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Dear Comrades,
After what seems to be a long long struggle, my quest for an MBA took another turn a couple of days ago. Here is my debrief of my GMAT experience in which I scored a 710 (Q49 V36).
I would like to thank everyone on this board for making it such a vibrant community. Special mention should go to overzealous members who have been VERY helpful, thanks to bsd_lover, walker, sondenso, jallenmorris, x2suresh, fresinha12, kevincan, gmatblackbelt and a number of others (sorry if I've missed a few, but you know who you are!
). A big hearty thanks to my better half, who has had to put up with a LOT over the last few months. There is a slight chance that I may take the test again, but if that doesn't eventuate, I would like to tell others about my experience.
Background
I decided that I want to go for an MBA in October of 2007. After doing a bit of research, I narrowed down my schools to a 4 schools. Being naive early on, I thought I'd be able to conquer the GMAT with 6 weeks of study, and the applications for all schools would take me about a month. Therefore in theory should have an admit by Feb 2008. Well as I progressed through the process, I found GMAT to be the toughest thing, especially on the verbal side and so I kept and delaying my GMAT exam. My deadline for my top school was fast approaching in the first week of March and I still wasn't a 100% confident in my abilities. I had a lot of things to brush up on. But I went ahead and booked the exam for Feb the 11 earlier this year. I remember during that particular exam that it felt like a breeze and I was truly dejected when a 690 (Q47 V36) came up on the screen. I ended up applying to my school with only 3.5 weeks of app-time and got unceremoniously rejected.
Retake Decision
After the ding, I didn't apply to any other school since I realised that a 690 + average essays + R3 = DING!. So there was only one way forward, to take a couple of weeks off, go for a holiday with the Mrs and start the prep for GMAT part deux and put off my MBA plans to 2009.
Strategy
I did some self reflection and I had to do two things for a better score.
1) Cut down silly mistakes in Quant. I felt that I had most fundamentals down, but my pacing and error count could be improved. So the only strategy I had here was to do as many questions as possible. I therefore embarked on the GMATClub tests and I got through 21 of these tests during these two months. I have pasted the results at the bottom of this for you guys. I also made sure I do most non GMATPrep questions on the math forum.
2) Improve verbal at least 4 points (to reach V40). Verbal was difficult for me to improve since I believed that I was equaly bad in all three areas.
I decided to attack the SC component first. I did this by going through my MGMAT SC guide and doing the OG problems according to the chapters in the MGMAT SC guide. I felt myself getting a bit batter in this area.
RC was next on my agenda and I decided to do all 48 OG passages on the gmatter software. I did this in 3 weeks. By the end of it, I actually could feel my hit-rate improve.
I felt that I didn't dedicate a lot of time to CR that it truely deserved, and my test experience (below) shows that. The only thing I did for CR is do the problems on the verbal forum and did the OG questions again. I felt a bit undercooked in this area going into the test.
I started doing practice CATs 4 weeks leading up to the exam. The scores are at the bottom of this debrief.
All my GMATPrep scores were inflated in verbal. I easily remember the question and answers, especially for CR questions and so I wish that I did more different CR questions, eg from the verbal challenges and from other sources such as LSAT.
Interesting Times
A brief background about me. I work as a freelance consultant within the financial sector in London and I took up a new project about the same time as I started my GMAT part II. In the first week of June the project was shelved. So this made things more interesting since I had to juggle looking for another project and prepping for gmat at the same time. For instance I had a few interviews in the week leading up to the test and I actually had two interviews in the afternoon of the test day.
The day before the test I just did a few drills to keep my mind sharp and went for a walk with my better half. I also tried to keep it as normal as possible and did the weekly shopping and finished off the day with the European Football Championship game between Italy and Spain. I think I went to bed with a little trouble but got a fantastic nights sleep!
Test Day - A Sense of Relief mixed with A Sense of "What if"
My test time was at 8.30 in the morning so I got up at around 6. Since I had those interviews I actually had to go to the testing center in my suit. I had breakfast and did 6 quant problems from gmat prep. I must have been edgy because I remember getting 3 of them wrong. Because I only live 2 miles from the testing center so I left home around 7.30 and got to the test center nice and early. Had to wait for 20 minutes until they let me in. There were a few others but I got into the testing room first and promptly was confronted with my first task, the AWA.
