I never knew I had A.D.D. until I studied for the GMAT

Question

PRACTICE TEST SUMMARY *MGMAT Feb 27, 670 (Q42, V39) *MGMAT Apr 1, 640 (Q43, V35) *Kaplan Apr 15, 620 (Q41, V31) *Kaplan Apr 17, 610 (Q40, V32) *Kaplan Apr 23, 620 (Q40, V34) *MGMAT May 10, 680 (Q44, V38) *MGMAT Jun 7, 740 (Q46, V45) *Official GMATPrep June 12, 710 (Q45, V42) *Official GMATPrep June 18, 710 (Q48, V39) *MGMAT June 19, 770 (Q50, V44) My GMAT studying is still in progress, but I thought I'd share my experience thus far. I am taking the test on June 25 (just 17 more days!). Aiming for 700+ and the top 10 schools. Just a little background on myself before I begin. For undergrad I studied fine arts, then marketing. I do have a masters degree in economic policy from columbia university, but the math you use isn't really that close to GMAT math, maybe except where statistics are concerned and some algebra. I've always considered myself good at math, but I never really learned the tips and tricks to do math fast. When do we ever have the ridiculous time constraint of 2 minutes per problem anyway? :D Anyhoo, I started thinking about business school in Fall of 2010. I officially started studying in February. I took FOREVER to complete the diagnostic test in the Official GMAT Guide 12th edition. That was probably not the smartest move, but I just got distracted every few minutes (I'm hungry! I want to watch that new show on Hulu! Oooh, Nordstrom is having a sale online!). Initial diagnostic results show: math is in 80 - 90 percentile range. verbal is VERY weak in sentence correction, but very good in reading comprehension and critical reasoning (and i'll get back to how i later discovered that my CR and Reading turned out to be not so good after all). Books purchased: Manhattan GMAT math guides and sentence correction. Power Score GMAT: Critical Reasoning Bible. Kaplan verbal foundations. Kaplan premiere. Official Guides, 12th edition, and the quant and verbal books. No reading comprehension books. (can I just say that my entire dining room is filled with GMAT books?) I knew my weakest spot was Sentence Correction as I immigrated to the US when I was 12 and never learned proper grammar. After sifting through the GMATClub forums (and lordy, so helpful!), I decided to start my verbal studies with the Kaplan verbal foundations book. For those of you who are fuzzy on grammar rules or who are not native speakers, this is a fantastic place to start. Then after I finished (and made notecards), I started on Manhattan GMAT's sentence correction. I thought this was helpful because it created a logical progression of difficulty. While some materials in MGMAT overlapped with Kaplan Verbal Foundations, it gave a lot more GMAT-specific examples where you may potentially trip up. After the two books, my confidence in sentence correction really went up. I started doing some practice quizzes on Kaplan's online website (since I bought Premiere, I had access to those). I discovered that while I did great in 500 - 700 level CR questions, I keep messing up in 700 - 800 level questions. Uh oh. So that's when I bought the Power Score GMAT CR Bible. This was SUPER helpful in explaining exactly what each type of question was looking for. I was very lucky in that my instincts were correct in the average difficulty questions -- however, the book really helped me see through the super difficult questions. I wish it had more practice questions, but that's what the Official GMAT books were for. I also discovered that I totally lose focus on Reading Comprehension questions and end up choosing the wrong answer because I was sloppy. I found that Kaplan's strategy of creating a content map very helpful in getting me to stay focused and on track. At this point, it is already late Match/early April. I thought, "hey maybe I should just double check and see if my math is alright." Well, I took my first practice online CAT in Manhattan GMAT and scored 670. Not bad. A closer look at my score reveals that I did superb on verbal but BOMBED BOMBED BOMBED my math. I realized that my biggest problem was that I ran out of time in math and had to guess on the last 10 questions. Another alarming thing I noticed about myself was that I paused the test frequently to go do other things (hey, I need to clean my bathroom mirror. Ooh, my new shoes arrived in the mail. Let's see what economist.com is covering today). So in April and early May I focused all my energy into MGMAT math guides. I discovered that boy my foundation really wasn't as good as I thought. In mid April, after I studied math intensely for 3 weeks, I took 2 CATs in Kaplan and 1CAT in MGMAT. CRAP, my scores were 620, 610, and 620, respectively. Same problem, verbal excellent, but math bombed due to time management issues. I also started panicking when I think the questions are getting easier so I end up spending too much time on the next question, then guessing on the last few (which of course guesses always turn out to be wrong). I was feeling SO DOWN at this point. Fortunately, I had vacation coming up. I went away to Europe for 10 days and came back feeling really refreshed. I focused on reviewing my notes and my error log (another one of my mistake was that I didn't start my error log until after my CAT exams -- I arrogantly thought I didn't need it). Finally, last night, after weeks of feeling really sad and unsure about my testing abilities, I took the plunge again and took a MGMAT exam. And....TADA!!!! I scored 740! (Q45, V46). I feel much calmer and in control with time management. I am hoping to take a few more CATs this weekend to build up my confidence some more. I hope hope hope my performance will remain consistent and I'll be able to perform well on actual test day! Anyhoo, I'll update y'all soon with my official test scores.

