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GMAT? How do you guys do it????

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Jules
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GMAT? How do you guys do it???? [#permalink] New post   02 Aug 2006, 10:00
Dear All,

Really could do with your input on the below;

Have just discovered this website and very impressed. One point i would like to mention however is that a lot of people seem to be creaming very high scores and not only am i very jealous but also completely baffled as to how you guys do it!!! :P

My background: Language (major) and business (minor)
Ran my own small company and thought i had a good basic underpinning of maths until last year when i saw this test and i was proven wrong. Equations, exponents all forgotten (did i ever study them??).

So....tried to do my GMAT and work at the same time (impossible for me when running my own company and also considering my pathetic knowledge of maths)..took the GMAT and scored a mighty 500 (end 2005)..

Situation now is that with my experience i need only a 620 ish score.....

Problem is that in order to get this score you need to get around 54/81. (is that right??). Now i gave my father (ex president of an MNC 5 questions on both maths and english) and he said he hadnt got a clue on any..his CFO with a calculator couldnt complete many of the maths questions and recently a senior lecturer from a prestigous uni here in London got all five questions wrong in the English section......no joke honestly.....

Today i took the Kaplan test (540) and my maths is getting better but my english (i am english!!!) is not too hot....the annoying thing is that in China i knew countless people with almost perfect scores who couldnt even put a sentence together..i ended up communicating in Chinese with them!!!!

I am planning to take the test again at the end of this month and have most of the material that you have suggested. With such small margins for error (4 of the reasons for my SC problems were that choice "is akward or too wordy" .... or on the CR questions "that choice could be right but choice X is better" ......please.....) HOW do you guys do it?????

Does anyone else have these kind of thoughts/problems?? How can i go from 540 to 600 ish?? is this possible in a month given my language and business background...????

Really interested in your comments

BTW i havent checked my grammar and sp mistakes lol
also i hope this doesnt come across as negative just a bit bewildered at the moment!!
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Jules
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Just read the article on kaplan [#permalink] New post   02 Aug 2006, 10:20
Wow you guys are good.... really good.

Just been reading your article on how inaccurate Kaplan was/is..

So maybe that is the problem.....i thought that it was one of "the" books to read....

So that leaves powerprep, Gmat prep & the official guide questions.......
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[#permalink] New post   02 Aug 2006, 17:00
One of the best things I read early in my GMAT prep was that this test does not measure how smart you are. It just tests how good you are at the GMAT.

I consider myself to be a pretty smart guy, and was intimidated as hell the first time I cracked a book. And the second and tenth times. But repetition has made all of the material very familiar, and I'm no longer intimidated at all. The other day I took a Kaplan test and got pissed, but I wasn't too worried. They have a major reputation for being a-holes with their question choices and scoring algo.

Anyway...I don't think a month is enough. I don't know how much of a foundation you put in the first time you studied, but if you have all of your high school math back, then maybe a month is enough. You do need to get to a place where 125*75 is a <10 second affair before you can move ahead. The math truly isn't that hard. Once you learn all of their tricks and practice them for days on end, you should be able to get to the 40 quant level (where I hope I am). Getting a 51 is probably for the engineers on this board (i.e. everyone but me).

For verbal? I also have no idea how these non-native speakers do it. I've never lived outside the US and some of this stuff is damn tricky. If this test was in Mandarin or Hindi there would be a less than zero % chance I'd even consider taking it!

Good luck.
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Jules
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Good call and good advice [#permalink] New post   03 Aug 2006, 07:15
Microjohn,

Interesting points made there ....especially measuring how good you are at taking the GMAT test..thanks for taking the time out to reply.

I think that one of the problems it that on these websites you get an unfair representation of people who get high scores 65o+ bracket.

Therefore this leads you to thinking that everyone gets a 650 and it is easy to do so.

Just took powerprep 1 today and scored;

Quant: 41
Verbal: 29
Total 580

Last year on this test i remember scoring a 440 or something..so some progress i think..

I think that the Verbal section for this powerprep test is really hard and like you say have got no idea how non natives do it....is that me or did other people find the verbal section hard too??
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[#permalink] New post   03 Aug 2006, 07:35
I am from the same situation. English is not my native language.

A good way to improve Verbal on GMAT is to read english news website (i.e. CNN.com). Reading an hour every day not only will improve your english but also is a fun experience. In the meantime, you have to keep working on problems and understand why you are making the mistakes that you are making.

You have to study your mistakes. Can't stress that enough. Making the same mistake twice is the most frustrating thing you can do!
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[#permalink] New post   03 Aug 2006, 17:45
This site is undoubtadly skewed with high scores. That's a reflection that people that visit this site are interested in doing well on the GMAT and are willing to put forth the effort. I think it also shows that taking part in the verbal and quantitative discussions can result improved scores.

You should remember that the average GMAT score is about 500-520 (I think the target is for an average of 500, but it's usually a little higher than that). So, 1/2 the people that take the test score lower than 520 or so. On the other hand, you should also keep in mind that great majority of the people that get into the best business schools get 650+, and it is a true rarity for someone with below 600 to gain admission to a top school.

So, you need to decide what type of schools you are looking for, and then you can figure out what schore you need to get to be competitive. You said that 'a 620 is enough'; I don't know if you mean in an absolute sense, meaning if you get 620 you'll get into your target school, but I can say that if you are currently in the 500s without much prep, you should be able to get to 620 with the proper dedication and focused studying.
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[#permalink] New post   03 Aug 2006, 19:09
The skewness is logical.

If you have stricken a lottery, you'll let people know. If you have bought thousands times of lottery and stricken none, you keep silent. So are the GMAT takers.
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[#permalink] New post   03 Aug 2006, 20:15
Another reason you are finding high scorers is almost everybody who scores 700+ reports his/her score here but people who unfortunately get lower score don't always report their score. So don't worry; not everybody here is getting 750 or so.
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Tnx for comments [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2006, 07:05
Cheers guys/girls for those comments very useful.....think its also useful for people who are new to this site to understand those points too otherwise it could be directly responsible for a higher suicide rate around the world!!!

Maybe there should be a disclaimer or something???

Peilihu,

My biz experience should be good enough for me to prevail even with a lower GMTAT score.....(so the admission directors tell me!!) ...we shall see!!!


If it isnt then so be it..cest la vie..

For me and this test there is a real opportunity cost problem here...spending my time learning about Pythagoras, exponents, and awkward sentences (which lets be honest has no practical value whatsoever) or actually going out working and earning a salary....
(i have found that doing both at the same time is not a practical solution--but then thats just me)

My test scores are improving but obviously this takes time...will it all be worth it????? We shall see!!!

What are your thoughts people???
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Tnx for comments [#permalink]
04 Aug 2006, 07:05

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