The AWA argument was about Department Stores and how they should focus on the middle-aged population because it will rise in number. To be honest, this was an eay essay. I think i wrote about 500+ words. Next came the Issue essay. It was about the most effective way managers can assign tasks. It was a bit more difficult to take a position, but I wrote about 400+ words. I think I will get a 5+ in the AWA.
I took the 10 minute break, ate half a banana and half a nut bar and drank a cup of water. Tried to take my mind of the test. I went back in.
When I got back to the desk, I had only taken 4 minutes of my break. I proceeded to click on the "next" button and was presented the first question in quant. I remember it slightly flustered me, but was okay. Took 2 minutes to solve it. By the 4th question I was under time and enjoying the quant. The 5th was a bit tougher, a very wordyt DS. Didn't pose too many problems once I got the equations sorted. I remember that the 6th question was HARD and after spending way too much time on it and I just guessed and moved on. From then on the questions just kept on coming in a pattern of 3-4 hard ones mixed with a couple of easy ones. Soon I was in the last 7 questions with only 10 minutes left. I consequently had to make guesses in the last 5 questions, for which I think i guessed about 3 questions. During the quant I also saw a couple of IQ type questions with shapes etc (sorry I can't say anymore) but they were probably experimental questions. I knew I had done OK in the quant but it had left me exhausted. Last time when I had gotten 47 I felt the quant was too easy, i must have made too many silly mistakes, but this time it was actually difficult and uncomfortable at the best of times.
I took the next break. This time I made an extra effort to take my mind off the burner. I was feeling a bit tired. Altough I have given countless GMATPreps, this quant had left me tired. I finished off my banana and the nut bar, had another cup of water and went back in. The phrase running through my head was the one I had read here on the club "the test starts with verbal!!!"
I got back to the desk and i had used up 6 minutes of the 10 minutes allocated for the break. I got a couple of easier SCs to start of my verbal, but from then on my Verbal got harder and harder to control. My strategy going into this was to take time at the start to make sure I get questions right. I got presented with difficult passages and SCs and CRs and they just kept on coming and coming. With about 16 questions gone, I had used up almost 35 minutes, yikes I was behind. What I did next was very very stupid. I got stuck on a couple of CRs and 1 SC. I think I spent 10 minutes on those 3 questions alone. As a result when I got into the last 1/3 of the verbal part, I only had 15 minutes left, and I still had one RC to go. I really struggled with the verbal and virually spoiled my chances of a decent verbal score because of timing.
I remember thinking "What should I do, cancel my scores?". I decided that I at least wanted to see how I had done in quant and so I decided to see my score. It seemed to take ages and ages. It felt like that scene from Harry Potter where the Hat is figureing out what house to put the boy wizard in. I felt like the GMAT was pondering what score to give me and how badly to penalise me for screwing up my timing in verbal. Eventually the score came up 710 Q49 V36. I felt relieved for making the 700+ score, but I also felt deep disappointment since I had spend countless hours improving my verbal score but it hadn't budged from a V36 compared to my first GMAT.
So I do not know whether I will retake the GMAT, but for now I am focusing on my application and profiling and I would love to hear your thoughts on whether I should retake it since I believe given this experience I could improve my speed and timing in the verbal with more practice.