Important lessons so far (for me personally): *create an error log *try to simulate actual test environment and build up your endurance *make sure your foundation knowledge is very solid, otherwise testing strategies won't really help you get a top score *when you are feeling tired or A.D.D., just remind yourself why you want this so badly. It will help you refocus. *take a break once in awhile to let your mind rest *create notecards and carry it with you. I like to review them during lunch or on the way to work (i take public transport so no driving). *DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT play mind games with yourself during the CAT. Do not try to guess how well you are doing. What may seem easy to you may be difficult for someone else and is not really indicative of the level of questions you are getting. This will seriously mess you up and affect your performance.

enkie · Answer

Hahahaha how did you know??? I am going to get a massage and a facial!

Yeah i have that sleepy around 12 - 3 problem. I am going to drink some coffee at 10 or so (my usual routine), stay hydrated with water and gaterade, and eat a banana and a breakfast sandwich at around 1045 - 11 so I am not super full but wont be hungry during the test. For snacks i plan to bring 2 bananas and a few power bars and maybe a few turkey slices (i like salty things!). When I am hungry I literally can't think so I have to pack lots of snacks. I also might pack some M & Ms.

enkie · Answer

Oh yeah I am going to do a CAT in an hour or so. Right now I am just doing some DS practice quizzes in my Kaplan CD.

enkie · Answer

Bah! My performance is so inconsistent sometimes! Just took the official GMAT practice exam #2 and scored 710 (Q48, and V39). My Quant increased but verbal went back down to 39. Hmmmm, must examine error log!

Will be editing original post to include the latest exam results.

Will be editing original post to include the latest exam results.

ra011y · Answer

Haha. Just had a hunch.

How are you doing in these? In the DS quizzes I usually score around 16/20. I don't find it particularly tough but I am always speeding through the last few questions (maybe 5 or so) and end up making silly mistakes. Well, what says the error log?

Also, I have heard that GMAT Prep 2 is sightly tougher than GMAT Prep 1. Did you feel the same way? I am assuming you are going to work on the document floating around this forum, the one with all the GMAT Prep questions?

enkie · Answer

ho ho ho ho ho! I scored 770 (Q50, V44) on my latest MGMAT practice exam! 99 percentile!!!!!!!!!!! Although there were a few repeat questions, so I would assume that the margin of error is give or take 20 - 40 points... (will update original post with this)

I have the same experience in Kaplan DS practice as you. I find them really helpful though since DS problems are hard to come by and any practice is good practice. And for me, PS is less of a problem than DS is. So I need all the help I can get!

I was too lazy to enter in the results into the error log, but I did go through every wrong answer to figure out what I did wrong. For math, I think most of it was that I made sloppy mistakes. For verbal, some of it were idioms that I didnt remember or know, so I made sure to jot them down in my notecards.

I didn't know there was a complete set floating around! Must search forum....

FatRiverPuff · Answer

So I've been poring through the MGMAT Math series and...I've watched 3 episodes of Mind Your Language for each chapter so far. In fact, I'm out of episodes. I'm looking for other shows now. I've always jokingly said I have ADD to piss off my parents but OMG at this. I miss the old school SAT...and being 16

I'm taking the exam in exactly a month. I love digging my own grave. Oh look, Beckett's about to tell Castle she loves him.

enkie · Answer

Not to go off on an irrelevant subject, but isn't Castle such an entertaining series? I love the guy main character -- I loved him in Firefly and I love him in this!

