 Veritas 1 730 50 40
08-02-2014 Veritas 2 740 50 41
01-03-2014 Veritas 3 760 51 43
15-03-2014 Veritas 4 760 51 43
26-01-2014 GmatPrep 1 730 50 38
06-03-2014 GmatPrep 2 770 51 44
16-03-2014 GmatPrep 3 770 51 42
22-03-2014 GmatPrep 4 750 51 40
24-03-2014 THE GMAT 770 51 44 7 6
The day I went for the exam 770 was what I was targeting given my track record in GmatPrep. I actually would have been little disappointed had I got a 760.
Tips:
1. Give as many mocks as you can.
2. Register for the exam only when you get your desired scores in mocks as what you get in mocks is pretty much what you will get in actual exam. I registered for the exam only a week before the date as by then I was confident enough given my mock scores.
3. Time management is most important. Time management is the difference between 700 and 750. I don't know whether the rumour about the first 10 questions having a lot of significance is true or not. I basically tried to employ very aggressive timings. I targeted 10 questions in each 15 minute bucket in both quant and verbal. That helps in two ways. The initial questions are easier and so you should do them quick and if you are on path for a great score then you will get some very tough questions later (as its an adaptive test) for which you need to save time in advance. Also with me whatever time I targeted, it was difficult to sustain so with an aggressive goal of 10 ques in 15 minutes, I had enough buffer to take care of any delays or unforeseen events. Also, with the confidence that you are not running out of time, you maintain your cool during the exam that helps to focus. With me, all my energy and focus used to get lost as soon as realized I was running out of time hence I employed such aggressive timings to have enough buffer for difficult questions that comes later in exam.
Message me for further queries.
Best of luck and wish me too some, I need it
-Lucifer
I guess its time I share my GMAT experience.
It was December 2013 that I first thought of doing an international MBA and hence made up my mind to write the GMAT. I was quite confident that I will end up with high score, basically it was a do or die situation for me, I am targeting only the top schools and don't have that spectacular profile relatively so I had to compensate with GMAT. Moreover my GPA is relatively low. Anyways, I have started applying though I really doubt if I would end up in a bschool next year.
My background, Indian, graduation from IIT, working in IB. CFA charterholder.
I gave 3 months to preparation and gave the exam in March 2014. Studied mostly on weekends and gave a hell lot of mocks.
As I said, my quant is strong, I literally didn't study quant at all, just did mocks. My target was 750+ and verbal was the main battle.
In verbal, SC was the most difficult and required most practice. I probably had spent around 80% of my time studying and preparing SC yet I feel it was my weakest and there was still room for improvement. For this I mainly referred Manhattan SC guide and it was really really helpful. Manhattan guides are a must.
Books referred:
I knew that if I do not get a good score, I would have to give the exam again and that means 250$ and more importantly more time. I did not want to waste my time and hence purchased almost all books that I could think of irrespective of whether I even opened them once or not. I even bought Manhattan practice marker.
Here is the review:
OG- + Verbal Guide + Quant Guide : This is the holy bible of gmat. I don't think anyone can be stupid enough to not buy them. One advised I read somewhere on gmatclub helped me that OG questions you can repeat also, provided you don't memorize them and if you do repeat questions after 15 days you most probably won't remember them so that would be as good as new.
Manhattan 10 startegy guides- I purchased entire 10 book set but focused all my energy on verbal guides. SC and CR guide are really really helpful. If you want a good score, you have to read them, atleast for your weaker sections. I didn't touch the quant guides as my quant is strong. SC guide and CR guide helped a lot in improving my score
Kaplan Primer and Princeton primer: Though I purchased them, mainly to get the online tests which come alongwith these so didnt touch these guides hence can't comment.
Kaplan 800- This is a good book for a self check in your last days as it contains all the tough problems, especially in verbal.