Appendix 1 - Test Scores
MGMAT 06-Jan 650 45 34
MGMAT 12-Jan 620 38 36
GMATPrep 13-Jan 660 49 31
MGMAT 19-Jan 620 38 36
Princeton 20-Jan 690 44 41
MGMAT 24-Jan 660 43 37
GMATPrep 26-Jan 750 49 42
PowerPrep 27-Jan 720 49 40
GMATPrep 29-Jan 760 50 41
PowerPrep 01-Feb 750 50 41
GMATPrep 03-Feb 710 49 39
GMATPrep 08-Feb 750 50 41
GMATPrep 14-Apr 750 49 44
MGMAT 25-May 730 48 41
GMATPrep 01-Jun 760 50 44
GMATPrep 08-Jun 710 49 38
GMATPrep 15-Jun 770 49 48
GMATPrep 19-Jun 750 51 40
Appendix 2 - GMATClub Challenges
Test Correct Total % Correct Mean time msec Percentile
m01 24 36 66.7% 1m 34s 9432 53.7%
m02 31 37 83.8% 1m 43s 10358 85.7%
m03 29 37 78.4% 1m 57s 11780 83.6%
m04 28 37 75.7% 2m 01s 12118 72.4%
m05 30 37 81.1% 2m 00s 12055 91.2%
m06 29 36 80.6% 2m 03s 12380 89.7%
m07 23 37 62.2% 1m 57s 11798 38.1%
m08 23 37 62.2% 2m 01s 12145 72.7%
m09 24 37 64.9% 1m 52s 11267 51.8%
m10 24 37 64.9% 1m 53s 11308 51.3%
m11 23 37 62.2% 1m 40s 10094 43.3%
m12 24 36 66.7% 1m 59s 11918 56.7%
m13 23 35 65.7% 2m 08s 12839 36.0%
m14 30 37 81.1% 2m 01s 12161 90.9%
m15 23 37 62.2% 2m 01s 12127 50.0%
m16 26 37 70.3% 2m 01s 12107 46.2%
m17 26 37 70.3% 1m 55s 11500 25.0%
m18 25 37 67.6% 1m 58s 11825 53.3%
m19 31 37 83.8% 1m 06s 6680 76.5%
m20 26 37 70.3% 2m 01s 12121 29.4%
m21 26 37 70.3% 2m 01s 12147 69.2%
Appendix 3 - Materials Used
OG11
MGMAT SC Book
GmatClub Forums
Gmatter
in signing off, i suggest everyone follow this mantra "Participate, Participate, Participate!!"
- buff
After what seems to be a long long struggle, my quest for an MBA took another turn a couple of days ago. Here is my debrief of my GMAT experience in which I scored a 710 (Q49 V36).
I would like to thank everyone on this board for making it such a vibrant community. Special mention should go to overzealous members who have been VERY helpful, thanks to bsd_lover, walker, sondenso, jallenmorris, x2suresh, fresinha12, kevincan, gmatblackbelt and a number of others (sorry if I've missed a few, but you know who you are!
). A big hearty thanks to my better half, who has had to put up with a LOT over the last few months. There is a slight chance that I may take the test again, but if that doesn't eventuate, I would like to tell others about my experience. Background
I decided that I want to go for an MBA in October of 2007. After doing a bit of research, I narrowed down my schools to a 4 schools. Being naive early on, I thought I'd be able to conquer the GMAT with 6 weeks of study, and the applications for all schools would take me about a month. Therefore in theory should have an admit by Feb 2008. Well as I progressed through the process, I found GMAT to be the toughest thing, especially on the verbal side and so I kept and delaying my GMAT exam. My deadline for my top school was fast approaching in the first week of March and I still wasn't a 100% confident in my abilities. I had a lot of things to brush up on. But I went ahead and booked the exam for Feb the 11 earlier this year. I remember during that particular exam that it felt like a breeze and I was truly dejected when a 690 (Q47 V36) came up on the screen. I ended up applying to my school with only 3.5 weeks of app-time and got unceremoniously rejected.
Retake Decision
After the ding, I didn't apply to any other school since I realised that a 690 + average essays + R3 = DING!. So there was only one way forward, to take a couple of weeks off, go for a holiday with the Mrs and start the prep for GMAT part deux and put off my MBA plans to 2009.
Strategy
I did some self reflection and I had to do two things for a better score.
1) Cut down silly mistakes in Quant. I felt that I had most fundamentals down, but my pacing and error count could be improved. So the only strategy I had here was to do as many questions as possible. I therefore embarked on the GMATClub tests and I got through 21 of these tests during these two months. I have pasted the results at the bottom of this for you guys. I also made sure I do most non GMATPrep questions on the math forum.
2) Improve verbal at least 4 points (to reach V40). Verbal was difficult for me to improve since I believed that I was equaly bad in all three areas.
I decided to attack the SC component first. I did this by going through my MGMAT SC guide and doing the OG problems according to the chapters in the MGMAT SC guide. I felt myself getting a bit batter in this area.