Seriously, the first 2 months of my studying basically went like this: 10 minutes mgmat guide, 10 minutes on hulu, 10 minutes mgmat guide, 2 minutes facebook, 5 minutes gmail, 10 minutes hulu, 10 minutes mgmat guide...etc etc. Horribly ADD!

desiaggie1980 · Answer

Loving your journey here...you should talk about ADD when you have a kid :-D

My GMAT is on 8th sept. and basically i am feeling so down, all my attempts to study are dampened by my lovely 2 year old who is in need of something or other!! Anyways, my problem areas in quant seem similar to yours..I gave GMAT prep1-- 4 months ago as a diagnostic and was at 680 V38 Q45..after that today I gave the free princeton test..had to leave verbal halfway due to a major diaper disaster :oops:

so I am at 580 V25 Q45..when you talk about SC rules are you referring to the MGMAT SC book...

enkie · Answer

Awwww! So cute! Kudos to you for trying to balance, work, family (especially a child!), and studying for the GMAT. How do you commute to work? I take public transportation so sometimes I review my notecards while I am on the train or the bus (but if you drive, then I guess this isn't much help). For Sentence Correction -- I started with Kaplan verbal foundations to make sure that I know the basics well, then I went on to Manhattan GMAT's SC guide. I did practice questions in all of the Official Guides (12th edition and also the verbal review), as well as the Kaplan premiere CD quizzes, AND MGMAT practice questions. Once I felt comfortable in sentence correction, it became a matter of memorizing idioms and also seeing the SC questions as a pattern recognition game. Hope this helps! And good luck to you!

GMATPill · Answer

Indeed, the GMAT exam can make you feel like you have A.D.D. Remember, besides the academic concepts on the test--there's a HUGE psychological component to the test--it's a marathon of sorts. And yes, you'll have to force yourself to focus--even for those boring Reading Comprehension passages!

Don't underestimate the  psychological component of the exam .

Spend at least five minutes at a time imagining different details about taking the test. Visualize yourself spotting sentence structures based on keywords or commas. Visualize yourself checking for X & Y consistency for SC questions or recognizing a Data Sufficiency Percent vs. Actual Number question. You know what to look for and where the pitfalls are (multiple % data points without any actual number data points are useless if they ask you a “how many” question).

Your visualization scene doesn’t need to be the same each time, but you need to tap into a sense of accomplishment, calm, and confidence. Do this every morning and before bedtime.

Stay focused as best you can. Start in small chunks and prepare for a long marathon.

OldMinolta · Answer

Good luck on Saturday! Don't eat fried chicken this week!

ra011y · Answer

Well, all the best enkie! Outta the park!!!!!!

enkie · Answer

Thanks everyone! Just finished my official exam. 700 (Q44, V42)!

I did something really stupid though. During my break between AWA and Quant, I took my sweet time eating my snacks (which I often do out of habit), and ended up taking a 13 minute break, which reduced my quant test time by 5 minutes!!!! I think that contributed to my panic, so I didn't score as well on my quant. I think if I had not **** up like that, I probably could have scored somewhere between 710 - 740. But I should be very happy with 700...right? Retake? Hmmm

ra011y · Answer

enkie - sorry to hear about what happened. But I want to remind you that  700 is a pretty good score .

Like you say, if you retake, you might be able to score higher. But you may want to think about whether that 10 - 20 extra points is going to make the difference between you getting into a school of your choice and getting rejected. You will have to incorporate a 'maintenance' study schedule for another 1 month (since you can only retake after 30 days). That time might be better spent focusing on your apps. BUT, I will also say that your quant score is around 75% - and from what I have been reading, you might want to get both quant and verbal scores in the 80% range (for the top tier schools). How was your academic performance in undergrad/graduate school? If you have high academic scores in a math based subject, I am going to say skip the retake.

Even if you dont retake, I feel the 700 is going to look good. (Especially since you already have a very strong profile - I feel you will need to prove to the adcom that you need an MBA since you might be overqualified).