Online Tests:
Give as many mocks as you can. I gave 19 full time mocks in total. In competitive exams the most important factor is confidence and that will come only from giving several mocks and that will also build the exam temperament. Here is the review of them
Official mocks ( 2 Free + 2 purchased)- Well, they will give you the most accurate results and I would advise everyone to purchase the additional 2 mocks also alongwith free ones. The official mocks are gold and you have to strategically use them. One after initial days of preparation, one in the middle and two during last days.
Veritas Mocks (purchased for 40$ I think). These are next to official mocks in accuracy. I got very consistent and accurate scores in these as well.
Kaplan Mocks( 5 online comes with primer)- These are similar to Veritas. Consistent and accurate.
Manhattan (6 , comes with any guide)- Manhattan mocks give the most conservative scores though they are good to get a dose of some really tough questions, that will prepare you for a 750+ score.
Princetop (4 comes with book)- I gave only 1 princeton mock in which I got 710 with a 51-38 breakup and was surprised to see such a low total score with this breakup. Also the questions were quite easy hence decided to not try them more.
Below is summary of all mocks I gave alongwith dates. I used Manhattan,Kaplan and Veritas mocks in rotation so that I can gauge my performance easily.
03-01-2014 Manhattan 1 670 50 34
02-02-2014 Manhattan 2 690 51 34
17-02-2014 Manhattan 3 720 51 37
12-03-2014 Manhattan 4 710 49 38
20-03-2014 Manhattan 5 720 48 40
20-03-2014 Manhattan 6 760 50 43
09-02-2014 Kaplan 1 760 51 42
01-03-2014 Kaplan 2 760 51 41
13-03-2014 Kaplan 3 760 51 41
21-03-2014 Kaplan 4 750 51 42
01-02-2014 Veritas 1 730 50 40
08-02-2014 Veritas 2 740 50 41
01-03-2014 Veritas 3 760 51 43
15-03-2014 Veritas 4 760 51 43
26-01-2014 GmatPrep 1 730 50 38
06-03-2014 GmatPrep 2 770 51 44
16-03-2014 GmatPrep 3 770 51 42
22-03-2014 GmatPrep 4 750 51 40
24-03-2014 THE GMAT 770 51 44 7 6
The day I went for the exam 770 was what I was targeting given my track record in GmatPrep. I actually would have been little disappointed had I got a 760.
Tips:
1. Give as many mocks as you can.
2. Register for the exam only when you get your desired scores in mocks as what you get in mocks is pretty much what you will get in actual exam. I registered for the exam only a week before the date as by then I was confident enough given my mock scores.
3. Time management is most important. Time management is the difference between 700 and 750. I don't know whether the rumour about the first 10 questions having a lot of significance is true or not. I basically tried to employ very aggressive timings. I targeted 10 questions in each 15 minute bucket in both quant and verbal. That helps in two ways. The initial questions are easier and so you should do them quick and if you are on path for a great score then you will get some very tough questions later (as its an adaptive test) for which you need to save time in advance. Also with me whatever time I targeted, it was difficult to sustain so with an aggressive goal of 10 ques in 15 minutes, I had enough buffer to take care of any delays or unforeseen events. Also, with the confidence that you are not running out of time, you maintain your cool during the exam that helps to focus. With me, all my energy and focus used to get lost as soon as realized I was running out of time hence I employed such aggressive timings to have enough buffer for difficult questions that comes later in exam.
Message me for further queries.
Best of luck and wish me too some, I need it
-Lucifer
03 Oct 2014, 11:27
Kudos
Bookmarks
congrats
wonderful score it is . thanks for your advice on cats. I have taken kaplan so far and will be going to veritas and gmatprep this week.
what was your strategy after taking these CATS. do you used to spend some more time in analyzing and revising topics in which you went wrong?
wonderful score it is . thanks for your advice on cats. I have taken kaplan so far and will be going to veritas and gmatprep this week.
what was your strategy after taking these CATS. do you used to spend some more time in analyzing and revising topics in which you went wrong?