RC was next on my agenda and I decided to do all 48 OG passages on the gmatter software. I did this in 3 weeks. By the end of it, I actually could feel my hit-rate improve.
I felt that I didn't dedicate a lot of time to CR that it truely deserved, and my test experience (below) shows that. The only thing I did for CR is do the problems on the verbal forum and did the OG questions again. I felt a bit undercooked in this area going into the test.
I started doing practice CATs 4 weeks leading up to the exam. The scores are at the bottom of this debrief.
All my GMATPrep scores were inflated in verbal. I easily remember the question and answers, especially for CR questions and so I wish that I did more different CR questions, eg from the verbal challenges and from other sources such as LSAT.
Interesting Times
A brief background about me. I work as a freelance consultant within the financial sector in London and I took up a new project about the same time as I started my GMAT part II. In the first week of June the project was shelved. So this made things more interesting since I had to juggle looking for another project and prepping for gmat at the same time. For instance I had a few interviews in the week leading up to the test and I actually had two interviews in the afternoon of the test day.
The day before the test I just did a few drills to keep my mind sharp and went for a walk with my better half. I also tried to keep it as normal as possible and did the weekly shopping and finished off the day with the European Football Championship game between Italy and Spain. I think I went to bed with a little trouble but got a fantastic nights sleep!
Test Day - A Sense of Relief mixed with A Sense of "What if"
My test time was at 8.30 in the morning so I got up at around 6. Since I had those interviews I actually had to go to the testing center in my suit. I had breakfast and did 6 quant problems from gmat prep. I must have been edgy because I remember getting 3 of them wrong. Because I only live 2 miles from the testing center so I left home around 7.30 and got to the test center nice and early. Had to wait for 20 minutes until they let me in. There were a few others but I got into the testing room first and promptly was confronted with my first task, the AWA.
The AWA argument was about Department Stores and how they should focus on the middle-aged population because it will rise in number. To be honest, this was an eay essay. I think i wrote about 500+ words. Next came the Issue essay. It was about the most effective way managers can assign tasks. It was a bit more difficult to take a position, but I wrote about 400+ words. I think I will get a 5+ in the AWA.
I took the 10 minute break, ate half a banana and half a nut bar and drank a cup of water. Tried to take my mind of the test. I went back in.
When I got back to the desk, I had only taken 4 minutes of my break. I proceeded to click on the "next" button and was presented the first question in quant. I remember it slightly flustered me, but was okay. Took 2 minutes to solve it. By the 4th question I was under time and enjoying the quant. The 5th was a bit tougher, a very wordyt DS. Didn't pose too many problems once I got the equations sorted. I remember that the 6th question was HARD and after spending way too much time on it and I just guessed and moved on. From then on the questions just kept on coming in a pattern of 3-4 hard ones mixed with a couple of easy ones. Soon I was in the last 7 questions with only 10 minutes left. I consequently had to make guesses in the last 5 questions, for which I think i guessed about 3 questions. During the quant I also saw a couple of IQ type questions with shapes etc (sorry I can't say anymore) but they were probably experimental questions. I knew I had done OK in the quant but it had left me exhausted. Last time when I had gotten 47 I felt the quant was too easy, i must have made too many silly mistakes, but this time it was actually difficult and uncomfortable at the best of times.
I took the next break. This time I made an extra effort to take my mind off the burner. I was feeling a bit tired. Altough I have given countless GMATPreps, this quant had left me tired. I finished off my banana and the nut bar, had another cup of water and went back in. The phrase running through my head was the one I had read here on the club "the test starts with verbal!!!"
I got back to the desk and i had used up 6 minutes of the 10 minutes allocated for the break. I got a couple of easier SCs to start of my verbal, but from then on my Verbal got harder and harder to control. My strategy going into this was to take time at the start to make sure I get questions right. I got presented with difficult passages and SCs and CRs and they just kept on coming and coming. With about 16 questions gone, I had used up almost 35 minutes, yikes I was behind. What I did next was very very stupid. I got stuck on a couple of CRs and 1 SC. I think I spent 10 minutes on those 3 questions alone. As a result when I got into the last 1/3 of the verbal part, I only had 15 minutes left, and I still had one RC to go. I really struggled with the verbal and virually spoiled my chances of a decent verbal score because of timing.