But at the end of the day, if you feel restless about the whole thing and you feel that this is going to be your Achilles heal going into the admission process, then go ahead and retake the GMAT. Just peace of mind might be worth it.

Congrats on a great score nonetheless!

enkie · Answer

Thank you! Your analysis is right on and very helpful.

My GPA in undergrad is about 3.6 (?) from a not so well known school, but i also have a masters in economics from columbia university (with a 3.8 GPA -- and A+ in economics). So based on your analysis, I think I should be ok. Maybe I should focus on honing my resume and writing the first drafts of my essays then decide in August if I want to retake?

The rest of my profile goes like this...

Work Experience
-5 years as Web designer and developer at medium sized education NGO.
-4 years as Assistant Director of Web Communications at Columbia University.
-1.5 years as Director of New Media at a well known, mid-sized environmental NGO.
-Just started new position (also related to new media and Web) at the US Treasury.

Leadership Experience & Volunteer
- Recently received an innovation award from the CIO 
-Was elected student chair for my program at Columbia University. Participated in Columbia's dean search committee for the School of International and Public Affairs. Represented Columbia University on policy study tours to Japan, Nigeria and Ghana.
-Hired and Managed teams of designers, developers and vendors at all my jobs except for the very first one. 
- Negotiated contracts and managed budgets.
-Lead strategy discussions at senior levels at my two previous jobs (current job is too early to tell), as well as implemented those strategies with my teams.
-Served, several times, on a panel of judges that determined scholarship awards for my undergrad school. 
-Lead a viral campaign targeting Discovery Communications and Sarah Palin that received national media attention.
-For my master thesis at Columbia, I worked with a team of graduate students to produce a paper, examining the economic relationship between China and Africa. This paper was used in a Beijing briefing conference for African officials hosted by the World Bank.
- Volunteers regularly for local area cleanups and holiday toy drives.

Language & Travel & Extras
Native fluency in English and Mandarin Chinese
Basic proficiency in Japanese and Taiwanese
Extensive travel in North America (US & Canada), South America (Chile, Argentina, Peru, Easter Island), Africa (Nigeria, Ghana), Europe (UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Monaco, Austria), and Asia (Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong)
I am pretty good at art things like drawing (charcoal, pencil, pastels) and painting (oil, acrylic, gauche). Designing for online medias. Photography.
Did I mention I make a delicious four-cheese bacon macaroni and cheese that is to die for? 
I played dodge ball and am absolutely horrible at it.

Post MBA Plans
Would like to focus on business strategy and foreign market penetration for one of the big name mobile firms in US or Europe. Would also be very interested in exploring innovative mobile technology that targets business and education use in developing and third world countries -- possible entrepreneur route. Would like to leverage my past experiences in new media and viral campaigns and my MPA in international econommics to help me go in this direction.

ra011y · Answer

I think you have a good academic profile. The time to decide would be now. And if you decide to retake, I would say do it at the end of July. A gap of one month is enough time to forget those GMAT subtleties that you have consciously/unconsciously honed right now. If you decide in August that you want to retake (in Sep), you are taking away precious time from your apps. Of course, you could submit all your apps early and then retake the GMAT then

. I have read quite a few stories where applicants have done this. Bottom line - I would be hesitant about retaking the GMAT in between the whole app submission process or just before I submit my apps (September-ish). Just my $0.02.

enkie · Answer

Thanks! Your advice is really helpful. I will take a week to think about it and decide.

FatRiverPuff · Answer

So I finished watching every episode of every show I can think of, except for Desperate Housewives; I'll prob do that after actually becoming a desperate housewife as a result of bombing the GMAT next month.

I've just made a pyramid with my GMAT books in another (computer-free) room, far, far away from my own. I really wish ADD existed in the Indian subcontinent; everyone here calls it laziness. Silly people. I'm going to finish one MGMAT Math guide a day starting tomorrow. You'd think that I'd take advantage of being a freelancer and having the luxury of picking my working hours but omg...Castle was a good show. THANK GOD ITS GONE FOR THE SUMMER THOUGH.

rjkaufman21 · Answer

a 700 is a nice score, good job.

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