I remember thinking "What should I do, cancel my scores?". I decided that I at least wanted to see how I had done in quant and so I decided to see my score. It seemed to take ages and ages. It felt like that scene from Harry Potter where the Hat is figureing out what house to put the boy wizard in. I felt like the GMAT was pondering what score to give me and how badly to penalise me for screwing up my timing in verbal. Eventually the score came up 710 Q49 V36. I felt relieved for making the 700+ score, but I also felt deep disappointment since I had spend countless hours improving my verbal score but it hadn't budged from a V36 compared to my first GMAT.
So I do not know whether I will retake the GMAT, but for now I am focusing on my application and profiling and I would love to hear your thoughts on whether I should retake it since I believe given this experience I could improve my speed and timing in the verbal with more practice.
Appendix 1 - Test Scores
MGMAT 06-Jan 650 45 34
MGMAT 12-Jan 620 38 36
GMATPrep 13-Jan 660 49 31
MGMAT 19-Jan 620 38 36
Princeton 20-Jan 690 44 41
MGMAT 24-Jan 660 43 37
GMATPrep 26-Jan 750 49 42
PowerPrep 27-Jan 720 49 40
GMATPrep 29-Jan 760 50 41
PowerPrep 01-Feb 750 50 41
GMATPrep 03-Feb 710 49 39
GMATPrep 08-Feb 750 50 41
GMATPrep 14-Apr 750 49 44
MGMAT 25-May 730 48 41
GMATPrep 01-Jun 760 50 44
GMATPrep 08-Jun 710 49 38
GMATPrep 15-Jun 770 49 48
GMATPrep 19-Jun 750 51 40
Appendix 2 - GMATClub Challenges
Test Correct Total % Correct Mean time msec Percentile
m01 24 36 66.7% 1m 34s 9432 53.7%
m02 31 37 83.8% 1m 43s 10358 85.7%
m03 29 37 78.4% 1m 57s 11780 83.6%
m04 28 37 75.7% 2m 01s 12118 72.4%
m05 30 37 81.1% 2m 00s 12055 91.2%
m06 29 36 80.6% 2m 03s 12380 89.7%
m07 23 37 62.2% 1m 57s 11798 38.1%
m08 23 37 62.2% 2m 01s 12145 72.7%
m09 24 37 64.9% 1m 52s 11267 51.8%
m10 24 37 64.9% 1m 53s 11308 51.3%
m11 23 37 62.2% 1m 40s 10094 43.3%
m12 24 36 66.7% 1m 59s 11918 56.7%
m13 23 35 65.7% 2m 08s 12839 36.0%
m14 30 37 81.1% 2m 01s 12161 90.9%
m15 23 37 62.2% 2m 01s 12127 50.0%
m16 26 37 70.3% 2m 01s 12107 46.2%
m17 26 37 70.3% 1m 55s 11500 25.0%
m18 25 37 67.6% 1m 58s 11825 53.3%
m19 31 37 83.8% 1m 06s 6680 76.5%
m20 26 37 70.3% 2m 01s 12121 29.4%
m21 26 37 70.3% 2m 01s 12147 69.2%
Appendix 3 - Materials Used
OG11
MGMAT SC Book
GmatClub Forums
Gmatter
in signing off, i suggest everyone follow this mantra "Participate, Participate, Participate!!"
- buff
25 Jun 2008, 06:54
Kudos
Bookmarks
Great job!
I am under the impression that people will always be left with "what ifs" in one form or another. Can you hit 40 in V? Probably. Can you hit 40 in V and keep your Q at the same level? Thats a gamble. When you get to the "taking GMAT 3 times" level, adcoms might start thinking your priorities are in the wrong place....unless of course you can make a large jump (20-30 points?). Again, its a gamble! Good luck with apps and your decision!
I am under the impression that people will always be left with "what ifs" in one form or another. Can you hit 40 in V? Probably. Can you hit 40 in V and keep your Q at the same level? Thats a gamble. When you get to the "taking GMAT 3 times" level, adcoms might start thinking your priorities are in the wrong place....unless of course you can make a large jump (20-30 points?). Again, its a gamble! Good luck with apps and your decision!
